My first time on a big ship

I’m very lucky to have been on a few cruises, but if I try to think about where my love of being at sea comes from, I suspect it’s to do with this moment: the first time I ever went on a big ship. My dad worked for an oil company, and one day we drove to Dover to board a tanker for a day visit. Before that we’d only been on a ferry to Ireland, and I can remember being overwhelmed by the sheer size of this ship (we were told it was as big as three football pitches, a fact I’ve never forgotten); and we were treated to lunch with the Captain and given a tour.

My sister must have taken this photo of my mum and dad and me on board – not a bad shot at all, considering she would have been using my dad’s Pentax and she was only about nine. I’m not sure why we’re all wearing blue, though. Perhaps we were afraid of losing each other.

*This is my entry for The Gallery and the theme this week is ‘into the archives’.