Word: champollion
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...events turned, they didn't. There was a gentle scraping sound; then a violent thud and the Champollion was firmly aground, four miles south of Beirut...
...Where was the captain? No one knew. No alarm was given, no ship's officer appeared on the bridge to give the order to abandon ship or to stand fast. The purser told the passengers that the Champollion was aground off Israel, and that the city ahead was Haifa. "Everything is fine," he added cheerily...
Beirut didn't think so. An S 0 S from the Champollion brought a multitude of bare-chested fisherfolk racing to the rescue. But their cockleshell boats capsized in the raging surf, and those who tried to swim out with lines were dragged ashore half-drowned...
Hero of the Hour. As Beirut buzzed with the news that the stricken Champollion was about to break up, 25,000 curious townspeople streamed out to the sand dunes. Lebanese troops cleared a way to the water's edge and set up box seats for Beirut's dignitaries; Coke and peanut vendors did a roaring trade...
Twice more Baltaji ran the perilous course, gathering up all that remained of the Champollion's company, including the captain. The massed spectators let out a yell of triumph that drowned the boom of the surf. Then they walked home, leaving the twilit dunes littered with peanut shells, cigarette butts, candy wrappers and Coca-Cola bottles...