New Frontier - 17. NF Chap 17

“Skipper, I recommend Anson’s Bay, it is about an hour south of where we are now, and it has a large lagoon, plus a river, if we need to stay out of sight for a while,” Nathan said when he reappeared a few minutes later, “thanks Nathan, I had come to the same conclusion, Anson’s Bay it will be, and hopefully with the huge swell that we have, we can cross over the shallow river mouth, without getting stuck,” I responded.

Nathan stayed with me, as we continued to battle very strong winds and a high swell, and as we passed the Eddystone Point Lighthouse, I knew we didn’t have far to go. But with it being a dark night, with high seas, it was going to be difficult to locate the mouth of the Anson River, let alone try to cross the shallow river mouth.

When the yacht suddenly stopped rocking violently, I knew that we had made it across, and with just a searchlight, mounted halfway up the mast we were able to follow up the river for a nautical mile, before we entered the main Anson’s Bay, which was more of a lagoon.

I switched off the spotlight, so as not to attract any attention from the small community on the other side of the bay, and relied on the navigation screen to assist me across the bay to the mouth of the upper river from the bay. Travelling very slowly and quietly, we cruised up the river, and although it showed up on the screen as a very small island or rocks, there was an island in the centre of the river, that we nearly ran into.

Once around it, I decided that this was a good enough place to stop, and I cut the engine and dropped the anchor. “Right, lets get some sleep and we will check the damage in the morning,” I announced to Nathan, and we shut off the navigation lights, and headed downstairs and into the saloon, where the rest of the crew were watching a movie on the big screen television.

The next morning, the winds and rain had stopped, and it was a nice bright and sunny day, when I woke up just after dawn, and after making myself a cup of tea, I headed up the fly bridge to get a bird’s eye view of our location. “Well, this is definitely a nice place,” I said to myself, just as I heard a splash, “Yes it is,” Jake said as he stepped out of the hot tub, which caught me by surprise.

“Oops, sorry, didn’t mean to make you jump in fright,” Jake said when he saw my reaction to his unexpected reply, “That is ok mate, I just get jumpy sometimes, how is the water,” I replied, “Very nice and warm, especially after a river swim, man that is very cold in there,” Jake replied.

“Yes, well it is not a good idea to swim alone in the river, especially when it is very cold, make sure you warm up fully, as we don’t want you getting hypothermia,” I answered. “Will do skipper, by the way there is an access road about 450 metres due south of here, but I think it is a Forestry Department road, by the looks of the satellite maps that I looked at last night,” Jake said as he wrapped his towel around himself and headed downstairs.

After drinking most of my tea, I looked at the mast, and standing up I took a look at it, before going around and stepping onto the roof of the main deck, to get a closer look, and starting from the base on the roof, I started to look all around the mast, until I was standing up and looking at shoulder height, where I spotted the fracture in the mast, it was small, but enough to cause a lot of damage, if we tried to put weight on the mast with any of the sails.

I headed downstairs, and retrieved my mobile, and waited for it to start up, before a number of dings sounded, notifying me of missed calls. Ignoring them, I dialled the number for Simon. “Good morning boss, what gets you up this early in the morning, and better yet, where are you?” Simon said when he answered.

“Good morning Si, we are anchored in a river in a quiet location. We have major damage to our mast, as we were caught in that squally storm last night, I need to you to organise a replacement, and using the Duchess, I need you to bring it too me,” I replied.

“Where exactly is the location? I presume you are currently in hiding, and not where you were planning to be, so my guess is that you are back in Tasmania,” Simon said to me, and I chuckled. “You are correct with all of that, Bloody Lord Edwin has been arranging his friends to come and charter on the yacht, without even consulting me first, Tell me is the Big yacht still there at the island?” I asked.

“No, it went on a charter four days ago, they were going from Kingston to Melaleuca in Bathurst Harbour, I believe the charter is for six days, with another three days to get back to Partridge Island, why do you ask?” Simon replied. “Five days till they return eh, well that may be possible to sort out. Is Vic and Rita near by please?” I asked.

