Storm story

One of the things I appreciate about seafarers is that they seldom brag about their experiences at sea knowing that many times they experience severe storms, endless days of sailing in heavy fog and of course the danger of piracy in certain parts of the world. I remember as a child the heroic stories I read about sailors who battled huge storms. Or the stories of the heroes who rescued sailors from a certain death while shipwrecked on the beaches along the treacherous North Sea.
If I want to hear stories about storms they have experienced, I usually have to ask them. This happened today when I had lunch with a Philippino bosun.  He told me that prior to coming to Vancouver they were caught in a major typhoon  off the coast of China. Actually, they were in port when every ship there received news that they had to leave the port immediately. And so they did!  About thirty km. from land they were caught in a wicked storm. All they could do was point the ship into the wind at full speed. Even at full speed they were only able to move forward at appr. 3 knots! ( 3 miles per hour ). Because of the storm, both the pilot and  gangway ladders had been completely destroyed but, according to the bosun, by far the worst part of the ordeal was that it had lasted for two long days and nights! I did not have chance to ask him if they had feared for their lives. His lunch break was over and it was time to go back to work.