River Cruise - 3. RC Chapter 3

The headmaster said that he also had some bad news, with the function centre that the school had booked for the Year 12 Graduation Ball, had gone bust, and as a result of this the school has lost the $1500 deposit it had paid.

He said that unless a miracle happened then there would be only a graduation ceremony at the school, with an afternoon tea afterwards, after the headmaster had said this Rhol noticed Nicholas nearby looking directly at him with a smile, and Rhol got the hint and nodded with a smile and indicated to stay quiet for now.

After the end of the assembly, the bell rang to signal the end of the day, and with Nicholas following close behind, Rhol walked down to the administration building and asked to speak to the headmaster, and a few minutes later the two boys were seated in the office.

Firstly, the headmaster asked Rhol how he was surviving, since the funeral and Rhol said that with the help of his buddy Nicholas, plus Jordan, Langley and Mrs Garner he was doing a lot better. Rhol was about to explain why he was there to speak to the headmaster, when he spotted the morning newspaper, and what was on the front page.

Rhol stood up and picked up the paper and quickly scanned what it said, “European river cruise ship mysteriously arrived in Fremantle on Thursday afternoon” was the headlines.

“On Friday afternoon, this reporter has spent over 24 hours following this mysterious ship, on leaving the Beach Street jetty before sunset, the ship stopped overnight at the East Fremantle Yacht club before continuing upstream to the Claremont jetty, where it stopped for two hours.

Throughout the day the river ship continued upstream, going up the Canning River to Deepwater Point, stopping at South Perth jetty, Ascot jetty, and ending at West Swan. On the way downstream, the ship stopped at East Perth jetty where it stayed overnight before sailing back to Fremantle”.

Placing the paper in front of the headmaster, Rhol sat down before speaking, “Sir, as you are aware my late father was quite a successful businessman, and just before the accident he had just completed a deal, with the purchase of this European River ship, & had it shipped to Fremantle, he has also applied for & had been granted permission to run a floating hotel business on the Swan & Canning Rivers.

Regarding the problem of not having a function centre for the Year 12 Graduation Ball. As the owner of the River Cruise ship - MV Albany, I would like to offer the vessel for the Graduation Ball, with no charter charges, just cover the costs of the food, drinks and entertainment for the night.”

The headmaster was a bit shocked at the offer, and gratefully accepted, on behalf of the school board and administration, Rhol asked that it not be revealed that he is the owner of the vessel, saying that Nicholas and he had the chance to experience the river ship over the weekend, and it would be a great night for all, and the headmaster smiled and agreed that it would.

As Nicholas and Rhol completed their last exams, with much relief, they packed up all of their belongings for the final time and headed out of the school, where Langley arrived in to collect them.

Nicholas comes from a pastoral family, with their station situated in the Pilbara region, just south of Karratha, and his parents were happy to let Nicholas stay with Rhol until after the graduation ball. Instead of going to the house, Langley drove to the Claremont jetty, where the MV Albany is currently moored, and during the short drive. Langley informed Rhol that the vessel now has a full complement of staff, plus two extras, that being Mrs Garner and himself, and that the house has been put into caretaker mode, while they all settle into a new work environment onboard the MV Albany.

Langley had arranged for Nicholas to have the same cabin as he stayed in a few weeks before, and once they had both unpacked, Rhol lead the way to the observation lounge, where they found Langley and Mrs Garner in deep conversation, and when they saw the boys, they were invited to join in, as they were in the final stages of planning for the graduation ball in just 6 days’ time.

Shortly afterwards they were informed by Jordan who had just arrived, that their presence was required downstairs in the main restaurant, so as to meet all of the crew. As he walked into the room, Rhol shook hands with the 12 senior crew members that he already knew, before making his way to the front and stood alongside the captain.

As soon as the captain had everyone’s attention and silence, he began to speak, “Ladies and gentlemen, I would like you to meet Mr Reeve H.O Lawson, who although he is a young man about to graduate from high school, he is also the owner of this fantastic vessel and your employer” there were a few voices that whispered amongst those gathered, who were unaware that two people gathered amongst them were Jordan and Nicholas, and one of the conversations overheard was “Why should we have to work for someone who hasn’t even started shaving, this is stupid”.

