Page 261 - Michael Frost-Voyages to Maturity-23531.indd

chance dictates that I should not have met Judith in the middle of the Indian
Ocean on a moonlit night, that there would not have been two J. Shep(herds/
pards) of fair disposition and coincident ages on Cathay at the same time; that
a young man would be in a political science class who could translate ‘love’ into
Sinhalese for the engagement ring; that Judith Smythe would meet both myself
and Mother in such disparate circumstances; that Don McGill and I would
meet the Beatles in Sydney; and that a fellow student at UBC in a Mass Violence
political science class would be from Woolwich and there have lived just a few
houses from me; these are just six examples. I could quote many more.)

The final question perhaps is whether the nautical world had matured as
had I. There were four main vessel groupings in the Merchant Marine; Passenger
(Cruise) ships, Cargo vessels, Tanker (oil, gas and exotic), and the Rest (ferries,
pleasure boats, heavy-lift ships, ro-ro vessels, cattle ships and those specifically
designed for exotic tasks; coast-guard, ice-breakers, warships, tugs etcetera).
Passenger ships of the 21st century could not have been foreseen in the 1960s;
now, they seem almost logical; containerisation has resulted in vastly bigger
cargo ships, such that now London’s Royal Docks, once the biggest in the world,
are now an alternative London Airport sitting above and astride what were deep-
water terminals, and the ships themselves are gargantuan, yet served by very
small crews; tankers are likewise giant in size, as often used as floating temporary
oil repositories than as a means of carriage as they await the most profitable ports
at which to berth, despite the probable decline in not too distant a future in the
world’s demand for fossil fuels; and the Rest have all manner of unique designs
and new propulsion systems (of which I know little or nothing, other than the
fact that not too many now have simple ‘propellers’ at the stern).

But, I think, for man and ships; plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose.

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