Page 334 - The Tigris Expedition

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The Tigris Expedition
Our discussions around the deck table were interrupted as distant
lightning flashes suddenly leapt across the sky, splitting the black
clouds above the mast with a violent clatter. The wind had turned
from cast to south and increased in strength. We were outside all
traffic lanes and had seen only a single sailing dhow from India that
day. Those of us who were not on steering turn preferred to crawl
into our cabins and roll down the cotton canvas. The heavy clouds
soon began to spill like torn goat-skin bags ripped open by the
flashes, and good drinking water again cascaded down upon the
Tigris as we were swallowed up in complete darkness. It was indeed
good to know we were alone in these waves. Inside the cabin we
could hear every word shouted between the two men on steering
watch. I could in fact thrust my finger between the canes at any
place and feel the thin cotton canvas that had been pulled down, yet
the roar of ocean and wind so deafened the men on the bridge that
they could not hear a word of what we shouted from inside.
i when I asked myself if I would have embarked on this adventure
Thus began the night described in the first pages of this book,
had I known that such a moment awaited us. This was the begin­
ning of a roaring gale that swept the Indian Ocean and reached the
eastern part of the gulf with fierce sandstorms in Dubai and Abu
Dabi. Our little boat was tossed about like a toy vessel between and
over mountainous waves, when those of us who still slept were
awakened by the familiar call: ‘All hands on deck!’ It was Norman’s
voice with an undertone of despair cutting through all the turmoil
outside.
In the faint light of swinging kerosene lamps, colliding wave
crests rose around us like small volcanoes smoking with foam and

49. Inside the main cabin the author lists the night watches and pins
them on a wooden board watched by Carlo. Birthday party with
Yuri’s caviare, celebrated around the deck table lit by the camera­
man’s battery lamps.
50-51. The international crew of Tigris. Left-hand column:
navigator Norman Baker, usa, doctor Yuri Senkevitch, the Soviet
Union, and alpinist Carlo Mauri, Italy, all veterans from the two Ra
voyages. Above the author at the tiller is student Hans Peter Bohn
(alias HP), Norway, and below, student Asbjom Damhus,
Denmark. Above Tigris is scuba-diver Toru Suzuki, Japan, and
below, student Rashad Nazir Salim, Iraq. Right-hand column: sea-
captain Dctlcf Soitzek, West Germany, industrialist Gherman Car­
rasco, Mexico, and cameraman Norris Brock, usa.
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