Suddenly, he was absolutely stationary. Eyes wide open!
Suddenly, he was absolutely stationary. Eyes wide open! His head was literally pinned between the drive knuckle of the wiper blade, right in front of me, and the back of the truck in front. I had stopped. He was motionless. He could not move. I could see the wiper blade pushing against his cheek, watching it change colour. I was petrified! He had a seven ton truck resting against his cheek. If I moved forward as a minimum I would crush his face. I could kill him. Just the roll forward as I released the break would cause him harm and pain. If I fail to find reverse gear and went forward ... ( It is more difficult to select gears in a truck of that vintage, than it is in a car or truck today).
Another deck hand came up to see what was happening. I managed to get both right and move slowly backwards without further injury. He was quickly led away. I was visibly shaking. I finished parking, and jumped down. I asked how he was, still with the image of his eyes, just there, pleading, please don't kill me. "Oh, he's OK, just a bit shocked. It's his own fault, he's been trained not to stand between the trucks. Wave from the side.
Quickly out on deck, in the see air. Still in dock. Time for a stiff Brandy.
It was just as well it was a long crossing, it took a while for me to recovery.
I suspect he had a good bruise, but hopefully nothing more.
