Steven V Johnson wrote:
A US War ship ... "...came under fire..." Right...
. . .
Ah, come on over guys! Free biscuits and doughnuts in the mess hall!
Jed, I think u wuz a pirate in a former life. Whadaya think?
I am sure I can explain this. Our family may or may not have
descended from Pirates and Smugglers. I like to believe my
great-grandmother's tales were true. However, my father was in the
pre-WWII merchant marine in his present life (not a reincarnation),
and he told me with authority that most sailors are drunk, most of
the time. Back then they were, and I expect the Somalian pirates
uphold the tradition.
Drinking caused problems periodically, such as when my dad and his
shipmates burned down a small town in Venezuela during a revolution,
sort of by accident, to avoid a spate of unusually heavy gunfire. And
-- it may have been the same town -- when they dumped the police
chief's laundry into a cesspool, on purpose. This probably did not
contribute to the "ugly gringo" image problem, because I gather they
were an eclectic international group of riffraff. The point is, drink
leads sailors to do foolhardy things such as attacking a U.S. Navy
frigate with a skiff.
- Jed
