Footprints in the Sea.
Volume 5
Volcano
By
Frances Penwiddy
Copyright©Frances Penwiddy 2018
All rights reserved
The complete story is not suitable reading material for minors
Chapter 95
I did get to dance with Will, first a waltz and I played a trick on him. I snuggled up and placed both my arms over his shoulder and clasped my hands together as he was taking a forward step and gently bent my knees so that both feet were off the floor. He continued with the three step sequence without noticing he was carrying my weight totally and still didn’t notice in the reverse three steps until he went into a reverse turn and the sudden change of my weight on the left side caught me out and I had to get my feet down onto the floor rather rapidly and accompanied the exercise with an ouch and a moan.
“Sorry, I thought you were expecting it.”
“I was but I didn’t anticipate the change in my body weight distribution.”
“Sorry,” he said again, “I’ll give a stronger signal next time.”
“No need,” and I started giggling, “I’ll keep my feet on the floor from now on.”
“What do you mean?”
The giggles got worse and I had to stop and hold on to him with my right hand whilst I leant to my left in an attempt to ease the pain, “I had both knees bent a little and neither of my feet were on the floor when you made the turn. You were carrying me through the last two sequences and didn’t even notice.”
“You were doing what?”
“Nothing. I was just hanging on to you with my feet up off the floor to stop you treading on my toes.”
He started laughing and we closed together and started waltzing properly and at the end I did a single twirl but made sure it was under my right arm.
It was a terrific evening but David turned me down when I asked him for a tango but he did dance a slow foxtrot and I behaved myself and danced in a demure manner. At about eleven, people started to drift off and shortly after that we all called it a day but once we were outside I asked Will, “Is there a small buggy going spare?”
“There’s a couple and another over at Goats Cove, do you want to go back to the house?”
“No, I don’t feel very tired and wondered if you fancy a little drive down to Goats Cove and a walk up to the top of the cove. We could stand in the moonlight, look at the stars, have a kiss and cuddle and enjoy the view along the peninsula.”
“Okay but we can’t go along the peninsula at night, it’s a bit tricky at any time but with you already suffering a damaged rib, it would be dangerous.”
“No, I don’t want to walk along the peninsula, just look at it and the stars for a bit and then come back to Revelation Bay.”
“Okay,” he made a call, got the okay and left to collect the buggy from the security car park. Twenty minutes later we were standing on the southeast corner of Goats Cove looking out over the sea towards the Antarctic and the sky was absolutely clear and there were stars so bright and in such quantity that if I weren’t used to these starry skies, it would be difficult to pick out the constellations. “It’s so incredibly beautiful, if it wasn’t for the choppy water left by the storm we would have been able to see the reflection of the stars in the sea. It’s like looking into a star filled tunnel.”
Will wasn’t looking out to sea, he was looking into my eyes, “I’m doing that now, looking into two star filled tunnels,” and he kissed me and I wasn’t able to lift my left arm over his shoulder but I made up for it my using my right arm to pull his head down and I stood on tip toe. We kissed for a long time and for once there was no little giggle from Undine but I expect she was enjoying kisses of her own. We broke the kiss and I rested my cheek on his chest and looked out along the peninsula to the east wondering at the beauty of the scene and storing away this moment in our lives. I was about to turn into him again when I thought I saw a reddish glow on the horizon just to the right of the tip of the peninsular. “What was that?” I eased back but kept my eyes towards the east.
“What was what? Are you getting pains?”
“No, nothing like that, I thought I saw a red glow just to the right of the reef, over there,” and pointed.
Will looked and studied the area I was indicating and shook his head, “I can’t see anything except the stars and a choppy sea.”
“It’s gone and I’m sure it wasn’t my imagination. A dull red glow but only for a second or two.”
