Page 177 - Michael Frost-Voyages to Maturity-23531.indd

Salette’s propeller being replaced

To recover a bit of prestige, a couple of days later I noticed that there was
a concert at the Royal Festival Hall, with Giulini conducting two Mozart wind
serenades. This was music with which I had to admit to a lack of familiarity,
but as Mozart is never unapproachable, I suggested that we travel up there.
And we did, though it has to be said that this music was actually somewhat
more profound than I had expected. Nevertheless, it was a good evening; Peter
Shaffer chose his music well.

The preparation for the voyage was somewhat different from the norm, this
because nobody aboard had ever been to East Africa. And, again, there arose the
strange names; everyone would know of Zanzibar, even if few had been, but none
knew of Mtwa! (It transpired that the cargo for that port was marked thus, but the place
is Mtwara, not that that was much more enlightening, for on the chart this looked like
little more than a roadstead.) However, off we duly sailed into the unknown.

Firstly, however, the passengers boarded. And these were a bit unusual, as
there were only two of them, and they were, though strangers to each other, like
sisters, even twins. One was a Dutch lady, in her mid-twenties, and the other a
similarly aged girl from London. Both were comely enough, not beautiful, but
each was sufficiently statuesque for us; we young bucks were initially delighted.
But all overtures, then and later, fell on stony ground. Both were polite, but firm.
Their privilege, if it could be so called, was that they were seated at the Captain’s
table. I actually felt a bit sorry for them in this respect, Captain Cooke being no

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