When the Captain saw Jordan’s frown of disapproval at the comment, with a raise of the eyebrows in question, Jordan turned and looked at the man who had made the comment, before looking at the captain who gave a slight nod. “Before I hand over to Mr Lawson, I would like to say that if anyone disapproves or does not like working for a young man who is about to graduate from high school, then you are not welcome to work on this vessel.

Very high standards are expected on the MV Albany, if you are not prepared to meet these standards to the best of your ability then you are not welcome to work here, with that said, Mr Jordan Bateman, who is the company Solicitor, and Mr Nicholas Gregson who is Mr Lawson’s best friend, plus Mr Langley and Mrs Garner, who are Mr Lawson’s personal staff will be regular guests on board this vessel and will be reporting directly to me anything that they feel puts the reputation of this vessel and the company at risk of harm.

All 4 of them are present amongst you this evening, already a comment has met the disapproval of one of them, and I am aware who that person is, and will expect that person to be in my office with their immediate resignation in their hand within fifteen minutes of the end of this meeting.

This is a final warning to all of you, no matter what position you hold on this vessel, if you do not abide by the rules then you are not welcome, and also a reminder that the confidentiality clause in your employment contracts is binding for a period of 5 years, any break of this will result in immediate legal prosecution without hesitation” the captain announced.

“Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, I wish to formally welcome you to the company, and I hope that your time on board the vessel is an enjoyable one. I will be living onboard the MV Albany most of the time from now on, my quarters are cabins 222 and 224 on the Cello deck, which is out of bounds to all crew members, with the exception of my personal staff.

I will not be interfering with the day to day operations of the vessel, unless I deem the incident no matter what it is, to be harmful, illegal or dangerous to the vessel, its crew and passengers or a severe breach of company protocols as set out by my late father.

My personal staff, are only answerable to me if you have any issues with them or my personal guests, you are to take the matter up with the captain and not with the person that you have an issue with.

On another matter, in just under 6 days’ time the MV Albany will be hosting its first official function, the year 12 Graduation Ball of my school, of which I am one of the graduates. I hope that you will all be presenting the highest standards possible during the evening.

On the night, all cabins are to be locked and access to the Piano deck also secured, the teachers, students and parents attending will only be permitted in the forward sections of the Cello and Violin Decks and all of the Sun deck, where the entertainment and dancing will be held.

Any students that you see consuming alcohol of any kind, no matter what their age, are to be reported to any of the 12 senior crew members, who will notify the Captain, the headmaster or to myself,” Rhol said and he was thinking of anything else to say when the captain handed him a piece of paper.

After a quick look at the contents of the document in front of him, Rhol smiled before continuing, “I have an email from the State Premiers department, requesting a booking of the entire vessel for a private function, for the Saturday in two weeks’ time, that is just 7 days after the Graduation Ball, and I see no reason not to accept this booking, so we have our second official function happening also.

I will expect there will be Federal and state police involvement with this function, so I ask for your full cooperation when information is requested.

However, this does not apply to any media that may be attending, any questions or comments of any kind by a member of the media, is to be ignored or referred to the Company Solicitor. More details about this function will be available after a meeting has been held to finalise what they want for the function.

That is all, thank you”, Rhol said and he left the room, with Jordan, Langley, Mrs Garner and Nicholas following behind, making their way to the Chefs table restaurant on the next level up.

Once everyone was all seated, Rhol let out a huge sigh and he looked out the window for a moment, “I hope that I have covered everything in that little speech, I don’t want to be doing that too often” Rhol said as he stood up and walked up to the window and looked at the view across the river.

“Langley, can you organise for Jordan to have cabin 219, next door to your cabin, please. Jordan, this will be your assigned cabin whenever you are onboard, Langley can you also organise a carpenter to install a strong lockable door in the passageway, at the end of cabins 217 & 218, so the area behind the door is restricted to just us and those I nominate. Now let’s start finalising plans for the graduation ball” Rhol said as he sat back down in his chair, and looked at his friends.