“Yea sure they are close by, what are you planning now boss?” Simon asked. ‘You will find out shortly, I would like to speak to Vic and Rita first please,” I answered, and I heard Simon sat to Vic and Rita that I wanted to speak to them.

“Hello Boss, how can we help you?” Rita said into the phone, “Hi, are you guys alone, where is the rest of the crew cannot hear this conversation?” I asked. Just a moment and we will go into the cottage,” Vic replied, and when I heard the door close behind them, I spoke again. “Right, I have a matter that needs addressing and unfortunately, you guys are caught in the middle of it,” I said.

“Ok, would this have to do with our friend Lord Edwin, as we have been getting some pretty heated emails from him in Scotland,” Vic responded, “Yes it does, as you put it, your friend… has been making recommendations for chartering my catamaran yacht, without my consultation, and when I am trying to have a holiday, and the second time this happened, the couple were quite pushy about getting us to accept a charter, which I refused.

I had decided to relocate further up the coast after that event, and two days later, they appear again, but luckily we were on the other side of the bay from the marina, loading up supplies. As soon as we had everything onboard we set sail, and later that afternoon, while I was sleeping before my shift at the helm, Edwin called, but I sent it to Voicemail.

When I woke a few hours later, and listened to his message, he was furious with me not accepting their charter, and giving him a bad reputation, so we changed direction again, this time to New Zealand.

As a result of getting caught in a bad storm, we received severe damage to our main mast, and we are currently in a sheltered bay, and have just assessed the damage, which is major,” I said and I paused for a moment to let that sink in a bit before continuing.

“As a result of this, I have come to a decision, and it is now up to you. Will you be supportive and loyal to your old friend His Lordship the Baron of Fordell or will you be loyal to your current employer? You can choose only one, and be certain, that no matter which one you choose, there will be some dramatic changes,” I said.

“Wow; that is quite a big choice. I think we will have to think about it and get back to you,” Vic responded. “Very well, you have twelve hours to respond, and this conversation is to be kept between just the three of us, understood?” “Yes Anton, we understand, we will get back to you, goodbye,” Rita said before she hung up the phone.

About ten minutes later my mobile rang, and it was Simon calling. “Hey Anton, what did you say to Vic and Rita, they are not very happy and I think they are talking to Lord Edwin as we speak,” Edwin said to me.

“I see, well with Lord Fordell interfering with my business, I gave them an ultimatum, they are to choose to be loyal to him or to their employer; that being my charter company, and I told them to keep the conversation between me and them, but the sounds like it, they have made their decision by calling Lord Edwin,” I replied.

“Oh, that does not sound good, Look boss, you know that I am 100% supportive of what ever you decided, if it means we leave this island, and I am fairly certain that Sarah will be the same, as will most of our crew,” Simon said to me,

“That is good to hear, as it may come to just that. Now one of the reasons that I am considering these actions is because Anita and Jasper think that my father maybe connected to the firebombing at Jurien bay.

Don’t say anything to anyone, until you hear back from me. I am half expecting to receive a call or email from Lord Edwin some time today, and if it is like I expect it to be, then yes our company will be packing up and leaving Partridge Island as soon as possible,” I said.

“Right boss, I understand, would you care to tell me where you are at the moment?” Simon asked, “No, as I am sure that someone maybe listening in. I will let you know once a decision has been made. I will talk to you soon mate, bye for now,” I said to Simon.

One last thing, ask Sarah to put the website into maintenance mode, but don’t tell her why, just say it is a direct request from me, and she is to not accept any new charter bookings until further notice,” I asked, “Yes boss, I will get right onto it, speak to you soon, bye,” Simon said.

During breakfast with my crew, I let them know that due to Lord Edwin’s interference with our company, I would soon be making some changes, which would include relocating the company base to a new location, with that location yet to be decided.

Thirty five minutes later I tried to look up the company website, and I smiled when I saw the message on the fairly bare screen, “This website is down for maintenance. Bookings will be made available again in the near future. Thanks for your patience, kind regards Hamilton Cruises Management and crews.”

