Sitting on the bow outbound from port I had a decidedly weird conversation.
First off, I mention sitting on the bow fairly often between this lovely blog and all my other social media vices. What do I do on the bow you might be wondering...
My primary purpose is to drop the anchor in case of an emergency. I also act as a lookout...little boats, etcetera. On this ship I'm on the bow with an unlicensed sailor who is actually acting as lookout and I'm mostly just there in case of emergency.
Segue to weird conversation between two sailors sitting on the bow...
We have a couple minutes of shipboard related chit chat - who's got the next watch - when will we be in the next port - blah blah blah.
Then there is blissful silence. Misty Pusan is behind us and buoys and coasters are ahead of us. There's a nice little breeze and overall it's just a pleasantly simple evening.
Then out of the blue my partner on the bow whips around to face me and says...
Lookout: I saw a ghost today.
Me: oh yeah?
Lookout: yep. I was walking past the tool room and I saw an apparition and then I heard a tool drop...I just figured it was the bosun.
Lookout: but then the chief mate walked by and asked if I'd seen the bosun - I said oh yeah he's in the tool room - the mate said no one was in there and that's when I knew....it was a ghost.
Lookout: I see things sometimes. They're attracted to my energy. They must know in sensitive.
Lookout: like when I was home last time and the scrubber in the bathtub fell off the shelf. I knew then too....
Me: well. I hope it was a friendly ghost....