BOW WAVE 392

Bow Wave Issue 392--Whitsun Edition

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Wavy Line	sam@wavyline.com
(c)2007 WavyLine.com	Issue No 392 28 May 07
Published free of charge to Readers
Editor: Sam Ignarski
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In this issue:

1. Welcome
2. More Lady Drivers?
3. Cutty Sark
4. Letter from William Gingles
5. Edward Burtynsky
6. And Finally...

1. Welcome

Poem of the Week

Sinister Limmericks

Can Great-grandmother's mind be unsound?
Every midnight she totters around
Voicing cries of distress
In a dripping wet dress
That she got off of someone who drowned.

~

As Eliza stood twanging her zither
She beheld a vast sea serpent slither,
Oozing slime, up the beach
Till it came within reach
And she disappeared, no one knows whither.

~

Wailed an earnest young monk of Duluth
"Where O where is the ultimate truth?"
All at once from above
Dropped the dump of a dove--
Prompt reply, if a little uncouth.

~

A lugubrious lady of Lawrence
Would regard each new day with abhorrence.
"When I wake up," she said,
"Just to get out of bed
Seems a good deal more work than it warrants."

X.J. Kennedy, from Peeping Tom's Cabin:
Comic Verse 1928-2008

New Readers this week include:-

Jason Toms of Stevenson Harwood in Hong Kong
Ilan Goldenberg of Ofer (Ships Holding))
Cassandra Crisp of BP
Dr James Kelman of CWA

News of Readers

Bruce Farthing

There will be a service of thanksgiving for Bruce Farthing at St Lawrence Jewry, Gresham Street on Thursday 5 July 2007 at 11:30 and afterwards at Guildhall. All are welcome.

Readers Write

From James Dean

Lloyd's Marine Intelligence Unit, the sister company of Lloyd's List within Informa's Maritime and Transport division, opened the doors for business in Singapore for the first time yesterday, 21st May 2007. Whilst we are delighted to have been serving clients of our maritime and energy credit reporting and vessel movements and casualty services in the region for many years, we can now provide analyst and sales support to our clients here throughout their working day. With a permanent local staff of 3 experienced analysts and two sales and marketing executives, we look forward to much more regular contact with old friends and new customers alike. For further information perhaps your readers would like to contact me directly on +65 6514 4107 or see the full announcement at:

http://www.lloydsmiu.com.

AfterOfficeHours News

The archive of our sister publication the Maritime Advocate online offers a fully searchable index of past issues and also a case and country summary which features the work of sponsoring firms around the world. Latest firms to sign up are:

Norman Waterhouse - Case Notes - Australia

Brodies - Scotland - Country Summary and Case Notes
The latest case to be put up is the first from Bromley Chapelski in Vancouver.

If your firm would like to contribute to the archive, kindly conjtact the editor.

http://www.avoarchive.com

Note from the Editor

This issue comes to you from the traditionally wet and miserable Spring Bank Holiday weekend also known as Whitsun.

A bit of a light miscellany follows.

Enjoy!

2. More Lady Drivers?

We are indebted to the Transport News Brief e-zine produced here in the UK by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders under the editorship of Robin Dickeson:-

Just 3% of Irish truck fleets have a female truck driver, according to joint Fleet Transport and Michelin "Transport Barometer", a monthly survey of top owners and managers in the Irish road transport industry.

The data shows that despite the small number of lady truckers, feedback from employers with female drivers is extremely positive, helping to debunk the myth that truck driving is a "man's job," says Jarlath Sweeney, Editor of monthly commercial vehicle magazine Fleet Transport. The Irish road transport industry is not alone in being male dominated, and it's a situation which is reflected in most European countries. This is despite hefty insurance premiums for drivers under the age of 25 and a lack of "young blood" choosing to follow a career in road transport.

The full details are in the May edition of Fleet Transport.

More from Orla Sweeney:-

orla@fleet.ie

3. Cutty Sark

From World Wide Words, the weekly e-zine compiled by one of the compilers of the OED, Michael Quinion.(The old ship is insured by the RSA according to reports in the insurance press, the firm which has acquired a name for seeming to be on for every well known hull casualty in 2007--ed):-

Much has been written this week about the fire at the historic ship of this name berthed at Greenwich. It was built to be extremely fast, originally to bring tea from the Far East, and was called a clipper because it moved at a great clip (the verb "clip" was applied in the seventeenth century to the rapid wing beats of fast-moving birds, as their action resembled those of scissors).

The Cutty Sark was built in 1869 at Dumbarton. Its name is Scots: "cutty" means cut short or curtailed, while "sark" in Scots and Northern English means a shirt, chemise or shift, so a cutty sark was a short shirt or chemise. The name comes immediately from the garment ("In longitude tho' sorely scanty") that was worn by the witch Nannie in the poem Tam O'Shanter by Robert Burns. The whisky of the same name was created rather later, in 1923.

http://www.worldwidewords.org/nl/kfty.htm

4. Letter from William Gingles

Bow Wave Reader William Gingles has taken himself off on a journey on board the Grimaldi ship "Grande San Paolo"

Here are further instalments from him:-

Dear Sam,

Your newsletter is read in Freetown because Bart Foley - the Grimaldi agent came to the ship but I was sampling the delights of the city and missed him. We are finally out of Africa. This happened on friday as our captain set a course of 238 degrees to Salvadore in Brasil. Estimeated arrival time-wednesday morning.

