High Seas Series
Book One
The Stowaway
Chapter 07
Charles W Bird
[email protected]
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 SIX
They decided to take The Ghan to Alice Springs and begin recruiting in the Tribal Lands. Everywhere they went with Andrew, they drew a crowd and Aborigine Teens are no different from any other teen boys, the smell of adventure drew them like flies. The Carson Family had a good reputation, even among the Aborigines, so it was only a short time that they had sixty boys signed up. Before they could change their minds, they had the boys on the train headed to Darwin!
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A CALL FOR HELP
The Radio Room Operator buzzed Captains TJ and JJ, telling them there was a message trying to come through on the Emergency Channel. Both Captains went flying down the hall at a dead run. As they came in the Base Radio Room, they heard “Any Sta…. y Station…. his is …. ug ….ong ha…..I….abl……anklin I….ease …..ond!”
The Chief Radio Operator came flying in and began working the call himself. He boosted the gain on the antenna and sent, “Station calling, this is Carson Shipping calling from Darwin, Australia. Please boost your signal and try again, over” Almost immediately, they heard, “....arson …ipping, ….is eavy Tug Long..aul I ….disabl….Frank….Islan…..artica….chor…..drag…..uel lo….ed……tance…. over” Gus Stanley, the Chief Operator replied, “I understand you are the Heavy Tug Long Haul and you are disabled at Franklin Island in Antartica. You are low on fuel and your anchor is dragging, is that correct? OVER”
Suddenly, the signal came in strong and they heard, “Carson Shipping at Darwin Aust……You are …..only…..tation oper……. ease… elp….. ice …sing …..el….ive…ay le..t.”
JJ said, “Tell them we are sending a small freighter to pull them back here. I can get the Sadie to them in five days if we leave right now.” He turned to Tommy and said, “Let’s roll bro, you make her go and I will drive!”
The two Captains ran from the Radio Room and headed to the Sadie Carson. The Sadie was fresh out of overhaul and had a clean bottom. She was a twin screw ship with two main engines and was equipped with a towing winch on her fan tail.
The Radio Room continued to work the call and, as soon as the Sadie Carson came on-line, they sent a continuous update as the Sadie raced toward the frozen sea that surrounded Antarctica.
Jeremy was in the Engine Room using every skill he ever had learned to squeeze more power out of the two Fairbanks Morse engines. They had plenty of manpower, when the Emergency hooter had sounded, everyone within hearing had responded. Even some students from the Nautical School had come running, offering any help they could.
As they raced south, the air grew colder and the engines worked better with the more dense air. The pit-log was quivering at 19 knots and would gain daily until the ship was speeding at 24 knots by the time they entered the Ross Sea.
JJ never left the Engine Room the entire voyage, nor did his brother, TJ, leave the Bridge. The Company Chief Radio Operator jumped onboard, just as the Sadie drew away from the pier and he worked the radio, leaving only for those body functions that were absolutely necessary.
The Engineering Students were fascinated as they watched JJ tweak each injector on the two main engines as the incoming air temperature began dropping. He patiently explained to the students that, as the air temperature dropped, the air became more dense and there was more oxygen available on each intake stroke of the engine, so more fuel could be burned to create more horsepower.
He told them that it was a dangerous thing to do and that one had to maintain a careful watch on the exhaust temperature of each cylinder to avoid blowing a piston crown or wiping a wristpin bearing.
The students knew they were getting an “education” from a Master of the Marine Engineering Trade, things that they might go their entire career without learning otherwise.
The closer to the Ross Ice Shelf they steamed, the faster the Sadie was sailing. They began seeing large floating chunks of ice, some as big as small islands. They were being careful using the radio now, the tug had run out of fuel and was relying on their batteries to power their radio.
On the last day out, the Bridge Lookout spotted the mast of the stricken tug. JJ began slowing the Sadie and he pulled up, alongside the stricken vessel. The Bo’sun shot a line across and the crew of The Long Haul heaved the tow cable across the tug’s bow and secured it to the towing post.
The seas were too rough to attempt to ferry any fuel over to the stricken tug, but, now that they knew they were rescued, they drained the remaining fuel from the emergency generator tank and rigged diesel fuel heaters for the Bridge and the Mess Deck.
It was a long, slow trip home and both TJ and JJ had time to speak on the radio with the Captain of The Long Haul, Fritz Unger. Captain Unger owned the Long Haul outright and he agreed to join the Carson Family of ships in return for a block of Carson stock.
They had done that for a couple of other ships and it had worked out quite well. Both TJ and JJ saw a real advantage in having their own heavy tug as part of their fleet.
The first thing they did as soon as they got back to Darwin was to run the Long Haul through the Dry Dock, her bottom was badly fouled and little maintenance had been accomplished since the collapse. When Captain Unger and his ship joined the Carson Fleet, she was like a brand new ship.
THE CARSON FLEET “GREWSOME” MORE
The next few months passed with little excitement, commercial activity was still growing in South East Asia and the Carson Ships were the hauler of choice for most of the area. There were a few smaller competitors, but they still had the only operating tankers in all of the Far East.
