Memoirs In Verse

This relatively long free verse poem is based on my autobiographical short story ‘Mayday’. It describes the events surrounding a ship with a timber cargo on one October night in the English Channel. For artistic reasons some details have been changed or omitted from the poem.  Any resemblance to any events or persons living or dead is purely coincidental. Listen to: The Bothnia Star Part 1 - A Warning The letter and photos lay on my desk, sent from Archangelsk in Russia, by a frightened, but courageous young seaman with no one to turn to for help. The pictures were of two of our ships loaded at Baltic Sea ports, full and deep-laden with packs of sawn timber bound for the African coast. The sunlit waters of the western Med glittered and lapped at their main decks as they anchored after ten days at sea; then, I saw why he was pleading with me. Both ships were laden too deep in the water; their captains had risked their lives and those of their crews —for a bribe. They were but two of thr

This free verse poem is the second in the ‘Bothnia Star’ series. Listen to: The Insured The Greek sipped at his bitter black coffee, Perhaps hoping to find cash in the dregs. He sighed, gazing past me at the window, and the dreary London rain that softly patterned the glass with melancholy. His gaze returned to the BBC news, his voice tinged with disdain. ‘I have to say,’ growled the bullish old Greek, ‘They did a first rate job saving the ship,' I allowed his fulsome praise to wash over me, for I saw the 'but' roll in like the swell, ‘but,’ he glowered, ‘don't let ‘em do it again.’ ‘She’s worth six and you insured her for nine, Next time, just let the bloody thing sink!’