The captain was very happy. apart from discharging his miscellaneous cargo-his head count on board had not increased. Stowaways are the biggest problem with heavy financial penalties for uninvited guests in Brasil or Argentina. But the storeroom was greatly depleted of the Johnie Walker Red, Marlboro cigarettes, even the bottled water. As soon as the ramp is down first up the ramp are the 20 or so officials and their ladies-some in uniforms at every port. Need I say any more. In Dakar which has a big French influence, I managed to visit Goree island, the main transit point for the slave trade to Salvador. on a cliff top, a massive old French gun points out to sea-this was the same one that Anthony Quinn and Gregory Peck were trying to knock out in Guns of Navarone. In Banjul, the capital of the old British colony of The Gambia, the first building I saw on exiting the port was Londongate Insurance Co.

Conakry, capital of Guinea was where we discharged over 500 cars-most of them used, usually stuffed with old mattresses-fridges or anything in short supply, which means everything. we had now done our bit to help the E.U. environmental clean-up.

Finally Freetown-capital of Sierra Leone-also an old British colony-indeed the shell of the first British school in West Africa still stands by the port-according to an old man at the entrance. its grounds now home to a few hundred people and its once pristine swimming pool, covered in with gravel. Mr Blair sent his army to quell the civil war here and life is slowly returning to normal but downtown Freetown or at least the main port road is something else and not to be described here. but the people are cheerful and the one hopeful sign was that donor aid invested in education seemed to be getting through. we watched 3,000 schoolchildren bettter dressed in colourful school uniforms and more cheerful than the yobs that hang around Pimlico school, attend a sports day in a sweltering 38 degrees. At breakfast this morning, the captain enquired whether I liked the steak served on deck at last nights barbeque. I said yes. he said it was only Brazilian and not nearly as good as to expect in Argentina. He said to me-you go Argentina. remember Argentinians are really Italian who speak Spanish-but think like an Englishman. We have just passed the equator and in a strong cooling south-westerly, under the mid-day equatorial sun and looking at the dark blue atlantic, so unusually calm-at times I have to re-assure myself that I am in realilty, half way between Africa and South America.

On Monday evening we finally departed Santos, the biggest harbour in Latin America and now heading for Zarate in Argentina. we are at full speed of 20 knots and our new captain, Maurizio Carta is aware there is a rugby match at the weekend. Captain Melis left earlier in the week to take command of a sister ship. We have spent the last week hugging the Brazilian coastline. Firstly Salvadore the old slave city with its crumbling churches, all 365 of them mostly built by the Portuguese, and baroque architecture. Then on to Vitoria the capital of Espirito Santo, an archipelago of 26 islands with a truly spectacular entry into the harbour.

This was where most of the crew stocked up with fresh food and reacquainted themselves with their lady friends in Nellies Bar, a stone's throw outside the port gates. Curfew was 23.00 hours but a few stragglers left it until midnight to return and had to jump on board as the ramp was raised.

Next Rio, where Saturday night was sadly spent at anchor in a downpour and our entry on Sunday gave glimpses of the 32 metre statue, Cristo Redentor, high on the hills above. It was a quick turnround, mooring by the 13km Rio-Niteroi bridge, but enough time to visit the famous Copacabana beach. The highlight here was a musical demonstration on the sidewalk for the continuation of Bingo, by a colourful group who stopped to play bingo. It seems the new president of Brasil wants bingo banned because of its gambling effect, and Tony Blair thought he had problems. bye for now BILL

5. Edward Burtynsky

Canadian Edward Burtynsky is a photographer who takes heavy industry as his subject and produces highly stylised images. His photographs taken in modern China and at shipbreakers in Chittagong have gone on show in London at the Flowers Gallery

http://www.flowerseast.com/Originals_Exhibitions.asp?Exhibition=07FCEB&OE=2

6. And Finally...

Thanks again to Sydney lawyer Frazer Hunt for this one

A man walked into a bar and ordered a glass of white wine. He took a sip of the wine, then tossed the remainder into the bartender's face. Before the bartender could recover from the surprise, the man began weeping.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I'm really sorry. I keep doing that to bartenders. I can't tell you how embarrassing it is, to have a compulsion like this."

Far from being angry, the bartender was sympathetic. Before long, he was suggesting that the man see an analyst about his problem.

"I happen to have the name of a Psychoanalyst," the bartender said. "My Brother and my Wife have both been treated by him, and they say he's as good as they get."
The man wrote down the name of the Doctor, thanked the bartender, and left. The bartender smiled, knowing he'd done a good deed for a fellow human being.

Six months later, the man was back.

"Did you do what I suggested?" the bartender asked, serving the glass of white wine.

"I certainly did," the man said. "I've been seeing the Psychoanalyst twice a week."

He took a sip of the wine. Then he threw the remainder into the bartender's face.

The flustered bartender wiped his face with a towel. "The Doctor doesn't seem to be doing you any good." He sputtered.

"On the contrary," the man claimed, "he's done me a world of good."

"But you threw the wine in my face again!" The bartender exclaimed.

"Yes." The man replied. "But it doesn't embarrass me anymore."

P.S. Spot the difference

http://www.kosovasealines.com/index.html

http://www.bcferries.com/

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