The Nautical Schools were turning out sufficient graduates for them to keep their ships manned and, surprisingly, some of those graduates were now working in the shipyard and the refinery. They even had several relief crews, complete with Masters and Chief Engineers to be able to rotate whole crews ashore for some downtime.
There was a persistent rumor about a group of ships tied up at Makassar, Indonesia. The rumors told of nearly new ships tied up where their crews had abandoned them and that no one was claiming ownership. Some rumors even told about the ships being haunted and that the local natives refused to go anywhere near them.
Both JJ and TJ thought it would be a good idea to check the story out, if nothing else, the old ships could be a good source of spare parts. They “bounced” the idea around for a couple of weeks before deciding to go take a look.
They asked for volunteers and four complete ship crews who were on shore rotation volunteered. They also asked for volunteers from the Crockydale Rangers, nobody knew just what they were getting into.
The Sadie was equipped with cargo tanks up forward, so they made arrangements to fill the cargo tanks in case some of the ships were operable and could be sailed home. They had four complete ship crews, two platoons of Crockydale Rangers and sufficient captains and chief engineers to man four ships.
They sailed from Darwin and headed north to Indonesia. They passed through the Bali Straits with no problems, most pirates and vandals had learned to leave any ship flying the Carson House Flag completely alone, that is, unless they had a death wish. They equated the Blue Carson Flag with those dreadful sharpshooters everyone called the Crockydale Rangers.
The two ships sailed north to South Sulawesi and the old port of Makassar. Reports had it that the port was completely abandoned and that squatters were living in the old buildings.
They skirted around the swampy island of Bauluwang Island without seeing a single fishing boat and, as they approached Makassar, they saw a few small plumes of smoke rising above the old town, but, otherwise, it appeared to be abandoned.
They cautiously approached a group of ships anchored out in the bay, without seeing a single sign of life. The wind whistled around the ships, making a moaning sound and rattling a few lines that were hanging free. Otherwise, the place was as quiet as a grave.
Some of their own crews were jittery as frightened mice, but there was just NOBODY around. They spent the night at anchor, the wind moaned and rattled all the night through, but they were not bothered by anything flesh and blood.
They spent the next several days exploring the derelict fleet and found two nearly new dry cargo freighters, a small tanker and a large ocean tug about the same size as the Long Haul. Between the Long Haul and the Sadie, they could ‘liberate” three of the four ships they wanted. TJ figured they had enough fuel in the Sadie’s cargo tanks that they could fuel the small tanker and get it home too.
They set to work, snaking the ships they wanted out of the “nest”. None of them appeared to be damaged and they had been shut down in an orderly manner. The small tanker had once been named the “FONG DOW” and several of the crew snickered but did not reveal what that name meant. They pumped enough fuel across to the FONG DOW to make an attempt to bring it to life.
They got the emergency generator working and they built up air pressure to start the main generator and the single main engine. Aside from being stiff, both engines started and ran as rough as a cob horse until they warmed up. They cautiously filled the hydraulic coupling on the main engine and the screw began to turn obediently.
That done, they went to work on the two freighters and got them running. The last vessel to snatch was the ocean tug, Pong Pui. Nobody wanted to tackle the translation of that name either, but there were several very red faces among the crew. The tug was the easiest of the bunch to get started. They were stretched very thin on man power, but everyone agreed it was worth the risk.
They apportioned out the Crockydale Rangers to act as helpers and guards. The Long Haul was towing one of freighters and the rest were under their own power. The Long Haul led the parade and they began their trip home.
Other than the towed freighter, the FONG DOW, wanting to wander a bit, the entire return trip, however, was so uneventful, everyone was anxious to get home, just to be relieved of boredom! The only excitement on the whole trip was the tow cable between the Long Haul and the FONG DOW broke just as they entered Darwin Ship Basin.
The Crockydale Rangers were a bit disappointed that there was no excitement, that is, until they arrived home. Nobody had discovered that the Pong Pui was inhabited!
When the sailors went on board the Pong to set the anchor, they discovered two teenagers, a boy and a girl, along with ten small children, none over six years old! Nobody could figure out where they had come from, they definitely were not Malaysians. They looked more like Polynesians.
They were light skinned and very pretty children. Dirty to be sure and very hungry. The teen boy, who said his name was Tolongo, finally told them that they had escaped from some “bad mens”, but he refused to tell anyone from what place they had come. His sister, Talama, also refused to tell them any information about where they were from or why.
After the “smoke and dust” had settled, the boy, Tolongo, came to TJ and JJ to plead his case. He said, “Please Masters, let us stay together. Wes all Family n’ Talama and me got our cousins away from those mens what were gonna to sell us. Please, sirs, cannot we stay together, us is the only family the youngers have left.”
TJ asked him, “Supposing my brother and I adopt you all. We are both ship captains and all we would need to do is to add onto our house. It might be a little crowded until new bedrooms can be built, but it is summer right now and we have a big sun porch that will do for a while.”
Tolongo and his sister whispered to each other for a bit and then Tolongo said, “If’n ya will promise we can all stay together, then we agree.” Construction began that day to enlarge TJ’s and JJ’s house.
