Survival by David Fletcher

Author:David Fletcher
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd
Published: 2021-07-02T00:00:00+00:00

twenty-one

It was as Alex was rising from the breakfast table that he felt the movement. During the night there had been lots of movement, up and down and side to side. Then, as the morning had approached and the storm had started to abate, there had been just a noticeable but diminishing swell, and that had now disappeared. Almost entirely. It was, as Alex had thought, quite literally a case of the calm after the (very violent, Southern Ocean) storm. But this new movement was entirely different. It was the movement of the ship turning. Somebody up on the Sea Sprite’s bridge was taking the vessel through a fairly sharp turn – to the left. Alex quickly worked out that this meant that he was no longer on a ship sailing west, but on one embarking on a more southerly course. And he could not imagine why. Ushuaia, no doubt, was still where it had been since it was established, and travel in any other than a westward direction would not deliver the Sea Sprite to its harbour. All these thoughts were put into words as he addressed his wife.

‘Something’s up,’ he said. ‘We’re going south. And that wasn’t on the agenda. And it won’t get us to Ushuaia.’

Debbie nodded in agreement, but she looked a little distracted. She seemed to be processing this unexpected event herself, and at the same time trying to take in the general reaction of all those still seated at the tables, which was a mix of apparent astonishment and concern. These were worrying enough times as it was. To have a surprise piled on top of the worry was clearly not very welcome.

‘Come on,’ continued Alex. ‘Let’s get back to our cabin. Maybe we can see what’s going on…’

And so, filled with more trepidation than he’d budgeted for today, Alex eventually followed his wife into their cabin, and immediately went to its balcony window. There was nothing to see – other than a sea now at peace – and there was still nothing to see when he stepped out onto the balcony and slowly scanned the sea as carefully as he could. However, he could at least confirm in his mind that the Sea Sprite was heading south. A hazy sun, somewhere to the east, was now casting a shadow of the Sea Sprite onto the surface of the ocean directly below his feet. And that was a confirmation beyond doubt.

Debbie had now joined him on the balcony, and she offered an opinion.

‘There has to be a reason,’ she observed. ‘Maybe there’s a ship in distress. Maybe we’re on our way to help.’

‘Well, it’d be nice to know,’ responded Alex. ‘Hell, it’s not as though…’

‘Ladies and gentlemen.’

It was Jane on the tannoy. She was interrupting Alex remotely.

‘As I’m sure you’ll all have noticed, the captain has changed our course. And he has asked me to explain why. It’s very simple and it’s nothing to be concerned about. It’s just that he’s received a mayday call from a small vessel – a yacht – which has been knocked about by the storm.

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.