NB - A New Chapter - 4. ANC Chapter 4

“Come on buddy, it is 8am, and we have church to attend in an hour’s ti… Oh man, you do not look to good” Kyle said when he stuck his head in the door. I groaned again, and buried myself deeper into my bed, and I heard the door softly close, glad that I was alone once more. Eventually I was forced to get up due to my full bladder, and after relieving myself, I took a shower to try and wake up properly.

I managed to drink down a cup of tea and have a few bites of toast, before we drove to the cathedral to attend the morning service, with Annette and Kyle having gone ahead early in the Landrover.

“Good morning, it is wonderful to be back in this beautiful place of worship, even if it is for a sad event. For those who do not know me, I am Reverend Annette Davies, from St Stephen’s Church in Toodyay, Western Australia. Almost six years ago, a young man that many of us loved and cared for very much, lost his life after many years of health issues.

Huon Alexander Devonport, was only 23 years old when he passed away, on the family island, off the West Coast of Australia, but it was his wish to be buried here in Stanley on the Falkland Islands, where he spent many years working for a local farmer. He loved this place very much, and although he had to travel so much to get here each year, he did it without hesitation, even with the heavy study regime that he had at University.

One of Huon’s hidden talents, was singing, and with is best mate, my son Kyle, they worked on a project with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, to produce a wonder series of songs, sung at a variety of churches and chapels around Western Australia, that became part of the Sunday worship programme on television.

As a special treat, Kyle has agreed to provide some songs, that he and his best friend, the late Huon Devonport, sang for that television programme” Annette announced to the congregation, and without any music support, high up in the organ loft at the back of the cathedral, Huon began to sing, and suddenly there was a second voice, a much younger voice, and I looked over to where Josephine was seated, and there was no sign of Alexander, this is when I realised that his cousin was the second voice.

I quietly cried for most of the service, especially when Kyle and Alexander were singing, and with the twins on either side of me, they held onto my hands in support. I was glad when the service was finally over, and I remained in my seat, waiting for most of the congregation to leave before I wiped away my tears and stood up, and when I turned, I saw the officers and crew waiting at the back, and they snapped to attention when they saw me looking in their direction.

With the support of my brothers, I walked to the back of the cathedral, and trying my best to smile, I thanked each one of them for attending. When I had done this, the Captain dismissed the officers and crew, and they filed out of the building. I spotted Kyle and Alexander standing at the bottom of the stairs, that lead to the loft, and Alexander walked up to me and wrapped his arms around me.

“Well done lad, you have a voice just like your fathers, whatever you do, don’t stop singing, it is a beautiful voice you have” I said to my cousin quietly, and I felt him nod is head, as I saw Kyle walking towards us. “Thanks mate, that was wonderful, and thanks for including young Alexander in the singing” I said to Kyle, “That is my pleasure Sebastian, and he prefers to be called Xander” Kyle replied smiling.

“Well Xander, how about we go and find a place where there is ice cream, I think you deserve a treat after all that” I said to my young cousin, “Yes please” Xander replied happily, and the twins chuckled, “We are joining you” the twins chorused, “and me” Kyle added” as we filed out of the cathedral.

A few minutes later we were all sitting in the main café in town, enjoying an ice cream in winter time. “My mum informs me that you are heading on a cruise on Wednesday?” Kyle asked me, “Yes mate, you and your mum are welcome to join us” I replied right away. “Well you know that mum hates boats, because she gets sea sick so easily, and I have to return to my medical studies, if I want to become a doctor, so unfortunately I can’t” Kyle replied sounding disappointed.

I am planning on doing boutique cruises circumnavigating Australia, including stops at 3 New Zealand ports, Norfolk, Lord Howe Island, Thursday Island, Port Moresby in PNG, Christmas and Cocos Keeling Islands and Rottnest Island” I announced. “Wow, that sounds awesome, how many will you be doing a year?” Kyle responded, “Well, we will be based at Fremantle, and we will be doing 3 trips clockwise, and 2 trips anti-clockwise, plus a Southern Ocean Cruise, straight after Christmas, from Fremantle to Wellington and back” I replied, revealing my plans for the first time.

