Day Three On The SS Uganda Cruise - Meeting The Captain

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June 1977 Day Three I woke to more seasickness – worse than ever – even the crew were sick this time. The ship was also rocking about alarmingly. I kept thinking about films like The Poseidon Adventure. People were falling over. Plates and cups fell to the floor. Stairways were a nightmare, with people lying on the floor, clutching their stomachs, and rivers of vomit spilling over everything where people had run out of sick bags, and failed to make it to the decks or the toilets. Suddenly, just as I thought I was in for a whole fortnight of this living Hell, the sea went calm. For most of the voyage, everything would run smoothly. We had crossed over the North Sea-Baltic Border. The Sea seemed to behave differently to prove it. The atmosphere on the ship changed instantly. One of my friends produced a can of lager. He had smuggled a great deal of alcohol on board. He told me to help myself whenever I wished. We never ran out for a week. How he had achieved this, I have no idea. We got organised tours of the Bridge, briefly being introduced to the Captain as he rushed off, eager to be elsewhere, but polite enough to welcome all the kids on board as he went. We were also invited on a controlled tour of the engine rooms, which were deafening and surprisingly deserted. We saw very few men amidst the miles of piping and hot boilers, though some areas were deemed too busy or dangerous for our attention We also got our one and only use of the swimming pool reserved for the students. We had to book for its use, and though many schools used it throughout the weekend, our teacher only booked us all in for one session. I really liked the pool and wished I could have used it more often. We also got only one session of deck quoits, which involved throwing hoops onto rings. I was rubbish at this, and managed to throw at least three hoops overboard. The rest of the day was unexceptional. I realised that several of my friends now had girlfriends, having chatted them up in the disco. Efforts were made to fix me up on a blind date with a ginger haired rather thin looking girl who had more freckles than I have ever seen on anyone’s skin before or since. Though she seemed nice, I politely declined the invitation to go out with her. She eventually paired up with my lager supplier instead, though she was still friendly enough to me. My own dancing style in the disco had managed to impress none of the ladies. I resigned myself to a sex free cruise. Everyone else seemed to have someone to hold already. A popular, but dire TV series showing in the UK about this time was called The Love Boat, and it promoted the myth that anyone who sailed on a cruise finds love and romance. I was convinced that I was an exception to the rule. I was wrong. There were ten days to go yet. The calm seas made for extremely pleasant sailing. Our teacher from Manchester had pretty well abandoned us as he had a cabin in the passenger section of the ship, where he was having a great time his own way. He was on holiday too. We could hardly blame him. We hardly saw him when there was nothing to organise or anyone with specific problems to attend to. If there was something particularly interesting to watch at sea, the ship tannoy sprang to life. We were informed that a large Japanese Super Tanker would soon pass by close to our Portside. I rushed from my quiet deck area, to see it, and it was immense. I had thought our own ship the biggest I had seen, but this was a true Leviathan of the sea. The crew could be seen riding on motorbikes to get quickly from one end to the other. Soon after the cruise, I saw news footage of such a tanker sinking and I was not surprised by how much oil could spill from such a colossus. After Rod Stewart sang the national anthem of the cruise, we were all expected to go straight to bed, but lack of Supervision meant that I was able to watch sunsets of great beauty, admire the reflection of moonlight on water, and see some of the starriest skies I would ever see. Away from the bright lights of a city the whole Milky Way comes out. I watched it in awe for hours nightly. I often went to bed long after all of my travelling friends had fallen asleep. Youtube – Theme from The Love Boat by Jack Jones Arthur Chappell