NB New Direction - 13. NB ND Chapter 13

At that moment, Annette stepped onto the ship, and she gave her son a big hug. “What are you doing here mum?” Kyle asked as she moved over to me and gave me a hug too. “I have been summoned to the ship” Annette replied, before Kyle introduced his mum to Jai and Judy, and we all made our way up to the Executive dining room on B Deck, and took a seat around the oval shaped dining room table.

Just as we did, a beep came from the phone in the middle of the table, “Sir, we have your call from Switzerland for you” the Captain said on the intercom, “Thank you, put it through to here please” Sebastian replied as he looked around the table for a few moments.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I have called this meeting of the Administration Council of Deepdale Island. As you are all aware, the island was declared a privately-owned island as part of the Australian Territory, less than a week ago. As a staff member or friends of Wagner International Investments, you have all been elected to be part of this administration council, and as such we are now charged with the duties of what to do next” Sebastian announced, which caught most of the group gathered by surprise.

I had not expected Seb to include Annette or Jai and Judy in this meeting, but I understood that the more input into this the better the outcome would be, so I continued to listen with interest. “If I may speak” came the voice of a lawyer from Switzerland in broken English.

“With the research that I have done on International law, I have found nothing in regards to sovereignty of a newly formed natural island, and because Australia is the closest country to the island, I see no issues in regards to your declaration of ownership as part of Australia” the lawyer said.

“That is good to know” I commented, “Well the coordinates of the island, puts its location 785.10 nautical miles, slightly east of due south of the Cocos Keeling Island, 740 nautical mile dues west of Carnarvon, Western Australia, 912 nautical miles north-west of Fremantle, and 969.27 nautical miles south-south-east of Christmas Island. The nearest foreign land is East Java, Indonesia, which is 1,150 nautical miles to the north-north-east of Deepdale Island, and we have two RAAF bases closer to the island than Christmas Island, which is good to know” Sebastian said to us all.

“So, what are we going to do to secure this island, now that we have made the declaration?” I asked, “Glad that you asked cousin, I was hoping that you will lead a team, to set up residence on the island, at first for a period of 3 months, with the Southern Explorer dropping you off and collecting you during that time” Sebastian stated.

“Who else have you got planned to be part of this team?” Annette asked, “Well I am hoping Kyle would go, as support carer for Huon, and that Judy and Jai be part of the team as senior engineer and senior medical officer, I will also be asking a cook and 2 stewards from the Southern Explorer, to be part of the team, that request will be made shortly” Sebastian stated.

“I have some holidays due, and would like to travel to the island to bless it, and return to Fremantle, I just hope I will be able to cope with travel sickness” Annette stated, “You are most welcome to be part of the settlement team, welcome, now I have already began planning in regards to establishing a village on the island, using converted shipping containers. The ship will be able to have twelve medium sized shipping containers, with some adjustments to some outer decks, each of the containers will be 3 metres wide and 15 metres long,

There will also be two small containers that are 3 metres by 5 metres. The first smaller container will have a biodegradable sewage system, to hold and process human waste, the second small container will have a food waste storage room, with the food to be ground up and stored for disposal, as well as a store room, for all other waste like carboard and plastics, that will be crushed and stored, for disposal in Australia” Seb announced.

“So, what about accommodation for us, what is that going to be like?” I asked my cousin. “Two shipping containers are to be converted into triple living quarters, each one will have a bathroom, three king single beds, three luggage lockers and a lounge area, three other containers will be similar, but will only have two king single beds each, and one container will have a queen size bed, with all of the containers will have reverse cycle air-conditioning.

The seventh container will be the galley and dining area, and food storage room. The eighth container, will have a gymnasium, and a recreation room, the ninth container will have a solar and wind power station, power converter and desalination plant, and the tenth container, will have a fresh water storage tank and water pump.

