Monday, November 30, 2009

London Calling

We arrived in London last Saturday afternoon on the Eurostar, and Sophie's cousin picked us up with her driver in a silver Mercedes. For those of you that haven't been paying too much attention, we flew from New Caledonia to London at the behest of the United Nations International Maritime Organization to receive a medal for the rescue we did in Fiji last year.

Anyway, from the train station, Sophie's cousin took us to the Sanderson in SoHo to drop off our bags and then we went to have afternoon tea at one of the best spots to do so in London. Contrary to my understanding of the thing, afternoon tea has little to do with drinking tea, and more to do with eating dozens of different delicacies, mostly in the form of tiny little sandwiches with the bread crusts cut off. These are offered in all-you-can-eat fashion and followed by scones and clotted cream, so by the end we waddled back to the hotel and passed out for the night.

On Sunday we walked around our neighborhood and down to the river Thames. It was quite a treat for me to visit Trafalgar Square, an homage to one of the greatest seafarers ever. That evening we met with Lindsey and Ian from Maritime New Zealand to go over the details of the ceremony on Monday night. They gave us a wonderful welcome and took us out to a great little Spanish restaurant for tapas.

Monday was the big event at IMO headquarters just on the other side of the Thames. We arrived at 4:30 in the afternoon and waited in a hall while the Assembly was finishing up their business for the day. At 6:00 they shuffled us into the assembly room and we realized just how big of a deal this was. There were about 500 delegates from 126 different countries, a large stage with a podium, video cameras and a gaggle of photographers, with a battery of translators behind plate glass above the room. They were there to present the awards for Exceptional Bravery at Sea and a series of certificates to all of the navies that have sent warships to the Gulf of Aden and the waters off Somalia to fight piracy. Aside from us, the front row was populated by admirals and CO's from around the world in full livery. They first presented letters of commendation and certificates to various crews of merchant and military ships for exceptional acts of bravery. Then our turn was up for the medal and they actually read a long account of the rescue we performed. Secretary-General Mitropoulos invited us up on stage and we shook hands with all of the dignitaries there. Mr. Mitropoulos was very generous in his praise and even asked me permission if he could kiss my wife. Once we received our medal I said a few words of thanks, especially for New Zealand–who nominated us for the award and sponsored our trip to London– and the NZ RCC which had been so critically helpful during the rescue, and we took our seats.

The second medal was given to AST2 Abram Heller, a US Coast Guard rescue swimmer who saved 8 people in harrowing conditions off the coast of Alaska. During a severe winter storm.

Later that evening, after the ceremony for the navies, we all went upstairs for a reception. We spent the time meeting some of the most powerful people on the sea and we got to hear some great sea stories. The whole time Lindsay and Ian took wonderful care of us and made sure we never lacked an audience or had an empty glass in hand.

On Tuesday night we were invited to the U.S. Coast Guard's reception aboard the HQS Wellington, a beautiful restored ship moored in the Thames. Again we met some very interesting folks, including the Commandant of the USCG who, we found out, went to high school in my neighborhood.

The next morning we took a flight back to San Francisco and we spent the 10 hours reliving this incredible experience in our minds.