At Sea - 3. AS Chapter 3

“Are the others up yet?” Uncle Jay asked, “yep they just getting up after I pounded on their door” Amanda said with a grin, and we all laughed, as we heard Peter and Sam approaching, “you’re a cruel witch” Peter said with a frown, which made us start laughing again, as the boys joined us at the table for breakfast.

“Ok, just to let you know what the plans are for today, since the wind has dropped to almost nothing, we will spend the morning exploring the island, and maybe have a game of beach volleyball, then at lunch time we will set off to start picking up our catches.

We have 3 lines all close together from here at Preservation Island east to Passage Island, in this passage between Clarke and Cape Barren Islands, we will overnight at Passage Island. Tomorrow we will be having a full day laying down three new lines, picking up another three lines as we head south, and dropping the last three lines as we go down the north-east coast of Tasmania” Uncle Jay said to everyone.

After a few hours of hiking and a quick swim in the cove, we spent an hour playing beach volley ball, before heading back to the boat. With me assigned at the helm, Uncle Jay, Amanda, Julia, Peter and Sam spent the whole afternoon working on deck.

It was getting close too sunset when the last line was set and we approached a small sheltered bay on Passage Island, and once the anchors were set, I shut down the engine, and headed down to the galley to grab a much needed, cup of tea. I found Amanda and Julia in the mess chatting about today’s events when I entered, and I just grabbed my cuppa and headed to my cabin to relax for a while.

Once I closed my cabin door, I turned on the DVD player, placed a CD into it and turned it on, before putting my headphones on and laying down. I woke up to the sound of banging on my cabin door, and staggered to my feet to open it, to find Uncle Jay standing there, looking a little annoyed.

“I guess you had your headphones on again did you” he said to me with a frown, and looking down at my feet I nodded my head, “I’m sorry, I guess I fell asleep while I was listening to my music” I said quietly, “that’s ok, I just wanted to let you know that we have already eaten, your dinner is in the oven waiting for you” Uncle Jay said to me and I quickly looked at my bedside clock to see that it was just after 8pm.

After I had eaten and washed up, I joined the others in the lounge to watch a movie, and they chose Jaws, which I had already seen many times, Uncle Jay prepared some microwave popcorn for snacks as we watched, and it ended up being a nice relaxing evening.

Before we headed to our cabins, Uncle Jay reminded everyone that it was a 6am start in the morning, so breakfast would be at 5.30am, as we had another busy day in front of us. We arrived back at St Helens mid-afternoon, and as by the time we had arrived, the decks had been washed and scrubbed, and everything had been cleaned and put away.

Once we had moored at the jetty, Uncle Jay and I offloaded our stock of crayfish to the wholesalers, while the remainder of the crew, cleaned up and packed up their luggage, appearing on the main deck, a few minutes after the truck had left.

Uncle Jay handed me the four envelopes to distribute, while he went below to gather his luggage, leaving me to hand over the wages and thank the temporary crew for all their hard work, Peter and Julia said they had enjoyed the experience, but they felt that just once was enough for them, as they received their pay and left the boat.

Amanda and Sam were of the opposite view, they enjoyed the hard work and the free time, and said they would do it again if the chance ever came available again, which I was pleased to hear.

The following day, when I arrived for the afternoon lecture at university, Amanda and Sam approached me, “Carlton, are you sure your uncle paid us correctly, what we found in the envelopes seemed a lot more than we expected” Amanda said to me. “Yes, that is right, 22 hours of work, plus a bonus” I said with a smile as I made my way to my usual seat, leaving Amanda and Sam looking shocked.

When the lecturer arrived, everyone went silent, and he paused before looking directly at me, “Mr Henderson, do you have a report on how your recruits coped with working on a fishing boat?” he asked me with a big smile, I stood up and was about to say something when Peter interrupted me, “Yes, I have blisters on top of my blisters” he said with a frown, and everyone laughed, “And muscles on top of your muscles I bet” I added, which brought more laughter.

“Two have expressed an interest to return if the opportunity arises, and the other two have stated that, although it was an interesting and rewarding experience, they don’t want to try it again” I said after the laughter had subsided a little.

“Very good, thankyou Carlton” the lecturer said with a smile. “Excuse me sir, I wish to add that although we worked very hard over the past three days, we also were able to see some spectacular sights, visiting some small islands in Bass Strait, and the cray fishing boat is actually a converted long line fishing boat, with room for crew plus eight extras, ideal for any future research expeditions” Amanda said.

“I see, that is a very interesting proposal you mention there, I will have to think about that idea, now let’s get down to today’s lecture…” the professor said, and he continued on with today’s subject.

I turned to Amanda and gave her a frown, before looking back to the front, not pleased at what she had said without consulting me before, and when the lecture class had ended for the day, I dashed to the door, and slipped away, before Amanda could get anywhere near me.

I was not in the mood to talk to her, and when my mobile began to ring, and I saw the caller ID being Amanda, I ignored it, as I made my way to the bus stop, to catch my ride home. When I arrived home, I found Uncle Jay and Aunty Jacq in deep conversation, and they smiled as I entered the house.

“Ah good you are home, do you have a contact number for your senior lecturer” Aunty Jacq asked me, “Err yes I do, why what’s wrong?” I replied looking a bit worried, “Don’t worry, you are not in trouble, I just need you to crew for me for two days, as those two so called crewmen have gone and quit on me, just three weeks before the end of the season” Uncle Jay said to me.