The eleventh container has a weather station and satellite communications rooms, while the final large container has a main supply store, and laundry” Sebastian said to us. “Well that is certainly a nice little village, with everything included” Annette stated, “That it will, flexible tubing, with steel mesh protective cover, will be used to connect sea water to the desalination plant, plus from the desal plant to the fresh water storage tank.

Similar tubing will be used to connect the bathrooms to the fresh water supply, and from the toilets to the waste treatment plant, and other smaller tubing will have the power cabling to connect the power station to all over the separate container buildings, for lighting and power supply” Sebastian said. “So how long till we get going, and head back to the island?” I asked.

“Well we are very lucky to have a local company, that has pre-converted containers, ready to go, and for the past few days a power generator and converter has been installed in one on the containers, as have heavy duty plastic lining for the water tank and waste holding tanks. All the other containers have been furnished depending on their purpose, so we are just waiting for the power station to be completed” Sebastian announced.

Once the meeting was over, Kyle and Annette went home to Toodyay, while Sebastian took me home to Claremont, leaving the Captain to organise the resupplying of the ship, and the loading of the containers that were ready. We ended up being at home for two weeks, before news arrived that the last of the containers were being loaded onto the ship, and that all food and other supplies would be loaded onto the ship in the morning.

I had enjoyed my time at home, and the twins were happy to have me home. I had been swimming in the pool, twice a day, and I was now able to walk with the assistance of the arm crutches without any extra support, which I was pleased about.

Soon after been notified by the captain, I called Annette at Toodyay, to let her know that the ship was ready to leave tomorrow. Annette said that she and Kyle had been ready for a week now, and they were looking forward to the trip, and Annette said they would arrive at Fremantle harbour at 9am.

I slept very well that night, and Mrs Cooper was a little upset that I was going away again, when she woke me in the morning. “You still have Seb and the twins to look after, and you won’t have to worry about the rectory for a little while either” I said to my housekeeper who smiled. After a quick breakfast, once Seb and the twins arrived, Mrs Cooper made sure the twins got to school, while Sebastian and I grabbed our luggage and we drove down to Fremantle, which was just a twenty-minute drive away, even with wet and windy conditions of today.

Once we had cleared customs and quarantine, we boarded the ship, which was very busy with activity everywhere. I could see that all the shipping containers were loaded and secured to the decks, and the crew were loading food supplies for the teams three month stay on the island. Leaving the stewards to take my luggage up to my suite, I walked up to the bridge, where the captain – Paul, 1^st Officer – James and Navigator – Daniel were busy chatting about the journey.

“Good morning Sir, welcome onboard, we are fully loaded with the containers, and we are currently loading the last of the food and other supplies, that Mr Wagner has ordered, and waiting for the arrival of the other team members” the captain said to me, “That sounds good, how is the weather and sea conditions for the next few days?” I asked, “Well sir, we have a cold front about to hit Fremantle, which will make conditions a little rough for the first day, but after that, we have clear weather for almost a week” the Captain replied.

I remained on the bridge, and watched, as the officers made the preparations for departure, including making a call to harbour control, to organise departure out of the harbour. A call arrived from the main deck, which the captain signalled for me to take, “Bridge, Huon speaking” I said, Mr Devonport, this is the Chief Steward speaking, Mr and Mrs plus Reverend and Mr Davies have arrived, and are in the beach lounge, and Mr Wagner has left the ship, we are ready for departure” the Chief steward announced.

“Thankyou, I will pass that onto the Captain” I said before ending the call and I relayed the information to the captain, and less than ten minutes later, we were steering away from the wharf, and heading out to sea. I found it very interesting, watching the process of leaving a harbour.

Once we were out in the ocean, I thanked the captain for allowing me to be there, and I headed downstairs to the beach lounge, where the others are Chakma Patwary gathered. “Ah, there you are, I was about to send a search party, but the steward said you were on the bridge” Kyle said to me with a big smile, and then I noticed an extra three people in the room, who are crew members.

