Becalmed

[Katie-Ellen]

LOL, @Marc Joan I'll transmit the Magic Touch across the interwebs ("Clear your snots in an hour!" "No age limit!". Could be onto something there...)

A happy new meaning for the Snottagram.

 

[Eva Ulian]

We’re well into the crazy season now, there’s a “last flight out of Saigon” atmosphere that creeps into publishing at this time of year. Also, it’s party time.

Was talking last night to a chap who spent a large part of the past six weeks afloat, adrift, becalmed. He was the professional crew in a ketch taking half a dozen tourists on a luxury cruise between the Philippines and Thailand. They got more than they bargained for.

First, the wind dropped completely. No problem, they had an engine. Which didn’t work and couldn’t be repaired. So… no electricity. No GPS. No communications. They drifted for days, away from shipping lanes.

Then the water supply started to run out. The captain – elderly, eccentric – pretty much withdrew. The luxury tourists started stealing & hoarding water, every manjack for himself.

After a week adrift, he took a sextant sighting. They were exactly where they had been a week before, going round in a giant circle. He knew they were going to die.

Then a Thai voice hailed them. A tiny, primitive fishing trimaran had spotted them. Only room to take one passenger off at a time. He flew home to last night’s party.

This is the sort of story that never makes the news, but is brimming with drama. Fascinating, I thought.

@AgentPete I’m not sure this quite fits in with the subject matter- it’s not about cruising but two professional sailors guarding an Italian merchandise cargo ship the “Enrica Lexie” in pirate infested waters near and about the Indian ocean. Because of my ties with India I have been involved in this “adventure” of the two Italian sailors, framed for the murder of two Indian fishermen and held as hostages for political/bribery reasons between Italy and India.

This happened on 15th February 2012 and the two Italian sailors are still awaiting trial. Together with a group in support of these sailors we are still fighting to obtain justice with any means available, which strangely enough the only results that brought the case forward has been through bombarding twitter and facebook with the truth. It seems incredible that in a civilized world the use of human hostages still prevails.

Here is one of the cards of the over hundred I made up to use pressure on both the Italian and Indian governments to come to a solution, plus a link to my blog for the rest of the story… and why I too was penalized for this involvement. In effect the title of the blog is “Why a Reader didn’t buy my Book ‘Rajput’.”
© Eva Ulian- The best and the worst- and not only...: 437. Why a Reader didn’t Buy My Book “Rajput”

 

[Marc Joan]

[QUOTE="Eva Ulian, links with India [/QUOTE]
How interesting. I have heard about this case, of course, and it stinks of course, but it's not the first of its kind and won't be the last. Also interesting (to me) -- what are your links to India? I too have strong connections with the land of the masala dosai.

 

[Eva Ulian]

Yes, @Marc Joan I seemed to have read somewhere you have lived in India for some time as a child. I think it was you. Nothing of the kind for me. In 2000 I worked for an architect who specialised in the restoration of ancient buildings. He was given charge to restore Gogunda Royal Palace near Udaipur in Rajasthan, North-West of India. My work involved keeping all contacts with India in English. Later I was commissioned to unearth the history of that palace which went back to the first Ruler in the year 569 AD. When you consider there is no written history of India anywhere, it was quite a challenge. This history was later published under the title of RAJPUT which means Son of a King.

Keeping contacts with constructors and historians in India, which I also visited, without being pretentious about it, gave me an insight into the working of the minds of Indians. That's why when this incident with the Italian sailors came up, and the Indian judicial authorities were blatantly taking the Italian government for a ride, a group of the sailors' supporters contacted me to help out with various campaigns on internet to arouse awareness as to the utter incongruity of the case, which produced some unexpected good results- at least we managed to get the sailors back to Italy. I'm not saying it was entirely due to our internet campaigns but we provoked the authorities on both sides to move, otherwise things would have remained stagnant as they had been up to that point, and with the sailors under unjustified arrest.

 

[E G Logan]

In Italy, these two sailors are described as Marines, i.e. either ex- or possibly even serving (not sure -- haven't really been following it) naval military servicemen, employed by the ship operator. There is quite a lot of intermittent agitation in Italy about the issue.

 

[Eva Ulian]

In Italy, these two sailors are described as Marines, i.e. either ex- or possibly even serving (not sure -- haven't really been following it) naval military servicemen, employed by the ship operator. There is quite a lot of intermittent agitation in Italy about the issue.

In effect they are called Marò, and I guess the nearest in English is Marines but I used sailors as a more generic term so as not to muddle people up. They are as you say Naval Military servicemen, employed by the cargo-ship owner for protection under special license laws by the Italian government, which, because of the agitation these laws have caused, I think they are no longer effective.

Most people are not all that bothered about the case but being an "ex-military" person myself (I worked for the US Army) and having worked with people in India, I now collaborate with the Marò supporters team in obtaining some kind of justice for them.