“We have decided to pull up all the lines and end the season for the main boat, we still have the other boats working, so we will still have some income for the last few weeks of the season” Aunty Jacq added, “Ok, so who else are you going to get to help” I said wondering who else would be available to help, “That would be me, dear nephew, we have discussed it, and I think if we go slow I should be able to handle the work load” Aunty Jacq said, which surprised me a little.

“We have already done the cleaning, we just need to restock the galley and refuel and we will be ready to go in the morning” Uncle Jay said. I telephoned the university administration, and explained that a family emergency means I would not be able to attend my remaining lectures for the week, and they assured me that as long as I received a copy of the lecture notes and completed the assignments, then it wouldn’t be a problem.

While Uncle Jay went to attend to the boat to check the engine and to refuelling, Aunty Jacq and I went to the supermarket to buy the food that we would need for the estimated three-day trip to pick up all 180 cray pots.

When we returned, there was a note on the galley bench – “Gone to the boat store, to get a new fuel filter, back soon”, and once I had finished putting away the stores, I went and changed the linen on my bed, and added the dirty sheets to the laundry basket to be taken back home, and I made my bed with a fresh set of sheets. I heard Uncle Jay arrive back just as I had finished, and I went to the lounge area where my uncle and aunt were talking.

“Nav, it just happens by chance that while at the boat store, when I mentioned the two crew members quitting on me, the store manager – Jared said that his nephew – Jacob is visiting from Canada, and that he comes from a trawler fishing family going back three generations on his father’s side. Jacob’s mother is Jared’s first cousin, they will be coming over after dinner for an informal interview” Uncle Jay said.

I stood there a little shocked at the announcement, and I thought about it, I realised that an extra worker would make life a lot easier for this trip, so I smiled and nodded my head, before heading off to my cabin, to shower and change.

When I arrived back at the house for dinner, there was a knock on the front door, and since I hadn’t sat yet, I walked to the front door to answer it. “Hello young man, I am Jared from the Boat store, and this is my nephew – Jacob from Canada” the man at the door said with a smile, and I nodded my head and stepped to the side to let them in, and lead them to the dining room where Uncle Jay and Aunt Jacq were just standing to greet the visitors.

Aunt Jacq offered them a seat at the table and a cup of tea, which they accepted, as we commenced eating our meal, and I just listened to the conversations as I ate, where I learnt that Jacob was just 16 years old, and that he had spent weekends and holidays working on his dad’s fishing trawler for the past three years, and that he was wanting to do the training to get higher qualifications also.

Jared said that he was pleased that the chance for Jacob to go out on a cray fishing boat, had come available, as Jacob had been hanging around the boat store since arriving a few days ago, and that Jacob was often very bored.

Uncle Jay said that he too was pleased as it meant that he now had enough crew to get the work done properly, and he mentioned that Jacob would get his own cabin and bathroom for this trip, and that we would be leaving at 6am the next morning from the fishing harbour.

As we finished our meal, and began to clean up, Uncle Jay was leading the guests to the front lounge, when there was a knock on the door, I was helping Aunty Jacq with the dishes, and was in the kitchen when the door was opened, thinking that it would be someone wanting to talk to Uncle Jay.

“Why hello Amanda, what an unexpected surprise, come in please, I will let Carlton know you are here” I heard Uncle Jay say. I remained in the kitchen as I was still not happy with what she said in the lecture earlier in the day, and Aunty Jacq looked at me in a concerned way, but I refused to look directly at her, as I began to wash the dishes.

I could hear a discussion happening in the lounge, but it was not loud enough for me to hear clearly. A few minutes later Uncle Jay appeared in the kitchen, and he stood beside me, and waited for me to stop what I was doing, “So I hear that you are not happy with an idea that Amanda mentioned in class today?” he said to me.

“She had no right to do that, without consulting me, so I could ask you” I snapped angrily, and I heard uncle Jay sigh, “That is true, and I have talked to Amanda about that, I have also told her that it is a good idea, and that I would consider it, especially now that I don’t have a full crew for the remainder of the season” uncle Jay said to me.

I too sighed and looked up at Uncle Jay, “I’m sorry I snapped at you just now, and yes I guess it would be a good way to use the boat, especially with the offseason coming up, but she should have still asked me, so I could put the idea to you” I said to him and Uncle Jay smiled.

“Ok, how about leaving that for now and coming into the lounge room” uncle Jay said and he left the kitchen, with me following shortly after. Amanda gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek and whispering sorry as she did so, before sitting down again, and I took a seat next to her, “Mr Henderson, I mean Jay, has mentioned that you are skipping classes for the rest of the week, to go to work on the boat” Amanda said to me, and I nodded my head.

“Yes, I have already cleared it with the university, and Aunty Jacq and young Jacob here will be going with us” I replied. “I wish I could skip classes and join you, I really enjoyed the last trip, but I’m really struggling with some subjects, so I have to attend all my classes, or I will fall behind” Amanda said sadly, “Well maybe on holidays, you can join us” I said to try and cheer her up a little.

A little while later Amanda thanked Uncle Jay and Aunty Jacq for their hospitality, and left the house, stopping to say to me, “Have fun and don’t work too hard Nav”. Not long after Jared and Jacob said good night, and also left, and after finishing cleaning up in the kitchen, I retired to my little cabin.