'Memoirs and Recollections of An Officer of the Indian Political Service' [‎7r] (13/156)

- 7 -
( 3 >
Now, in Aden, passenger liners were accustomed to move fast down the five mile long
channel or ’fairway' before dropping the pilot as the ship rounded the entrance of
the bay and stood out to sea. I knew all the pilots well, and I told Henry I would
leave the ship with him. But where I made my mistake was to go up to the Captain's
bridge where all was silent while the pilot navigated the narrow and very tricky
channel. I went up to him and asked if I could leave with him on the pilot boat.
Unfortunately the Captain overheard and was rightly furious. He called me a "young
pup", and said that he would not slow his ship down for anyone, and that he would take
me on to Bombay, which was four sailing days away. Eventually, however, he relented
and ordered me to wait by the pilot's rope ladder so that I could descend before
the pilot did. So I went below and shortly there was a roar from above telling me
to start my descent. By this time the "Corfu" - which was a big tall ship standing
high out of the water - was doing at least twelve knots. It was a long way down to
the dinghy which was being towed along at the bottom of the rope ladder while the
pilot's launch hovered nearby, and I was exhausted before I even got halfway. In
the meanwhile every passenger on the ship was lining the rail roaring ribald
encouragement at me. I considered jumping into the sea at one moment, but then I
remembered the sharks and the proximity of the propellers. But I made it in the
end; it was certainly not an experience I would want to repeat! What made it
worse was that, when the pilot's turn came to descent^, he did so by sliding down a
rope, totally ignoring the rungs of the swinging rope ladder.