How messed up is Somalia?
I’m an old sea captain and I’ve encountered Somali pirates once.
Unlike other pirates who rob scrap metal, Somali pirates are the real organized, disciplined terrorists who tear up tickets and kill with their guns.
Even when we hired the best maritime security team, they were all wiped out.
1 You ask me why I don’t stay well in the country and have to go to a dangerous place?
Because I am a captain of an ocean cargo shipment, and the Mandeb Strait, where the Somali pirates are located, is an unavoidable sea.
Seafarers this job, I have been doing for 35 years, self-identification, first take the documents “town building”.
Seafarer is a boring and dangerous work, he is also different from the explorer, the explorer encountered danger, you can choose to retreat, but the sea is not, even if you know you are about to face the danger, but also to meet the challenge.
1 I once sailed a ship from the Persian Gulf to Europe.
This time, the ship, however, arranged two captains, the shipping circle has never appeared such a situation, why?
Because the route was via the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb.
Since the opening of the Suez Canal at the northernmost point of the Red Sea, ships arriving in the North Atlantic from the Indian Ocean have been choosing to sail through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait instead of going in a big circle through the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.
However, because of the narrowness of the terrain and the rapidity of the current, ships passing through this area can only sail at a speed of less than 18 knots.
And the reefs of the Straits of Babel, are high and dense, pirates as long as a little ambush, can easily climb on board.
You may not have heard of the pirates of the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, but you must have heard of their alias, the Somali pirates.
And this trip, we transport is the pirate’s favorite – crude oil, quick sale, high price, out once, can lie three years.
Since the Somali civil war in 1991, almost all of the nearly 10 million people in Somalia have become refugees, of which 50% are destitute.
Being poor is the most terrible thing in this world.
In order to survive, they are armed with professional weapons and rob ships that pass by when they see them, from small fishing boats to large oil tankers, there is nothing that has not been poisoned by them.
In 2008, the giant Saudi oil tanker Sirius, carrying 2 million barrels of crude oil, was attacked by Somali pirates.
The loss of the Sirius Star was estimated to be more than one hundred million dollars.
The crew of the Saudi Sirius Star was hijacked and ransom was dropped by air. Also in 2008, a Spanish merchant ship was hijacked by Somali pirates, and the Spanish government paid millions of dollars in ransom for the more than 20 crew members on board.
Later, countries simply send their own warships resident escort, so the situation is a little better, but the pirates are still not to be underestimated.
In previous years there are captains said, they cross the Straits of Mandalay, together with up to 80 pirate boats, if not followed by the motherland’s escort warships together, really no life back.
2 On this voyage, Lao Qian and I were captains at the same time.
Old money is two years older than me, two people are considered the same time into the company, when the old leader of the old Jiangtou played under the miscellaneous.
The company said I was experienced, so they let me work with Old Money.
The company’s idea was so obvious that a newcomer might be fooled by the company’s claim. I’ve been here for 35 years, and it’s impossible for me not to see when two captains are needed on a ship.
All I have is sailing experience and no pirate experience, what a joke, the company is hoping that if the captain this time if there is a life threatening situation, I can step in.
The company is also quite ingenious, old money as the captain, I do not even have a reason to refuse.
Spring Festival vacation soon passed, I followed the old money boat, embarked on a new journey.
Old money is Huizhou people, his family sent him to the army in the early years, and after the discharge of the army, he landed in the company as a sailor.
He square face meat nose, heavy eyebrows can be seen from miles away, height 1 meter 74 he did not feel stout, but if you have seen him on the deck rolled up his sleeves, you will find that the muscles of his arms are solid and strong.
Old money in the army is a land army, in his own words that is called: “I pick up the gun to aim at you, said the left eye does not deviate from the left eyebrow.
“Two old guys meet, there is a lot to say, this “Huihai ship” after the start of the voyage, the two of us every day in the captain’s office to drink tea.
This side of the old money joked that I liked the clerk girl did not catch up, followed by me to reveal the scars of the old money, saying that he was washing the deck can fall over several times.
The happy mood of the two old brothers also infected the crew with the ship, they are happy in the break, leaving behind the hard disk and books, to go to the captain’s office to the two old captains to make a miscellaneous.
However, this happy atmosphere, when the ship officially entered the Arabian Sea, was quickly replaced by the tension of the whole crew.
