High Seas Series
Book One
The Stowaway
Chapter 05
Charles W Bird
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This story is a fictional account of a period that begins immediately after the Second World War and chronicles what happens to a young teen boy who has escaped from a fiend who was sexually brutalizing him. While the story is completely fictional, actual names, characters, places and incidents that might coincide with actions, places, people or events have been changed to protect both the innocent and the guilty or are the product of my imagination and used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental. The actual shipboard processes, however, are based upon experiences of the author.
This story is copyrighted and may not be reproduced by any means without my express, written permission.
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EXCERPT FROM CHAPTER FOUR
It was into this climate that Joel Carson made an overture to the Government of Australia. They had been delivering cargoes and oil to Australia right along and they had a reputation of honest dealings with the “Aussies”, so, when Joel approached them about establishing a place where abandoned children could be raised near Darwin, they were not refused out of hand.
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A NEW TOWN AND NEW HOPE
The port facilities were minimal at best in Darwin, but the Carson Family believed that a move to that city was in their best interests. The American political situation was deteriorating rapidly and their facility out in the San Joaquin Valley had been attacked several times by people objecting to the rescued orphans living there.
The American Government had been no help, they had their hands full contending with the flood of people coming across their borders from Mexico and places even more distant.
Taxes were escalating rapidly and services required to support the merchant fleet were being abandoned. San Francisco Bay was so full of mud and silt that their ships dragged bottom entering or leaving port. There had been no dredging of the bay as the conservation interests said it would harm the sea gulls. The entire southbay was now closed to all shipping, even pleasure boating was prohibited.
It was a contentious meeting held at Captain Joel’s home, but, in the end, they were forced to consider the Australian Government’s offer to upgrade the facilities of Darwin Harbor. When the dust had settled from their arguments, Tommy and Jeremy were appointed to represent the company in negotiations with the Australian Government.
It didn’t help the situation when they learned that the San Francisco Bay Harbor Commission had voted to close down the entire East Bay Harbor Facilities. Bethlehem Shipyard was also in the process of closing down and The San Francisco Bay Area Air Pollution Authority had approved a plan to tax the ships, supposedly to pay for health problems their ships were accused of causing. It really didn’t matter, the entire industrial area of the bay was now closed.
When they looked into the matter, it was discovered that the money was actually being spent on free housing for the illegal entrants coming across the border from Mexico.
Tommy and Jeremy flew out the next morning, headed for the new International Airport that had been built in Darwin. It was a long flight and both young men were sure their seats had been upholstered with rocks, even though they were seated in the “First Class” Cabin.
They finally touched down in Darwin and they were me by Mr. Adrian Connelly, a man about their own age, who introduced himself as the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia. Mr. Connelly took them to the Regency Hotel, where they could unwind from their long flight. He told them that he would pick them up the next morning for a tour of the area and the new harbor facilities being constructed at Corners Bay.
They didn’t argue with the man, they both felt like they had fought a losing battle with a cement mixer. They had supper in the dining room, which neither of them could ever remember eating, let alone remember what it was. They both felt like zombies and looked even worse.
They hit the bed and were out like lights and dead to the world until Room Service knocked on their door, telling them that their breakfast was on the cart.
The meal was delicious, if a little strange. They had showered and put on some tropical wear, it was summer in the southern hemisphere and they had stepped out on the balcony to a wall of heat like a blast furnace.
About an hour later, Mr. Connelly arrived. He knocked on their door and Jeremy let him in.
They made polite conversation for a few minutes before the man asked, “Are you fellows a couple? I notice only one bed has been slept in.”
Both Jeremy and Tommy were taken back a bit at the bluntness of the man’s question, but Mr. Connelly hurried to say, “We have no hang ups about that here in Australia, we have same sex marriage laws here in Australia and discrimination is absolutely forbidden. Had I known, I would have brought my own mate, Teddy Connelly. We are married and we have four young children. Teddy is a local pediatrician and has followed your exploits in rescuing children for a number of years now.” He continued, “He is anxious to meet you so that he can compare notes on how you manage to find the children in the first place.”
Mr. Connelly had their driver take them for a tour of the small town, before driving across a wide peninsula to Bynoe Harbor. He explained the harbor had deep water and electricity would be supplied by a new high voltage transmission line, already under construction. He said that Vickers Shipbuilding had begun construction of a ship repair facility at Bynoe Harbor and that the National Rail System had just completed tracks to the area that would connect them to all points in the country.
He asked about the Carson Tankers and explained, “That is one thing we do not have here. There are, however, oil unloading facilities at both Brisbane and Sydney as that is where the refineries were located. They reminded him that their tankers were still among the missing ships that had fled the American West Coast.
He held up his hands and said, “I Know you are only looking for a safe haven for the children you have rescued, but we would like you to think about moving your whole operation to here in Australia. We have a stable government and, by law, our government cannot spend more money than they have. Our National Debt is zero! All long term debt must be prefunded by our laws!”
He continued, “Tomorrow, I shall take you over to Shady Camp, where we think it would be an ideal place for your homeless children. It is on a small river and is quite forested. There are crocs in the area, but they are all over Australia and we have learned to live with them. There are also joeys, ‘roos and camels that have gone wild.” He added, “The spot we have in mind for your children’s facility is quite high above the river, it is unlikely you will ever see any crocs.
That night, Tommy and Jeremy discussed what they had seen and Tommy said, “I like this place and I like the attitude of the people. They WANT us here it’s not like back home, where we are merely tolerated, as long as we pour lots of cash into some politician’s hands.”
Over the next several days, they met with local business men and government officials and everyone they spoke with seemed anxious to have them relocate to their land. Even people on the street recognized them and asked when they were going to “set up shop”!
The “kicker” came several days later when Mr. Connelly said, “The government of Brunei is building a new refinery at Kakadu on the shores of the Van Diemen Cut. We hope to be able to develop much of the area, once we have a reliable electric system and fuel supply”
That won over both Jeremy and Tommy and they were on the telephone to their Dads that evening. They had forgotten about the time difference and they woke up Joel from a sound sleep. They talked for more than an hour about the pros and the cons of moving to Australia. Joel said, “Let me get in touch with Bekker Engineering in the morning and maybe they can send someone out there to meet with you and this Mr. Connelly. If it looks like I think it will, maybe we will become transplanted Aussies!”
NEW HOPE
Jeremy and Tommy spent the next two weeks tramping around the Australian countryside. The more they saw of the land and its people, the more they were convinced it was the correct move for them. People would stop them on the sidewalks and ask them how soon they were going to begin building their new facility and, by way, when would they be asking for local workers?
Towards the end of their stay, Dace Bekker, Jr. of Bekker Engineering arrived. He was the son of the President of Bekker Engineering. Dace was about their own age and both Tommy and Jeremy had good feelings about him.
Dace said, the first morning he was there, “You guys are partners, right?” Both Tommy and Jeremy grinned as replied, “Yeah, hope it doesn’t offend you.” Dace immediately replied, “Not a bit, my own partner, Gary Wells, stayed back home with our sons. They are not quite old enough yet to leave them on their own for so long.”
Dace made rapid sketches of what he envisioned should be built for both the shipping business and the homes of the staff and themselves. He took several days over at the oil pumping station site at Bynoe Harbor and then he rented a helicopter to survey a means to pump oil to the new refinery site, rather than transport it in tanks by truck.
