118 исторических миниатюр и 108 авторских текстов на 13 иностранных языках. Сборник
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"As the court knows, the accused came from Monaco. And from there not far to Marseilles. He's a cheerful joker: all this expedition exists only in his imagination".
("Residents of Marseilles in France are considered inveterate jokers and dreamers" - the note of the translator to Russian-language transfer. Monaco, I assume, it is perceived not only as the Oceanographic Museum, but also as the casino location. Assistant prosecutor's hint: "the joker plus the player equals the noisy adventurer"? The card sharper? The person without honor?).
(Several citations, following - from the book by Alain Bombard. Quotes belong to the different moments of the sea voyage of Alain Bombard; the sequence of citations corresponds to an placement in the book of the corresponding parts of the text).
"The light breeze has risen, and we began again to approach the westernmost tip of the island, to the Cape of Menorca. We know that if we manage to round this Cape, so approximately in mile to the South we are waited by small port of Ciutadella, our lifesaving shelter. (...) On the occasion of our arrival the big crowd has gathered. Ahead stood an elderly Spanish officer, whose eyes shone with the mind. Looking at our flag, he has addressed me. I hardly stood on feet, supported by two kind volunteers. A quick conversation started:
– You Frenchman?
– Yes.
– From where you have arrived?
– From France.
– You arrived using it?" He glanced at the "Heretic".
– Yes.
– From what port?
– Monte Carlo.
– The sir, in order that I have believed you ...
I showed the article from the newspaper, where it was reported about our forthcoming departure.
Then this elderly Spanish officer took a step back, stretched out in front of our flag, and exclaimed:
– In that case, gentlemen, long live France!
Having coped with the excitement which has captured me, I have asked him to testify inviolability of our emergency stock".
"And yet I did not expect that such a meeting would be arranged for me! More than a hundred people gathered at the airfield. Some charming girl even gave me a bouquet, matched to the colors of the city of Paris. ... One of the newspapers, an outrage with the history of two gendarmes, opened a subscription (charity fundraiser) to collect an amount equal to the fine that was imposed on me.
The commander of the Navy in the Moroccan sector, Admiral Sol, was subscribeed first. The subscription continues. I am rehabilitated, finally! Now I have a clean questionnaire profile".
"And at last, I have been awarded the highest honor: in one fine morning I was handed the invitation from the Admiralty.
There I was accepted by the little fastly moving person, dressed in all white, and under the guise of friendly chat he gave me a real interrogation with a passion.
He was interested in everything: my purpose, my means, he was examining my maritime knowledges, generally, he tried to discover as much as possible. (...)
In conclusion, this friendly, though difficult for me, the conversation, the Admiral said:
– Now we have understood what you want, and we will help you.
To a certain extent grateful to you, Admiral: when then I met at sea a vessels under the Spanish, English, Dutch flag, or any another flag, every time I felt myself like a part of the French Navy.
You gave me your personal navigation map of the Atlantic ocean and you were the first mariner, who predicted me success. "The written is remains"! You knew it, the Admiral, when you have written on my map: "You will win."
"As if in order that to encourage me, in that place where I have decided to leave the tow for forthcoming independent floating, there was absolutely accidentally a three-mast sailing big schooner - a training ship of the Spanish naval officer school.
I thought, that it is destiny have wished, that this schooner was escorting me to a voyage, because this schooner was maybe the last representative of the old Navy ...
... The sailors of the schooner as a sign of a greeting have slowly a flag lowered a little. All the cadets lined up on deck and when I floated by, have removed sailor's headdresses. Involuntarily I have thought that in all fleets of the world so see off dead men. But I have lifted the sail for the sake of life!
And here he already attracts my boat amongst these fast vessels. Easy gliding in all directions, they said goodbye to me, using the flags or the sails. Soon they have disappeared all.
I had already seen only a training ship and thought that I was alone in the ocean when I was given the last and highest honor: on the schooner mariners had gathered up all three grottoes-Marseilles, and then they opened sails again, and the wind filled the canvases, were buzzing, with loud noise.
This last greeting has urged forward me as the lash of a whip: it seemed to me, the old schooner didn't say goodbye to me, but already was congratulating me on a victory".
"By the way, about paper. For my natural needs I needed to sacrifice any book. I long hesitated and eventually have used small volume by Rabelais, having resolved thus the task, was set by him, than it is the best of all to wipe ... a nose".
The book by Alain Bombard has excited the whole world and still causes a controversy and discussions. The new meteor has entered literature in 1953!