Everyone knows in their hearts that entering the Arabian Sea, the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait is not far away.
The vicious Somali pirates are getting closer and closer.
On this day, the tanker sailed to a certain latitude, and the first mate reported to Lao Qian, “Boss Qian, this seems to be the place.
“Lao Qian signaled the first mate to slow down the ship’s speed in a wide sea.
The surface of the sea was calm at this time, with a few clouds far away in the sky.
The strong diffuse reflection of the midday sunlight stabbed people’s eyes.
Old Money and I both held binoculars, and soon, we saw a fast-moving small white dot appear in our sight.
That small white dot from far to near, in a short while can be seen, in the rapid upturning of the white waves above, is a speedboat speeding forward.
Driving the speedboat and riding in it were all hans wearing uniforms and carrying professional equipment on their bodies.
At the front of the speedboat sat a captain-like man, who, seeing our boat from afar, stood up and waved his arms.
This is the security team that the company arranged for us on this voyage: Sea Sharks.
Sea Sharks is a maritime security team made up of various veterans with combat experience, who have been operating well in the shipping industry for many years.
The members are not only brave, but they are also equipped with anti-personnel weapons.
There have been ships that have successfully escaped from the pursuit of pirates under their protection, and they are quite famous in the industry.
The strength of this maritime security team is like a well-trained mercenary army.
And also because of the reason that equipped with weapons, so such a security team can not go ashore, only in and the customer agreed on the sea, take their own speedboat, boarding the ship at sea.
Once on board, these team members all had their hands behind their backs, their tanned skin glistening with oil in the sun.
On the 3 deck, a small team of 4 people lined up.
Next to them were two rather weighty looking crates.
In the team, a man with an inch head, he stepped out of the line and stepped forward and said: “Good day, Captain, I am the captain of the sixth detachment of the Sea Sharks, I used to be a member of the Chinese Navy, and I was involved in escorting the Chinese fleet of ships in the Gulf of Aden in 2010, and my brothers call me Dazi.
“Lao Qian shook hands with him, “Captain Qi, welcome.
We’re counting on you to help us with the Fai Hai this time.” Captain Qi gave a standing ovation.
“Captain Qi stood at attention, “Your safety is our mission.” After that, Captain Qi introduced the other members one by one: Xiao Niu, a boy in his early twenties, with a downward-facing mouth and a metal coin around his neck, which looked like a peace talisman given to him by a girl; Ah Zhuang, the tallest member, with a T-shirt full of tendons and a pouch around his waist, which looked like a knife; and Wang Fry, the chubby member, with sunburnt eyes, who had been exposed to the sun. member of the team, his eyes even more blinded by the sun.
He seemed to be the one who talked the most, and when Captain Qi introduced him, he grabbed the words first: “My name is Wang Fry, the king of the mountain king, the bomb of the bomb! Old Money and I smiled at each other, feeling that it wasn’t hard to get along with these security members.
The “Sea Sharks” were very efficient, and after a short introduction of their team members, Captain Qi began to organize their work.
The calf boy took out an “equipment list” and asked the first mate to fill it out, and the first mate brought him along to fill out the form.
On this side, Captain Qi let Ah Zhuang and Wang Fry open the boxes they brought up, and took out the things inside one by one to introduce them.
“This is an AK47, we have 4 of them, each one can shoot 30 rounds each time.
This will be put in the box beforehand to put away, in the real encounter with pirates, we will open the weapon box, take out and fight with pirates.
“The crew members were all seeing real firearms for the first time, and couldn’t help but stretch their necks at this point, wanting to take a closer look at this legendary gun that is said to “take the most lives each year”.
Captain Qi pointed to another box, “Inside here is some barbed wire, and some defense tools against pirates, later we will conduct an overall inspection on the ship, and make some more safeguards for the places that need more protection.
“We encountered the pirates of the measures are, first of all, to scare, repel them, so that they do not get on board.
If the pirates come on board, then all the crew should be hidden to realize the facilities of the safety cabin.
“By our “Sea Shark” crew, in the front and the pirates in a frontal conflict.
“A crew member couldn’t help but ask, “Will they really shoot?
“Shooting?
“Captain Qi suddenly smiled.
“Of course.
“He turned around and lifted up his T-shirt.
On his back, there were three circular scars, and although the edges had grown into the surrounding skin, the skin tissue that had been burned and then regrown still looked hideous.
