text: On my second trip I served as night watchman. My job was to check on all the animals every hour every night. One rainy night after making my hourly report to the captain I slid down a slippery ladder on my backside. My heart raced as I shot feet first toward an opening on the side of the ship. A small strip of metal aalong the edge stopped my slide keeping me from flying overboard into the dark Antlantic.