Lord Edwin - 5. Lord Chapter 5

I only learnt of my nobility blood, when I was sixteen, and boy has there been many changes since then, including meeting the Queen twice. The Earl has asked me to be his representative during this project period, both here on Keswick as well as on St Bees Island, where some upgrades are also in progress…” I said to begin my announcement.

After going through everything that Robert has planned for the island, I stated that we wished to work alongside the current Head Leaseholder, to better the island for all Australians and overseas visitors to explore. “In addition to what the Earl has planned, I have started work in purchasing an Austal 47 Catamaran Ferry, that can carry a maximum of 360 passengers and ten vehicles, with 8 crew and has a cruising speed of 32 knots.

This will allow more visitors to come to the island for a day visit or to stay at one of the many available accommodation options. As you have already seen, work has begun on extending the airport runway length and building a jetty and boat ramp at the western end.

The ferry once in operation will provide a twice-daily service, three times a week, departing at 8 am and 3 pm, and with it being a catamaran, it will be able to handle most weather conditions between the mainland and here on the island. In addition, a once-a-day, once-a-week, round trip on Saturdays, will include visiting Brampton Island before returning to the Mackay Marina.

At first, this will probably happen during the summer season only, due to the availability of daylight. The round trip will have a 2 ½ hour stop-over at Keswick and Brampton, to allow day visitors the chance to have a good look around each island, with departure from Mackay Marina, tentatively set for 8 am, and returning at 3 pm,” I stated, and surprisingly the room burst into applause, so I took a seat.

Once all was quiet again, Hayden stood up, “Any questions from anyone?” he asked the audience, “Yes, Lord Edwin, on behalf of the others in this community, we wish to thank you for taking on this challenge of making improvements to the island. In your announcements, you mentioned that you are purchasing a catamaran ferry, that can carry 360 passengers, will you be building additional accommodation to allow more people to stay on the island?” one lady in the centre asked.

“I am considering building a backpackers hostel on Keswick, but that is pending approvals from the state government, in the meantime, I am hoping that at first, all currently available accommodation will be used first, and then maybe the other developers will build some additional accommodation, shops and services for more visitors to the island,” I replied, as I glanced over to the Chinese Developers representatives, who gave me a small smile and a nod of the head.

“Sir, currently only Golf buggies are permitted on the island. With an expected increase of tourists, will there be any changes to that policy,” a man near the front asked, “Yes, I expect there will be changes? At the moment, we have approval for 2 six-seater buggies and quad bikes, to assist with transport for the construction crew, and if there are no problems, I will be recommending to the State and Local Governments, that the six-seat buggies also be permitted on the island, as a taxi service for visitors and guests,” I responded.

At the end of the meeting, Hunter and I waited until nearly everyone had left, when the Chinese representative approached, and I saw Hunter tense up. “Steady boy, let them approach, they probably just want to chat,” I whispered to Hunter, who relaxed just a little bit, but I could see he was still on full alert.

“Lord Edwin, I wish to congratulate you on an excellent community meeting, for such a young man, who is new to diplomacy, you did a remarkably good job today,” the gentleman said in very good English with a slight American accent. “Thank you, sir, we aim to improve things for the residents and tourists to the island, not to start a punch-up with our neighbours,” I replied, and the Chinese representative laughed.

“Very good, I will pass that on to my superiors. I hope we can sit down and discuss your plans some more, and come up with some positive outcome for all,” the Chinese Rep said to me, before wishing me a good day and leaving, with his group of security men.

“Interesting that he mentioned discussing my plans, and nothing about their plans, I can see that this may get very tricky down the track,” I commented to Hunter, “Yes sir,” he agreed, before leading the way out of the terminal, and we walked down to the boat ramp, where the dinghy was waiting for us, to take us back to the yacht.

We had just rounded the corner, with the yacht in full view, when we heard an alarm sounding on the yacht, and all the crew were rushing to the aft swim platform, where both lifeboats had been lowered and moved around the back of the yacht.

“Stop, don’t get any closer, there may be a fire or something worse,” Hunter called out to Marius who was driving the dinghy, and Marius cut the engine and steered it away from the yacht, as we watched all the crew evacuate the yacht, with the two other boats speeding away, and heading in our direction.

