“But not at the expense of another shipwreck and us all getting drowned,” Carmen replied.
Again Moses shrugged and he said, “We been at sea in worse.”
That made Andrew feel both anxious and guilty but he said nothing, hoping the weather would not get worse. They sat back down again and talked for another half hour or so and then Mr Collins insisted that Andrew and Carmen lie down and rest. He and the two T.Is arranged to keep an anchor watch. Even though it was only 9pm Andrew felt tired enough to go to bed. He took himself below, cleaned his teeth and went to the toilet, then lay down. Carmen came in a few minutes later and touched his arm.
“It will be alright Andrew. We have found the wreck. Now we will get to the bottom of things.”
“Bottom of the bloody ocean,” he replied with a grin, even though his stomach turned over anxiously as the launch gave another sharp roll.
Carmen laughed and said, “Moses knows what he is doing.” She went and lay down and Andrew closed his eyes and tried to sleep. For a while he could not, his mind dredging up all the events of the day. Several times he shuddered with fear at the memories. ‘Only one more dive,’ he told himself. ‘Then I can give it up for good.’
After a while exhaustion helped him to drift into a restless sleep. The need for his muscles to brace themselves against the motion of the launch was annoying and kept him on the edge of wakefulness and several times sharp thumps or crashing noises made him open his eyes in alarm. Each time he hoped fervently that the wind would not get stronger.
‘We have to start back to Cairns on Saturday morning to be back in time for school,’ he thought gloomily. As tomorrow was Friday the chance of coming back out to the reef looked quite unlikely. Feeling tired, anxious and depressed he slipped back into a fitful doze.
The sound of shouting voices roused him back to anxious wakefulness. This turned to instant alarm when the engine suddenly rumbled into life. He sat up and looked across at Carmen. She was sitting up and pulling on a spray jacket. Andrew did not wait. He rolled out of his bunk and scuttled up the steps to the cabin.
Moses was there, standing at the wheel. The front hatchway was open and a cold wind was blowing in, mixed with flying spray. The launch was rolling with a vicious, jerky roll which made Andrew’s heart shoot up to his throat. “What’s happening?” he asked.
Moses gestured out, even as he spun the wheel and pushed the throttle forward. “Anchor’s dragged. We gotta get outa here fast. Gotta get away from that reef.”
The engine was engaged and Andrew realized it was in reverse. He and Carmen stared out into the darkness and what he saw made his breath catch in his throat from fear. All around were the dark, waves. In the faint shimmer of the moon’s path was a rippling, tossing mass of waves tops. But what he could not discern was the actual reef. In the darkness there was no sign of it.
“Where is the reef?” he called anxiously.
“Not sure,” Moses called back. In the faint light of the binnacle his face looked drawn and he stared astern as the launch began to make way. Then he faced the bows and yelled, “Hurry up and get that anchor up! If we snag that on a coral outcrop it could swing us beam on against the reef.”
Andrew now realized just what danger they were in. Out on the foredeck he saw his father and Jordan busily winding the anchor up. “Can we help?” he asked.
Moses shook his head. “No. Stay here and keep your eyes peeled for any sign of surf.”
That was a sickening thought too. Andrew moved to the port side and looked out. “I can’t see the reef,” he said again.
“It’s the top of the tide,” Moses replied. “We could go right up on it.”
The stern of the launch was now butting into the waves. Spray and foam flew up but most was taken away by the force of the wind. Out on the sharply pitching foredeck the two men wrestled with the anchor as it was hoisted aboard. The launch began to buck so dramatically that Andrew swallowed in alarm and felt his skin go cold with fear.
Mr Collins came struggling aft, moving from handhold to handhold. He made his way down the short flight of steps and said, “Anchor is on board. Jordan is lashing it in place now.”
Moses grunted and immediately spun the wheel hard to starboard. Then he thrust the control lever forward, changing the gears from reverse to forward. The launch came to a wallowing standstill, then slowly began forging ahead, slamming into the waves as she did. Andrew stared anxiously through the front windows and feared that Jordan would be washed off as spray and waves burst on board and deluged aft. A flood of water poured in through the open hatchway and Moses gestured to close it. Mr Collins pulled it shut and then stayed there ready to open it again.
