grasping the starboard guardrail and leaning overboard. I rushed over just in
time to see a man in the moonlight with a bandage over one eye struggling
up our violently rocking ladder. The officers immediately whisked him off
to our ships hospital. The engines started again and we were on our way.
The next morning I got the full story. A laborer on the other ship, a
freighter, had been drilling a hole in an engine cylinder. While he was
working, a sharp, needle-thin piece of metal shot like a missile into his right
eye. The freighter had no doctor on board so the ship broadcast an
emergency signal.
International sea laws dictate that any ship hearing a distress signal must
respond. Our ship came to the rescue and the seaman, clutching his
bleeding eye, was lowered into a lifeboat that brought him to our ship. Dr.
Rossi, our ships doctor, was successfully able to remove the needle from the
workmans eye, thus saving his eyesight.
Tell Em About the Time You...
Cut to the next captains cocktail party. Once again I was faced with the
familiar challenge of getting officers to mingle and make small talk with the
passengers. I made my weekly trek to the laconic officers throng to drag
one or two away and, this time, my hand fell on the arm of the ships doctor.
I hauled him over to the nearest group of grinning passengers and
introduced him. I then
said, Just last week Dr. Rossi saved the eyesight of a seaman on another
ship after a dramatic midnight rescue. Dr. Rossi, Im sure these folks would
love to hear about it.
It was like a magic wand. To my amazement, it was as though Dr. Rossi
was blessed instantly with the tongues of angels. His prviously
monosyllabic broken English became thickly accented elquence. He
recounted the entire story for the growing group of passengers gathering
around him. I left the throng that Dr. Rossi enraptured to pull another
officer over to an awaiting audience.
I grabbed the captains stripe-covered arm, dragged him over to another
pack of smiling passengers and said, Captain Cafiero, why dont you tell
these folks about the dramatic midnight rescue you made last week? The cat
released Cafieros tongue and he was off and running.
Back to the throng to get the first officer for the next group. By now I
knew I had a winner. Signor Salvago, why dont you tell these folks how
ooja
(Ooja)
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