19 Sept. 2007 Montreal.

During the night we traveled up the 2nd part of the St. Lawrence River to Montreal which is the final destination of the cruise and our change over port. The whole route is done during the night time so there is very little to see for the guests apart from the occasionally lit up refinery along the river bank.

There are some tricky parts along the river. First of all the current caused by the river flow coming down, is a bit of a concern in regards to maintaining a good speed to get to Montreal on time. Average speed to maintain is only 10 knots over the ground, but with strong currents, the necessary slow downs for traffic and shallow patches, the real speed needed is around 16 knots. At a few places where the river gets rather narrow the current can increase up to 7 or 8 knots and it is a bit unsettling to see that with the engine setting on 18 knots, the ship barely makes the 10. I alternate with the chief officer in stand by’s on the bridge to make sure that it all gets done in a safe way.

Apart from the current, there is also a bit of diversion while sailing along. About 30 miles upstream from Quebec is a point where they play the national anthem for each ship. A great number of years ago, a couple who are living on a hill at a prominent bend in the river, decided that it would be nice to salute all the ships with playing their national anthem and raising the flag of the country of registration. So he built a very heavy loudspeaker set and she sewed flags for each and every country that might be represented by a ship on the river.

The couple is now getting rather old but the tradition has been taking over by the daughter. Thus in our case the Dutch national anthem was played, the “Wilhelmus van Nassouwe”. This is a battle song from the 16th century, when the low lands battled the Spanish occupation for 80 years, before we were able to throw them out. It is a bit peculiar to hear this Dutch song while sailing on a Canadian river so far from home. The version that is played has a tongue in cheek ending. I do not know if that version was picked on purpose or if somebody played a joke with the couple in charge. In Dutch the first verse ends with the line: and I always respected the King of Spain. However the version being played ends with: and I always longed for the King of Spain. With the word longing in the context of longing for your girlfriend. The words in Dutch being only one letter different.

But is a nice tradition and we honk the horn as a thank you. It is a bit difficult to announce this to the guests as it is in the middle of 2nd sitting and the first show. Half way up the river, there is the village of Trois Rivieres, where we change pilots for the last part to Montreal. More about that in another installment We had another gorgeous day, so hopefully the leaving guests appreciated that.