“This was the year before last, when we were in Somalia and encountered ‘Somali sailors’.
At that time they directly hit the hull of the ship with a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher and then took advantage of the chaos to climb aboard.
We clashed with them head on and in the end I got a bullet in my back and their men were thrown overboard by our strafing.
” The crew member who asked the question did not squeak, “Somali sailors” is the best equipped and most powerful of the four Somali pirate forces.
This captain is actually a person who has personally experienced Somali pirates and had a head-on firefight.
We all boosted our confidence in our ability to successfully pass through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait this time.
But I was more anxious, before boarding the ship from the news, although the writing is true, but always through the screen, described in words, and now see the captain’s back injuries, this matter is directly in front of the eyes, straight to tell us that this is a life-threatening thing.
I was still praying never to engage in a head-on firefight, to do so would be dangerous, and this anxiety kept my brow from loosening.
After these introductions, Old Money and I took a group of security teammates and walked around the deck and cabins, a move to understand the internal and external structure of the Fai Hai and to help set up the safety cabin.
The safety cabin must be hidden, and the door can only be opened from the inside, so that if the pirates do board the ship, it will be difficult for them to find you.”
“The first mate led Captain Qi to a corner of the cabin and pushed a place with both hands.
As he pushed hard, a gap slowly appeared in the wall, and a hidden space appeared in front of everyone’s eyes.
“This is the safety cabin we set up beforehand.
” I also followed into it, which he had already come to see with Old Money before we set off, and it housed water and food that the entire ship’s crew could support for at least a week.
There was even a special bag for excrement.
Old money is not assured, but also specially requested this inside to put another satellite phone separately.
Captain Qi circled around the safety cabin for two weeks, checking the living reserves, and repeatedly tapping on the hatch with his hand in a fist.
“It’s fine, this security hatch is very sturdy.
“Later on, our tactical positions will also be set up with this safety hatch in mind.
“The crew’s respective escape routes will also be practiced together then.
“Old Money and I nodded, they had actually prepared for this.
“When the time comes, if there’s a head-on conflict, after the alarm is disarmed, we’ll knock on this hatch, like this-” Captain Qi raised his arm, and with his thick bony knuckles, he rhythmically knocked on the hatch one long and two short, a total of three times.
Those present also heard it.
By this time, Maverick had followed the first mate all the way through filling out the form, and Old Money and I had both looked over the form one by one and found it to be in order.
Captain Qi also read the form, and then used the satellite phone they carried to dial the Sea Shark’s marine dispatch center and reported the situation of the Fai Hai one by one.
In the evening, a sumptuous dinner was served in the cafeteria of the “Huihai”.
This time, the ship’s chef was a Sichuanese, frying fresh and spicy dishes, under the good food, the crew and the seemingly serious security teammates, but also a little warm up.
The second mate loves to drink beer, he opened a can and brought it to Captain Qi, who waved his hand at the beer brought to him, “We can’t drink on the ship, and we’ll have to take a shift to guard the cockpit later.
“When the crew heard this, they didn’t make it difficult and gave the crew one can of Red Bull per person.
Ah Zhuang was already on duty in the cockpit, and the kitchen saw that he was unusually large and sent him a double dinner.
He didn’t chat with the first mate who was in charge of the ship. After eating, he just sat by himself with his arms wrapped around him, occasionally taking out a finger gyro to play with it.
Tomorrow, the Fai Hai will enter the Straits of Mandalay.
Early in the morning, Old Money and I walked into the cockpit and looked at the sea ahead, with an extra crew member on the bridge.
“Fraser Sea has entered the Gulf of Aden, entering the realm of pirate activities, our hearts are in our throats.
If there are no special circumstances, crew members are required to stay at their workstations, not to leave without authorization, and even more so, not to go on deck without authorization.
Pilot room on duty at this time has been replaced by Wang Fry, he held a thick stomach, hand at this time also holding an AK47.
Outside the deck, is the calf, both hands holding the gun repeatedly back and forth, eyes are not blinking a look around the sea.
Today the security team members, all have already taken the AK47 in their hands, always ready.
Captain Qi was also in the cab, he was holding binoculars, looking at the distant sea.
4 Not too far out in the sea, a mother ship towing 3, 4 small speedboat ships was suddenly spotted.
A pirate ship! I’m not an optimist, always used to think of the worst case scenario, and I never thought I’d be able to smooth things over by luck this time.