As the days went by, excitement began to build. Even people on the street stopped Tommy or Jeremy to ask if there was really a chance the Carson Folk were going to build a ship terminal in Darwin and move their orphanage there also. One elderly lady asked them, “Do yer kids need a granny?”
They were beginning to realize that there was little work for people living in the area and the prospect of jobs excited them and many were living on the Government dole. They asked Mr. Connelly about that and he replied, “Yes, that is true and even more so among the aborigine people. Do you have any hang up about people who are not white?”
Both Tommy and Jeremy had to sit down because they were laughing so hard. They explained that their two sons were twin boys of mixed heritage, white and South Sea Islander. They explained that one had to look close to see the slightly darker skin as it was outshone by their flaming red hair! They showed him pictures of their boys and he said, “My God, how do you manage to feed those gorillas?”
After they had stayed a month in Darwin, news reports from home were making them very uneasy. They spoke with both their Dads, but, they remained unconvinced that everyone back home was safe. There were reports of riots and widespread power failures. Businesses were closing and the unemployment rate was escalating rapidly.
The final blow came when they received a cryptic radiogram from Joel, “Meet us in Honolulu” They tried to call home and got a recorded message that the number was no longer in service!
Dace tried calling his own Dad and could not get through.
Tommy called the Company Pilot and told him to ready the plane, they would depart the next day and would have an extra passenger, Mr. Dace Bekker.
A somewhat frightening telegram came for Dace that he was to meet his Dad in Honolulu, that he was with the Carsons and that Gary Wells and the boys were with him and that they were all OK!
Mr. Connelly showed them an official Australian Naval Report about ship movements in the Pacific Ocean. The report showed that all of the Carson ships were enroute to Honolulu.
Mr. Connelly asked them, “Will this cancel any plans you guys have of moving everything here?” Tommy replied, “Not at all, if I know our Dads, it will only make it happen sooner, especially if they managed to smuggle all our kids out of the orphanage!”
The next morning saw Tommy, Jeremy and Dace climbing on board their airplane as the pilots were running down the preflight checklist. Mr. Connelly handed them an Australian Government report from the Central Bank that Carson Shipping had transferred $900 Million American Dollars’ worth of negotiable securities and gold bullion to the Australian Central Bank.
After the man had left, Jeremy whispered to Tommy, “I’ll bet the rest of the gold and other stuff is on one of the ships, headed here right now.” Tommy agreed with him and both young men were beginning to feel better about the problems back home when they learned that all the children from the Home over in the San Joaquin Valley were on board the Matilda Carson II and that Captain Joel Carson was in command of the ship.
As they got settled for their flight, they were joined by Adrian Connelly and his partner, Gary Connelly, along with their two sons, Adrian, Jr. and Gary, Jr. The boys looked to be twins and Adrian told them they were sixteen. The two boys were very polite and well mannered, but like all teens, they were curious and they had never had the chance to speak with any Americans before.
As the plane few eastward, towards Hawaii, Adrian handed the pilots his Diplomatic passport and instructed them that, when they reported in to Hawaii Air Traffic Control that this as an Australian Diplomatic Mission on official business of the Australian Government and was covered by treaties between the United States and the Commonwealth of Australia.
He turned to Tommy and Jeremy saying, “That ought to stop any problems that your government might bring up to discourage you from moving to our country.
Tommy got on the plane’s radio and accessed the Carson Marine private communication system. He entered the code for Joel, who answered immediately. Tommy relayed everything that was happening and that they were now an Official Diplomatic Mission of The Australian Government.
Joel replied, “Guys, it doesn’t look good here, we barely got out of American Territorial Waters when the Government ordered all flights grounded and ships returned to port. We will likely have problems when we try to dock in Honolulu.”
Adrian overheard the conversation and asked Tommy for the handset. He said, “Captain Carson, when you arrive at Honolulu, stay on your plane and give the Tower this information – We are guests of the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia and our planes are under contract with the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia. We are waiting for their representatives to arrive. Our Transport vessel is covered by International Treaty between the Commonwealth of Australia and the Government of The United States.”
Tommy looked Adrian Connelly square in the eyes and asked, “You are more than just a bureaucrat, aren’t you? Adrian chuckled and replied, “Well, yes. Technically, I am listed as the Deputy Prime Minister of the Commonwealth, but, right now I am the Ambassador Plenipotentiary of my country and I speak in the Prime Minister’s voice.” They would soon discover the man was much more than what he had claimed.
The pilots had the throttles crammed all the way to the stops and all four engines were running at “redline” on their exhaust temperatures. They learned that the Matilda Carson II had departed San Francisco three days earlier and was tracked at a speed of 28 knots. Adrian laughed, “Well we will beat them there, but not by much.”
Adrian asked, “How many children is Captain Carson shepherding across the Pacific?” Tommy thought for a moment and then replied, “About a thousand children.” Adrian shuddered and said, “God, that man is braver than I, two are about all I can handle!” His two sons were standing behind him and snickered, “We will get you for that, Dad!”
As the hours went by, they learned that all the Carson ships were sailing in convoy, carrying their families and whatever belongings that were most precious to them.
The plane landed about 12 hours before the expected arrival of the SS Matilda Carson was due to arrive. American Government Officials attempted to board the plane, but were stopped by Adrian Connelly and the fact that a large Australian Naval warship was sitting offshore, within sight of the International Airport and its guns were pointed right at the airport!
RUPTURED RELATIONS
As the Carson ships entered Hawaiian waters, diplomatic insults were racing back and forth over the airwaves. While the officials were haggling with each other, Joel and everyone aboard The Mattie Carson were having a mass meeting in the cargo hold. Tommy and Jeremy were on the radio, telling Joel about the Australians and all they were doing for them.
Joel was exhausted and a bit bewildered at the speed things were going down. He asked, “What are we going to do with all the kids we have on board?” Adrian replied, “The ANS Sydney is steaming in circles just outside Hawaiian Territorial waters, have your ship meet The Sydney out in International waters and they have accommodations for 500 of your kids. We are going to land at the airport and attempt to get anyone who wants to come with us on board our plane. Crowded, we can handle about 150 children, as long as they have no heavy luggage. The rest will need to continue on in your vessel and the Sydney will act as escort.”
That is exactly what they did, neither Tommy nor Jeremy had not seen the 75 Australian Rangers (Marines) lounging in the pressurized cargo space. Tommy shuddered when he finally did see them, they all looked like they chewed up rocks and spit sand!
The moment the plane stopped out at the end of the runway, the Australian Rangers surrounded the plane. All were carrying automatic weapons and even the Hawaiian National Guard did not want to tangle with them, the Aussie Rangers had an international reputation as being tough as Hell!
The Matilda Carson met up with the ANS Sydney and began transferring children immediately.
The family members from the West Coast disembarked from their plane and, instead of traipsing into the terminal, they made a mad dash to their much larger company plane that had just landed from Australia.
As they neared the plane, they were running between a corridor of armed Australian Rangers and they signaled the pilots and crew of the plane that had gotten them there to join the escapees on the much larger plane. There were not enough Rangers to protect both planes and the second plane would be a little crowded. The company pilots on the plane from Australia figured they still had enough fuel to get them to Nuku’alofa in Tonga safely.
The plane they had arrived on from the West Coast was nearly empty of fuel and they could not count on the local authorities to release fuel for their continued flight to Australia.
