Coasts of Cape York

by Christopher Cummings

  The black-painted ‘Catalina’ flew past at about 2,000 feet, going west. ‘Damn!’ Wily thought. ‘Now we have competition again. Oh, I hope Jemmerling doesn’t know where to look!’

  With a growing sense of unease and impatience Willy watched the flying boat fly on to the west, vanishing behind the rugged bulk of Bathurst Head. He at once went in to discuss the situation with the others. This time Willy felt he just had to know. Turning to Capt Kirk he said, “Excuse me sir, but has Mr Jemmerling hired the Wewak?”

  Capt Kirk turned from studying the compass. Then he said, “I am not at liberty to divulge whom I may have entered into a commercial contract with, but I can tell you that he has not.”

  Willy felt some relief. ‘If he hasn’t hired a ship then he can’t know exactly where the ‘Beaufighter is,’ he mused.

  But for the rest of the day he was tense. Just knowing that the opposition were in the area added to the anxiety. Willy was very thoughtful and moody as the Wewak transited the Rattlesnake Channel and entered the even larger Princess Charlotte Bay. As they slid past Denham Island and Blackwood Island Willy stared at the rugged islands but barely noticed them.

  Course was altered to North West. This soon took them out of sight of land to the south and west as the very low lying shores of the big bay trended away from them. Willy went to study the chart. ‘We are going to pass close to the area where we rescued Jacob from the sea,’ he thought.

  The sea looked almost identical to that awful day. The waves were two or three metres high and sparkled in the sun. Far off to starboard was a long line of huge cumulonimbus clouds but they were over the horizon. Along the track the LCT was following was only clear blue sky. It was all very pretty but to Willy it continually conjured up images of the mangled corpse and the sharks and of fear during the take-off. The memories made him shudder.

  They also made him wonder about the search that Jacob had been on. ‘Is still on,’ he corrected. ‘I wonder what he is looking for?’

  That thought got him looking around for signs of the van der Heyden’s yacht. To get a clearer view he made his way up to the starboard bridge wing. A check of the chart showed that Corbett Reef was about five miles away. Nearer to them three automatic lights were marked on the chart. Looking out Willy saw them, their location marked by distant black masts sticking out of the sea.

  A large bulk carrier came into view, heading south. From astern came a container ship, It looked like a huge block, climbing up over the horizon. The container ship steadily overhauled them.

  “Be doing twenty knots to our twelve,” Capt Kirk explained as the big ship slowly drew level with them about a mile to starboard. Then it began to draw ahead. Capt Kirk called the ship on his radio and was told she was heading for Singapore.

  As the container ship began to sink below the horizon ahead of them a fleck of grey and white appeared, coming rapidly from the other direction. “Warship,” said Andrew. He picked up binoculars and went out to study the approaching naval vessel.

  Ten minutes later it was abeam, a mile off. Willy saw that it was a frigate or destroyer type, hurrying south and punching through the waves in showers of white spray. To him it looked very businesslike, the grey shape bristling with guns and radars. Andrew studied her through his binoculars and then said, “HMAS Arunta, one of out newest frigates.”

  Carmen turned to Capt Kirk and said, “Sir, may we render passing honours?”

  “Certainly,” Capt Kirk replied, adding, “Though I suspect that lordly fellow is too busy to notice such old-fashioned courtesies from small fry like us.”

  Andrew and Carmen hurried aft. Willy went to watch. The two navy cadets untied the halliards of the faded and grimy red ensign fluttering on the staff and lowered the flag to deck level, then hauled it back up again. Then they stood with hands shielding their eyes from the glare to stare at the passing frigate. Willy watched as well, faintly amused at the navy’s quaint customs. Suddenly he saw the tiny white ensign fluttering from the gaff on the frigate’s mast go sliding down. A few seconds later it was hauled up again.

  Andrew was jubilant. “He dipped to us!” he cried happily. He and Carmen both waved their caps.

  “She,” Carmen corrected. “Ships are always she.”

  The trio happily made their way back to the wheelhouse. Graham gave them a grin but Willy was very aware that he was looking a bit left out. That reminded him that Graham had first joined the navy cadets; that his life’s ambition had been to be a naval officer. Because his eyes weren’t good enough that ambition had been dashed and Graham had gone through a very difficult few years while he re-adjusted to that bitter reality. That was when the possibility of suicide had been very real.

