The Pilot

The Pilot
Originally uploaded by Alan Norsworthy

Atlantic Canada, it has to rate as one of my favourite places in the whole world.
Up there with The English Lakes, Scotland and Vancouver Island.

I have traveled here many times over the years on business but only a few as a tourist.
Nothing changes, as soon as I smell the salt air and watch the tide come and go old memories and ways start to surface (pardon the pun).
I am from a small sea town where people made their living from, and a few lost there lives to, the sea.

If you are not one of these people it is hard to explain maybe John Masefield says it best in Sea Fever...

So, to those who make their living, to those who never came back and especially to those who who died trying to save "those in peril on the sea", the men and women of the lifeboat service, I dedicate today blog.


I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking.

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way, where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.
~ John Masefield - Sea Fever ~