Sea Chill

It's a fogalicious morning started early with a group photo of the C164 students. Perhaps it is appropriate that the fog has isolated us again, though we were lit up by the lights of civilization beaming across the waters last night. In a half hour or so, life will be more complicated for most of us, but we will take with us myriad shipboard memories.

For perspective, here is a last extract -- from the suite of talent and time we shared last night:

07:24, Raising anchor in sight of Rockland, ME

I must go down to the seas again, where the billows romp and reel,
So all I ask is a large ship that rides on an even keel,
And a mild breeze and a broad deck with a slight list to leeward,
And a clean chair in a snug nook and a nice, kind steward.

I must go down to the seas again, the sport of wind and tide,
As the gray wave and the green wave play leapfrog over the side.
And all I want is a glassy calm with a bone-dry scupper,
And a good book and a warm rug and a light, plain supper.

I must go down to the seas again, though there I'm a total loss,
And can't say which is worst, the pitch, the plunge, the roll, the toss.
But all I ask is a safe retreat in a bar well tended,
And a soft berth and a smooth course till the long trip's ended.

Arthur Guiterman, in Moods of the Sea (Solley/Steinbaugh, Naval Institute Press)