One day, It was actually about dusk, when we got out to the lay barge.  We had to stand by while another boat finished off-loading it’s cargo onto the barge.  They were having some problems so it was taking a little longer that usual.

     While we were standing by, one of those North Sea storms blew up.  In the North Sea, when a storm blows up, you don’t take any chances.  We were too far out to make back to a protected harbor, so we had to batten everything down.  The captain turned the boat into the storm and we settled in to ride it out.

  It was the first time I’d ever been in that kind of weather on a boat.  Now, don’t get me wrong about the boat, I’m not talking about a row boat.  I was about 180+ feet long, about 75 feet wide, and the bridge(wheel house) was about 30 to 35 feet above the water line.  It was not exactly a small skiff.

     Anyway, back to the storm, like I said, I had never been through anything like that before.  It got so bad that the waves were breaking over the bridge and when they hit the boat rattled like a tin can full of marbles.  The captain was so worried about the pipe, 50 foot lengths of cement coated steel 36 inches in diameter, that he had some of us going out on the back deck every once in a while, just to make sure it was still secure.

     I found out later that when the boat went down in a trough, it may have been less than 12 inches between the keel and a jagged coral reef, and yes, the North Sea, in certain areas is that shallow, and we just happened to be in one of those areas.

     It was kind of exciting to me at the time, but you have to take into account that I was in my twenties and didn’t know any better.  I really don’t think I would like to do it again.  Next time might be the time we scrape bottom and then, that’s all she wrote.  gurgle!!!  gurgle!!