We could just see the North African coast this morning. The third mate said his cell phone had connected via Tunis.
The captain says our course is further north than usual and takes us between Malta and Sicily. A chart shows we'll be well above the NATO-imposed 'Libya Maritime Surveillance Area Limit'.
Perhaps we'll see some warships or air force contrails, although Western support of the rebels is presumably winding down. With so little news, I have no idea.
For four centuries, Barbary pirates were the headlines from the Mediterranean shipping lanes. European vessels were regularly taken by Muslim 'corsairs' and their crews enslaved. Writing in 1890, Stanley Lane-Poole had the answer:
"Nothing but the creation of the large standing navies of the present age crippled them; nothing less than the conquest of their too convenient coasts could have thoroughly suppressed them ..." (The Barbary Corsairs Stanley Lane-Poole 1890)
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose ... except there aren't enough warships in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea, and the Somali coast hasn't been seriously tackled. More when we're there.
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My major accomplishment today was encouraging the bosun to bring out the ship's bell, one of Amber's few maritime traditions. It had been put away on her last passage up the China Coast as apparently bells are tempting targets for Chinese dockworkers.
The bell, with the date of Amber's launch, is for use in fog to warn off other vessels; a very loud ship's horn makes it redundant, but it's a happy nautical touch. On my circuits, I will ring it, safe in the knowledge no one's likely to hear.
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I rang the bell and dolphins came. Alone at the bow, I was watching ships and daydreaming. Then I decided test 'my' bell. A few minutes later, I heard a splash and looked over the side. Click on the pictures.