As expected, it was met.
After identifying their target, the pirates approached the Fai Hai with a speedboat, hooked it, and towed it back.
However, the Fraser is huge, and the drydock and other easy access points were raised by the security team yesterday.
Therefore, the Chinese flagged tanker seemed to be a headache for the pirates, who could not get on board and could not rob the ship. Therefore, we watched the pirates give up boarding the ship, and the speedboat drifted farther and farther away from the Fraser Sea.
The crew breathed a sigh of relief, I could hear the sound of everyone letting out a breath of air, Old Money and I could not help but look at each other.
However, Captain Qi was still in a state of readiness to fight at any time, and his breath was all tightly collapsed.
This made Old Money and I start to get nervous again, did Captain Qi find something?
Or what’s going on?
The pirates are gone, aren’t they?
We didn’t dare to spread this emotion, in the cockpit where many people were present, we couldn’t open our mouths to ask questions, let alone open our mouths to discuss, this kind of time to spread the tense atmosphere is a big no-no.
As we watched the Fraser continue to move in, the Mander Channel was still very close, and the crew could already see with their naked eyes the entrance to the channel that was gradually tightening.
The layer upon layer of door-like reefs really gave people the feeling of a “door of life and death”.
Captain Qi picked up the walkie-talkie, “Entering the Mandalay Channel, entering the Mandalay Channel.
“Brace yourselves.
“Gosh, it seems that just now was just an appetizer, this is the key area, the narrowest part of the strait is the best place to make a move, Old Money and I took a deep breath, our eyes still didn’t dare to change the slightest bit, to say that we weren’t afraid would be a lie.
Wang Fry stood next to him, he shook the fat on his body, all of a sudden also stood up, also concentrated on the deck.
In the intercom, the response of the other two crew members also came separately.
The “Fai Hai” began to merge, the Mandalay Strait was one of the busiest straits in the world, with an average of hundreds of ships passing through every day.
At this moment, even though it was morning, there were also several other small fishing boats, following behind and in front of them to go through.
The reefs on both sides were getting closer and closer, and the hull of the “Huihai” began to enter the strait.
Old Qian personally stood in front of the steering wheel, holding it with both hands, his eyes gleaming at the sea in front of him.
The first and second mates were gazing at the data in their hands.
At a moment like this, past sailing experience all fails, apart from weapons, nothing can guarantee your safety.
Suddenly, Captain Qi spoke out, “Three o’clock, we have a situation.
“I went to the window and looked out, a dilapidated small speedboat, towards our ship fast approaching, the people on board with clothes completely masked their faces, on the body of one left and one right each hanging two hanging machine gun bullets.
“Pirates are coming.
“Wang Fry has also stood by the window, he quickly judged the distance between the pirates and them: “Captain, one thousand meters.
“You go to the deck first.
“Roger that.
“When the security team encounters pirates, they must follow the “security principle” and will only fire warning shots if the pirates are within 500 meters.
Wang Fry brought his gun to the past, on the one hand, to take a video of the encounter with the pirates in advance, in order to prepare for the work report, but also to facilitate on the deck, at any time on the pirates to release the gun to signal the police.
Ah Zhuang, who was on duty last night, also quickly went to the deck to get ready, he and Xiao Niu each ducked into the tactical positions they had set up before, and loaded their guns.
“Captain, almost 500 meters.
” King Fry hid behind the cover, accurately judging the situation ahead.
“500 meters, fire your warning shots.
This is done to the pirates, tell the pirates to go before it’s too late.
However, the pirates on the speedboat did not seem to eat this set, they still drove the boat forward.
“Captain, the pirates will not retreat.
“Wang Fry finished, and let off another shot.
The distance was only three hundred meters.
Captain Qi said to Old Money, “Captain, please lead all the crew into the safety cabin.
‘ Old Qian glanced at Wang Fry on the right deck, and I exchanged glances, and the two nodded.
The first mate picked up the ship’s radio, ”Attention all crew members, attention all crew members, immediately take cover in the safety cabin, immediately take cover in the safety cabin.
.
.
”Earlier yesterday, the crew had already familiarized themselves with their escape routes under Captain Qi’s arrangements.
Now as soon as they heard the announcement, they all arranged the work at hand and then nervously and quickly retreated to the safety cabin.
