Item
Liberated Seas
Media
Title (Dublin Core)
Liberated Seas
Description (Dublin Core)
I was working as a deck hand on a ship in the South Pacific at the threshold of the global
pandemic lockdown. There are myriad sensations a sailor knows on any given day: the varying
strength, temperature, and sound of the wind or the feel of the sun or its absence. Yet what struck
me that day was an absence of the usual boat traffic and the distinctive sounds of powerful
breaths punctuating the rush of sea on the hull. In the relative unusual scarcity of ships to
threaten them with injuring or fatal collisions, migrating whales had gathered on the surface in
unusual numbers.
The usual dull roar of the maritime roar had been replaced by throaty deep breaths.
The puffing sound of them exhaling in choir as they rose from the azure depths surrounded us, as
the captain ordered for the ship to slow and halt. A pod rested on the waves, surrounding us.
One can project human attributes on animals, but the whales are sentient beings and
their breaths did sound like sighs of relief in the absence of any ships besides ours. The captain
cursed at the delay but artificial sense of time of course was a human construct that seemed
so dwarfed then by those giant breaths, a reminder of the primal rhythms of the sea and that
we were ultimately an invasive species humbled by a virus and the natural power of the ocean.
pandemic lockdown. There are myriad sensations a sailor knows on any given day: the varying
strength, temperature, and sound of the wind or the feel of the sun or its absence. Yet what struck
me that day was an absence of the usual boat traffic and the distinctive sounds of powerful
breaths punctuating the rush of sea on the hull. In the relative unusual scarcity of ships to
threaten them with injuring or fatal collisions, migrating whales had gathered on the surface in
unusual numbers.
The usual dull roar of the maritime roar had been replaced by throaty deep breaths.
The puffing sound of them exhaling in choir as they rose from the azure depths surrounded us, as
the captain ordered for the ship to slow and halt. A pod rested on the waves, surrounding us.
One can project human attributes on animals, but the whales are sentient beings and
their breaths did sound like sighs of relief in the absence of any ships besides ours. The captain
cursed at the delay but artificial sense of time of course was a human construct that seemed
so dwarfed then by those giant breaths, a reminder of the primal rhythms of the sea and that
we were ultimately an invasive species humbled by a virus and the natural power of the ocean.
Date (Dublin Core)
Creator (Dublin Core)
Contributor (Dublin Core)
Type (Dublin Core)
text story
Controlled Vocabulary (Dublin Core)
Curator's Tags (Omeka Classic)
Collection (Dublin Core)
Date Submitted (Dublin Core)
02/05/2022
Date Modified (Dublin Core)
02/24/2022
03/07/2022
06/09/2022
Date Created (Dublin Core)
03/07/2020
Item sets
This item was submitted on February 5, 2022 by Gregory using the form “Share Your Story” on the site “A Journal of the Plague Year”: https://covid-19archive.org/s/archive
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