Beyond Frontier - 29. BF Chapter 29

Once on board the trimaran, Last Frontier, I looked around and smiled. She was spotlessly clean, and all the crew appeared in their uniforms and stood at attention in a line, with Kirk and Leon joining the other crew members. “Ok, enough sucking up. Let’s get going. Head south for Fremantle please,” I said to the crew, and once the dinghy was secured we set off southwards with Toby at the helm.

Knowing the crew were accommodated in the forward Pontoon cabins, I lead my brothers down to the crew cabins in the forward section of the yacht. “I know that it is smaller than your bedrooms at home, but I can’t help that. I will be in the single crew cabin opposite yours,” I said to my brothers, as we walked forward past the galley, where Alex was busy preparing lunch.

“You still have the study and the crew lounge, plus the inside bridge to do activities in, and since we have no guests, you can wander around the guest living areas, but don’t go outside or up to the Jacuzzi unless I am with you,” I said to my brothers sternly, as they opened their cabin door and walked inside. I went into my cabin. Although I would have preferred a bigger and more comfortable cabin, I was happy to be close to my brothers in case they needed me.

My main problem was the animals. I wished that I had left them with Anita to look after them. That is when I had a brilliant idea. I dashed upstairs and through the living area to the back main deck. I lifted up the middle two cushions on the rear seating area. Under the cushions was a plywood lid that lifts up to reveal an extra storage area that rarely gets used for anything because it is unsecure.

Bending down I gave the floor a tap. I was pleased to hear a metallic echo sound from the storage bay below. I smiled before replacing the lid and cushions and then carefully opening the back-swim platform. I climbed into the back-storage area and went forward to the far wall. I looked up where I could see a large metal sheet panel that was about 2 metres wide and about 5 metres long.

I spent some time looking around the storage area, thinking of other ideas of what to do with this wasted space. I sat down and looked around and made some mental notes on possibilities. Eventually I returned to the deck and after closing the swim platform I headed back downstairs where I heard Alex and the stewards chatting.

“Has Toby told him yet?” I heard one of the lads ask.

“Not that I am aware off,” I heard Alex reply, just before I appeared in the crew area. It went silent all of a sudden, and all three crew members looked nervous.

Not bothering to ask them, I turned and headed back upstairs up to the fly bridge where Toby was skippering from since it was such a nice day. “Ok, what is it that I haven’t been told yet?” I said to Toby, as I saw him put the internal phone down.

“Err, you may want to sit down for this. Jasper was supposed to tell you, but that all changed when that prank went all wrong,” Toby replied nervously, keeping his eyes front and concentrating on the seas ahead of him.

“Go on. I am listening,” I responded, not liking the feeling I was getting in my stomach.

“It was Jasper who made the final decision after we consulted him about it. When we called into Fremantle on the way back from Henderson just to take a few hours off before heading back to home port, we came across a big shocking sight,” Toby began. He was about to continue when the sat phone began to ring. I opened the draw and pulled it out. “Last Frontier, Anton speaking,” I said when I answered the call.

“Hi, boss. I am truly sorry about the yacht’s airhorns. It was my idea so I take the blame for it all,” Jasper said to me.

“Ok. You are forgiven. Anything else? As Toby is about to tell me something about Fremantle,” I responded.

“Yes, well, that is another reason I am calling. I received a call from Toby when they were in Fremantle to get my advice on something. You see they stumbled across a group of aboriginals and white homeless men in the main park, and one of them was your ex, Mathew,” Jasper said to me.

“Oh, I see. What else?” I said sourly.

“Well, Toby told me that his clothes were threadbare, he was extremely thin, as if he hadn’t eaten in a while, and looked like he hadn’t washed or shaved in a long time, and he was carrying just a couple shopping bags and a rug as his only belongings. I instructed Toby to take him back to the catamaran, to give him a hot shower, change of fresh clothes, food and a bed to sleep in,” Jasper added.

“Ok, so what else did you do? Where is he now?” I asked. “Well, I suggested to Toby that he bring Mathew back to homeport and I would talk to you about it, but I never…”

“You did what?” I shouted into the phone fuming of the news. “Of all the most idiot things… oh this is just…” I gave up on trying to say anything and I hung up the phone. Then I looked at Toby who was trying to concentrate on skippering.

