Day 20

Tuesday 15th November
Sunny

Poor Rosebud. This thing with the captain must really have meant a lot to him.

I was taking the sun on deck with Parker and Williams (who's now asking to go ashore to French Guiana for some sun, sand, sea, surf and samba. I wasn't quite sure which part of Latin America samba comes from so I didn't pick him up on it, but I don't think it is French Guiana.) Anyway, we were taking the sun when this amazing vision appeared. It was Rosebud, swathed in coloured blankets and cloths and with pearls and diamonds dripping from his neck and arms, as well as other glittery objects such as the silver tea service and some little metal things that were probably technical bits of the boat. I was so happy to see him above deck and smiling that I scarcely registered his strange appearance at first.

"Hello, Rosebud, old boy!" I cried, slapping him on the back and setting off a jingling that took some time to die away.

"Hello!" he replied brightly. "I'm a butterfly!" He gave a flutter of his wings to demonstrate this statement. It was at this point that I realised something was wrong.

"Why don't you come and sit down for a minute, old chap?" I suggested. But he was off and capering all over the deck. Suddenly he caught sight of the water glittering down below.

"Sea!" he cried ecstatically. "Plenty more fish in the sea!" he added launching himself off the railing. Luckily he landed in a lifeboat- if he'd hit the water, the blankets and tea service and so on would surely have dragged him down.

I managed to persuade him to go back to his cabin, where I put him to bed with the curtains drawn and an ice-pack on his head. But I can't cure his heartbreak.