He look again but nothing happened, “You’re getting tired, come on we’ll make our way back and he turned towards the shore and as he did so, the glow appeared again, a little brighter this time, “There!” I said, “It’s brighter,” and he turned back but the red vanished again. “Keep looking I definitely saw something.” A few seconds later the glow appeared again and it was brighter still and clearly showed for a second or two. “There you must have seen it that time?”
“I did. It’s a bit odd, there’s nothing out there until Tierra del Fuego and it’s certainly not a reflection from the beacon at the end of the peninsular.”
“Ship?” I asked.
Will shook his head slowly. “If it was a ship we would have detected it on one of the radars. He turned to look towards Devonshire Hill, “It’s not a reflection from that beacon either, wrong colour and too bright…”
“There, Will quick it’s almost yellow and I’m sure I saw the shadow of some smoke. Could it be a distress flare?”
He just caught it. “Perhaps a parachute flare but as I said, a ship would have shown up on radar and we would have been told.”
“Something small like a lifeboat or perhaps a small sailing ship or motorboat?”
“Not out here. Quest showed on the main radar but anything smaller than her wouldn’t have done so and out there we aren’t covered by close range radar. What would a small boat be doing out here in the middle of nowhere? If somebody had gone sailing from the island they would have left details and nothing has been logged and no boats are missing.”
“It’s definitely something Will, we’ll have to phone Aurora and let them know and the people at Revelation Bay it must be a distress flare or a small boat on fire.”
“Do you have Aurora’s number?”
“No but I have Wanderer’s, I’ll phone Victor and ask him and you telephone somebody in charge at the Bay.” I didn’t wait for him to answer but found my phone and dialled Wanderer and hoped they had somebody on watch on the bridge. They did and my call was answered, “Pacific Wanderer, OOD.”
“Is that you Victor?”
“Yes. Commander Charlotte?”
“Yes. Look, we may have an emergency on hand can you check the radar for about fifteen or so miles out and approximately due east by a touch south. We have seen a red glow on the horizon and Will and I think it’s either a distress flare or a small vessel on fire. Check the area east of Charlotte Island peninsula and a little south of that.” I waited whilst I heard him give instructions to somebody and without waiting for a confirmation I asked, “Can you let me have Aurora’s number, I’ll have to let them know as well, Will is busy phoning Revelation Bay.” As he gave me the numbers I tapped them in and stored them. “Our people should be back from the party any minute now, if you can, will you get the reasonably sober ones on board and is Wanderer in a fit state to put to sea?”
“Just about but wait until Lieutenant Venables makes a decision on that but I will get as ready as I can. What are you doing?”
“Letting everybody know until we get some sort of confirmation and then probably hot foot it back to Mermaid Bay but we’ll have to see if we can get Orca’s helicopter or the Sunderland up. Trouble is most of the crew have been drinking.”
“There’s the new blokes that the Sunderland crew have been training, three of them I think but I don’t know if they’re capable and I don’t know about the helicopter pilot, was he at the party?”
“I don’t know. Look I’ll have to speak to Aurora, most of our lot are okay, they didn’t overdo the booze. I’ll leave you to make the judgment on their condition. If Martin or Tamati are no good, tell them to get off the ship and I’ll back you. You okay with that?”
“Perfectly but they won’t argue.”
“I’ll let you know anything as soon as I get it, bye.”
“Wait a second, Charlotte, the radar result.” There was a short pause and then, “It’s a bit iffy on its own because the island is stopping us from getting a decent look but Sparks tells me that with what you’ve seen it could well be a small boat or possibly an oil slick on fire though he doubts the latter but the sea does appear unsettled for a small area around the spot you indicated. He’s already on to Aurora so forget them and try and get the radar on top of Devonshire Hill to take a closer look, their stuff is much more powerful than anything we have and they might pick up something if they switch to close range.”