“Well, you can put me down for the Summer Cruise this year please” Kyle replied excited, I was expecting you would” I replied happily.When do we leave for this cruise Sebastian?” Xander asked quietly, “Well mate, we set sail from here this Wednesday, and our first stop will be Cape Town South Africa, which will take us just over 13 days, if the weather is kind to us, once we have refuelled and resupplied, we make the 16-day journey to Albany in the far south of Western Australia” I replied.

“Wow, I have never been off the island at home until recently, and now I have flown to London, down to the Ascension Islands to here, and now I’m going to South Africa and Australia, this is so awesome, my friends at my old school are going to be so jealous” Xander answered, which made us all chuckle.

“Maybe you should send a postcard from here, and I have a spare one from Auckland, New Zealand and Santiago, Chile” Kyle suggested, “Yes please” Xander answered loudly, and we all laughed at his enthusiasm. Back at the accommodation, we had a light lunch, before I headed to my room for a short nap, as I had been very drained of energy from all of this morning’s emotions, and the small amount of sleep from last night.

After two hours sleep, I felt a lot more refreshed, and I let my hosts know that I was heading to the Ocean Explorer to do so office work. As I hoped, there was no sign of anyone when I boarded the ship, although a little concerned that the external door was not locked, as I made my way inside, and I headed directly up to the storm lounge on D Deck, where I set up my laptop computer, and connected it up to the ships internet service.

I jumped in fright when I saw someone approaching, “Jeeze Paul, give me a heart attack” I said as I tried to calm down from the fright. “Sorry sir, I saw you boarding, as it is my turn to be on watch. I just wanted to check if you need anything?” the Captain asked me. “It’s good to know that I was noticed, I was a little worried about the ship being unlocked, just a cup of tea and a small snack if there is someone in the galley thanks Paul” I replied.

The captain smiled and nodded his head, before disappearing, and I continued to send an email to the company lawyers in Switzerland. A steward appeared with my afternoon tea, and left right away, without a word, as I was busy on my computer. For the past for months, I had been busy promoting the Boutique cruises, and I was checking with the Travel agency in Albany, that I had contracted to take all bookings for the cruises.

Once I was done, I headed upstairs to the Bridge, where I found the Captain looking through the ships binoculars, “Anything interesting out there?” I asked softly so as not to startle him, “No sir, just some young teenagers fooling around” the Captain replied as he put his binoculars down. “I came to fill you in on my plans for the ship, by now you probably know that with the changes made, we are going to be a small cruise ship.

I was hoping to do circumnavigations of Australia, with New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and some Australian Islands in the Pacific and Indian oceans, 3 clockwise and two anti–clockwise, by my estimates each trip will take 28 days, with stops at each of the 10 ports and 7 islands. I’ve printed out a copy of the planned destinations for you to look at and to get your feedback on if this is an ok plan. I thought we would set off on Wednesday for Cape Town, then to Albany, to have a short break before we get started on the first trip” I said to the captain as I handed over the itinerary that I had printed out.

After a short scan of what I had handed him, the captain nodded his head, “Yes sir, this looks perfect, and I look forward to these trips” the captain said smiling. “As you can see there are six ports, where we have overnight stops, so it gives the officers and crew a chance to have some time off” I added.

“Looks perfect sir, what is the stop at Marlo, is there anything significant of that place and the length of the stop?” Paul the Captain asked, “Sure is, that is the location of the mouth of the Snowy River, with the Snowy Mountains not that far away” I said in reply, “I look forwards to seeing it, when we get there?” the Captain replied, just as we heard a loud crash coming from outside, and looking over the jetty side of the ship, we saw the teenagers running away. “I think we better call the local police, there may be some damage to the ship” I said as I turned to leave.

When I arrived on the main deck, the junior engineer and a deck hand were looking over the side, and forward of their location, “What’s the damage?” I asked, “Oh, hello Mr Wagner, I was not aware you were onboard, it looks like those brats have thrown a large can of pain against the side of the ship, doesn’t appear to be any damage from this angle” the junior officer replied.

“Deckhand, your name is Carpenter is that right?” I asked, “that is correct sir, “Good, be a good lad and step onto the jetty, see if there is any damage and report back to the 1st Engineer here, and he can pass it onto the Captain, I am heading back up to the storm lounge” I said, “Yes sir, right away” the deckhand replied, and he rushed off to do as I asked.