As soon as the plane was loaded, the Rangers jumped on board and they started to wind up the engines in preparation to take off. There were no planes on the runway, so the pilots took a chance and began rolling down the runway to take off. They told the tower to clear the airspace, they WERE going to take off.
The plane was heavily loaded and it took all of the runway to get them into the air, They clawed their way to cruising altitude and headed southeast, towards Tonga.
Joel grilled their sons on what the hell was going on and, as they were talking, the Plane Captain came on the speaker system, “Passengers, the West Coast of the United States and Canada have been hit by multiple Nuclear Bombs. The cities of Victoria, Seattle, San Francisco and the Los Angeles Metropolitan area as far south as San Diego are totally devastated. From the number of bombs tracked, it is unlikely there are any survivors. We have no information about who did this terrible thing, but, from all indications, London and other major cities of Europe have also been attacked.”
The passenger compartment was silent in stunned horror and the younger children began whimpering in fear. The Pilot came on the speakers again and announced, “I am happy to tell you that all the ships carrying the children and their mentors were outside the blast zones and are currently enroute to Darwin, Australia. Units of The Navy of Australia are currently headed to assist your ships and are expected to rendezvous in the next twelve hours. I will keep you apprised of developments as we receive them.”
Tommy and Jeremy clung to their sons and cried sobs of relief that they were all still alive. Adrian hurried up to the Flight Deck and, unknown to his friends, spent nearly a half hour on the radio with his own Government.
When he returned, his face was haggard and drawn. He sat in low conversation with Tommy and Jeremy before standing to make an announcement, “I have been authorized by the Government of Australia to offer everyone who has escaped this terrible tragedy, sanctuary in our lands and, if you wish, citizenship. Our government has few resources, but, what we have, we share with you gladly.”
The adults, who comprehended the magnitude of what had taken place, were numb and it would be some time before they could function. Tommy stood and shouted, “On behalf of our Family, our Friends and our Children, I accept your kind offer. We will do our best to be good and loyal citizens of your land and, maybe, sometime in the future, our descendants might be able to go back to the lands of our birth.”
They landed briefly at Nuku’alofa, the Capitol City of Tonga and all the planes were refueled for their continued journey to Australia. The convoy of ships trailed them across the wide expanse of the Pacific Ocean. They were constrained, however, by the slowest ship at 20 knots.
Over the next several days, units of the Navy of Australia joined the convoy, but they were not bothered by any government. The American Government had gone silent and they had lost all radio contact with any place in the United States, even Hawaii.
By the next morning, the planes were in sight of the north coast of Australia and the pilots were beginning to drain speed and altitude. As they began to glide into the new airport at Darwin, they could see automobiles and crowds of people standing at the fence around the runway.
When the pilots brought the panes to a stop, the crowd broke loose and came running towards the several planes. Children slipped from their parents’ restraints and crowded the movable stairway. As the first people emerged from the hatch, a great cheer went up and the Australian children crowded the stairway to be the first to hug and greet their new friends.
The Family allowed the children from the orphanage to go first and children paired off as fast as they came down the gangway. Many of the American children were bewildered at first and they hung back. The Australian children were not having any of that and the newcomers were dragged to where the people of Darwin had set up a picnic for them. Some of the foods might have seemed a little strange, but it disappeared, none the less! All teenagers have a healthy relationship with food and these American teens were no different.
The Adults began to disembark and they were greeted no less enthusiastically. The Australian Rangers (Marines) had erected tents for everyone to stay while their new homes were being built. Captain Joyner of The Rangers saluted Adrian Connelly and reported, “Sir, we have spaces for two thousand adults, five hundred young teens and five hundred Joeys (small children) Sir.” Adrian replied, “That should be plenty, at least until the ships arrive.”
Adrian asked, “Has construction begun at The Headland for the permanent structures and facilities?” The young officer replied, “Yes sir, General, Sir Adrian Connelly, the street paving has begun and they are building the foundations for the crushers for the limestone to go into the concrete, SIR.” He added, “The electric power is half way across the peninsula and soon we can shut down the noisy gennies and get some peace and quiet, Sir.”
Tommy and Jeremy overheard the conversation and looked at each other, thinking, “Hmm, suspicions confirmed!”
HEALING
As the days passed, the Americans began to relax, the children no longer jumped at loud noises and they were sleeping the whole night through. The Australian men who were in a same sex relationship made no effort to hide and, even the teens openly held hands with each other.
Gradually, the new comers began to lose their fear of being discovered and began showing affection to those whom they loved. They became more relaxed and in a few days, their fear had practically evaporated completely.
The Rangers had been well briefed about what the Americans had suffered and they went out of their way to make the gay youngsters feel welcome. It was not that they discriminated against those who were not gay, it was that they treated them all equally, with courtesy and respect.
Within a week, the American youngsters had lost their “haunted” look and were mingling with the Australian youths who lived nearby. The adults could hear the lively screams and squeals of children having a good time. It was obvious that leaders were beginning to emerge among the newly arrived Americans and that was readily apparent among some of the older boys.
They chose Tommy Carson to splash their ideas on. Jeff Greenwald led a group of boys to see Tommy. Tommy had a pretty good idea what they wanted, he had seen them all down at the paddock looking the horses over and feeding them carrots and fresh greens in order to make friends with them.
Jeff was followed by a half dozen other boys, who were pushing him to the front. Tommy looked up and said, “YESSSSSS?”
Jeff began to stutter and stammer, “aaaAH eeeer , Mmmmr. Ttttommy,sir. Wwwe wwwas wwwwonnnderinn, er, Sir, iff’n uuus bbboys cccluld sssatrerrrt aaa rrriddding ccclub an’ hhhghelp pppatrol ooours cccamp, sir?”
Tommy couldn’t help but tease them just a little bit, he replied, “What do you think you need to protect us against?” The youngster replied, “eer Sir, we’s heard tttthat tthere bee mmonster crockydales aaarounnd here!”
Tommy was having a difficult time not laughing, he replied, “Jeff, I think you mean Crocodiles and, yes there are those around here. I think it would be a great idea. I will speak with the Ranger Captain and see if he has an instructor to teach you how to shoot those pesky CROCKYDALES. If ya’ just mak’em mad, you will be their supper fer sure!”
It was going to be a VERY long time before those boys were going to be allowed to forget about CROCKYDALES!
Ranger Captain Adam Joyner detailed a Sergeant and a Corporal to teach the boys the intricacies of Australian .30 caliber Enfield Rifles. He felt the Enfields were small enough that the boys could handle them and big enough to put a serious hurt on even the largest croc. Australian Crocodiles were dangerous man eaters and the sooner these boys learned how to kill them, the safer their people were going to be.
The largest man eaters were found only in salt water, there were other, freshwater crocs that were dangerous, but not to the same degree the salt water crocs were.
Sergeant Pulaski was pleasantly surprised when he began teaching the boys how to shoot. The boys listened intently and followed his instruction to the letter. He had been a little worried, several of the boys were obviously gay and Jeff Greenwald and Gordon Dales were obviously a couple.
After a week of target practice and maneuvering around several smaller crocs found in the area, Sergeant Pulaski told the Captain, “Them American boys, Cap’n, I sure doesn’t want thems shoot’n at me, theys is crack shots, Sir, ‘n stingy with bullets. They means it when theys say that one bullet equals one croc!”
