Weather stories

I was working on a mackerel fishing boat with my friend Leonie for a captain who unfortunately was psychotic. One day, in a rage because we had rebuffed his unwanted sexual overtures, he made us fish in a storm. Working from a small platform at the back of the boat I could only hang on while 20 foot high waves crashed over me. As one huge wave reared I found myself looking straight into the eye of a huge shark that was now actually level with me.

It was the last straw, we mutinied. The captain told us he was going to maroon us on an uninhabited island. Luckily other fishing boats were reasonably nearby - we radioed one for help, were rescued and happily crewed for them up the coast to Darwin. I have never been to sea since.

Timor Sea off the coast of Australia, around 1994
Submitted online by Sarah Venis, 9 January 2004