Old Qian and I also entered the cabin under the cover of Ah Zhuang.
The deck and the ship were completely left to the crew of “Sea Shark”.
I was still uneasy and asked Ah Zhuang, “What are you going to do?
It’s too dangerous out there.
“Ah Zhuang said with a straight back, “Don’t worry, we will pick you up in a while.
He said, “Don’t worry, we’ll pick you up in a minute.” After that, he turned his head and left.
After entering the safety cabin, the first officer counted the people one by one, “21.
21…22…22…22…22…22.
22….
22.
23….
.
- “Reporting to Chief Qian, the crew is all here.”
“Then, Old Money ordered to lock the cabin door, “Bang” sound metal door tightly closed, the first mate and sailor force to tighten the door lock.
Old Money looked around, at this time the 24 crew members have all taken refuge in the safety cabin, but everyone is the first time to encounter this kind of situation, the small safety cabin, still can’t help but pervade the atmosphere of worry and anxiety.
I touched the wall and found a small box.
That was the satellite phone that Old Money had asked to be put in earlier, and it really came in handy.
He pressed a number he knew by heart, saying as he did so, “Let’s call the search and rescue center first.
”On the deck, Captain Qi was leading his team in a fierce battle with the pirates under the bunker.
The pirates’ equipment is not worse than theirs, but their skills are not very good, always climbing up twice, and then beaten down by the team, back and forth several times, like a gopher.
Wang Fry shook his fat chin, he was already sweating, but none of the pirates died.
He felt that this was not right.
“Chief, don’t you think they are not sincere about boarding the ship?
” Captain Qi was holding the AK in his hand, gazing and aiming.
“With a series of bullets, the pirates on the speedboat below all fell down.
“Awesome.
“Wang Fried did not forget to kiss ass at the critical moment.
At this time, Captain Qi raised his head, he looked at Wang Fry and pondered for a moment, “That’s right.
”When it was too late, he clutched his gun and did a backward roll, reaching the outside of the cockpit in a few moves.
Then he vigilantly stuck to the cockpit wall, moving his position while looking around at the situation in the sea below.
Ah Zhuang and Xiao Niu were guarding the left and aft parts of the ship respectively.
When both of them saw Captain Qi, they gave him a left-handed thumbs-up and then leaned slightly in their direction.
This was saying, “I have no problem here.
‘ Captain Qi felt that something was wrong, and he continued to look left and right warily, his military instincts making him feel that he was being watched at the moment.
The ship was slowly drifting across the channel, following the water.
The reefs on both sides were still high and dense, and he stared dead ahead at every reef beyond the railing.
He felt that the problem was there.
At this moment, he only heard a “bang” from the bow of the ship, and a burst of white smoke came out.
“Bazooka!” Captain Qi immediately reacted that the pirate accomplice was in front! “Ah Zhuang! Take cover!” He quickly moved towards the bow of the ship, intending to repel the pirates there.
As soon as he ran out of cover, suddenly, a machine gun appeared on the reef next to him! There was a pirate who had already climbed up and waited with a machine gun, aiming at Captain Qi! At this moment, Xiao Niu in the stern saw something wrong and hurriedly raised his voice to stop it! But it was too late.
The other members of the team instinctively craned their necks.
The machine guns struck in a flurry, and one of the stray bullets hit Captain Qi right in the back, and his whole body froze and fell.
“Captain!” “Captain!” “Captain!” Captain Qi was shot, and by reflex, he rolled to the side the moment he fell to the ground, and his blood was all the way down the deck.
“Damn you, pirate boy, you dare to hit your grandfather!
I’m sorry, I’m sorry.
The first time I saw him, I saw him.
” That bullet just now seemed to have hit some vital organ, he was now chilled and his limbs felt limp.
“Ah Zhuang! Don’t come out! There are too many of them! Leave me alone!” Captain Qi knew very well in his heart that he had already given an explanation, and the remaining brothers could live for a little while longer.
Captain Qi struggled to find the bullets he had on him, loaded them, and then looked down at the small speedboat towing the boat.
His back waist “gurgling” blood, forehead beans on the cold sweat, he gritted his teeth, desperately staring at the target: “small pirates hemp old me die also want to pull you back.
I’m going to take you with me when I die,” he said.
.
” “Snap, snap, snap, snap”, a burst of machine gun fire over.
The small speedboat on the 3 pirates, are down.