  ‘I hope I can get to be a pilot and don’t get disappointed like Graham,’ Willy thought, suddenly very aware that life could be a chancy business.

  The voyage continued, on past Corbett Reef, Grub Reef and tiny Fahey Reef with its beacon. Ahead were more small reefs and a couple of tiny islands. A trawler was passed, heading south. Mrs Kirk called them down to lunch. This was sandwiches. Willy opted for peanut butter and honey.

  When he went back up to the wheelhouse the islands were much closer. They were widely scattered and quite varied. A couple were just sand cays which barely showed at high tide. Burkett Island was a flat patch of mangroves and others were just bare rock sticking out of the water. Then a patch of white near Burkett Island caught Willy’s eye. He looked and saw that it was a small sail yacht.

  Capt Kirk had seen it too. He lifted his binoculars and stared, then muttered, “That fellow looks like he is in trouble.”

  The course was changed and the Wewak headed for the tiny vessel. As they drew closer Willy became suspicious. Then he gasped as he recognized the yacht. “That is Jacob van der Heyden’s boat,” he commented.

  It was. Wewak hove-to a hundred metres upwind of the bobbing, rolling yacht. Her name was now clear: Dyfken. Then, to Willy’s amazement, a black head appeared in the water near the stern of the yacht. “There’s someone in the water!” he cried.

  Andrew stared and then said, “A diver.”

  Capt Kirk used the loudhailer to bellow, “Ahoy Dyfken! Are you alright?”

  In reply came a faint hail as the tiny, black clad figure was helped back aboard the yacht. Capt Kirk studied the rolling yacht and then said, “Something wrong alright. Let’s send the boat over to check.”

  He then gave a string of orders and the LCT turned into the wind and was allowed to drift. The rigid semi-inflatable was lowered and Graham clambered aboard. He started the engine. Capt Kirk climbed aboard, with Graham as his crewman, and the small boat went bouncing off across the waves.

  Willy badly wanted to go, to talk to Jacob, but this was clearly a nautical operation so he kept out of the way. He saw the boat pull alongside the yacht and then watched impatiently as a long conversation take place. After ten minutes the boat came back, punching across the waves. During this time the mate kept manoeuvring Wewak to keep her upwind of the yacht. Capt Kirk climbed back aboard.

  “They have wrapped a rope around their propeller,” he explained. “And the young fellow over there is trying to unravel it but he isn’t a qualified diver so he can’t use the gear properly.” He then looked at Carmen and Andrew. “Aren’t you two divers?” he asked.

  Carmen nodded. “Yes sir. We are both qualified Advanced Open Water Divers,” she replied. Willy was watching Andrew at that moment and saw his face go pale and drawn. Through his memory flitted pieces of the story of how Andrew and Carman had discovered their grandfather’s remains in a shipwreck- and nearly died in the process. ‘I think Andrew said he was never going diving again?’ he thought.

  Capt Kirk then said, “Would you mind helping these people? If you can’t we will have to tow them to the nearest port.”

  Carmen at once said, “Of course we will sir, won’t we Andrew?”

  Andrew nodded, but he did not seem keen. Carmen then asked, “Have they got the right
gear sir?”

  Capt Kirk shook his head. “I’m not sure. You’d better come over and have a look.”

  At that Andrew swallowed but he followed Carmen and Capt Kirk down to the boat. ‘Poor Andrew,’ Willy thought. ‘He isn’t game to say no!’

  Andrew and Carmen joined Capt Kirk and Graham in the boat and they motored across to the yacht. Twenty minutes later Capt Kirk and Graham came back. “We need to tow the yacht into calmer water,” Capt Kirk explained. “It is too dangerous for them to dive with the yacht moving about like that.”

  The stern anchor was unshackled and then Graham took a light line across to the yacht. This was then used to haul the steel winch rope across. Capt Kirk and the mate organized a towing bridle and then the mate went across in the boat to ensure the tow was correctly secured. Capt Kirk went up to the monkey island and conned the LCT from there. It took twenty minutes to tow the yacht around to the lee side of the island into calm water behind a coral reef. Willy watched all this from the bridge wing with his father. All the while he wished the risk of diving wasn’t being taken.

