That annoying emergency room commercial

[Shapley]

Tan,

Yes, he was French, and died in Fance, after living a life as a sea vagabond. As I said, he was an interesting character. I finally finished "The Long Way" and will be starting to read "Tamata and the Alliance" the weekend, chores permitting.

V/R
Shapley

[tan]

Shapeley,
he certainly sounds like a fascinating person. The history of the south china sea would inspire anyone, the raggedy islands of Halong Bay, the waters - still -full of pirates, and their rather colourful history. In the early 19th and again in the early 20th century there were even two pirate quees, both of them ruled the waters aroud Macao and Hong Kong. (Chang I Sao and Lai Soi Chai). Both inherrited the family business- so to speak from their faters, who were killed in skirmishes with rival gangs, and both prospered for quite a while. These days our pirates are less collourful but equally annoying. Vessels get robbed, or simply stolen, the cargo sold and the ships get sold also, sometimes even back to their original owners!
For the time beeing our police does not allow us to overnight on the islands, due to a few nasty incidents.
In our waters there is Koh Tang, the island of the Mayaguez incident, there was a helcopter visible when snorkeling, shot down during the battle. The Americans have now salvaged it in their search for MIA' s.
Unfortunately, there is a lot of oil to be had in our island paradise, so it will only be a matter of time till this last wild place, with its plants and animal life, lawlessnes and colourful characters will be gone to make way for so called civilisation, and history will be just... the past...

[Shapley]

Tan,

So sad. I'm all for progress, but it can coincide with nature, if done correctly. Most often, however, it doesn't.

I've steamed through the waters off Singapore, courtesy of the U.S. Navy, but never stopped. Piracy was rampant at that time (1980's) in those waters, but we were just passing through. I"ve been to Hong Hong, as well. It was my favourite port of call. Lots of fun, and plenty to see. I was fascinated by the junks, delivering cargo to and from the freighters in the harbour. They used to cut across our bow as we entered the harbour, to scare away demons, we were told.

Moitessier tells a lot about the traditions of the seafarers of that region, and the tips learned by centuries of sailing in wooden boats in the region. It's fascinating reading if you like sailing and boats, but probably boring to anyone else.

Take care!

V/R
Shapley