Page 163 - Michael Frost-Voyages to Maturity-23531.indd

that there was huge potential in the North Sea; it took me some considerable time
to realise that this fact was probably why the Manhattan voyage was a one-off
deal; its time had passed even before it happened.

Pretty interesting stuff, but there was more. Her great enthusiasm (others
spoke, but I didn’t hear very much) was horses, one of which she owned and
which was stabled a few miles away. This accounted for her physical elegance,
for my experience with the horsey set (of which I knew only one, namely
Jacqueline, but on a much smaller scale (she had never owned a horse) told
me that those who ride perforce have good posture). I myself was not a fan of
anything equine, having been once on an elderly nag which was intent only on
grazing, and I found myself quite unable to exert any control at all. It was my
one and only such experience.

I made my departure reasonably quickly, as one never wants to overstay such
an occasion, but I did extract a promise from her that she would come over to the
ship for dinner the following evening. And so it was; I took the bus over again and
we walked through the dank and grim tunnel beneath the Thames (which was
much quicker, if decidedly less pleasant, than the ferries).

We dined (the skeleton crew still included seven officers and, of course, the
entire deck, engine and steward’s complement) and repaired to my cabin for
fun and frolic.

Unfortunately, Louise had a lot more fun than did I. My ineptitude knew few
bounds, and it was not even an occasion for apologies; I discovered that what I
thought would come as nature intended did not do so, at least to me. What I was
doing proved to be quite hard work, and I seemed to have a knack for attaining
the wrong target (euphemism is sometimes called for). It certainly wasn’t her
fault; she possessed a perfect body and, what with the riding, quite superb thighs.
It was perhaps fortunate for me that I had a very patient partner; that little or
nothing actually happened seemed not to bother her at all, in fact she found it
amusing (the alert reader might recall that this type of response was not entirely
unknown to me). Unfortunately, I did not expect to see her for a while, Oronsay
being based in either Southampton or Tilbury.
The next day I left for home. But on that day, my life changed again; I was to be
appointed to Chitral, based in the King George Dock, opposite Baradine’s old berth!

Chitral, named after a city and river located in Pakistan, had recently (February
1961) been bought by P&O from Compagnie Maritime Belge, the main cargo/
passenger company providing service between Belgium and The Congo. Belgium
had sought an empire in the nineteenth century when it was ‘fashionable’ – in the
worst sense of the word – to do so, but so limited was this agglomeration that its
possessions (the Congo, Ruanda-Urundi (sic) and a small concession in China)

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