So it was, a first group of American Boys became the nucleus of the Crocodile Patrol and they were destined to play an important role when the Malay slavers discovered the rich pickings of young boys and girls to be found at Cox Peninsula and on Carson Ships.
The boys elected Jeff as Guard Captain and Gordon as Sergeant. They talked the Ranger Supply Sergeant out of some uniforms and they drew their horses from the pool.
Before Tommy realized it, The Croc Patrol had shot their first Salt Water Crocodile! The boys tied a rope around the beast and coerced a horse to drag it up to the main camp. It would be several days before any of the youngsters would even go near the beach!
The crocs were active both during the daytime and also at night, so the squad was broken into two parts, one patrolled during the day and one at night. The beach area was put off limits from midnight until eight in the morning on weekends and from10 pm until noon the next day on school days.
After viewing the huge beast, nobody was tempted to break the off limits curfew times!
When the last of the passengers on the ships arrived, the small colony of displaced Americans numbered two thousand children under the age of eighteen and twelve hundred adults. Joel was anxious for them to “pay their own way”, he felt the Australians would be a lot happier with them living there if they contributed towards their upkeep.
Joel formed a council of all the ship Captains and they decided that they would resume their trading ventures under the Australian flag.
It was not long before they were faced with building larger warehouses in Darwin, the American Sea Traders were aggressive traders and Joel had converted much of their wealth to gold and silver. American dollars were, of course, no longer any good, much of North America was a glowing, radioactive wasteland. Mexico simply no longer existed as a political entity and most of Canada seemed to be uninhabited.
Little was known of Europe, their radio operators could sometimes get a garbled broadcast from France and England, but, from the others they could only hear random static.
Tommy and Jeremy took The Joel Carson eastwards in an attempt to reopen trade with Japan and China, but they found those two countries locked in a bitter struggle, tossing bombs at each other. Seen from the sea, both countries emitted an eerie blue glow and they could not raise anyone on the radio.
They found people in Indonesia who were eager to trade, for the first trip, their ships carried gold and silver, until they could build up trade goods. The people would accept the precious metals, but, what they really wanted parts for their looms, gasoline for the bicycles and oil for their lanterns. Above all, they wanted food stuffs!
The tanker called at Brunei and took on a full cargo of crude for the new refinery at Darwin. The Carsons had only the one tanker, they had several more, but they had never shown up after they all fled North America.
The Australians did not have a single tanker, they had an old freighter that they had tried to convert to a tanker but it had sailed for Brunei and was never heard from again.
The Carson Ships began sailing, there were no other nations sending trading ships into the Southeast Asian waters. The Carsons had hard feeling for the Chinese, but the discovered eager traders in Vietnam and Cambodia.
The Australian factories were frantically pushing out manufactured goods and the trading ships brought back rice, small electronics, cloth, shoes and tropical goods, like fruits, lumber and dried fish.
Tommy and Jeremy sailed The Joel Carson into Singapore and hit the jackpot. They filled their holds with steel pipe, sheet steel and building beams. They came back with the Joel loaded down to her load limit.
They brought Vietnamese rice that nearly caused a riot in Singapore, the city-state was dangerously low of food.
The Joel Carson made two more trips, loaded down with rice for Singapore. In later years, the people of Singapore refused to trade with anyone else, only Carson ships were welcome there.
Trade was good and every Carson ship was busy. Besides supplying their hosts with crude oil, they brought in foodstuffs that could not be grown in Australia.
Oddly, dried and salted crocodile meat was in high demand on the island nations of Southeast Asia. The croc patrols became business men and rows of skinned crocodiles were seen on the beach, being butchered up and set out on rows of racks to dry.
Jeff and Gordon were in desperate need of people who could butcher a whole croc and set it out to dry. They happened on a young aborigine man, who watched them work with a hungry look on his face.
The young man looked hungry and alone, Jeff went over and offered him his canteen and part of his lunch. The young man gulped the water down and did the same with the lunch. It was obvious to them that he was starving. They had both seen starvation up close and personal, so they knew exactly what the young man was going through.
The young aborigine man spoke English and asked Tommy for a job. Tommy replied, “Can you cut up a crocodile into strips of meat to be dried?” The man grinned and replied, “Dead ones, only!” Before many days had passed, there was a whole crew of native men cutting up crocodile carcasses and draping the meat over racks to be salted and dried.
Several white Australians objected to having the “abos” working, but both Jeff and Gordon would not budge and they were paid the same rate as anyone else. They learned that racial discrimination was rare in Australia, but it did exist. They had no problems with hiring the young Aborigine men and it was only a short time before a small Aborigine village was established nearby.
Slowly, a village began to take shape on the peninsula and everyone just referred to it as Kinder Village and the name stuck. Tommy and Jeremy went back to running their ship and their sons emerged as Territory Soccer Champions.
The “Juniors” were head and shoulders taller than the other boys in their age group and, when the National Soccer Tournaments were held in Sydney shortly after they had been in Darwin less than a year, The “Juniors” led the “Darwin Crockydales” to National Championship.
The more established teams could not believe these upstart players, led by two monster boys, could steal the trophy from a more established team.
Tommy and Jeremy were in the stands watching their sons in their moment of glorious triumph. Jeremy gave Tommy a light kiss and said, “They may be gorillas, but they are OUR GORILLAS, let’s go down on the field and congratulate our boys.”
They made their way down to the playing field and hugged their sons. The crowd went wild as it was not a custom in Australia for spectators to go down to the field to hug their sons. There was a sudden surge of parents headed to the field.
BACK TO WORK
The Carson Family ships were the only ships permanently stationed on the east coast of Australia and there was a constant stream of ships sailing out of Darwin for Southeast Asia.
Tommy was sailing as Chief Engineer and Jeremy as Chief Mate, although, for once, it was on different ships. Tommy was sailing on the Joel Carson and Jeremy was the Carson Haven and neither was happy about being in different ships.
The Joel was headed for Surabuya in East Java and the Carson Haven was headed for Singapore. They sailed together until The Joel had to turn to head towards Surabuya, where there was a ship load of tropical lumber waiting for them.
The Carson Haven was scheduled to take on manufactured electrical components for the new electric system being constructed in the Darwin area.
They were worried a little bit about the Carson Haven, the cargo would be of high value and work on the electric system was at a standstill until the parts could be delivered.
Both ships had embarked a few Australian Marines. Unknown to anyone but his Captain and the Marines themselves, Jeremy had smuggled aboard two squads of Crockydale Patrol Boys to augment the Australian Marines.
Sergeant Cameron Doyle was in charge of the Marines and he was a little nervous about have child soldiers among them. That is, until he set eyes those child soldiers.
As they came on board, he turned to his Corporal and whispered, “God, don’t make them angry, they could pluck any or even ALL of us as easy as cooked hens!” None of the boy soldiers were under six feet tall and the deck “thudded” as they walked across it!
The two men made it a point to walk among the youngsters and get to know them. They were pleasantly surprised that all the boys were well educated and could speak intelligently about what they did and how they did it.
The men shuddered when they learned that these “children” routinely killed twenty and thirty foot salt water crocs! Their skills would mean the difference between life and death for those on board the Carson Haven in just a few days.
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TBC
The Carsons and their children are beginning to take their place among the Australians and will be a vital asset when that nation is attacked by ferocious pirates from Southeast Asia.
