Oceania - 1. Oce Chapter 1

After nearly two weeks of sea trials, I kept the crew busy with a large number of activities, both while at sea, and for the four days that we stopped at the centre group of islands at the Abrolhos Islands. By the time we arrived back at the Australian Marine Complex, just south of Fremantle, the new crew of the RV Oceania had settled into their new living and working environment.

When we arrived and had docked beside the Aquaria, Uncle Jonah was waiting for us, and he came aboard as soon as we were secured to the wharf. I was still on the bridge and was notified of Uncle Jonah making his way to the bridge of Oceania, so I waited for his arrival.

“Hello Trenton, can we go to your office please, I have some news” Uncle Jonah said to me as soon as he entered the bridge. Without saying anything, I nodded my head in understanding and we headed to my office, via the administration office.

As soon as the door was closed, Uncle Jonah activated the video link equipment, and my father’s face appeared on the screen. “Hello sir, this is unexpected, what news do you have?” I said to my father, who smiled.

“Jonah and Trenton, plans have changed, another project that I have been planning has finally got all the pieces of the puzzle together, and we are ready to go ahead with it,” my father said making this sound very mysterious.

“One you are refuelled and restocked, I need both vessels to head East, bound for Wellington, New Zealand, where I will meet you there and brief you on everything about this project in person. I will see you in Wellington in 6 days, that is all for now” my father said before the transmission ended.

“I wonder what weird plans he has set out for us this time? Very hush, hush if he isn’t giving us any details until we get to NZ,” Uncle Jonah commented, “I was thinking the same thing, Uncle,” I responded, and we chatted for a few minutes on preparing for departure, with Jonah informing me that he had already organised the food supplies, and fuel to be delivered, and they would be arriving within three hours, so he suggested giving my crew two hours of shore leave before final preparations for departure begin.

Although a lot faster than the Aquaria, I kept Oceania at the same speed, and we kept at an average of 2 kilometres apart for the whole voyage to Wellington, arriving in the early evening, about an hour after dark, and after both vessels had been cleared by customs, Jonah asked me to come to his office onboard Aquaria.

When I arrived onboard the Aquaria, I was directed to the Executive Conference room on deck one, where I found Uncle Jonah and my father waiting for me.

“Hello, Dad, nice to see you again, so what is all of this about?” I said when I entered the room and sat down on side of the conference table, opposite Jonah, with Dad at the head of the table. “Straight to the point, are you anxious to get there in a hurry?” my father responded, and Uncle Jonah just laughed.

For the next forty minutes, my father outlined what he had learnt over the past 9 months, and what he had been planning to assist with getting as much assistance as possible, to make this project a successful one. Our destination is Pitcairn Island, over 5,530 kilometres north-east of Wellington, which would be a 5 ½ day journey.

Following behind us will be a large cargo ship, that will be carrying a huge amount of supplies, which will include a huge cargo lifting helicopter. Other supplies will include, two large wind turbines, to be able to provide 24-hour power supplies to the whole island, a water desalination and treatment plant, and large poly tanks to store the fresh water in.

A sewerage waste treatment plant and tanks, plus two community buildings, consisting of three shipping containers each, for multi-purpose use.

Under a special contract with the British Government, which the Pitcairn Islands are part of its territory, the Lloyd Family Corporation, was offering to build any infrastructure on the islands, to improve life for its’ residents. Uncle Jonah and I were informed that both vessels would be going to the Pitcairn Islands.

As well as the two lots of crew, there will be 16 guests on the Oceania and 56 guests on the Aquaria, who will be living on board the submarines, while based at the Pitcairn Islands for a period of three months, while working on the islands, to assist with building better access roads, and making any repairs to infrastructure, that needs doing, and the supply ship being used, will be available to make regular trips between Wellington and Pitcairn Island.

The supply ship would take double the amount of time to get to the islands, because of its slower speed, and that is why the ship had already departed one ago, so it will arrive four days after the submarines arrive at the island.

After the meeting, we were refuelled and restocked, and by midnight we set off once again, this time heading deep into the Southern Pacific Ocean. The administration of Pitcairn Island, which is located in Queen Street, Auckland, New Zealand, had been working closely with the British Government and Lloyd Family Corp, to get everything organised for this project, but what the people of Pitcairn didn’t know was that there would be two large submarines arriving in the area shortly.

During the trip East, Jonah and I spoke daily via radio, and on the last day, Jonah suggested that we take a slight detour and visit Oeno Island first, which is most northern of the island group, located 120 kilometres north-west of Pitcairn Island, which is surrounded by a reef system, that protects the low lying island. Arriving late the next morning, both research vessels surfaced just 100 metres off the coral reef, with a reasonably calm sea, and a wonderful view of the island.

