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| - Groggy and red-eyed - didn't get much sleep last night - too eager to see us ship out this A.M. A distinct chill in the air and mist clinging to the water - dicey getting through the choppy waves and the packed dock, but Capt. Ferrence is an old pro at this (worked as a maritime pilot in Hong Kong, he claims). Knew I should be working on cracking the riddle of the next layer of the puzzle - but distracted by the sights & sounds of the ship. The Nellie Bly was one of the WWII Liberty Ships, it seems - one of the few to see action. (Chief Mate pointed out the rusted moorings that used to hold the guns - and the faded swastikas on the stacks, marking her "kills"!) The crew is, by & large a quieter type than I expected... and surprisingly bookish. 2nd Mate advises me that reading is, by necessity, one of the few amusements available. Most of the crew trade pulp & pop literature. But the Captain is a different matter - his cabin is well stocked with Greek Classics, literature (Hesse, Machen), philosophy (Nietzsche, Schoepenhauer!)& psychology (Wm. James, Carl Jung). An elusive character - I'm left wondering exactly how & why Capt. Ferrence became a friend of Phil Isidore. He's not the paranoid crank or drunken lout I half-expected.
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