I am sure that we all can remember moments in our lives that we can look back on and say that a particular event to some extent influenced or even decided our future, defined who we are and what we are today'. Maybe it is fate and our destiny is predetermined or maybe it is just luck, but whichever is true, I will always be grateful to a Lady of the Night in Lisbon.

It is 1977, I am 20 years old, I am in Lisbon, I am on my own, I have no money, it is past midnight and I am in a lot of trouble. I had arrived in Lisbon on a ship earlier that day. This was not truly a merchant ship, it was an old oil tanker called RFA Orangeleaf, used to refuel Royal Navy warships at sea, and therefore we worked under strict military discipline. I was one of three Radio Officers on the vessel, and it was the second ship that I had served on so I should have known better than to get myself into the position I now found myself in.

The vessel berthed a considerable distance from Lisbon, on the opposite side of the river Tagus to the right of the bridge in the photograph. We were loading fuel in order to support British warships protecting Belize, so it would be a very brief visit to the night-time delights of this atmospheric city. The fuel bunkering station was in the middle of nowhere, so a bus was arranged to take those lucky enough not to be on watch into the city for the evening. I was one of those lucky people! I had been in Lisbon before and along with my crewmates knew exactly where to go. There was a red-light district full of noisy bars, music and of course ladies of the night that was like a magnet for seamen of all nationalities, and particularly the Texas Bar. There was one downside to the evening; the bus would collect us from the square at 2300 as the vessel would sail at 0100. The dire warning was, if you are late for the bus, it will not wait and if you are late for the ship, it certainly will not wait. Missing the ship is classed as desertion and would result in instant dismissal.

I do remember walking from the square with my crewmates, visiting a number of establishments full of girls and drinking far too much far too quickly. I have a vague recollection of going into the Texas bar, but after that I have no memory until I came out of my alcoholic stupor sitting on the steps leading down the river Tagus. It is amazing how quickly it is possible to sober up when you realise that you missed the bus over an hour ago, the ship will be preparing to sail, you have no money, no passport and of course no means to call for help. I sat with my head in my hands, trying think of a way to get  money for a taxi, in the vain hope that the ship would still be there when I arrived. In hindsight I should probably have gone back to the bars and found some sympathetic seamen from another ship to help me out, but in reality, it would take too long, and the ship would have sailed. 

I must have looked a sad dejected figure, but this did not stop a young lady of the night from sitting down next to me and offering me the use of various parts of her body in explicit detail. My promising career is over, I am stranded in a foreign country without any money, I will have to rely on the mercy of the British Embassy, my parents will be devastated, and this young woman wants me to pay for sex. My parents brought me up to always show respect, so I turned to her, with tears in my eyes and said sorry I am sure that you are very nice, but I am in terrible trouble, and have no money. She did not go away and she had very little English apart from her menu of sexual services, so it took some time to explain my situation and ask her to please leave me alone.

She did not go away and instead opened her purse and showed me that she had nothing other than a few coins. "Taxi no" she said. We sat in silence for a while and then she grabbed my arm, pulled me to my feet and dragged me down towards the workers ferries that cross the river throughout the night. With some of her last coins she bought two tickets, pushed me onto the boat and sat with her arms wrapped around me, repeating something in Portuguese that I could not understand. It was quite a long way across the river and the ferry was slow, so it was now well past the ships sailing time and I felt the tears beginning to run down my face. The girl who was about my age or maybe a little younger tightened her arms around me, said something softly, gave me a huge hug and put her head on my shoulder. 

We finally reached the other side of the river, and she hurried me up to a small run-down building with a few old busses parked outside and she went in. When she came back out, she took me to one of the busses, sat me in a seat by the door, gave me a kiss and without turning back, disappeared into the night. I sat in the dark empty bus, now totally sober and thought through my situation. If by some miracle the bus took me to the jetty where the ship berthed, and it had gone then I would be in the middle of nowhere with no means to get back to the city. I was considering getting back off the bus when a few passengers boarded followed by the driver who gave me a ticket and said something in Portugese. The old bus rattled along the bumpy road for a considerable period of time and the road got darker and darker until there were no more houses or lights and eventually, the bus stopped at a crossroads in a forest. The driver motioned for me to get off the bus and when I did not move, pushed me off and pointed to a small road leading to the left. I had no idea where I was and the nearest lights had been about ten minutes back down the road, but the driver was insistent and having again pointed to the road leading deeper into woods, the bus drove away, leaving me in the dark.

With no other option available I started walking by what little light there was from the moon and entered an area of deep forest that was even darker with trees arching over the road. Scared, I just kept walking and avoided the temptation to run in the hope of seeing the lights of a house or anywhere I could sleep for the night. There was no sign of habitation and I felt as if I was walking further and further away from any source of help, but after a while I thought I could see a glimmer of lights through the trees ahead. I walked faster to at least get out of the forest and into whatever habitation that was the source of the light.  I was running by the time I turned the corner, came into a clearing and saw an oil jetty and the bright lights were coming from a ship, it was my ship, RFA Orangeleaf.

 

The gangway was still in place and the Chinese bosun at the security post at the top didn’t move as I stepped onto the deck but picked up his pen and even though it was now three o’clock in the morning, made an entry in the log that I had returned at midnight. He closed the logbook, shook his head, and told me that sailing had been delayed until the first light. As I walked towards the accommodation he said, ‘don’t do it again, this time you are lucky’.

 

Looking back at events of that night restores my faith in human nature. The bus driver that tried his best to help, the bosun that risked his career by not reporting that I was late back onboard and of course, the girl whose name I will never know and I cannot thank for her act of kindness.

​She was a lady of the night, and for whatever reasons she slept with men for money, but for me she was a beautiful human being, an angel. I will always wonder what happened to the pretty girl who gave her time and last few coins to help a young man keep his life on track. Would my future have been the same without that act of kindness? I sincerely doubt it! 

Not all people are as lucky as I have been in my life. Whether it was fate protecting me from folly or not, I still wonder what happened to that girl and hope Karma has been good to her.

 

I was young so after a few hours’ sleep I woke up, put on my uniform and watched as two tugs pulled the ship off the jetty, black smoke puffed from the funnel, the old engines chugged, and we started our journey towards the waters of Belize. Leaning on the handrail with a mug of coffee, watching Lisbon and the bridge disappear behind us, I swore I would never be so stupid again. It was a promise that I would fail to keep.

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The ship made its way through the Mediterranean sea at a sedate 11 knots and when I finished my evening watch at midnight, I went to the still busy bar and listened to the young officers regale stories of Texas bar girls they had slept with, how much it had cost, what they did, how much they had drunk and how they had missed the bus and had to get taxis back to the ship. Earlier in the day I had promised myself not to be so stupid again so, lesson learned, in future I would keep taxi money safe in my socks. I was ready for another adventure!