“About turn. Back to Lancelin please, Toby. Let me know when we are there,” I said and I stormed off back downstairs. I sat on the back-seating area to try and calm down. Alex appeared and sat down next to me and said nothing as I stared out at the ocean. “So, you know about Mathew, eh?” Alex eventually said to me.

“Yes, I had a call from Jasper, and he told me just as Toby was trying to build up the courage to tell me,” I responded. “Oh, I see. Is that why we have turned back?” Alex replied.

“Yes. I am furious at the moment and I just need to clear my head. I don’t know what is wrong with me lately, I seem to be getting angry about the smallest things, and I’m not sure why it is happening.

I want you guys to drop me off at Lancelin. I will take my animals with me, and you guys can take my brothers with you back to Jurien Bay. Ask Jasper and Anita to look after them for me please,” I said to Alex.

“Sure, that is no problem. Anything for you, boss,” Alex said with a smile as he stood up and headed back indoors. “Anton, it is Sarah on the sat phone. She wants to speak to you please,” Toby shouted from the fly bridge.

“Ok, tell her I will call her back later,” I replied, as I stood up and looked out at the ocean. Instead of walking up to the bridge I grabbed a life jacket and calmly walked down the steps. I sat down and sat there for a while with my legs dangling in the cool water, then suddenly slipped into the water, making very little noise. I put the life jacket on and began to swim eastwards towards the shore which I knew was almost two kilometres away.

I have no idea why I did this. I just wanted to be on my own and this was the first thing I thought of, but as I tried to swim towards shore I realised that I had made a big mistake. I was caught in an ocean current and I was drifting further out to sea. Staying calm, I stopped trying to swim against the current, as I knew that it would just burn all the energy out of me, so I lay back and just drifted.

I am not sure how long I had been drifting. I seem to have lost track of time. When I looked around I could see that it was after midday, so I had been off the yacht for at least three hours estimating that it was about 10 am when I slipped into the water. I thought the yacht should be back at Lancelin by now, and I wandered how far I had drifted in the past three hours. As I looked around I was shocked to see that a giant cargo ship was heading right for me, so I quickly began to swim further out to sea to avoid being run over.

As the ship grew closer, I could see I was losing the battle to get out of the way. It was just too big to avoid. I stopped swimming, knowing that I would probably get hit along the side, and get churned up by the giant propellers. I watched as the ship came straight at me. I would get hit somewhere on the side of the forward hull. I closed my eyes and listened to the ship churning up the ocean as it came closer.

When the ship hit me I hit my head on the steel side quite hard. The impact must have knocked me unconscious and when I woke up, I found myself alone on the ocean with no sign of the ship. My head was stinging, and I had a bad headache, but I realised that I was still in one piece with just the head injury, which I was very surprised about. I shivered with cold. I realised that it was now very late afternoon, and I must have been unconscious for a few hours.

The sound of a ships horn made me nearly jump out of the water in fright, if that was ever possible, and I looked around. I saw another cargo ship approaching. This one was a lot smaller, and it was slowing down, and turning away from me. I was being rescued. I wasn’t sure if I was happy about that or not, or happy about being shark bait.

I must have gone unconscious again, as I woke up feeling warm in a comfortable bed, and looking around the room, I realised that I must be in a ship’s cabin. I staggered out of bed and went to the small bathroom, and after relieving myself I looked into the mirror where I saw a gauze had been taped over my head injury, and that I was dressed in a pair of shorts and t-shirt.

A knock on the cabin door made me step out of the bathroom and open the cabin door. A young Filipino man stood holding a food tray, and he smiled at me. “Hello. My name is Angelo. It good to see you awake and standing,” the man said to me in broken English.

“Hi, Angelo. My name is…” Suddenly I realised that I didn’t remember my name, and after some more thought I realised that I didn’t know where I lived. I sat down on the floor and burst into tears.

Angelo put the tray down, and sat next to me and put his arm around my shoulders to comfort me. Once I had calmed down a little, he encouraged me to eat some food. Then he left and told me that he would be back shortly. He dashed off out of sight. Once I had finished eating, I left the food tray on the desk. I lay on the bed and fell asleep again, waking up again when there was a knock on the door. I just called out to come in.

