By Trey Wickwire, teQuest 80/81 Submarine attack during Bow-watch I was on bow watch on teQuest one night, had a rope tied to the rail that looped around my waist so I could lean forward and scan the horizon. I took the watches pretty seriously and really tried to do my duty well. So in between telling jokes and playing word games to stay awake we were all searching for lights or shapes that could signal an imminent collision. During one of these scans someone spotted something coming towards us. We all leaned over the rail to stare in fascination at the fast approaching objects. Coming in from the starboard side were two glowing trails. Whatever it was, they were moving pretty fast and headed right for us. We had enough time to speculate as to the nature of this phenomenon and decided the they had to be torpedoes and we were under attack from a hidden submarine. So we excitedly watched as our own doom rushed at us, eager to see our theory proven. At the very last moment before impact the two torpedoes turned and took a course parallel to our bow, two trails glowing an eerie green and blue phosphorescent. Finally one of the torpedoes broke the surface and jumped - they were dolphins. Beautiful creatures who stayed with us for quite awhile as we sailed through the night, all of us strangely silent as we watched the pair leap and play in the wave thrown off our bow. After they had streaked off into the night we went back to our discussions of what kinds of food we would eat when we returned home or which television show to watch first. But the dolphins were not really gone, they are there to this day, riding our bow wave and inspiring me with their beauty and elegance. I will never forget them or the school that gave me the chance to see them. Those Stormy Sails Another fond memory I have of Flint was being tied to the bow rail in high seas. There was one day when the waves were crashing over the bow and flooding the deck half way down the ship. Those of us on bow watch had ropes looped behind our backs and our feet braced on the steel just above the scuppers. The waves would actually crash over our heads, drenching us and then flowing in a huge river back aft. Very exhilarating! Rust-chipping and Brasso I was also lucky enough to live through a Dry Dock experience. I was nominated to chip rust in the engine room right above the bilge. I think we were docked at Le Havre, France, but my memory could be mistaken. It was cool to see the ships out of the water but man I hate to chip rust! Polishing brass isn't high on my enjoyment list either but I defiantly know how to do it. I made the mistake of showing my wife what a good polisher I can be, so, now when we need something polished, I'm the guy. For some reason though we don't have many items in the house that need polishing.