“Let me guess, you are the rest of the Deepdale Island team?” I asked, “Yes sir, I am Levi Allen, I am usually the breakfast cook, but now head cook of Deepdale, and this is Michelle Andrews, galley steward and assistant medic and Trent Owens, house and laundry steward” one of the crew members said to me.

“Well I guess now is a good time to have a meeting, as you know I am a part owner of Wagner International, and newly appointed Administrator of Deepdale Island, my best friend here will be the communications and weather officer, Jai Chakma Patwary is the Senior Medical Officer and his wife – Judy is the Senior Engineer” I said to the group gathered.

“Do we know how long we will be staying on the island?” Judy asked, “Three months is the plan, but that may be extended, depending on how things go, and on how each member here deals with the new environment. I am not sure how we are going to get the containers off the island, let alone get them into position” I said.

“I can answer that sir, we have had our usual helicopter put into storage, and a larger heavy-duty chopper has been secured to the landing pad, as it is too big to fit into the hanger the senior steward announced. “Ok that is good, so hopefully it should just take a day to setup the village” I responded.

“Any order of business once the village is established?” Kyle asked, “Only that we get settled in, then we need to do a detailed exploration of the island, without disturbing any wildlife that have settled onto the island. I would like the island to become a private wildlife sanctuary and research station, maybe we can organise some signage that can be posted on the island for intruders” I replied.

Once the meeting was over, Kyle and I went up to the storm lounge, were we sat and watched ocean get a lot rougher, the further out to sea we went. Annette and the Chakma Patwary’s were assigned guest cabins on the main deck, while Kyle had the same suite as last time, next door to mine. Thanks to stabilisers, the ship was hardly rocking, but it was going up and down over the waves, which made it difficult to walk around a little.

A steward entered the room, and made his presence known to us, “Yes, what can I do for you?” I asked, when Kyle and I were interrupted from our discussions. “Sir, Mr Wagner is on the phone for you, we have transferred the call to up here” the steward said to me, “Thankyou” I replied and as the steward left the room, I leaned forward to hit the speaker button on the phone.

“Huon speaking, and I have Kyle here with me” I said, “Hello guys, I hear it is quite rough out there, I hope everyone is coping ok?” Sebastian replied, “We are fine, but I am guessing my mother will be quite green by now” Kyle replied, which made Seb and I to laugh. “No son, I am fine thankyou” came the unexpected reply from Annette as she entered the storm lounge.

“Rev, we have Sebastian on loud speaker” I said to Annette who smiled and sat next to her son. “I have called to let you know that I have loaded a larger helicopter onto the ship, which will be capable of lifting the heaviest of the containers. After the village has been established, the ship will return to Fremantle, and will load up another 8 more medium containers, and a few other things, before bringing them to you, so the ship will be back within a week of leaving on the island. Good luck and enjoy your time on the island” Sebastian said.

“Yes, I knew about the bigger helicopter, what is in the extra containers” I said to my cousin, “You will just have to wait and see, is there anything else you need that the ship can bring back for you?” Sebastian replied, ‘Yes, can you have large signs made up, stating the island is a Private Wildlife Sanctuary and Research Station, and part of the Australian Territory, and any trespassers will be shot, then hung and shot again” I replied.

“I don’t know about the penalties for trespassing, they seem a bit extreme, but I will get the signs made up for you, you will have them in just over a weeks’ time, anything else?” Sebastian replied, and I saw everyone shake their heads, no. “That is all thanks mate, I will talk to you again soon” I replied.

“The captain has a large document tube for you, so when you are ready, go and retrieve it, talk soon cousin” Seb said and we ended the call. I was about to stand up and go to the bridge, when the captain himself entered, holding a large document tube, “For me I presume, captain?” I asked as I stood up.

“Yes sir, Mr Wagner asked me to deliver it to you after the phone call, it is a satellite photograph of the island, and a topographical map created from the information on the photograph, to help you plan a location for the village” the captain said as he handed me the tube, then turned and left the room. I stared at the tube for a few moments, till Annette spoke.