Yes,little did I know that much.much worse was to follow,

when I was caught in the mother of all downpours on the way to the ship from the city of Lisbon. The rain continued with greater and greater ferocity without respite and as the ship was leaving the port,the captain warned of the wind picking up a little once we were in the open waters.The little turned out to be quite a lot,but I will come to that. Captain's prediction reminds me now of the BBC weather forecast made by Michael Fish on 15 October 1987.A listener phoned in asking about the impending gale winds.Michael said there was nothing to worry about,no gale winds coming..No gale winds turned into a hurricane the country had not forgotten for years to come.As I will never forget the "wind picking up" when sailing on Columbus.The Atlantic ocean can be ferocious and vicious.What is incomprehensible to me is, that a ship sails across the most dangerous of all oceans with the most precious cargo - human beings - without being fitted out with stabilisers.We were tossed about like lettuce in a bowl.