The Shipyard Paradox (or: Why Every Dock Charges a Fee)

It depends on what one calls celebration. Whether a sailor pays the harbor master directly or through a fleet’s collective dues, the tide still demands tribute. The difference is only in the paperwork.

Call it free exchange or levy by necessity, but the current always flows the same way unless turbulence reverses the flow from large to small instead of small to large: from the deckhand to the dockkeeper.

The question isn’t whether the fee exists—it’s who maintains the lighthouse, and who’s paid to fire the cannons.

Private shipyards might promise lower tolls, but not all captains bargain better than kings or said monarch. Sometimes, scale itself is the only seaworthy negotiation, a form of grief or power and/or responsibility …