  His concern moved to anxiety when Capt Kirk came down and answered the radio, then held out a small hand-held radio. “Your friends are going diving. The mate wants you and your dad to go up onto the monkey island to keep a lookout for sharks.”

  Instantly vivid images of the corpse being torn apart by the shark flooded Willy’s mind. ‘Oh hell! I wish they wouldn’t go in the water,’ he thought. Filled by a firm desire to do all he could to keep Carmen and Andrew safe he called his father and made his way up to the highest level. Once there he began scanning the waves, seeking any sign of tell-tale, triangular fins or even flitting dark shadows. But he was not happy. Even though he could see the bottom under the LCT the sea was just too rough to allow easy surveillance for sharks.

  After half an hour he saw two figures clad in dark wetsuits and with SCUBA gear jump off the yacht. Willy’s sense of apprehension shot right up. He resumed anxiously scanning the waves.

  Another worrying half hour went by before he saw the divers being hauled back aboard the sharply rolling yacht. A few minutes later the radio crackled and informed them that the divers were safe and not going back in. The rope had been removed from the propeller. A few minutes later the small boat headed back to the Wewak with everyone on board.

  Willy went down to help them back aboard. As Andrew climbed over the rail Willy said, “Well done. You are braver than me.”

  Andrew gave him a smile but looked very pale still. “The job was easy,” he replied. Then he said, “But your mate Jacob is a terrible sailor. There are ropes tangled everywhere, torn sails, knots in halliards, and he didn’t even know where he was. When we told him he was near Burkett Island he was astonished. He said he thought they were just near Clack Island. That is north of the Flinders Group and is at least fifty miles from here.”

  “I thought that the Dutch were good sailors,” Willy’s father commented.

  Carmen answered him with a snort. “They might be, but Jacob is a Sydneysider, born and bred and makes a living as a builder’s labourer. He wouldn’t know a barge pole from a mizzen mast. And as for being a diver!”

  Words failed her and she shook her head. Curiosity now gnawed at Willy. He asked, “Did they say what they are doing here?”

  Graham answered that. “I asked them. They just said touring the coast.”

  “Nothing about looking for a treasure?” Willy queried.

  Graham shook his head. “Nope. And they didn’t seem very friendly. It was like they were glad of the help but really wished we weren’t there.” He then moved aft to help hoist the boat back aboard. Andrew and Carmen went to help him.

  Willy stood at the rail staring at the yacht, which was now moving under power, heading southwards. ‘I wonder what they are really doing?’ he wondered. ‘Are they looking for a treasure?’ As the yacht went past a hundred metres away he waved and got an answering wave from the sister (Julia?) but it did not seem very enthusiastic. Then they were gone.

  As soon as the boat was hoisted and secured the Wewak got under way. Willy returned to the wheelhouse. By then it was 3:00 pm. The day was very hot and he was sunburnt and starting to feel quite tired. For a few minutes he studied the chart and then turned to scan the coastline. This was again coming into view as a line of low hills amid a haze of smoke and sea spray.

  As they motored along Willy got a chance to ask Carmen on her own, how the dive had gone. Carmen gave a wry smile and said, “It was OK. Andrew didn’t want to do it, but when he saw that I was going in he was determined not to let me do it alone.”

  “He hates diving doesn’t he?” Willy asked.

  Carmen nodded. “Yes, but he doesn’t want anyone to know, so don’t say anything please.” Then she sighed and smiled. “He is very brave,” she said affectionately.

  An hour later the east coast of the Peninsula was only a couple of miles away to port and the details were clear. Willy ticked off the landmarks as they passed them, glad that the voyage was nearly over. Suddenly he stiffened. Coming from the north was a tiny black dot against the sky. It was following the coast. Hastily snatching up binoculars he steadied them on the object. By then it was clear to see with the naked eye. As he had suspected it was an aeroplane- and not just any plane but the Pterodactyl!

  Willy watched it fly on south, obviously following the coastline. It vanished in the direction of Princess Charlotte Bay. ‘They must have seen us,’ he thought. ‘But does Jemmerling have any idea where to look?’