Expecting the man who provided me with some food, I was surprised when an older man in a white uniform entered the cabin, and sat down on the chair at the desk. “Hello, young man. Angelo tells me that you have forgotten your name and don’t know where you are from,” the older man said to me, as I spotted Angelo peaking around the corner. I recognised the rank on the man’s shoulders: he was the ship’s captain.

“No sir, Captain. I can’t remember anything at all about how I ended up in the water and who I am,” I replied.

“Well, you know my rank, so that is one small clue. You must be a sailor of some kind or in the military to know that,” the older man said to me.

“I guess so, sir, but I don’t remember anything,” I answered.

“Well, get some rest, and I will check on you tomorrow morning. We are presently somewhat west of Ledge Point. We are on our way to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, so by the time we get there hopefully you will getting some memory back,” the captain said to me.

“What speed are you running at the moment, sir?” I asked and I had no idea why I asked it.

“18 knots, which is our top cruising speed,” the captain replied.

“Then we will get to Kuala Lumpur in just over 5 days’ time,” I said, not sure how I managed to work out that calculation so fast.

The captain’s mouth dropped open in surprise. “Young man, you are spot on with your estimated time of arrival, so you must have some excellent navigation skills. I think I will get Angelo to bring you up to the bridge after you have had breakfast and a quick tour of the ship. Rest now and I will see you tomorrow,” the Captain said as he stood up and left the cabin and Angelo walked in.

“Well, Joe, you impress the captain. He not at all mad that we stopped to rescue you,” Angelo said to me as he collected the food tray. He waved goodbye as he left the cabin, closing the door behind him, leaving me in the dimly lit cabin on my own. I decided to wash my face and lie down again to get some more sleep, as I was getting very tired again. I soon fell asleep.

When I woke up again there was plenty of sunshine coming through the port hole. I saw that it was not that far above the water line. I staggered to my feet and headed to the bathroom where I stripped and had a long hot shower which was very refreshing. When I stepped back into the cabin with just a towel around my waist, I found some clothes on my bed that looked like they had been freshly washed and ironed. They included boxer shorts and socks, but there was no sign of any shoes. I did see a pair of slippers beside my bed, so after I dressed I slipped them on and exited the cabin.

I found myself in a long corridor. I had no idea where to go, until I spotted the emergency evacuation map on the wall nearby. I worked out that I was on “C deck” where most of the crew cabins were located, below was the engine room, stores, maintenance, and cargo holds. The map indicated that the galley, crew mess and recreation area were one deck up, and that there was a staircase nearby, so I headed in that direction, till I found the door, and headed up the stairs where there was another long corridor.

Eventually I found the crew mess. When I walked in there was a group of about twelve men sitting down and eating. “Hey, Joe. How are you feeling today?” I heard a voice say, and I spotted Angelo smiling as he walked towards me.

“I am good I think, thank-you,” I replied.

“Come with me. Let’s get you food to eat,” Angelo said as he led me towards the servery area joining the galley.

Once I had a tray of food, I sat down to eat. I was introduced to all the crew members present, and they told me what they did on this ship, which is transporting scrap metal to Malaysia to be sorted and melted down for recycled metal. I could not remember all of the names, so I just politely smiled as I began to eat breakfast. When I had nearly finished, the captain walked in and everyone stood up. I did the same as he approached me.

“Joe - I believe that is what the crew are calling you - when you have finished breakfast have Angelo bring you up to the bridge. I need to speak to you,” the captain said to me. “Yes, sir. I am almost done,” I replied. The captain left the room as quickly as he arrived. Fifteen minutes later I stepped into the bridge after knocking on the door and hearing someone calling for me to enter.

It was soon after that I realised that Angelo hadn’t followed me inside. Instead he had returned downstairs. As I looked around the huge bridge I spotted the navigation table and drifted over to it, looking at the charts for the Indian Ocean, and South-East Asia. “Do you understand these charts, Joe?” the Captain asked me as he approached. I quickly scanned them. “Yes, sir. For some reason I understand them very well,” I replied.