“Will do.” I killed the call and waited whilst Will continued speaking to somebody at Revelation Bay and then in the distance I heard a ship’s siren start, it was coming from the northwest so it must have been Aurora or Wanderer and then I heard Orca start. Something had definitely been spotted and I started getting fidgety but didn’t dare interrupt him. Inspiration hit me. So far Goat’s Cove hadn’t reacted and they too should be informed. I sorted out Larry’s number and dialled him.
“Hullo?”
“Larry, it’s Charlotte, are you awake?”
“Yes, just about to go to bed.”
“Forget it. Something is going on out to sea, to the east and right on the horizon, red flares or flames. Aurora has sounded her recall siren and Orca has just started. Should Goat’s Cove be alerted?” He started to reply and then suddenly the siren on top of the reception hut at Goat’s Cove started up.
“Sounds like it has,” he replied. “That’s the staff recall, I’ll go over to admin and see what’s going on.”
“Let me know okay. Will and I are at the southeast corner of the cove and will probably shoot back to Revelation Bay in a minute or two so use my mobile number.” I ended the call and the phone rang, “Emma?”
“Yes. Liz and I were just getting ready for bed, “What’s going on, there’s alarms going off all over the place?”
“Not sure but we think a ship or small boat is on fire some miles off the peninsula at Goat’s Cove. Where’s Faye?”
“In the hospital with her parents being read a bedtime story I expect.”
“Will and I will probably be back in twenty minutes or so, can you check with Auntie Kate and Gwyneth and make sure they’re okay in case it’s something more serious.”
“Okay what about you?”
“We’re fine, we have a buggy and as I said we will be coming back soon unless they want Will somewhere else. Must go, Will’s just finished speaking to somebody at Revelation Bay and we’ll probably have to go dashing off. Just in case it’s a real emergency, make sure everybody is dressed, awake and ready to move, okay, don’t forget the Pemberton’s and Mary Wellington, she’s probably in the hospital with Byron.?” I ended that call and returned my attention to Will, “Any more news?”
“Some. Come on we’ll have to get back, I’ll tell you in the buggy.”
We set off leaving the beginnings of organised panic behind us and Will started to tell me his news but my telephone started again, I looked at the screen and grinned and held it up for Will to see. “Do you want to speak to him or are you leaving it to me?”
“You,” he grinned, “He’s a bit scared of you.”
“Byron, how are you?”
“How am I! What the blazes is going on! Emma has phoned and Mary has gone off to pack a suitcase and told me she’s coming back for me and I’m to get dressed again. There’s alarms and sirens going off all over the place and people dashing about screaming things about ships on fire, North Korean invasions and missile attacks!”
“It’s okay, Will and I are taking care of it.”
“I might have guessed you’d be involved. Is Pacific Wanderer okay?”
Why do ships captains enquire about their ships before they ask about their womenfolk? “Pacific Wanderer is fine, I spoke to Victor a few minutes ago and he’s getting ready to put to sea…”
“He’s what!”
“Stop shouting, Will is beside me and he’s driving at top speed and you’re likely to distract him. I said Chief Petty Officer Victor Evans, the chief chef on Pacific Wanderer is making ready to sail but isn’t going to do it until he gets permission from Andy Bryant or Will and I.”
“You!”
“Byron, stop shouting or you’ll harm your dodgy lung. Everything is under control. We believe a small vessel a few miles off the Goat’s Cove peninsular is on fire and I suspect all the flap is to get the ships ready to go to her aid.”
“There wouldn’t be a flap like this if it was just a small ship. Now what is going on?”
“Wait a second Will was going to update me but your telephone call interrupted him.” I muted the phone, “What is causing all the flap, Byron does have a point.”
“Devonshire Hill radar have detected disturbed sea in the area of the flames and there is a report from the seismic operators that an underwater explosion may have been detected. They now think there may be a submarine out there in trouble. Probably forced to surface to deal with an on board explosion and fire. So far they have failed to detect a reflection from the coning tower and they think she may be unable to surface more than just enough to get the conning tower open so the crew can get out but it’s too low in the water to show on radar particularly in that choppy sea.”