The launch swung round, beam on to the waves. It then began obviously moving forward. The motion changed to savage rolling for a minute. This was so severe Andrew felt sure they were going to capsize. Then Moses steadied the launch on a course to the south. This brought the wind and waves onto the port quarter. At once the motion eased and the boat began to swoop along, twisting and rolling but in a manner which felt much safer.
Jordan struggled aft and opened the hatch. “Anchor’s secure. I give us a bit of staysail eh? Take some of the roll off her.”
Moses nodded. “Good idea, but you put a lifejacket and lifeline on first. Mr Collins, could you help him please.”
Jordan and Mr Collins both began donning lifejackets. Andrew asked if he could help but Moses shook his head emphatically. “No. You kids stay here in the cabin. If you go overboard I don’ like our chances of findin’ you, not in this.”
One glance at ‘this’, the madly tumbling waves and dark sea, convinced Andrew he was right. With some anxiety he watched his father and Jordan go back up onto the foredeck. They hoisted a small part of the jib, Jordan lashing the remainder firmly down so that only a tiny triangle was exposed. Then they moved to the cabin roof and raised the mainsail slightly. At once the motion of the launch steadied, becoming a swooping pitch that was almost pleasant. Andrew understood the steadying effect of a sail and felt much happier.
Ten minutes later both men returned to the cabin. Both were soaked and shivering. Jordan pointed up. “One reef,” he said, referring to the sail.
Moses nodded. Carmen busied herself at the stove. Andrew kept peering out for any sign of the reef but he felt sure they must be now well clear of it. Just to be sure he glanced at the chart. As they were now heading south and as no other reef was shown within miles he began to relax a little.
After another ten minutes Moses relaxed and took the cup of hot coffee Carmen offered him. “Ok. We safe now I reckon.”
“What do we do now?” Mr Collins asked.
“Head for Bowen before the weather gets even worse,” Moses replied.
Mr Collins nodded. Andrew felt as surge of bitter defeat and stared out at the sea. To be so close! And to be beaten by a change in the weather!
CHAPTER 36
ANXIETY
Andrew stared astern at the rippling darkness and felt a surge of deep frustration. ‘To be so close!’ he thought. All he could hope was that the weather reports would turn out to be correct, that the winds might ease on Saturday. ‘But we will get only one shot at it,’ he mused. Memories of touching that rusty, slime-covered door filled his mind and he gritted his teeth in annoyance and determination. ‘I will get back one day, somehow,’ he vowed.
So sharp was his disappointment that he was close to tears. He even forgot to be afraid as the launch gave a sickening roll. Water came on board and soaked his legs but he ignored it.
Carmen did not. She came and touched his arm. “You are cold Andrew. Come inside and have a hot drink.”
“In a minute.”
“No, now! I know you are upset. I’m not happy either but it isn’t the end of the world. We will be back. Come on!” Carmen insisted.
Andrew allowed himself to be led back into the cabin. Only then did he realize he was soaked and shivering. His father tut-tutted with concern and made
him put on a pullover while Carmen made more hot Milo. Jordan came back wearing dry clothes and took over the wheel from Moses who slumped down on the bench seat.
“Getting’ too old for this bobbin’ around the bloody ocean stuff,” he grumbled, rubbing at his sore legs and back.
Hearing that, and thinking back over the recent crisis made Andrew feel quite guilty. ‘If I hadn’t argued about staying to dive we would have been back safe in Bowen by now,’ he thought. He noted it was already after 2am. Suddenly he felt tired. Having drunk the warm drink he was quite ready to obey his father when he said to go back to bed.
Andrew made his way below and changed into dry clothes then climbed back into his bunk. On the course the launch was now on the motion was quite regular and not nearly as frightening as before. There was just the occasional slithering yaw to make him feel prickles of alarm. So worn out by exertion and nervous excitement was he that he slipped into a deep sleep within minutes.