  An hour later the Wewak was nosed into the beach just to the north of a small rocky headland named Cape Frederick. The group at once began unloading, the 4 Wheelers being driven off immediately. The tide was just on the make and the surf just big enough to be a cause of concern to Capt Kirk. Willy heard him say to Mr Beck and his father, “Now remember that we are due back in five days time, on the third. We will not be able to hang around for more than a few hours, one tide at the most. Also, if the weather gets back we may not be able to beach the Wewak. In that case you will have to make your way overland to Lockhart River. Now check the satellite phone again please.”

  From his study of the map Willy knew that there was no road within about 50km of the area. In between was a wilderness of swamps and bush. Knowing how hard it had been to push through 5km of scrub made him feel quite anxious. ‘We are going to be very isolated,’ he thought. Even though they had an aluminium dinghy with an outboard motor this knowledge did little to ease this sense of intense loneliness.

  As the Wewak backed off on the rising tide the little party stood on the beach and watched. Willy gave a half-hearted wave to Andrew but also felt a sense of quite determination. ‘We are here now. So we have a chance to find the ‘Beaufighter’ wreck. We have beaten Mr Jemmerling.’

  No sooner had he thought this than he heard the distant hum of aero engines. Looking south he saw the aircraft heading towards them. It was just visible above the ridge leading to the headland. After watching it for a few seconds he shook his head in dismay. The silhouette was too distinctive for him to be mistaken. ‘Oh no! It is the Pterodactyl!’

  CHAPTER 29

  RUN!

  It was instantly obvious to Willy that the people in the ‘Catalina’ had seen them. The plane put its nose down and dived, to roar over at about 500 feet. Then it began to circle them. As it did Willy felt a growing sense of unease. He turned to Mr Beck and said, “Can you remember exactly where the wreck of the ‘Beaufighter’ is Mr Beck?”

  Mr Beck had been watching the ‘Catalina’, his face a mask of anxiety. He turned to Willy and nodded, then pointed north along the beach. “Yes, it is about a kilometre north along the beach. I am fairly sure I can locate it easily.”

  By then the Pterodactyl had begun circling further north, over the area Mr Beck had indicated. Little alarm bells began ringing in Willy’s mind. “Mr Beck, I think they are searching for the wreck. Is it possible for them to see it from the air?”


  Mr Beck bit his lip and then nodded. “Possibly. Depends whether the wind has blown off any of the sand that we covered it with.”

  “How long ago was that?” Willy asked as he watched the ‘Catalina’ come even lower and circle even further north along the beach.

  “Ten years,” Mr Beck replied.

  Norman swore and then said, “I don’t like the way he is circling there. That is about where the wreck is.”

  “We had better get there quickly,” Willy suggested.

  Norman frowned. “But that will give them an even better clue where to look. They will see us searching.”

  That put Willy into a ferment of doubt. Was it better? Then he saw the Pterodactyl do a wide sweep off to the north, before turning and going even lower. As he watched it he felt another flutter of apprehension. Then a movement on the ‘Catalina’s’ wingtips crystallized the situation for him. “He is lowering his wing floats. He is going to land,” he said.

  “That might mean he has seen something,” Norman said, his face set.

  “I think he has,” Willy agreed. “Why else would he risk landing on waves as big as this.”

  By then it was obvious that the ‘Catalina’ was doing a landing approach. This would take it diagonally out to sea, facing into the wind and waves. Willy watched it for a few more seconds and then said, “If Mr Jemmerling has seen the wreck he might get to it before us. That might mean he can claim it if he has another permit.”

  Mr Beck nodded. “He is sure to have.”

  Willy felt a surge of desperation. “Then we must get there before him and stake our claim. Come on, run!”

  With that he set off running. As he did he saw the ‘Catalina’ strike the waves with its hull. It did this so hard it threw up a huge shower of spray and bounced. The plane smacked down again on the next wave crest. ‘That looks dangerous,’ Willy thought as the ‘Catalina’ bounced again and again, each bounce lower and slower than the previous one. That confirmed Willy in his suspicion that the people in the aircraft had indeed seen the wreck.