# New Year's Eve in Tahiti.



## Cpt Dick Brooks (May 13, 2013)

Debut lay at anchor in the calm waters of Cooks Bay, Moorea, with the young mountains reaching up like fingers from the mire. In the valleys between the peaks were scattered the green fields of pineapple that were sold to the hotels of the island and on Tahiti. Music drifted from the bar of the hotel nearby.
I took the small launch which acted as a ferry that morning to Papeete, on the nearby island of Tahiti, to sign off three of my crew. As there was no port of entry on Moorea, this had to be done for everyone of my crew who left my ship, or a new one wanting to be signed on. It was a bit of a bummer, as it was New Year's Eve at the end of 1980, and I was looking forward to the partying on board my ship on the night to come.
When Debut was moored alongside the Quay-of-Honour in Papeete Harbour, the survey ship, the University of Washington, moored up in front of us. My ship's first officer, Big-Anna, had fallen for the ship's steward, and he had sent a telegram after they'd sailed, asking her to marry him at their next port of call. She had sent her reply to Honolulu, and left with her two Norwegian friends to be his bride. Leanne and Carlie were to be her bridesmaids on this most auspicious occasion, on her way home to Bergen with her new husband.
After completing the task of signing off my three crew, with the added complication of having to claim back the bond that I had to pay for every member of my crew while Debut remained in the Territorial Waters of French Polynesia, I went for a walk along the waterfront of this most beautiful harbour. First I went on board the Taiyo, a topsail schooner that was chartering out of the port. I had got to know the crew and captain well, while Debut was tied up to the Quay-of-Honour, and the drinks served on board by them went down real well. 
I noticed while sipping away in their cockpit that a British cargo ship was moored up to the quay on the commercial side of the harbour, so decided to wander over to her and get chatting to the crew. Every time I saw a British merchant ship on my voyage of adventure around the Tropical World, I went on board for a chat. I was also hoping to get any out-of-date British Admiralty charts that they had, to add to my collection of over 3,000 charts of the 4,000 in the world. I also kept a stock of a 1,000 charts or so as seconds that I could offer to yachties on a one-to-one swap basis. As they were very expensive, this helped them out along with the one-to-one book swap I offered from my ship's library.
Passing through the dock gates of the commercial part of the harbour, I waved to the security office, and one of their offices waved back. As I had been to the Immigration Office, I was wearing my full white tropical uniform, and they were more than happy to admit me without being challenged. There were a large group of local men drinking and behaving raucously on a nearby grassed-over area, and they stood, coming to attention and giving me a mock salute. They returned my New Year's Eve greeting and sat down again, carrying on with their own celebrations. I could see the ship that I was heading for on the quay jutting out into the eastern part of the harbour, and saw that it was one of the Bank Line ships. 
On arriving at the boarding gangway, I was greeted with more seasonal greetings by the guard on duty and ushered on board the ship. One of the uniformed deck officers pointed out the entrance to the accommodation when I asked to speak to the second mate, who was in charge of the navigation of the ship. I made my way up three more decks by the internal staircase until I could hear the noisy celebrations taking place in the officers bar. A large uniformed officer greeted me and invited me over to join his group. By their accents, I could tell that they were all from Glasgow.
He turned out to be the chief engineer, and thrust a glass of beer into my hand. On my enquiry to speak to the second mate, he called a member of the crew to join us. When I told him of my mission, he ordered a junior officer in his party to go up to the chartroom behind the bridge and bring down as many old charts that he could carry for me. The engineers only used the old charts for gaskets, or the deck officers made paper planes out of them and launched them out over the sea.
After an hours drinking, the first mate addressed the gathering with swearwords about the dockers being late to unload the ship, so she could get underway before the New Year's Day holiday prevented their departure. They were intending to spend the Bank Holiday at sea, then arrive at Suva, in Fiji, the day after to unload more of their cargo.
I enquired at their irritation of the dockers being late if they were the group of men drunk out of their minds by the dock gates, and pointed out to them that I wouldn't even allow them to scrub my decks, let alone operate my ship's winches unloading previous cargo. The first officer sent one of the junior officers to check on my story, fearing the worst that they could find themselves stuck for days in this crowded harbour. Twenty minutes later, he returned with the bad news, so the drinking started in earnest. There was no way that they would allow drunk dockers to operate their winches in this state, and they couldn't operate them themselves without causing a docker's strike and their ship being blacked, so they accepted their fate and ordered yet another round of drinks from the steward acting as their barman.
Because of their strong Scottish accents, I had subconsciously dropped into speaking like Billy Connolly... one of my favourite comedians. They took me to be a fellow Scotsman, and we all had one hell of a party in their officer's mess, with me being invited to join them for their evening meal during their celebrations. Towards the end of the evening, the chief engineer put his large, hairy arm around my shoulders and enquired what part of Scotland I came from. "Cannot ye tell?" I replied to him in my best Billy Connolly.
"Ye sound like ya's from Glasgie, but ya could be from down near the borders," he replied to me in jovial friendship.
"I'm from Ipswich, in Suffolk," I replied to him, now switching to my best posh English accent. "On the east coast of East Anglia."
"A bloody Sassenach!" he retorted. "You mean we have a bloody Sassenach amongst us?" Everyone burst out laughing at their mistake, but welcomed me to carry on joining in with them by shouting another round of drinks.
I made my excuses in the end to leave and catch the last ferry back to Cook's Bay, in Moorea, and staggered down the gangway to their shouts and yells from the upper decks of the accommodation. With a large bundle of sea charts on my shoulder, I made it to the ferry wharf... but I had missed it and it had sailed without me. I spent the night cuddled up in the open deck-house structure of the deserted Taiyo... all on my own. I could have returned to the Bank Line ship to spend the night, but thought better of it, as I was totally exhausted by now. There were rockets and flares going off all about me as I drifted off to sleep. All the best, Cpt Dick Brooks.