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This story is a fictional account of a period that begins immediately after the Second World War and chronicles what happens to a young teen boy who has escaped from a fiend who was sexually brutalizing him. While the story is completely fictional, actual names, characters, places and incidents that might coincide with actions, places, people or events have been changed to protect both the innocent and the guilty or are the product of my imagination and used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental. The actual shipboard processes, however, are based upon experiences of the author.
This story is copyrighted and may not be reproduced by any means without my express, written permission.
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EXCERPT FROM CHAPTER FOUR
It was into this climate that Joel Carson made an overture to the Government of Australia. They had been delivering cargoes and oil to Australia right along and they had a reputation of honest dealings with the “Aussies”, so, when Joel approached them about establishing a place where abandoned children could be raised near Darwin, they were not refused out of hand.
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A NEW TOWN AND NEW HOPE
The port facilities were minimal at best in Darwin, but the Carson Family believed that a move to that city was in their best interests. The American political situation was deteriorating rapidly and their facility out in the San Joaquin Valley had been attacked several times by people objecting to the rescued orphans living there.
The American Government had been no help, they had their hands full contending with the flood of people coming across their borders from Mexico and places even more distant.
Taxes were escalating rapidly and services required to support the merchant fleet were being abandoned. San Francisco Bay was so full of mud and silt that their ships dragged bottom entering or leaving port. There had been no dredging of the bay as the conservation interests said it would harm the sea gulls. The entire southbay was now closed to all shipping, even pleasure boating was prohibited.
It was a contentious meeting held at Captain Joel’s home, but, in the end, they were forced to consider the Australian Government’s offer to upgrade the facilities of Darwin Harbor. When the dust had settled from their arguments, Tommy and Jeremy were appointed to represent the company in negotiations with the Australian Government.
It didn’t help the situation when they learned that the San Francisco Bay Harbor Commission had voted to close down the entire East Bay Harbor Facilities. Bethlehem Shipyard was also in the process of closing down and The San Francisco Bay Area Air Pollution Authority had approved a plan to tax the ships, supposedly to pay for health problems their ships were accused of causing. It really didn’t matter, the entire industrial area of the bay was now closed.
When they looked into the matter, it was discovered that the money was actually being spent on free housing for the illegal entrants coming across the border from Mexico.
Tommy and Jeremy flew out the next morning, headed for the new International Airport that had been built in Darwin. It was a long flight and both young men were sure their seats had been upholstered with rocks, even though they were seated in the “First Class” Cabin.
They finally touched down in Darwin and they were me by Mr. Adrian Connelly, a man about their own age, who introduced himself as the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia. Mr. Connelly took them to the Regency Hotel, where they could unwind from their long flight. He told them that he would pick them up the next morning for a tour of the area and the new harbor facilities being constructed at Corners Bay.
They didn’t argue with the man, they both felt like they had fought a losing battle with a cement mixer. They had supper in the dining room, which neither of them could ever remember eating, let alone remember what it was. They both felt like zombies and looked even worse.
They hit the bed and were out like lights and dead to the world until Room Service knocked on their door, telling them that their breakfast was on the cart.
The meal was delicious, if a little strange. They had showered and put on some tropical wear, it was summer in the southern hemisphere and they had stepped out on the balcony to a wall of heat like a blast furnace.
About an hour later, Mr. Connelly arrived. He knocked on their door and Jeremy let him in.
They made polite conversation for a few minutes before the man asked, “Are you fellows a couple? I notice only one bed has been slept in.”
Both Jeremy and Tommy were taken back a bit at the bluntness of the man’s question, but Mr. Connelly hurried to say, “We have no hang ups about that here in Australia, we have same sex marriage laws here in Australia and discrimination is absolutely forbidden. Had I known, I would have brought my own mate, Teddy Connelly. We are married and we have four young children. Teddy is a local pediatrician and has followed your exploits in rescuing children for a number of years now.” He continued, “He is anxious to meet you so that he can compare notes on how you manage to find the children in the first place.”
Mr. Connelly had their driver take them for a tour of the small town, before driving across a wide peninsula to Bynoe Harbor. He explained the harbor had deep water and electricity would be supplied by a new high voltage transmission line, already under construction. He said that Vickers Shipbuilding had begun construction of a ship repair facility at Bynoe Harbor and that the National Rail System had just completed tracks to the area that would connect them to all points in the country.
He asked about the Carson Tankers and explained, “That is one thing we do not have here. There are, however, oil unloading facilities at both Brisbane and Sydney as that is where the refineries were located. They reminded him that their tankers were still among the missing ships that had fled the American West Coast.
He held up his hands and said, “I Know you are only looking for a safe haven for the children you have rescued, but we would like you to think about moving your whole operation to here in Australia. We have a stable government and, by law, our government cannot spend more money than they have. Our National Debt is zero! All long term debt must be prefunded by our laws!”
He continued, “Tomorrow, I shall take you over to Shady Camp, where we think it would be an ideal place for your homeless children. It is on a small river and is quite forested. There are crocs in the area, but they are all over Australia and we have learned to live with them. There are also joeys, ‘roos and camels that have gone wild.” He added, “The spot we have in mind for your children’s facility is quite high above the river, it is unlikely you will ever see any crocs.
That night, Tommy and Jeremy discussed what they had seen and Tommy said, “I like this place and I like the attitude of the people. They WANT us here it’s not like back home, where we are merely tolerated, as long as we pour lots of cash into some politician’s hands.”
Over the next several days, they met with local business men and government officials and everyone they spoke with seemed anxious to have them relocate to their land. Even people on the street recognized them and asked when they were going to “set up shop”!
The “kicker” came several days later when Mr. Connelly said, “The government of Brunei is building a new refinery at Kakadu on the shores of the Van Diemen Cut. We hope to be able to develop much of the area, once we have a reliable electric system and fuel supply”
That won over both Jeremy and Tommy and they were on the telephone to their Dads that evening. They had forgotten about the time difference and they woke up Joel from a sound sleep. They talked for more than an hour about the pros and the cons of moving to Australia. Joel said, “Let me get in touch with Bekker Engineering in the morning and maybe they can send someone out there to meet with you and this Mr. Connelly. If it looks like I think it will, maybe we will become transplanted Aussies!”
NEW HOPE
Jeremy and Tommy spent the next two weeks tramping around the Australian countryside. The more they saw of the land and its people, the more they were convinced it was the correct move for them. People would stop them on the sidewalks and ask them how soon they were going to begin building their new facility and, by way, when would they be asking for local workers?
Towards the end of their stay, Dace Bekker, Jr. of Bekker Engineering arrived. He was the son of the President of Bekker Engineering. Dace was about their own age and both Tommy and Jeremy had good feelings about him.
Dace said, the first morning he was there, “You guys are partners, right?” Both Tommy and Jeremy grinned as replied, “Yeah, hope it doesn’t offend you.” Dace immediately replied, “Not a bit, my own partner, Gary Wells, stayed back home with our sons. They are not quite old enough yet to leave them on their own for so long.”
Dace made rapid sketches of what he envisioned should be built for both the shipping business and the homes of the staff and themselves. He took several days over at the oil pumping station site at Bynoe Harbor and then he rented a helicopter to survey a means to pump oil to the new refinery site, rather than transport it in tanks by truck.
