1275psi
Posts: 7979
Joined: 4/17/2005 Status: offline
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14th May They begin just east of the Cape. Pushed by the trade winds that blow eternally eastwards, circling forever the great frozen southern wastes, they grow. By the time they reach the gulf, some of them are simply enormous. The great southern swells. I have sailed across these swells. As a sailor you mark of certain things. The salt water mans bucket list:, to pass through the Panama Canal, the suez, to go around the capes. To do the bight, to do Bass strait. These waters may, rarely, be mirror calm, on the surface. I have seen them so. But under the surface, the great beasts roll ever eastward. They march, one after the other, sometimes miles between the peaks of each moving ridge, so deceptive, hiding so much power. I have stood on the decks of a destroyer, a DDG, and known, that on the other side of the moving mountain, hidden, sails another. I have seen a destroyer slide down the face of one of these swells, with the Captain pretending that he has control of his vessel, knowing full well that the swell has control, not him So they roll, ever onwards, where eventually some travel Bass strait, and pound the coast, creating one of the most beautiful vistas in the world. And for sailors, for over 200 years, one of the most lethal. South of Perth, of Albany, off Esperance, a great many ships sail today. A high pressure weather zone is over the bight, calming the surface, but not the hidden mountains. They will carry the detritus of these days ever eastward, to add to the skeletons and bodies and wreckage of 200 years, to this, Victoria's southern coast, the shipwreck coast. The first battle in these moving mountains occurs 100 miles due south of Albany. Minneapolis, Louisville, skating around Mogami, Sendai, 3 destroyers. The mighty Minni does best, smacking the Mogami hard, leaving her burning. But its a win for the Japs, the allies are prevented from making the coast, of completing the mission. CL Raleigh bombards Esperance, creates chaos. Sideshows to the real goal. The eternal swells will have a heavy cargo to carry. AO Rampao, torpedoed by a SS Three fat AKs racing into Albany, filled with everything 5th division needs so desperately. Sunk. Many of the bodies will miss the shipwreck coast. They will be pushed ever on eastwards, ever on, ever on and forever on.........
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big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt
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