Aye, I've got myself thinking about Australia now. When we left Sydney we headed for Hobart Tasmania. I was stationed, at that time, aboard a Destroyer, a small ship. There was a fairly strong storm in the Bass Strait as we entered. We were taking some pretty heavy rolls. I went up to the signal bridge to take a look around. The wind was fierce. The wind and the salt spray were hitting the ship and me directly head on.
There was old senior chief there smoking a cigarette. I was young and naive. I asked the chief, I said, "In the days of sailing ships, how do think they would get through this?" He gave me an answer which I still remember, he said, "Well, they would either sink, or they'd be hauling ass in the wrong f--king direction."
That summed the situation up precisely.
