a run of dolphin

In the Navy in 1971 we were on the Pacific aboard the Guided Missile Light Cruiser USS PROVIDENCE, flagship for Commander First Fleet Vice Admiral Bernard F. Roeder. We were cruising off the coast coming back from Hawaii, still a day away from San Diego when the ship suddenly stopped moving forward. Ship Captain John B. Walker made an announcement over the ship's address system that anyone free at this time should go to the main deck and see the dolphins. An alarmingly odd announcement for a Naval Captain to his crew. The sea calm, the sky sunny at three in the afternoon as I hurried to the main deck.

The ship stopped at a right angle to the dolphin’s direction of travel. The dolphins were in rows four to six wide, the ship stopped in the middle of their formation, they jumped near the side of our ship, went down, swam under our ship, came up and continued jumping on the other side, and kept jumping, on and on, South to North, as far as the eye can see.

The line of jumping Dolphins extended on each side of our ship from horizon to horizon, as far as we could see in either direction. How many dolphins was that? Ten thousand? A hundred thousand? A million? They jumped and passed by for twenty-five minutes that we watched. It already had begun when we got there. Sailors were out on deck all around the ship watching them pass. Some sailors had their cameras and were taking pictures. All of us remained relatively quiet. What is there to say? We watched the incredible display.

Then they quit jumping, they all quit jumping at the same time as if a signal had been given to tell them that that was enough. That was it. After a few minutes of seeing not a single dolphin, only the flat sea, the captain started moving the ship forward again. The show was over. It was incredible. It seemed every dolphin in the world had gathered for that migration, or was it a demonstration? They saw us. They knew our ship had stopped and we were watching. We talked about it among ourselves, but didn't know what to make of it. I never heard anymore of it.



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