Page 53 - The Tigris Expedition

The Tigris Expedition
of the United Nations, U-Thant, had granted me the right to sail Ra
I and Ra II under the UN flag, and his successor, Kurt Waldheim,
had kindly repeated the permission for my forthcoming expedition.
I had informed the United World Colleges that I wanted to give
priority to any of the crew of my previous reed-boat experiments
who cared to come along again, but I was prepared to draw reserves
from the United World Colleges. The headmasters of the various
colleges had therefore sent out a circular to former students,
enclosing a copy of the press release concerning my plans that had
just been circulated by the bbc Consortium. The teachers would
send me a list of recommendations selected from those graduate
students who applied.
It was great to be back at Broadlands and enjoy a meal in the
bright dining-room facing the park and its old giant trees. A tiny
tree, barely visible above the grass, I had planted myself on my last
visit, in accordance with the Admiral’s own tradition.
‘Thor, would you believe that you have got me into international
trouble?’ Lord Mountbatten looked at me sternly as we took our
seats at table in the company of his adjutant and were served melon
by a butler in a naval uniform.
‘Of course I believe that,’ I replied, laughing to show that of
course I did not believe.
‘You have brought the anger of the Shah upon me,’ my host
continued calmly.
I laughed again and enjoyed my cool melon. ‘Of course, of
course!’
Lord Mountbatten stopped eating and looked at me: ‘What can I
do to make you realise that I am not joking?’ He sent his adjutant to
fetch a letter from the Imperial Court in Teheran. It was a long and
sharp protest against the wording of the circular from the United
i
World Colleges concerning my planned reed-ship expedition. The
Iranian Ambassador to Great Britain had telephoned Lord Mount­
batten from London before the letter arrived, immediately the press
release from the bbc had been broadcast on radio and television. I
was quoted as planning to sail down the river Shatt-al-Arab into the
‘Arabian Gulf’. How could an international college institution
headed by the Admiral of the Fleet use such a fictitious geographical
term? Was this the result of the growing tendency to flatter the
Arabs? The true and only name for this body of water was the
‘Persian Gulf’, and it was indeed the British Admiralty that had
originally given the gulf this proper name.
I was sorry. This was an unforeseen problem for a reed-boat
42
i