Hours later Andrew struggled to the surface of consciousness in a lather of perspiration, the lingering ethereal remnants of a bad dream still flickering in his mind. It had been another of those nightmares to do with diving or sailing. This time he had been at sea on a sail boat which had turned into a surfboard. This kept slipping down the front of steep waves. The sky had darkened and mysterious shadowy shapes had flitted about under the water. Suddenly he had slithered off the board and into deep water. There were big waves and a fast current and the shore suddenly seemed a long way off. A girl with long black hair streaming in the water had reached for his hand and he grabbed at it, but instead of pulling him to the surface she had dragged him under!
For a few minutes Andrew lay awake in the darkness, calming his breathing and gathering his thoughts. His mind told him that the waves were even bigger and that the motion of the launch was more violent. He had to brace himself to stay in his bunk. Anxiety drove him to get up but after a glance up the companionway revealed Jordan calmly steering Andrew instead went to the toilet. His watch told him it was nearly 4am.
“Only two or three hours more,” Andrew told himself, thinking but not saying, ‘if we don’t sink first!’ But rather than admit his fear or look anxious to Jordan he went back to his bunk. Carmen and his father appeared to be sound asleep in theirs so he rolled over and made himself as comfortable as he could. For a while he lay brooding, sure he would not sleep.
But he did. Carmen shook him awake at 5:30. “Moses wants us up top. So get up, sleepy head,” she said.
Rubbing bleary eyes Andrew sat up. It was instantly apparent that the weather was even worse, the motion of the launch even rougher. He sat up and yawned, then made his way to the toilet. After washing his face and smoothing rumpled hair he made his way up to the cabin.
It was just getting light. Moses now had the wheel and he grinned a cheery good morning but from a drawn and anxious looking face. To Andrew’s surprise he wore a lifejacket. So did Jordan and a very tired looking father. Moses gestured to the locker. “You kids put lifejackets on please, then stay up top here.”
That really got Andrew anxious. As he staggered aft he glanced outside and was appalled at how big the waves were. What appeared to be an endless array of huge tumbling walls of water were hurrying in from the port quarter. ‘If Moses is that worried then it must really be dangerous,’ he thought. As he pulled the lifejacket on and secured it Andrew began to have frightening images of a huge wave rolling the launch over. For a few seconds he considered what that might be like and how he might manage to get clear of the cabin and the ensnaring rigging.
Having secured the lifejacket Andrew made his way forward to the chart table. A glance at the compass told him that they were still heading for Bowen. Wondering how far it might be he looked through the windows. To his relief he saw the shapes of mountains looming above the haze of sea spray. These were in a long line off to starboard and the chart revealed them to have names like Mt Roundback and Mt Pring. Ahead the bold shapes of Cape Edgecumbe and Flagstaff Hill showed faintly in the mist. Seeing them made him feel even more relieved. There was safety- if they could reach it!
Moses followed his gaze and, divining his thoughts, said, “Another hour or so. You can lie on the bench if you like.”
“No, he can’t,” Carmen put in. “He can help me tidy up and get breakfast ready.”
Andrew was given the job of washing up the previous night’s dishes. He then sat at the table with his father. Carmen placed a bowl of cereal in front of him and then a plate of toast. Andrew swallowed and felt his stomach turn over. That shamed him as he did not want to admit to seasickness. But, to his own disgust, he knew it was really fear that was upsetting him. This was the roughest sea he had ever been out on and looking at it made him so anxious he became very tense. With an effort of will he acted cool and began to force food down.
Sitting there, trying to overcome the constrictions in his throat and stomach, he found he could not stop continually looking out at those monstrous waves. They seemed to curl up behind. The launch was moving faster than them and kept sliding down their rapidly moving faces but it still looked frightening. Remembering things he had read about vessels being ‘pooped’ by following seas did not help.
It was the horrifying images of the launch capsizing and of him being trapped inside which drove Andrew to get up and make his way aft to the open rear of the cabin. He was forbidden to go out onto the fish deck which was sloshing with water. Instead he leaned out and looked at the forbidding sight of mile after mile of surging ‘white horses’.