“Good heavens, wait a bit.” I turned the sound on again, “Byron, they believe there may be a submarine out there on fire and unable to surface fully so they’re sending ships out to help. Orca has equipment for operating mini-subs so is probably going with Aurora. We’ll be back at the hospital in a few minutes so get dressed and we’ll brief you when we know exactly what’s going on and stay in the hospital, there’s no point in staggering around because you’ll get in the way.” I ended the call before he could object and shuddered when I looked out of the windscreen and saw the way Will was driving the buggy. “Did they say anything else?
“Yes, they are speaking to the Americans and Royal Navy and just about everybody else to try and find out who might have a sub in the area. American AWAC and New Zealand Maritime surveillance planes have been diverted and Harry Fellows is churning up the sea with his new inn-shore support destroyer.”
“What’s he doing out here?”
“He was coming down to relieve Ferret so she could escort the captured ship and Pacific Wanderer back to Auckland for repairs.”
“There’s nothing wrong with Wanderer that we can’t fix here.”
“Chief Engineer isn’t happy about one of the reinforcing bow plates and wants it checked by the dockyard before they go to Antarctica. He thinks one of the shells that hit her during the recent fracas may have caused more damage than was first thought.”
“So she could sink?”
“Not up here, the original hull is sound but she can’t be risked amongst ice floes until the ice breaker section is fixed.”
I sat back and sighed, “That means the South Pole trip will have to be cancelled.”
“I was going to tell you tomorrow but it is almost certainly going to be cancelled anyway. The crack in the ice has widened again and there’s a panic on to get things moved to safety and the thinking is of postponing the Antarctic trip until after Christmas.”
I sighed again, “Everything is going pear shaped suddenly but I suppose it’s for the best. There’s another problem as well. If Aurora is needed on this flames in the sea mystery or is sent to New Zealand and Orca is involved in rescuing submarines, we only have Harry Fellows and his new destroyer and I can’t see him agreeing to let us use it for ferrying people and goods between here and New Zealand so we’ll be back to where we started. Marooned on a desert island."
“There’s always Penguin’s barge, that’s still at Goats Cove and you’ve forgotten Undine and the Sunderland.”
I wish he hadn’t said that because his phone rang. It was Andy Bryant, “Andy… They have, good do you think they could get airborne?... Yes I think it’s a good idea then we will at least have somebody on site. What about Wanderer’s missing crew?...Better still, so they could get going as well if they are needed. She’s here with me, want to tell her?” He laughed and closed the phone. “He’s scared of you as well.”
“What did he say, I didn’t like the sound of it?”
“Harris is fine and Peter is not up to flying but can act as co-pilot and with two of the trainees they are confident they can get the Sunderland up and over the site a lot quicker than getting Aurora there but Aurora is on stand-by. So until this flaming sea business is sorted out we have no ships left except the barge. Andy said that might have to go out on its own if they are needed to help lift the sub. He thinks that will take at least three hours at her top speed.”
“So there’s only Undine left unless they postpone Wanderer’s repairs.”
“I’m afraid so. I don’t think they’ll postpone Wanderer’s work. It’s not a big job by dockyard standards but she will need dry-dock time and it’s a question of how long they will have to wait if we cancel the slot they’ve made for us.”
I didn’t phone Byron because we were turning into the Revelation Bay compound and then I had an inspiration, “Will get the buggy swapped for a twelve seater. I’ll get hold of the girls and their blokes, I have an idea.”
“What?”
“Haven’t time now, just swap this for the twelve seater and I’ll explain on the way back to Mermaid Bay.”
“You what…” but he was too late and I was out of the buggy and jogging as fast as my rib allowed towards the hostel whilst trying to dig my phone out at the same time.
I can’t release any further chapters of volume 5 for fear of upsetting Amazon. The full volume is available at Amazon Kindle Ebooks and the link to Amazon is in the right hand column.