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## cajef (Feb 8, 2012)

What has this or any of your posts in here got to do with 'Looking for Old Shipmates' which is this forum heading?

Surely they should be in the 'Pig & Whistle' forum.


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## Cpt Dick Brooks (May 13, 2013)

*For cajef.*

G'day, cajef, it's good to hear from you, and despite your criticism, I hope you enjoyed my last post... along with all my others. I post my work on the 'Looking for Old Shipmates' Forum as I think it is the best of the Forums to do so. I have posted pertinent pieces on other Forums when suitable, but this one is the most effective. Apart from interest the readers have in my work, I have managed to get in contact with many of my old crew... especially from my last ship... M/V Debut... that I took on a twelve year voyage around the Tropical World. Over that time, I had something like 300 crew on this ship... some staying only a few months, while others stayed for many years.
One very important contact that I made was to be put in contact with the new owners of my second ship... Biche... a Bay of Biscay Thonier from the Brittany coast. Three years ago, the preservation society that now owns her completed a three year rebuild of her in Lorraine, from where she now operates. They knew nothing of me, despite owning her for seven years and spending four years rebuilding her myself back in the sixties while working as a police officer. I wasn't able to contact the crewmember that I was seeking, but I was invited to fly to Loraine and sail once more on this beautiful old sailing ship... only a short distance from where she spent her working life... the Isle de Groix. I hope that you will continue to enjoy my posts, all the best, Cpt Dick Brooks.


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## tsell (Apr 29, 2008)

cajef said:


> What has this or any of your posts in here got to do with 'Looking for Old Shipmates' which is this forum heading?
> 
> Surely they should be in the 'Pig & Whistle' forum.


Hi cajef, I'm sure that Cpt Dick Brooks has solved your chagrin at his story placing.
Please let us know where you post your stories, as I would love to read them.

Cheers

Taff


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## Cpt Dick Brooks (May 13, 2013)

*For tsell.*

G'day, Roy, it's good to hear from you. Thank you for standing by me. Us writers must stick together. Thank you again. All the best, Cpt Dick Brooks.


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## Frank P (Mar 13, 2005)

Another good tale Dick, I visited Papeette a few times in the 1970's while I was onboard the Royal Viking Star and we always stayed a few days, always had a good time.....Keep them coming..

Cheers Frank


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## Cpt Dick Brooks (May 13, 2013)

*For Frank P.*

G'day, Frank, it's good to hear from you. I'm glad you liked my last post about New Year's Eve in Tahiti. I spent five days alongside the Quay-of-Honour... the wharf by the park that the crews ships more up to, with the bandstand in the centre of it. I then took Debut to Cooks Bay in Moorea, where we spent two wonderful months at anchor.
If you would like to read the full story of my stay in French Polynesia, go to the Books Forum and download the Kindle code for 'The Black Ship's Odessa: Book One.' Enjoy the read. All the best, Cpt Dick Brooks.


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