The following poem entitled LESSONS LEARNED actually happened to me while I was working as a Captain on the S/S Thorfinn in Truk Lagoon back in 1994. Left click on the poem for larger print.
My feet are resting on the tub that I was running to, to get warm.
This is the Steam Ship THORFINN.
All this talk about decks made me remember an experience that Trevor and I had aboard an Alaska Marine Ferry on the way back from a Frostbite Challenge in 1998. We had spent two nights sleeping in a snow-cave that we built in the frigid arctic cold of the Yukon. We were headed home out in Chatham Strait and decided to get some exercise by walking around the deck and reminiscing about the fun time we'd had. There was a deck on the ferry that went all the way around for exercising. Suddenly a guy came by us going the other way. He was doing that weird power-walking stride. We chuckled at his antics and after a few more passes I told Trevor that we should play a practical joke on the guy.
I told Trevor that every time that he passed us we should wait for him to get by us and then run like crazy and as he approached us again we would slow down and walk at our normal pace. Then after he passed us we would run again. After the first pass we didn't notice anything with the guy but after another lap we noticed a puzzled look on his face. The third time he really seemed confused and as soon as he passed us we laughed like crazy. As he passed us we would purposefully walk really slow and really ham it up with bored and nonchalant expressions on our faces.
All of the sudden a booming voice came over the loud speaker.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, IT IS EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN BY THE ALASKA MARINE FERRY SYSTEM TO RUN ON THE DECKS OF THE SHIP. THOSE OF YOU THAT ARE RUNNING, STOP IMMEDIATELY OR YOU WILL BE ESCORTED OFF OF THE VESSEL AT THE NEXT PORT OF CALL.
Of course, we immediately stopped. It was really quite embarrassing because people inside of the observation deck were looking right at us as we came running around the bow of the ship. As we approached the power-walking guy, we had of course, slowed to our slow motion pace.
He also had slowed to a normal walk. Right as he got to us he stopped and turned to us and said in a very serious and disgusted voice, "Don't these people know what power walking is?"
I wasn't running! This is ridiculous!
Now, caught in our practical joke, I had no other alternative than to coyly tell him that the deck was a little icy . . . . . and . . .ah . . . that it was dangerous to run on deck . . . . because you might fall overboard . . . . . . and falling into the sea would be a very serious thing. Talk about tongue in cheek! We were both laughing hysterically inside! We ended up making friends with the guy and talked with him for quite a while. He never knew that he had been Punk'd by Trevor and I.
