HOW DO YOUR START your diesel
auxiliary engine if most of the acid has leaked out of the batteries? If you’ll
bear with me for a moment, I’ll tell you.
Many years ago I was interested in
buying a Colin Archer, one of a famous breed of full-keeled sailing fishing
boats, pilot boats, and rescue vessels used in Norway a hundred years ago. This
particular one was, in fact, called Colin
Archer, and she was sailed singlehanded from Europe to Durban, South
Africa, where I was living then, by a man called Donald Shave. He was not quite singlehanded in that he had
his dog with him all the way, but I don’t think the dog was a lot of help with
the sailing. He certainly never stood watches, not even dogwatches.
Shave sold Colin Archer to a local man who had become quite famous for being
probably the world’s most successful mercenary soldier, self-styled Colonel
Mike Hoare, whose private army had fought in what was then the Belgian
Congo. Hoare was the most unlikely
looking land pirate, not at all riproaring or rapacious. He did not swash his
buckles or rip his roars. He was what he
looked like, a quiet Irish accountant. But naturally he had other hidden
talents.
I had known him from the time when
he was running safaris overland from Durban into the Okavango Swamps of
Bechuanaland, today’s Botswana. I had
gone along with him on an expedition to Ngamiland as a photographer.
When Hoare decided to sell Colin Archer I thought I might want her,
so we took her for a test sail in the Indian Ocean off Durban one blustery day
when the onshore northeaster was piping up .
As we were coming into shallower
water, approaching the harbor entrance on the way back, the yacht was thrown
onto her beam ends when a large breaking wave caught her amidships.
She recovered herself in due course,
but Hoare found he couldn’t start the diesel to enter port. A little
exploration down below soon discovered the cause. The ship’s batteries had
leaked most of their acid while she lay on her side.
To my astonishment, Hoare
immediately filled them up with fresh water.
I was very dubious about that, but when he pressed the starter button
the engine dutifully turned over and roared to life.
I have never had an opportunity to
make personal use of this valuable tip,
and I thank goodness for that, but it
made such an impression on me that it is permanently tucked away into a corner
of my brain . . . just in case.
Today’s
Thought
We
sometimes had those little rubs which Providence sends to enhance the value of
its favours.— Goldsmith, The Vicar of Wakefield
Tailpiece
“What can I do for you, young man?”“Sorry to have to ring your door bell, sir, but I’ve come to collect your daughter and my car’s horn isn’t working.”
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