As he did Andrew tried to picture famous nautical and naval events he had read about. The cold wind suggested convoys to Russia in World War 2 but he had trouble imagining the little Moa Mermaid as even a small British corvette. His romantic imagination wandered to the age of sail and he began to picture himself as the captain of a storm tossed naval cutter chasing (or was being chased more exciting?) a powerful French sailing frigate. His daydreams served their purpose. He actually began to half enjoy himself and his dinted personal image of being a hardy sea dog received a bit of repair.
Even so it was a very anxious hour. The hills marking the end of the bay seemed to be get closer much slower than he wished and it was a relief to realize that the sun had come up and that he could distinguish individual boulders and even single trees. The sight of the waves dashing themselves against the foot of the headlands did not help to ease the anxiety though. Each wave burst on the rocks with huge showers of spray.
‘If we have to swim ashore we will be dashed to pulp,’ Andrew thought.
The real moment of crisis came when they had to change course to go into the North Channel. The wind was blowing hard from the North East and they had to run directly before it after they rounded the rocky island called North Head. This was enveloped by a welter of foam and Moses gave it a wide berth. Jordan and Mr Collins went up to furl the mainsail. This was a precaution against an accidental gybe. From numerous sailing embarrassments Andrew understood the need for that. The small jib staysail was left up, to help keep the launch’s head downwind.
They seemed to shoot through the gap between Stone Island and North Head. Moses then altered course again to bring the wind onto the starboard quarter. At once the uneasy yawing motion ceased and a slithering, twisting pitching replaced it. A few more anxious minutes on this course and they were level with the end of Flagstaff Hill. Then Moses turned the wheel and the launch came round to starboard again, curving around the end of the point and into the lee of the hill. The effect was immediate. The waves decreased in size and the wind died away to flurries of much less intensity.
Moses turned to them with a grin. “OK, youse can take off them lifejackets now. We’se safe.”
Andrew gasped with relief and took the lifejacket off. This was stowed back in the locker and he then straightened up to look about. By then Moses had removed his jacket and was steering with one hand and talking on a mobile phone with the other. Andrew saw that they were not heading f
or the main jetty but were keeping the land close to starboard.
“Too rough at the main wharf,” Moses explained. “We will go in to the marina. We need fuel anyway.”
They chugged slowly in to the marina. This was built behind a breakwater on the eastern curve of the bay on the edge of a mangrove swamp. It was a nice modern facility with floating piers to accommodate the tide. At the piers a dozen other vessels of various sizes were already berthed. At least fifty more: trawlers, yachts, old ketches, fishing launches, were moored in lines between tall pilings. The size of the place came as quite a surprise to Andrew.
As they motored in through the narrow entrance an attendant came out and indicated where to refuel. There was nothing for Andrew or Carmen to do except keep out of the way and relax. Andrew felt quite drained and also a bit ashamed at his earlier fears. However he said nothing of this to Carmen and instead discussed what an interesting bay it was. After refuelling was finished the attendant directed them to one of the berths at the floating pier behind the Yacht Club. “Just in front of that white cruiser, the game fishing boat,” he said.
Andrew looked at it and heard Carmen say, “That is the boat that was out at Echo Reef.”
It was. The name Silver Stingray showed up on her transom in silver letters. For a moment he experienced a qualm of doubt but then shrugged. It was perfectly natural that the white launch should have come here to get out of the weather. Even so he felt a peculiar sense of unease as they puttered slowly past. As they did a fit young man in his twenties came out onto the white launch’s aft deck and looked at them. He had dark curly hair and wore only a pair of grubby shorts. As they passed he gave a friendly wave.
“Bit rough out there?” he called.
“Just a bit,” Carmen answered.
“Want a hand?”
"Yes thanks," Jordan answered.
The young man clambered onto the pier and went along to take the lines as they were tossed to him. The spliced eyes on the ends were looped over bollards and the man then stood and smiled up at them. “Catch much?” he asked Carmen.
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