THE DOLDRUMS
THE DOLDRUMS
by
JOHN M. ARRIBAS
The Doldrums Don’t Mean Much Any More but at One Time They Were the Scourge of the Sea. The Doldrums Are Areas of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans Where Due to Unusual Warm Air Currents There Is No Wind at or near the Equator. Years past When Sailing Ships Plowed the Seas, the Winds Supplied the Forces Necessary to Propel the Ship. When There Is No Wind, the Ship Stalls. There Are Tales of Ships Trapped in the Doldrums for Days and Even Weeks. The Only Options Were to Wait out the Lull; and Hope the Wind Would Pickup. The Other: Was for Crew Members to Tie Lines from the Ship to Row Boats and the Men Would Row Hoping That They Would Encounter Some Winds. The Coxswain, Commanding the Oarsmen, Kept His Eyes on the Sails for Any Indication of Wind. If They Noticed Even a Flutter of the Sails, They Would Then Row with the Wind at Their Backs Hoping to Fill the Sails. The Option of Waiting for Winds While Adrift Led to the Phrase “Dead in the Water”. There Was a Problem with Waiting for the Winds to Pickup. There Was No Way to Predict When and If the Winds Would Come. It Could Be Days or Even Weeks.
A Larger Problem Was the Morale of the Crew. The Uncertainties Created Questions about the Food Supply and the Governance of the Ships Officers. The Officers When Encountering the Doldrums Would Arm Themselves in the Event of an Uprising. After a Few Days in the Doldrums Tempers Would Flare Causing Brawls among the Crewmen. Planting the Seeds of Mutiny, Even among the Most Loyal Crewman. Sailing Ships Could Not Predict Sailing Arrival Dates Due to These Windless Zones. Ships Trapped in the Doldrums Could on Occasion See Other Ships Traveling Just Zones.
Are We Not like Ships Traveling the Dangerous Waters of Life. Traveling from One Port, Birth: to Our Destination Port, Death. As We Voyage Across Unknown Times We Encounter Obstacles: Storms: Disappointments, Losses, Leading to the Doldrums. There Are Times When We Are Standing Still. Not Moving Forward, Adrift in Time. Questioning Our Value and Worth. Some Call it Depression, the Blahs a Rut. We Can Handle the Human Doldrums by Awaiting Better Times, Good News Hoping for a Miracle May Be Even an Epiphany. Or We Can Find Some Wind for Our Sails. The Seamen Rowed in Groups Never a Single Man. A Row Boat Piloted by a Single Man Tends to Go in Circles. Those Trapped in the Doldrums May Not Be Able to Find Forces Necessary to Span the Abyss and Move Forward Without Help. Rowing Alone May Just End in a Useless Circle at the Cost of Valuable Time. Find a Coxswain to Guide the Effort to Move On: to Move Forward.
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