When my computer dinged with a new email message, I frowned when I saw that it was Edwin. “Anton, what the hell are you doing, are you trying to pressure my friends to choose between me and your charter company. What the hell is going on with you, are you mad of something, all I am trying to do is boost your charter business, and this is the way I get treated? Edwin.”

I typed up and email, and sent it to Simon for him to pass on to Vic and Rita, before sending a text message to Simon. “Decision has been made. Please present to Vic and Rita, the email that I just sent you, and call all staff except Vic and Rita to the Frontier, and go out to Lady Bay, before anchoring. Once you are in position, send me a message, and we will have a conference meeting. Anton,”

I estimated that it would take the trimaran approximately 35 minutes by the time they have gathered and set sail, to arrive and anchor in Lady Bay, so I had about 45 minutes before I get the text message from Simon. I was about to go and do some research, when a thought came to me, and I picked up my mobile and dialled a number.

“Si, have you left yet?” I asked, “Yes we left about two minutes ago, why is that?” Simon responded, “Change of plans, stop and anchor where you are, then secure the yacht, and take the two dinghies back to the island, I have a strange feeling, and it isn’t a good one.

When you get back to the island, locate Vic and Rita, and make sure they are not getting up to any mischief, then I want you all to pack up everything of our belongings and take them to the Duchess, including everything of mine and my brothers, and the crew, and keep one crew member on the Duchess for the whole time.

Once all of the cabins and the admin building are empty, have all the crew quickly clean all of the cabins and admin, so that Vic and Rita can’t complain that we left them in a mess, and take photos and video of each cabin and their surrounds, before leaving the island in the Duchess, and don’t forget to take the dinghies with you.

Kirk and Leon have enough experience to be able to skipper the Frontier, while you and your crew take the Duchess, and go to Lady Bay, once you are all safely there, let me know, and we will have a conference, bye,” I said, and after ending the call, I sighed, wondering if all this trouble will ever end.

Just before I was expecting a call from Simon, my mobile rang with Anita’s name coming up on the ID screen. “Hi, Anita, how are things going in sunny Jurien Bay?” I asked, “Everything is good here Anton, but I have some bad news for you, we have Intel, that tells us that there is a bounty on you, $20,000 for the destruction of one or both of your sailing yachts, and $50,000 for your death,” Anita said to me.

I was in shock hearing this and sat down heavily, missing the lounge and landing with a loud thud on the floor of the saloon. “Hello? Who is this?” Neale said angrily after snatching up the mobile off the floor, while Nathan and Jake helped me up off the floor. “Neale is that you? What was that noise?” we heard Anita say as the phone had switched to loud speaker.

“Aunty, this is Neale speaking, and that noise was my brother hitting the floor, when he missed the lounge, after whatever you said to Anton,” Neale replied. “Oh, I see, is he alright?” Anita asked, “Yes, I am fine thanks Anita, Neale give me back my mobile, I need to speak to Anita privately,” I replied, and after receiving my mobile back, I took it off speaker, and headed to my cabin for some privacy.

After a twenty minute discussion with Anita, we finished the call, and almost immediately it rang again. “Hi Anton it’s me Si, I’ve been trying to call you for twenty minutes,” I heard Simon say. “Yes sorry about that, I was talking to Anita. We have an extremely serious situation at the moment. I want you to even out the numbers on the Duchess and the Frontier, and set sail without delay.

“Why what is wrong?” Simon asked sounding worried, “There is no time to talk mate, just get the crews sorted and go, head up the east coast of Tasmania, and keep within sight of each yacht. When you get pass Bicheno give me a call back, and I will send you coordinates of where to find me. No more discussions; just get going, this is a very serious matter, as we are all in danger,” I said before ending the call.

I passed the small space in my room, before shutting off my phone, and heading out to the main saloon. “Ok, now Jake you don’t know this but we have had some problems in the past, and they seem to have caught up to us again. Anita, who is Nathan’s mother, is a police senior sergeant, in Western Australia.

When my mother moved to New Zealand when I was a kid, fleeing from an abusive Husband, she met a wonderful man and they had a wonderful life together, unfortunately, her partner, who is the father of Neale and Jedd, was unwittingly caught up in a smuggling ring, through his freight company.