Volume Eight - Pre-Victorian to the present day - more aspects - Passat & Pamir at Penarth Dock - A Photo Album - 1948 - 1951

	The 16,000 mile voyage of the 'Pamir' 28th May - 2nd October 1949.

I thought I'd end this section with a quotation from the book 'The Last Time Around Cape Horn' by ordinary seaman William F. Stark and his account of his duties. [335]

'Among the crew, it was a matter of endless debate how much canvas to keep flying from the ship's nearly 200-foot-high masts at any given moment. More sail meant a faster passage and the chance to beat our rival windjammer, 'Passat', but , in the gale winds that we'd encountered nearly constantly on this run through the Great Southern Ocean, more sail also meant a much greater chance broaching - being blown sideways - and then capsizing.

Obeying the whistle's call, we climbed the gangway to the midship deck. Down in the forecastle cabin, the members of the off-duty watch, also heeding the three whistles, were rolling out of their sodden bunks after an hour or two of precious, and now interrupted, sleep, some of them probably having slept in their wet oilskins from the last watch.

We arrived on the dark, slanting midship deck in clumps of two or three and sought out other shadowy oil-skin clad figures there. I could just make out the square-jawed Scandinavian face of First Mate Liewendahl illuminated by the dim orange kerosene glow that shone from the binnacle - the housing of the big compass before the wheel. He was the captain's mouthpiece. Nearby stood the Old Man himself - Captain Verner Bjorkfelt, a stocky, taciturn, and extremely experienced Finnish sea master. He watched wordlessly, occasionally glancing up toward the huge sails, as the first mate delivered orders to each clump of men arriving on deck, dispatching them to various points aloft to take in canvas.

"McCoy, McKeikan, Stark!" he called out. "Take in the fore royal!"