When the two boats stopped their engines and drifted closer to us, I realised that two crew members were missing. “Where are they? Where are the Captain and Chief Bosun?” I asked sounding very concerned. “Samantha went into the water soon after the sensor alarms went off, and the Captain was preparing to move the yacht away, once whatever had been attached to the bottom had been removed,” Gretchen, the 1^st officer replied.

“Well, that was bloody stupid of them, very stupid, don’t they know that life is much more important than items like yachts, they can be replaced,” I shouted in disbelief. “Marius, get closer to one of the other boats, and jump onboard, Lord Crawford and I are going to have a closer look,” Hunter instructed.

“What? Yes, do as he says and be quick about it,” I said when I realised what Hunter had said, as I was getting very worried about the safety of James and Sam. As we were about fifty metres away from the yacht, we saw Samantha jump onto the Swim deck and pick something up.

All of a sudden, we saw the yacht burst forward at high speed, “Hold tight my Lord, we are turning away,” Hunter called out as we made a very sharp turn and Hunter increased the speed. All of a sudden, there was an enormous bang and a huge water fountain, and we felt the effects of the explosion, as I grabbed hold of the side grips to remain seated upright.

Hunter stopped the boat, and we watched in amazement at the huge amount of water out of the ocean, as it came crashing back down creating a large wave, that rocked our boat. Once the wave had dissipated, we looked around and saw that the other two boats were still upright, and the yacht was now motionless, a few hundred metres north of St Bees Island.

We all seemed to be stunned at what had just happened, and not sure what to do now, and it was the voice of James of the yacht PA, that snapped us out of our daze. “Is everyone ok?” he asked, and this is when we saw the yacht starting to turn and head in our direction. Hunter waved to indicate that we were ok, and the others in the other two boats did the same.

Once we were all back onboard the yacht, I saw James arrive from upstairs, “Not a good move that you and Sam did, but we will discuss that another time, for now, let's get the hell out of here,” I said to James, who nodded and went to the nearest internal phone. “Gretchen, everyone is on board, get us out of here right now,” James said into the phone, and the straight way the yacht sped up, heading west for the mainland.

I headed to the office to make a few phone calls. The first one was to the nearest police station, and as always, Robert had already given me the list of phone numbers required if anything ever happened to me. “Hello, this is Lord Edwin Crawford, I wish to speak to the Superintendent in charge of the SCTC – Security and Counter Terrorism Command, please,” I said when the call was answered.

“Yes sir, please hold,” came the response and I spent the next few minutes listening to music. “Good afternoon, this is Inspector Charles Webb, did you say you are Lord Crawford?” a new voice said over the phone, “Good Afternoon Inspector. Yes, that is correct, Edwin Crawford, Baron of Fordell, in Scotland, but my main residence is Strahan, in Tasmania.

I am on board my yacht and currently, en route to Mackay Marina, we are due to arrive in about thirty minutes. I wish to report an explosion, that occurred about fifteen minutes ago while offshore from St Bees Island. My yacht is fitted with cameras and sensors on its hull, which are active when travelling at 5 knots or slower and when stopped.

My minder and I were returning from a community meeting on Keswick Island when we heard the yacht’s alarm sounding. The Captain had everyone evacuate, while he and Chief Bosun acted to remove the explosive device and get the heck out of there. The bomb exploded with no harm to any of my crew or my yacht, we are all just a little bit shaken up,” I explained to the Inspector.

“I see, that is quite a serious matter, I will alert the Ammo Techs of the Roya Australian Army Ordinance Corp in Townsville, they may want to inspect your yacht to see if any residue has remained on the hull of your yacht. In the meantime, can you please keep all your crew and any guests that you may have on board until a preliminary inspection has been completed,” the Inspector asked.

“I would prefer to have all of my crew off the yacht until it has been deemed fully safe, and I was planning to have the yacht anchored offshore say as to keep away from populated areas,” I responded. “You may be right with that… ok you have permission to do that, but keep in touch with where you will be staying, please,” the Inspector said to me, and I thanked him for taking the time to deal with this matter.

My next few calls were to find accommodation for all of the crew, and I found a serviced apartment building that could accommodate everyone, so that we all stay close together, as I booked 4 two-bedroom apartments, 1 three-bedroom apartment, and 4 one-bedroom apartments.

When we arrived in Mackay, I asked James to anchor the yacht offshore away from any populated area, and he chose just off the beach, 1.5 kilometres south of the marina, and just opposite the Surf Club.