“Have that paint washed off right away please Mr Vernon” I said before I turned and headed back inside, “Yes sir” I heard the 1st Engineer reply, as I stepped through the door. When I arrived at the elevator, the Captain stepped out, “Just paint, thrown against the ship, the deckhand and 1st engineer, are onto it” I said, as I entered the elevator, and the Captain walked towards the aft of the ship.

Back in the storm lounge, I relaxed or about an hour, before heading back downstairs to return to the accommodation, in time for dinner, where I mentioned the paint splattered against the ship, which Kyle was not very happy about, “I have a good mind to round them up, and to force them to spend two weeks scrubbing the decks for doing that damage” Kyle said in an annoyed manner.

“You know, you may have a good idea there Kyle, I will discuss it with the local police if they are found, tell them that Captain Blue Beard is on the look out for them as punishment” I replied with a smirk, which had everyone smiling. I am sure Captain Paul wouldn’t like being referred as Captain Blue Beard” Annette replied, “Well he does have a Goatee” I added.

Just at that moment, I felt my mobile vibrate in my pocket, and I pulled it out to look at the message, “He must have good hearing, he just sent me a message” I commented, as I hit the call button. “Hey Paul, we were just talking about you when you messaged me” I said and the twins added “Arr me hearty, make them walk the plank”, which started everyone laughing again.

“What’s all that about?” Captain Paul asked sounding a little confused, “Well mate, my friend Kyle here suggested that we round up the culprits, and make them scrub the decks for two weeks, and I added that I would let the local police know that Captain Blue Beard was on the lookout for them to give them punishment” I explained, as I put the phone onto loud speaker.

“Oh, I understand all the pirate talk now, ha ha ha, very good. Does that mean I have to die my goatee blue?” Captain Paul replied, and we all chuckled, “Please Captain Paul, can you do that, teach the little buggers a lesson” Xander called out, and his grandmother scorned him for his foul language. “I will think about it young Xander, the police have in fact caught them, and they called to ask if the owner wants to press charges” Paul responded.

“How about we meet down at the police station after lunch, say at 2pm, and we can talk to the police directly about it” I suggested, “Very well sir, see you then, bye” the Captain replied before ending the call. “This maybe a very interesting voyage to Cape Town, if things go as I hope” I commented, and I continued eating my lunch.

As I entered the police station, just before 2pm, I had to take a second look, when I saw a man wearing a long black coat, a pirate hat and his goatee was blue, before I burst out laughing, and it took me some time to calm down, much to the annoyance of the female police officer at the front counter, waiting to find out why I was there.

“I am sorry officer, my name is Sebastian Wagner, the owner of the Southern Explorer, I had no idea that my captain was going to take the joke idea seriously” I said as I continued to chuckle, and the officer smiled, before heading outback, no doubt to see someone more senior.

When the side door to the administration opened, a large and very tall man with the rank of Senior Sergeant stepped out, “Hello Mr Wagner, I am Senior Sergeant Harry Glass, and this must be Captain Blue Beard I have heard about” the senior police officer said, “He is my ship’s captain, Mr Paul Kingsley, and we were joking at lunch time that Captain Blue Beard was on the look out for the culprits, to make them scrub the decks for two weeks as punishment” I said to the police officer, who indicated to us to follow him.

A few minutes later, we were seated in a conference room, and not long after there was a knock on the door and a very well-dressed lady walked in, then stopped dead when she saw Paul. “What is this Senior, a fancy-dress party or something?” the lady asked with some authority, not knowing who she is. “Not at all Ma’am, just a little practical joke taken a little too seriously, after a lunch time chat amongst friends” the Senior police officer said, as the lady sat down at the head of the table, and placing a folder on the table.

“Gentlemen, this is an informal meeting, so there will be no recording happening of our discussions, I am the government Child and Family Services Director on the Falkland Islands, and I am also one of the Magistrates” the lady announced. As soon as we heard this both Paul and I stood up.

“Ma’am, my name is Sebastian Wagner, and this is my ship Captain, Mr Paul Kingsley, and not Captain Blue Beard as he appears to be. I had no idea we were meeting with you this afternoon, we thought we were just coming to file a complaint against the youth who splatted paint all over my ship” I said.