98021 Out of the Skeleton Cupboard – Saved by the Sun

Out of the Skeleton Cupboard – Saved by the Sun
Atlantic Ocean.
Report No. 98021.

Many years ago when I was Third Mate on a reefer running between the Bristol Channel and the West Indies and well past the Azores outward bound, I came on watch on a bright sunny day and soon settled down to the routine of morning sights. I estimated the visibility to be good and that there was nothing in sight. It was fortuitous that the sun happened to be right ahead of the ship. I strolled out onto the bridge wing and “brought” the sun down to the horizon and there, through the telescope and shades of the sextant, I saw a ship coming the other way. As we were doing about 22 knots, I moved rather faster into the wheelhouse and, trying to look nonchalant, altered course to starboard.