After shooting this pike of bullets, Captain Qi only felt heavy eyelids, head can not lift up, he touched his back, blood has soaked clothes.
“He touched his back, the blood had soaked his clothes.
.
.
It’s not a loss.
“Captain!” Ah Zhuang witnessed the whole thing from the side, he didn’t care that it might still be dangerous, he rushed up to support Captain Qi with an arrow step.
However, the captain could no longer be shaken awake.
Wang Fry and Xiao Niu were also full of anxiety, they saw that the captain had collapsed, but the danger zone had not yet passed.
The pirate on the reef saw that he had already knocked out one of his team members, he set up his machine gun again and aimed at Ah Zhuang.
“Ah Zhuang! Ah Zhuang!” Wang Fry shouted while also aiming at the pirate on the reef, he had to save his teammate!
“The pirate with the machine gun seemed to have been shot, covered his shoulder and fell down. “Damn you, you think I’m a sick cat if I’m not powerful! What do you think I am?” “Do you know what I am! King bomb! Bomb!” However, suddenly “snap”, Wang Bomb’s mouth stiffened, his horrified eyes had not yet had time to close.
He only felt something hot, gushing out of his brain, “What is it.
.
.
.
?
” He would never know.
At this time he was guarding the right side of the ship, below, I do not know when a new speedboat came, they should have long been ambushed, waiting for the right time to come out.
Eventually, the pirates boarded the ship.
5, at this time hiding in the safety cabin crew, the situation on the deck know nothing.
Just now the satellite phone call out, China Maritime Search and Rescue Center has received their distress, is helping to coordinate rescue.
But the rescue hadn’t come yet, only to hear the sound of heavy footsteps ringing outside, like they were anxiously looking for something, the crew had thought it was the security crew coming and were a little happy.
My complexion changed and I stretched out my arm, silently stopping everyone.
At this point, there was no telling if it was friend or foe.
Sure enough, footsteps came and went outside, and there also seemed to be someone tapping back and forth on the outer wall.
But there was just no one, to the correct hatch position, tapping on the hatch with the agreed upon rhythm.
Most of the crew also guessed that the deck was probably lost.
Some were weeping, but they didn’t make a sound.
They just hugged their knees in silence and huddled silently in the darkness.
The air was slowly thinning as well, but everyone just slowed their breathing more gently.
I don’t know how long it took, but calm seemed to return outside the security pod.
A message came over the satellite phone, “Fai Hai, Fai Hai, the warships have arrived, they’re boarding the ship, they’re boarding the ship.
” As soon as Old Qian and I heard the news from the satellite phone, our spirits were lifted.
It’s been an hour.
Soon after the satellite phone call ended, footsteps sounded again outside the security cabin, accompanied by some voices talking.
Then, there was a broadcast: “Huihai, we are the Chinese Navy, there are no more pirates on board, you can come out now; there are no more pirates on board, you can come out now already.
.
.
” A familiar Chinese voice came.
The radio of the “Huihai” suddenly rang out, and the already drowsy crew members were full of confusion as they analyzed the familiar voice.
Until they finally heard it clearly: we can go out now! A few crew members with good physical strength were the first to rush up and desperately push the hatch! Then all of them, swarming towards the exit! We’re safe. We’re saved.
With the help of the Navy, the Fai Hai finally made it safely out of the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, into the Red Sea, and into the Suez Canal.
The crew took stock of their belongings and realized that all their valuables had disappeared.
Because the crew hid in the safety cabin, so that the pirates who kidnapped the crew for ransom had nothing to do, the crude oil they did not take away, it seems that the pirates were not well-prepared this time, and had to choose the next best thing, to search for belongings.
Deck people, only several puddles of messy blood, the crew’s weapons are also missing, it is likely that the pirates robbed together.
I remembered the security team members who were still eating with everyone yesterday, and they were once so fresh.
Captain Qi, Ah Zhuang, Xiao Niu, Wang Fry.
After only a few hours, there was no chance to meet again.
Old Qian and I walked over to the largest puddle of blood on the bow of the ship, Old Qian took off his captain’s hat and joined me, looking at the blood on the ground that was already almost dry, and silently paying our respects to them.
The rest of the crew, too, came together behind the two old captains and saluted them in silence.
Suez Canal, sailing to shoot the sea, still blue.
Births and deaths, prosperity and decline are still played out at sea every day.
