Ripping Yarns

The Sailor and the six dolphins.

  A few years ago, I fell into conversation with a ex WW2 Royal Navy gentleman who had come down to the jetty to have a look at the boat, we started talking about the last war and the amount of his shipmates that were lost at sea and I mentioned that some people believed that dolphins were the souls of shipwrecked sailors. We discovered that he and my father were in the same destroyer flotilla and after sharing a few yarns he departed with a spring in his step saying that he would definitely be coming out on the boat in a week or so.

A week later, I had a call from a lady who asked if I could arrange for a scattering of the ashes at sea ceremony for an ex sailor.  I had done this a couple of times previously and knew what the procedure was, so I made the arrangements. 

When the morning came there was a dead flat calm sea. We made the passage out to a position in naval waters close to Garden Island and laying adrift I read out  “Crossing the Bar” by Alfred Tennyson, (a traditional sailors send off.)

After scattering the ashes and laying the wreathes on the sea, six dolphins immediately came around the boat. (Although I was used to dolphins coming over to the boat, I was more than a little surprised at there seemingly impeccable timing.)

It was very pleasing to see the deceased widow’s demeanour change as a result of this timely encounter, and on the way back after a piping hot cup of tea she was able to relax enough to speak about her deceased husband. (Who, in fact, was the gentleman I had met a week earlier)

 I repeated to her what I had told her husband about the dolphins.

  Three years later, the same lady asked me to take her out to the location.

As I had given her a copy of the chart showing the co-ordinates I took her to the precise position where she laid some flowers on the sea. To her and my astonishment six dolphins came over to the boat again!

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