As the days went by, excitement began to build. Even people on the street stopped Tommy or Jeremy to ask if there was really a chance the Carson Folk were going to build a ship terminal in Darwin and move their orphanage there also. One elderly lady asked them, “Do yer kids need a granny?”
They were beginning to realize that there was little work for people living in the area and the prospect of jobs excited them and many were living on the Government dole. They asked Mr. Connelly about that and he replied, “Yes, that is true and even more so among the aborigine people. Do you have any hang up about people who are not white?”
Both Tommy and Jeremy had to sit down because they were laughing so hard. They explained that their two sons were twin boys of mixed heritage, white and South Sea Islander. They explained that one had to look close to see the slightly darker skin as it was outshone by their flaming red hair! They showed him pictures of their boys and he said, “My God, how do you manage to feed those gorillas?”
After they had stayed a month in Darwin, news reports from home were making them very uneasy. They spoke with both their Dads, but, they remained unconvinced that everyone back home was safe. There were reports of riots and widespread power failures. Businesses were closing and the unemployment rate was escalating rapidly.
The final blow came when they received a cryptic radiogram from Joel, “Meet us in Honolulu” They tried to call home and got a recorded message that the number was no longer in service!
Dace tried calling his own Dad and could not get through.
Tommy called the Company Pilot and told him to ready the plane, they would depart the next day and would have an extra passenger, Mr. Dace Bekker.
A somewhat frightening telegram came for Dace that he was to meet his Dad in Honolulu, that he was with the Carsons and that Gary Wells and the boys were with him and that they were all OK!
Mr. Connelly showed them an official Australian Naval Report about ship movements in the Pacific Ocean. The report showed that all of the Carson ships were enroute to Honolulu.
Mr. Connelly asked them, “Will this cancel any plans you guys have of moving everything here?” Tommy replied, “Not at all, if I know our Dads, it will only make it happen sooner, especially if they managed to smuggle all our kids out of the orphanage!”
The next morning saw Tommy, Jeremy and Dace climbing on board their airplane as the pilots were running down the preflight checklist. Mr. Connelly handed them an Australian Government report from the Central Bank that Carson Shipping had transferred $900 Million American Dollars’ worth of negotiable securities and gold bullion to the Australian Central Bank.
After the man had left, Jeremy whispered to Tommy, “I’ll bet the rest of the gold and other stuff is on one of the ships, headed here right now.” Tommy agreed with him and both young men were beginning to feel better about the problems back home when they learned that all the children from the Home over in the San Joaquin Valley were on board the Matilda Carson II and that Captain Joel Carson was in command of the ship.
As they got settled for their flight, they were joined by Adrian Connelly and his partner, Gary Connelly, along with their two sons, Adrian, Jr. and Gary, Jr. The boys looked to be twins and Adrian told them they were sixteen. The two boys were very polite and well mannered, but like all teens, they were curious and they had never had the chance to speak with any Americans before.
As the plane few eastward, towards Hawaii, Adrian handed the pilots his Diplomatic passport and instructed them that, when they reported in to Hawaii Air Traffic Control that this as an Australian Diplomatic Mission on official business of the Australian Government and was covered by treaties between the United States and the Commonwealth of Australia.
He turned to Tommy and Jeremy saying, “That ought to stop any problems that your government might bring up to discourage you from moving to our country.
Tommy got on the plane’s radio and accessed the Carson Marine private communication system. He entered the code for Joel, who answered immediately. Tommy relayed everything that was happening and that they were now an Official Diplomatic Mission of The Australian Government.
Joel replied, “Guys, it doesn’t look good here, we barely got out of American Territorial Waters when the Government ordered all flights grounded and ships returned to port. We will likely have problems when we try to dock in Honolulu.”
Adrian overheard the conversation and asked Tommy for the handset. He said, “Captain Carson, when you arrive at Honolulu, stay on your plane and give the Tower this information – We are guests of the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia and our planes are under contract with the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia. We are waiting for their representatives to arrive. Our Transport vessel is covered by International Treaty between the Commonwealth of Australia and the Government of The United States.”
Tommy looked Adrian Connelly square in the eyes and asked, “You are more than just a bureaucrat, aren’t you? Adrian chuckled and replied, “Well, yes. Technically, I am listed as the Deputy Prime Minister of the Commonwealth, but, right now I am the Ambassador Plenipotentiary of my country and I speak in the Prime Minister’s voice.” They would soon discover the man was much more than what he had claimed.
The pilots had the throttles crammed all the way to the stops and all four engines were running at “redline” on their exhaust temperatures. They learned that the Matilda Carson II had departed San Francisco three days earlier and was tracked at a speed of 28 knots. Adrian laughed, “Well we will beat them there, but not by much.”
Adrian asked, “How many children is Captain Carson shepherding across the Pacific?” Tommy thought for a moment and then replied, “About a thousand children.” Adrian shuddered and said, “God, that man is braver than I, two are about all I can handle!” His two sons were standing behind him and snickered, “We will get you for that, Dad!”
As the hours went by, they learned that all the Carson ships were sailing in convoy, carrying their families and whatever belongings that were most precious to them.
The plane landed about 12 hours before the expected arrival of the SS Matilda Carson was due to arrive. American Government Officials attempted to board the plane, but were stopped by Adrian Connelly and the fact that a large Australian Naval warship was sitting offshore, within sight of the International Airport and its guns were pointed right at the airport!
RUPTURED RELATIONS
As the Carson ships entered Hawaiian waters, diplomatic insults were racing back and forth over the airwaves. While the officials were haggling with each other, Joel and everyone aboard The Mattie Carson were having a mass meeting in the cargo hold. Tommy and Jeremy were on the radio, telling Joel about the Australians and all they were doing for them.
Joel was exhausted and a bit bewildered at the speed things were going down. He asked, “What are we going to do with all the kids we have on board?” Adrian replied, “The ANS Sydney is steaming in circles just outside Hawaiian Territorial waters, have your ship meet The Sydney out in International waters and they have accommodations for 500 of your kids. We are going to land at the airport and attempt to get anyone who wants to come with us on board our plane. Crowded, we can handle about 150 children, as long as they have no heavy luggage. The rest will need to continue on in your vessel and the Sydney will act as escort.”
That is exactly what they did, neither Tommy nor Jeremy had not seen the 75 Australian Rangers (Marines) lounging in the pressurized cargo space. Tommy shuddered when he finally did see them, they all looked like they chewed up rocks and spit sand!
The moment the plane stopped out at the end of the runway, the Australian Rangers surrounded the plane. All were carrying automatic weapons and even the Hawaiian National Guard did not want to tangle with them, the Aussie Rangers had an international reputation as being tough as Hell!
The Matilda Carson met up with the ANS Sydney and began transferring children immediately.
The family members from the West Coast disembarked from their plane and, instead of traipsing into the terminal, they made a mad dash to their much larger company plane that had just landed from Australia.
As they neared the plane, they were running between a corridor of armed Australian Rangers and they signaled the pilots and crew of the plane that had gotten them there to join the escapees on the much larger plane. There were not enough Rangers to protect both planes and the second plane would be a little crowded. The company pilots on the plane from Australia figured they still had enough fuel to get them to Nuku’alofa in Tonga safely.
The plane they had arrived on from the West Coast was nearly empty of fuel and they could not count on the local authorities to release fuel for their continued flight to Australia.
