Captain Giorgos Koutsileos, from the village of Lagia in Inner Mani, was inspired by his brother, uncle and other relatives to pursue a life at sea. He graduated from the Kymi Merchant Marine Academy and, in 1966, traveled by train with his brother to England, where he joined his first ship, an 85,000-ton tanker. From the outset, he sought to learn as much as possible about work on deck, bridge duties and the finer points of seamanship, determined to rise through the ranks to captain.
He ended his long maritime career during the coronavirus pandemic. By then, his work took him to the Suez Canal, where he represented his company and supervised its ships as they passed through the canal to and from the Mediterranean.
Captain Giorgos shares stories from his many years at sea, including an incident in Japan involving an old-style tape recorder he and his wife had just bought. When it suddenly began playing, their taxi driver mistook them for terrorists and drove them to the police.
(To be continued)