"The ship was waiting and we sprang aboard ready to sail. Later, my cousin Irene had undertaken the 200 km. trip to meet me. Unfortunately, she didn't reach Safi before we sailed again and were gone with wind! The "Gella" now took us north. On the next voyage we were scheduled to stop in Casablanca so I wrote to my cousin Irene and told her the news.
We arrived back safely in Ghent with the boat was on a bit of a tipping angle as the load had moved to one side on the high seas. We had a bit of mutiny going on - the daily meal was always mutton and nothing but mutton every day! So, we circled around from the kitchen, in indian file, and went bleating to the Captain until we got his promise of a change in our diet. We went out in Ghent and had a very good time and then went home.
Before our return trip we tried out the lifeboats - that was a bit of a trial. Some were leaking, others were lacking plugs and some of the pumps were not working. In the Gulf of Biscay we floated around without power until John took action. He had to swim down and under in the engine room to open valves and release the water that had come in to the boat. He had to keep releasing water until everything was working properly again.
On the next voyage we first went to Lisbon - we had a better time than on our previous time and this time visited the fairgrounds and The Alexander Bar. Our biggest difficulty proved to be finding our way around town. The Portuguese woman were very inhibited but we got to the bar eventually and had a good time. Lisbon looked pretty new and different to us - they now had a lift tram climbing up the side of the cliffs.
Alongside the big seafarers statue we boarded the old "Gella"and again sailed the north coast making for Casablanca but this time we left early in the morning!
To be continued ...
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