As soon as the plane was loaded, the Rangers jumped on board and they started to wind up the engines in preparation to take off. There were no planes on the runway, so the pilots took a chance and began rolling down the runway to take off. They told the tower to clear the airspace, they WERE going to take off.
The plane was heavily loaded and it took all of the runway to get them into the air, They clawed their way to cruising altitude and headed southeast, towards Tonga.
Joel grilled their sons on what the hell was going on and, as they were talking, the Plane Captain came on the speaker system, “Passengers, the West Coast of the United States and Canada have been hit by multiple Nuclear Bombs. The cities of Victoria, Seattle, San Francisco and the Los Angeles Metropolitan area as far south as San Diego are totally devastated. From the number of bombs tracked, it is unlikely there are any survivors. We have no information about who did this terrible thing, but, from all indications, London and other major cities of Europe have also been attacked.”
The passenger compartment was silent in stunned horror and the younger children began whimpering in fear. The Pilot came on the speakers again and announced, “I am happy to tell you that all the ships carrying the children and their mentors were outside the blast zones and are currently enroute to Darwin, Australia. Units of The Navy of Australia are currently headed to assist your ships and are expected to rendezvous in the next twelve hours. I will keep you apprised of developments as we receive them.”
Tommy and Jeremy clung to their sons and cried sobs of relief that they were all still alive. Adrian hurried up to the Flight Deck and, unknown to his friends, spent nearly a half hour on the radio with his own Government.
When he returned, his face was haggard and drawn. He sat in low conversation with Tommy and Jeremy before standing to make an announcement, “I have been authorized by the Government of Australia to offer everyone who has escaped this terrible tragedy, sanctuary in our lands and, if you wish, citizenship. Our government has few resources, but, what we have, we share with you gladly.”
The adults, who comprehended the magnitude of what had taken place, were numb and it would be some time before they could function. Tommy stood and shouted, “On behalf of our Family, our Friends and our Children, I accept your kind offer. We will do our best to be good and loyal citizens of your land and, maybe, sometime in the future, our descendants might be able to go back to the lands of our birth.”
They landed briefly at Nuku’alofa, the Capitol City of Tonga and all the planes were refueled for their continued journey to Australia. The convoy of ships trailed them across the wide expanse of the Pacific Ocean. They were constrained, however, by the slowest ship at 20 knots.
Over the next several days, units of the Navy of Australia joined the convoy, but they were not bothered by any government. The American Government had gone silent and they had lost all radio contact with any place in the United States, even Hawaii.
By the next morning, the planes were in sight of the north coast of Australia and the pilots were beginning to drain speed and altitude. As they began to glide into the new airport at Darwin, they could see automobiles and crowds of people standing at the fence around the runway.
When the pilots brought the panes to a stop, the crowd broke loose and came running towards the several planes. Children slipped from their parents’ restraints and crowded the movable stairway. As the first people emerged from the hatch, a great cheer went up and the Australian children crowded the stairway to be the first to hug and greet their new friends.
The Family allowed the children from the orphanage to go first and children paired off as fast as they came down the gangway. Many of the American children were bewildered at first and they hung back. The Australian children were not having any of that and the newcomers were dragged to where the people of Darwin had set up a picnic for them. Some of the foods might have seemed a little strange, but it disappeared, none the less! All teenagers have a healthy relationship with food and these American teens were no different.
The Adults began to disembark and they were greeted no less enthusiastically. The Australian Rangers (Marines) had erected tents for everyone to stay while their new homes were being built. Captain Joyner of The Rangers saluted Adrian Connelly and reported, “Sir, we have spaces for two thousand adults, five hundred young teens and five hundred Joeys (small children) Sir.” Adrian replied, “That should be plenty, at least until the ships arrive.”
Adrian asked, “Has construction begun at The Headland for the permanent structures and facilities?” The young officer replied, “Yes sir, General, Sir Adrian Connelly, the street paving has begun and they are building the foundations for the crushers for the limestone to go into the concrete, SIR.” He added, “The electric power is half way across the peninsula and soon we can shut down the noisy gennies and get some peace and quiet, Sir.”
Tommy and Jeremy overheard the conversation and looked at each other, thinking, “Hmm, suspicions confirmed!”
HEALING
As the days passed, the Americans began to relax, the children no longer jumped at loud noises and they were sleeping the whole night through. The Australian men who were in a same sex relationship made no effort to hide and, even the teens openly held hands with each other.
Gradually, the new comers began to lose their fear of being discovered and began showing affection to those whom they loved. They became more relaxed and in a few days, their fear had practically evaporated completely.
The Rangers had been well briefed about what the Americans had suffered and they went out of their way to make the gay youngsters feel welcome. It was not that they discriminated against those who were not gay, it was that they treated them all equally, with courtesy and respect.
Within a week, the American youngsters had lost their “haunted” look and were mingling with the Australian youths who lived nearby. The adults could hear the lively screams and squeals of children having a good time. It was obvious that leaders were beginning to emerge among the newly arrived Americans and that was readily apparent among some of the older boys.
They chose Tommy Carson to splash their ideas on. Jeff Greenwald led a group of boys to see Tommy. Tommy had a pretty good idea what they wanted, he had seen them all down at the paddock looking the horses over and feeding them carrots and fresh greens in order to make friends with them.
Jeff was followed by a half dozen other boys, who were pushing him to the front. Tommy looked up and said, “YESSSSSS?”
Jeff began to stutter and stammer, “aaaAH eeeer , Mmmmr. Ttttommy,sir. Wwwe wwwas wwwwonnnderinn, er, Sir, iff’n uuus bbboys cccluld sssatrerrrt aaa rrriddding ccclub an’ hhhghelp pppatrol ooours cccamp, sir?”
Tommy couldn’t help but tease them just a little bit, he replied, “What do you think you need to protect us against?” The youngster replied, “eer Sir, we’s heard tttthat tthere bee mmonster crockydales aaarounnd here!”
Tommy was having a difficult time not laughing, he replied, “Jeff, I think you mean Crocodiles and, yes there are those around here. I think it would be a great idea. I will speak with the Ranger Captain and see if he has an instructor to teach you how to shoot those pesky CROCKYDALES. If ya’ just mak’em mad, you will be their supper fer sure!”
It was going to be a VERY long time before those boys were going to be allowed to forget about CROCKYDALES!
Ranger Captain Adam Joyner detailed a Sergeant and a Corporal to teach the boys the intricacies of Australian .30 caliber Enfield Rifles. He felt the Enfields were small enough that the boys could handle them and big enough to put a serious hurt on even the largest croc. Australian Crocodiles were dangerous man eaters and the sooner these boys learned how to kill them, the safer their people were going to be.
The largest man eaters were found only in salt water, there were other, freshwater crocs that were dangerous, but not to the same degree the salt water crocs were.
Sergeant Pulaski was pleasantly surprised when he began teaching the boys how to shoot. The boys listened intently and followed his instruction to the letter. He had been a little worried, several of the boys were obviously gay and Jeff Greenwald and Gordon Dales were obviously a couple.
After a week of target practice and maneuvering around several smaller crocs found in the area, Sergeant Pulaski told the Captain, “Them American boys, Cap’n, I sure doesn’t want thems shoot’n at me, theys is crack shots, Sir, ‘n stingy with bullets. They means it when theys say that one bullet equals one croc!”
