Oceania - 11. Oce Chapter 11

Nearly 24 hours after we arrived, we had completed the survey of the damage, and the report was not good for the owner of the Catamaran, apart from the badly dented hull, there was also a crack in the forwards section of the port hull, where the force of impact, must have been enough to weaken the welding joints, plus there was water damage in both aft engine compartments, where a split in the aft hull had allowed water inside.

However, the two power generators and two forward engines which are in a separate area further forward were not damaged and are operational. The main problem now was to get it floating and off the island and over the reef, before loading it onto a cargo ship, so it can be sent to be fixed.

I had been notified that the Oceania had also picked up the distress signal, and was making its way to our location to assist in any way, with it being another three days away.

After some discussions with Derek, was asked for some volunteers among the crew, to remain with the damaged catamaran, until the Oceania arrives, and we had plenty of volunteers, but we decided that just four would be sufficient, plus Mr Wallace had elected to remain behind as well.

With the catamaran secured to the beach with heavy anchors, and stocking up the vessel with plenty of supplies of freshwater and food, we set off towards New Caledonia, to deliver the remaining crew and passengers of the catamaran, plus their cargo, since it is the nearest landfall from the reef, and where they could still have a short holiday.

When I was on the catamaran, I noticed that there had been some changes made, that were not on the layout plan, that showed the outside deck behind the bridge, had been converted into a crew accommodation and lounge area, with an extension behind the crew lounge directly behind the bridge, to allow for a small library and a ship’s office.

Behind that, are 2 officer cabins, 2 triple crew and 4 twin crew cabins, each with their own bathrooms, to accommodate all 16 crew, so I knew that those who were volunteering to say would be fairly comfortable for the duration of their stay.

With New Caledonia being just over a days journey away, there was a good chance that we would arrive back at the site of the catamaran at about the same time as the Oceania, and together we would be able to work out what to do with the stranded vessel.

Once we had dropped off the passengers in the main city of Noumea, we stocked up on some local supplies, before turning around and heading back to the reef, after just a 6 hour stop. The Oceania, was already there when we arrived, and once we were sitting on the sand near the reef, a boat delivered the captain and XO over to the Aquaria.

During a two hour meeting, we discussed all of the issues regarding the stranded vessel, which had sunk a few more centimetres since we left it a few days earlier. With a telephone conference with Mr Wallace’s lawyers and insurance company, the decision was made to declare the catamaran ferry abandoned, as it would cost too much to have it transported to a shipping yard and get all the damage repaired.

At that point, on behalf of my father, and the family corporation, I made an offer to buy the catamaran, and that we would take responsibility for its safe removal and repairs. When a reasonable price had been agreed on, a bill of sale was written up and sent by the lawyers to our corporate law firm, to be finalised.

Mr Wallace agreed to be dropped off at Auckland, which would be our next destination, while the Oceania would remain behind and start work on trying to get the catamaran unstuck and floating again. Once we had dropped off Mr Wallace, we headed to Mayor Island, where we decided to spend some time relaxing for a few weeks, to all the crew a good rest, as no doubt my father had plans to keep us busy for the near future.

Two weeks later, we were notified that the catamaran was now off the island, having been pulled off the island and into the coral lagoon, and was now being piggybacked on the Oceania to Whangarei, New Zealand, where it will be repaired, before being offered to the Vanuatu Ferry company at a reduced price, to what they were going to pay before this accident happened.

Over the next eighteen months, we saw the introduction of two more submarines, sister ships to the Oceania, and now between the four vessels, the corporation was patrolling the world’s oceans on a more regular basis, and with surprisingly no disputes with governments who share boundaries on shared seas.

In the north Pacific Ocean, on Wake Island, there have also been many changes, with Peale Island on the north-west end, been transformed into a 4 storey luxury hotel resort, while the village now has a population of 280 residents, plus a whole line of shops and cafés, to provide a healthy economy to the island.

Wilkes Island had all of the staff accommodation removed, and it was turned into a forest of tropical trees of shrubs and was declared a nature reserve, with just two raised boardwalks on the island, to stop people from walking all over the island.

Wake Island, was mostly restricted to residents and crews of the submarines, with a boundary security fence installed just south of the yacht marina, and all visitors had to be bused to their accommodation, with a swinging bridge installed between Wake and Peale Islands, that is only wide enough for the Golf buggies and quad bikes which are the only vehicles permitted on Peale Island.

All new resident accommodation was now located just south of the security fence, and the airport terminal had been upgraded, to provide more secure facilities for al of the visitors, which were flying in twice a week 3,700 kilometres from Hawaii, USA plus once a week, 3,200 kilometres from Tokyo, Japan and once a week, 5,300 kilometres from Darwin, and 4,600 kilometres from Brisbane, Australia.

As well as the commercial flights in and out of the island, with our own Wake Island Airlines, that provides a three-day, a week service from Majuro, Marshall Islands, and Pohnpei, Micronesia, allowing family members of the residents to visit regularly.

All freight in and out of Wake Island comes from either the Marshall Islands or Eastern Australia, and every single passenger is screened on arrival, especially from the USA and Australia, to ensure that no illegal weapons or drugs of any kind are brought onto the island.

Dad had also put restrictions on which airlines are permitted to land on the island, with one major commercial airline from each country of origin, which had put out a lot of other airlines that wanted to establish Trans-Pacific routes with a stopover on Wake Island, which Dad was considering.

There had been quite a few proposals put to Dad, the first was from Los Angeles to Tokyo by a Japanese airline, another from Hawaii to Darwin by a US airline, a third from Vancouver to Singapore by a Canadian airline, and the last one from Los Angeles to Manila, by a Philipines airline.

There were also requests from large hotel chains, wanting to build hotel resorts on the islands, which had totally refused, as one hotel is sufficient to cope with the demands of the current number of airlines, and not much more, so as to allow for private yachts that wanted to stay in the hotel for a night or two.

Eventually, after a long family meeting, it was decided to accept just one other airline to land on the island, on a trans-Pacific route, and that was the Canadian flight from Vancouver to Singapore, with a 4-hour stopover, to allow visitors to look around the island.