A Heritage of Courage by W. Thomas Richards

Author:W. Thomas Richards
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Publish on Demand Global LLC

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Ships in the Night

Captain Bull’s ship departed Shanghai, China and sailed in a southerly direction through the East China Sea and into the Pacific Ocean. Although Tommy was still sore, bruised, and swollen from the fight, he worked as hard as his assistant, Bill Bentley, down in the engine room. They shoveled coal into the furnace to keep steam in the boilers that ran the engines. The steamer moved at a steady sixteen knots per hour as it meandered past the Micronesia Islands, and continued until it anchored at Port Moresby on the large island of New Guinea. All though the journey, neither Tommy nor John mentioned setting up a boxing match at this new sea port. It was not only because of the captain’s request, but also because the tournament in Shanghai had dampened their enthusiasm for the sport of boxing.

After a nice five days in that seaport, the ship was loaded with cargo and supplies for the next voyage. The captain also picked up a British archeologist who wanted to be transported to the next stop, which was Cape Town, South Africa. The hold of the ship was filled with the artifacts and tools of the archeologist’s trade. The journey continued in a westerly direction north of Australia, south of Madagascar, and on to Cape Town. Although it had been over three years since the ship had been to this seaport, the sight of the beautiful country brought back memories of the strange noises of the night and the hair raising cries of the laughing hyenas. The war had been over for a couple of years and the people seemed to be at peace. After the Captain had the ship filled with supplies and cargo, the itinerary was to return to England. Tommy had not been home since the day he ran away on the railroad, and he was looking forward to seeing his family once again. He wanted to take John home to meet his parents and family. John, on the other hand was more interested in meeting Tommy’s sister. Tommy’s only reluctance in going home was facing his mother, whom he knew would probably want him to stay at home and leave his career as a sailor. He knew that the pressure she would place on him would be great, but he decided not to concede to her wishes, because this was what he wanted to do for the rest of his life.

The journey continued north along the Cape Verde Terrace westerly of Dakar, West Africa, and past the Canary Islands located west of Morocco. There had been good fortune, weather wise, for the first three days had tranquil seas and warm temperatures.

The weather remained good until the beginning of the fourth day. The early morning started with overcast skies and by afternoon the fog had started rolling in. By dark, however, the fog had become so thick that visibility was only forty or fifty feet. Unfortunately, this location of the Atlantic Ocean was where a lot of ships passed through.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.