As agreed on, Jonah had a dinghy in the water, with a team of three people, who are part of the team that would be working on the project long term, and they came over to Oceania to collect me, before heading to the island, carefully navigating the reef, so as not to ruin the dinghy, and we landed on the north-western side of the island, were there is a small beach, and a bit of a clearing of vegetation, just 120 metres in from where we landed.

With one of the crew members recording everything on video camera, we walked around the whole of the island, and trekked through to the small clearing, which is about 1/8^th of an acre or 500 m2 in area, before we returned to the dinghy and headed back to the Aquaria, where Jonah, the team of three and I sat down to discuss some ideas, while eating lunch.

One of these ideas, was to establish a low impact, sea terminal, that consists of a modular jetty being built out to 20 metres beyond the reef, where there is plenty of depth in the water, and to the clearing 120 metres in from the edge of the island, to accommodate a seaplane landing.

Jonah suggested that it be set at one metre above the low tide mark, over the water, and one metre above the ground over the island, so as not to damage the island, and with its unique design, the jetty moves up and down depending on the level of the tides.

At the clearing, Jonah suggested building a raised building, about three metres above the ground, so as not to be affected by any high tides during storms, and that it can be used as a storage and passenger terminal.

A seaplane can transport people and cargo from New Zealand via the Cook Islands and Ahurei, the main town of the Bass Islands of French Polynesia, for refuelling, which is a distance of just under 4,000 km’s, before making the last stage of the journey to Oeno Island, which is another 1,445 kilometres.

This would make it possible for the community of the Pitcairn Islands, to have more ownership of transport to and from the islands, and allow for more frequent supplies to be delivered, instead of the current 3 months with the supply ship, which is due to be retired soon.

Dad had informed us that he had searched for and located a CL 415 Seaplane, which he had purchased, and he was currently having pilots trained to fly the plane. Dad had also bought a 46-metre Offshore Express vessel, that can reach a speed of 28 knots, with 4 crew and room for 60 passengers and 150 tons of cargo, and can make the distance between Oeno and Pitcairn Islands in just 4 ½ hours.

What my father had thought would be good, is to establish the islands own transport services between Pitcairn and New Zealand, giving it some more independence, and fewer restrictions of costs for visitors travelling to the island, which may partly cause of the lack of visitors.

With a seaplane from Rarotonga, Cook Islands to Oeno and the ferry boat from Oeno to Pitcairn, with the crew based on the boat at Oeno, this would allow minimal impact access to the islands, and this is why we had two of the team members already selected to take on that position as skipper and 1^st officer of the boat, and the last team member is a qualified seaplane pilot.

Once we had finished our discussions, I returned to Oceania, and soon after we set off for the five-hour journey to Pitcairn Island, where we would remain hidden underwater until the next morning, by sitting on the ocean floor, at a depth of about 280 metres.

The next morning, just before dawn, after briefly surfacing, a dingy collected me, and with two security staff also onboard, we headed into the island, just 200 metres away, arriving at the boat ramp just as it was getting daylight.

“Looks like it is going to be a nice day, I wonder how long it will be before we are noticed” Jonah commented, as we left the dinghy up near the lean-too, and began to walk up the concrete road. “Who are you, and how the hell did you get onto the island” came a booming and unexpected voice, which had me chuckle, “Not as long as you thought eh uncle,” I said quietly.

“Well, that depends on who you are, as it is restricted information” Uncle Jonah responded to the voice, as we now saw the outline of a man sitting on the grass bank with a fishing pole in hand. “I am Sergeant Mike Langston, Wellington Police assigned to Pitcairn Island, now I ask again, who the hell are you?” the man said to us in a loud voice.

“Easy Officer Langston, we are here officially, my name is Commander Trenton Blackthorn, from Lloyd Family Corporation, and this is Captain Jonah Burke, I believe you are expecting us” is said to the officer. “Oh, I see, so how did you get here, I didn’t see any boat or yacht approaching?” the officer asked and both Uncle Jonah and I chuckled, before Jonah said, “Aquaria, this is the captain, can you please pop up to say hello to our local bobby please, over,” into his radio, and this made me laugh out loud.

“I am not a bobby, I am a police officer of New Zealand, and what was that…” the officer didn’t finish what he was saying, as he spotted the shape of the research vessel appear out of the ocean, and his mouth dropped open in surprise.

“Holy hell, no wonder I didn’t see you approach, that thing is huge,” the officer finally said, and we just smiled. “That she is, and we actually arrived before dark yesterday but decided to remain below the surface until just recently,” I said.

“Well, I am not getting any bites from the fish this morning, so this is a good time for me to pack up, just follow me gentlemen, and we will go to the police station,” the officer said, as Jonah gave the order for the Aquaria to submerge again.