So it was, a first group of American Boys became the nucleus of the Crocodile Patrol and they were destined to play an important role when the Malay slavers discovered the rich pickings of young boys and girls to be found at Cox Peninsula and on Carson Ships.
The boys elected Jeff as Guard Captain and Gordon as Sergeant. They talked the Ranger Supply Sergeant out of some uniforms and they drew their horses from the pool.
Before Tommy realized it, The Croc Patrol had shot their first Salt Water Crocodile! The boys tied a rope around the beast and coerced a horse to drag it up to the main camp. It would be several days before any of the youngsters would even go near the beach!
The crocs were active both during the daytime and also at night, so the squad was broken into two parts, one patrolled during the day and one at night. The beach area was put off limits from midnight until eight in the morning on weekends and from10 pm until noon the next day on school days.
After viewing the huge beast, nobody was tempted to break the off limits curfew times!
When the last of the passengers on the ships arrived, the small colony of displaced Americans numbered two thousand children under the age of eighteen and twelve hundred adults. Joel was anxious for them to “pay their own way”, he felt the Australians would be a lot happier with them living there if they contributed towards their upkeep.
Joel formed a council of all the ship Captains and they decided that they would resume their trading ventures under the Australian flag.
It was not long before they were faced with building larger warehouses in Darwin, the American Sea Traders were aggressive traders and Joel had converted much of their wealth to gold and silver. American dollars were, of course, no longer any good, much of North America was a glowing, radioactive wasteland. Mexico simply no longer existed as a political entity and most of Canada seemed to be uninhabited.
Little was known of Europe, their radio operators could sometimes get a garbled broadcast from France and England, but, from the others they could only hear random static.
Tommy and Jeremy took The Joel Carson eastwards in an attempt to reopen trade with Japan and China, but they found those two countries locked in a bitter struggle, tossing bombs at each other. Seen from the sea, both countries emitted an eerie blue glow and they could not raise anyone on the radio.
They found people in Indonesia who were eager to trade, for the first trip, their ships carried gold and silver, until they could build up trade goods. The people would accept the precious metals, but, what they really wanted parts for their looms, gasoline for the bicycles and oil for their lanterns. Above all, they wanted food stuffs!
The tanker called at Brunei and took on a full cargo of crude for the new refinery at Darwin. The Carsons had only the one tanker, they had several more, but they had never shown up after they all fled North America.
The Australians did not have a single tanker, they had an old freighter that they had tried to convert to a tanker but it had sailed for Brunei and was never heard from again.
The Carson Ships began sailing, there were no other nations sending trading ships into the Southeast Asian waters. The Carsons had hard feeling for the Chinese, but the discovered eager traders in Vietnam and Cambodia.
The Australian factories were frantically pushing out manufactured goods and the trading ships brought back rice, small electronics, cloth, shoes and tropical goods, like fruits, lumber and dried fish.
Tommy and Jeremy sailed The Joel Carson into Singapore and hit the jackpot. They filled their holds with steel pipe, sheet steel and building beams. They came back with the Joel loaded down to her load limit.
They brought Vietnamese rice that nearly caused a riot in Singapore, the city-state was dangerously low of food.
The Joel Carson made two more trips, loaded down with rice for Singapore. In later years, the people of Singapore refused to trade with anyone else, only Carson ships were welcome there.
Trade was good and every Carson ship was busy. Besides supplying their hosts with crude oil, they brought in foodstuffs that could not be grown in Australia.
Oddly, dried and salted crocodile meat was in high demand on the island nations of Southeast Asia. The croc patrols became business men and rows of skinned crocodiles were seen on the beach, being butchered up and set out on rows of racks to dry.
Jeff and Gordon were in desperate need of people who could butcher a whole croc and set it out to dry. They happened on a young aborigine man, who watched them work with a hungry look on his face.
The young man looked hungry and alone, Jeff went over and offered him his canteen and part of his lunch. The young man gulped the water down and did the same with the lunch. It was obvious to them that he was starving. They had both seen starvation up close and personal, so they knew exactly what the young man was going through.
The young aborigine man spoke English and asked Tommy for a job. Tommy replied, “Can you cut up a crocodile into strips of meat to be dried?” The man grinned and replied, “Dead ones, only!” Before many days had passed, there was a whole crew of native men cutting up crocodile carcasses and draping the meat over racks to be salted and dried.
Several white Australians objected to having the “abos” working, but both Jeff and Gordon would not budge and they were paid the same rate as anyone else. They learned that racial discrimination was rare in Australia, but it did exist. They had no problems with hiring the young Aborigine men and it was only a short time before a small Aborigine village was established nearby.
Slowly, a village began to take shape on the peninsula and everyone just referred to it as Kinder Village and the name stuck. Tommy and Jeremy went back to running their ship and their sons emerged as Territory Soccer Champions.
The “Juniors” were head and shoulders taller than the other boys in their age group and, when the National Soccer Tournaments were held in Sydney shortly after they had been in Darwin less than a year, The “Juniors” led the “Darwin Crockydales” to National Championship.
The more established teams could not believe these upstart players, led by two monster boys, could steal the trophy from a more established team.
Tommy and Jeremy were in the stands watching their sons in their moment of glorious triumph. Jeremy gave Tommy a light kiss and said, “They may be gorillas, but they are OUR GORILLAS, let’s go down on the field and congratulate our boys.”
They made their way down to the playing field and hugged their sons. The crowd went wild as it was not a custom in Australia for spectators to go down to the field to hug their sons. There was a sudden surge of parents headed to the field.
BACK TO WORK
The Carson Family ships were the only ships permanently stationed on the east coast of Australia and there was a constant stream of ships sailing out of Darwin for Southeast Asia.
Tommy was sailing as Chief Engineer and Jeremy as Chief Mate, although, for once, it was on different ships. Tommy was sailing on the Joel Carson and Jeremy was the Carson Haven and neither was happy about being in different ships.
The Joel was headed for Surabuya in East Java and the Carson Haven was headed for Singapore. They sailed together until The Joel had to turn to head towards Surabuya, where there was a ship load of tropical lumber waiting for them.
The Carson Haven was scheduled to take on manufactured electrical components for the new electric system being constructed in the Darwin area.
They were worried a little bit about the Carson Haven, the cargo would be of high value and work on the electric system was at a standstill until the parts could be delivered.
Both ships had embarked a few Australian Marines. Unknown to anyone but his Captain and the Marines themselves, Jeremy had smuggled aboard two squads of Crockydale Patrol Boys to augment the Australian Marines.
Sergeant Cameron Doyle was in charge of the Marines and he was a little nervous about have child soldiers among them. That is, until he set eyes those child soldiers.
As they came on board, he turned to his Corporal and whispered, “God, don’t make them angry, they could pluck any or even ALL of us as easy as cooked hens!” None of the boy soldiers were under six feet tall and the deck “thudded” as they walked across it!
The two men made it a point to walk among the youngsters and get to know them. They were pleasantly surprised that all the boys were well educated and could speak intelligently about what they did and how they did it.
The men shuddered when they learned that these “children” routinely killed twenty and thirty foot salt water crocs! Their skills would mean the difference between life and death for those on board the Carson Haven in just a few days.
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TBC
The Carsons and their children are beginning to take their place among the Australians and will be a vital asset when that nation is attacked by ferocious pirates from Southeast Asia.