CARSON COLONY
The people in Darwin had begun to call the settlement west of town, “CARSON COLONY” most of the folks who worked for Carson Shipping also lived there. The Carsons had been upfront in their demand that ALL their employees were welcome there, including those who were Aborigine.
All of the CROCKYDALE Rangers lived in the small settlement and while crime was infrequent in the Australian Outback, it was completely nonexistent in Carson Colony.
The CROCKYDALE Rangers had set up their own patrols during the time the Malay Pirates were threatening them and they just continued the service. There was always a small child who had become lost, an older who needed some assistance or an errand that needed running. There was also the danger of wandering crocs, especially when small children were about, playing or even just going to school.
The crocs did not migrate, but at certain times of the year, they had a breeding season. At that time, the bulls were the most dangerous and they would chomp on anything that moved. It was at this time that the residents of Carson Colony were awakened in the middle of the night by shots and the roaring of enraged bull crocs.
The children and newcomers had to be warned to not go outside to see what was happening and to let the CROCKYDALE RANGERS take care of the problem. Children had to be warned that not even the elevated porches were safe, a croc could race up the steps in the blink of an eye!
Electricity and piped water had been run into the Colony and an elementary school had just been completed. The high school was in Darwin and a bus came to take those students to school each day.
Australia still had the “School of the Air” service and the few children who lived down the coast, where their parents worked in the Croc Meat Processing Plant, used the School of the Air service. The School of the Air was administered out of Alice Springs and was fully accredited.
There was also a Flying Doctor Service, but a number of doctors had fled America with the Carsons and had set up practice in Darwin. There was even a small clinic in Darwin that was more a small hospital than a clinic as it had twenty beds and two, state of the art, operating rooms.
It was into this place that the last ship to escape from North America came. It was not a Carson ship, but they had heard of the Carsons and had radioed ahead, asking permission to join with them.
The refugees included medical personnel, several Dentists, mechanics, electricians, metal workers, carpenters and a whole group of farmers. All had brought the tools of their trades and the farmers had nurtured cuttings and seedlings all the way across the Pacific Ocean in the hope they could begin again somewhere safe.
The refugees told of terrible hardships, and strange animals that they believed were the results of the awful bombs.
As they came down the gangway of the ship they had named, “Paradise Seeker”, many dropped to their knees and kissed the red soil of Darwin. They had been short of food all the way from Seattle and the picnic the people of Carson Colony put on in celebration of their arrival, floored them. There were abundant tears among them as the people of Carson Colony heaped food on their plates.
The arrival of these refugees set the Carsons to thinking, wondering if there were any other folk trapped along the West Coast of North America, who had no way to escape.
THE RESCUE VOYAGE
Tommy and Jeremy felt they were getting too damned old to make such a voyage, but both JJ and JR believed they could do it. The Joel Carson II was their largest ship, it was nearly three times the size of the Paradise Seeker that the refugees had arrive in and she had cargo oil tanks that would hold enough fuel for them to make the return voyage without worrying about running dry.
They batted the idea around for several months before they finally said they would do it. JJ would serve as Captain and JR would serve as Chief Engineer. If something happened to either one, the other could serve. In addition, First Mate Johnny Taylor had his Master’s license and could step in as Captain if needed.
Once they decided to go, Major Ongu Walking Tree said he and two companies of Crockydale Rangers would accompany them. The poor young Ranger Company Captains were mobbed by Rangers, all demanding to be included.
Once the decision had been made, things moved swiftly and their departure was timed to bring them to the West Coast of North America at the beginning of spring. They planned to start along the coast of California and work their way north, all the way to Port Wittier in Alaska, before heading for home.
There was a flurry of weddings and more than a few very red faces among the crew as they pulled away from the pier and headed west. There was also a group of crying young men and women as they watched their new husbands sail away.
It was an easy voyage, the seas remained calm and the Joel II performed perfectly. They swung by the Hawaiian Islands and saw no sign of life on any of the islands.
They then aimed for the California Coast at San Diego. When they arrived, they were met with absolution ruin and desolation. They sat in the harbor and blew the ship’s horn and called on the loud hailer for three days and no one responded.
The found no sign of life until they reached Eureka, California. There, they discovered a group of survivors subsisting on fish and seaweed. They sent a small boat ashore, the ship could not close on the coast because of shallow water and numerous shipwrecks.
They found forty people barely alive, they looked more like walking skeletons than living humans. The small children were the worst. The sailors could not believe they were even still alive!
They collected the survivors and ran them out to The Joel, more in hope than certainty that they would still be alive the next morning. Some were not, but the majority of the adults and all the children did survive.
As they sailed north, they stopped wherever they spotted a column of smoke. As they approached Crescent City, California, they saw numerous campfires and armed men on the beach. They sent one small boat towards the shore, waving a white flag with a red cross painted on it.
Captain Walking Tree was in command of the boat and he used the hand hailer, “We are from Darwin, Australia we represent the Carson Family from your lands and we offer to take you back to our land, where there is food, doctors and a place that is safe for you all and your children!”
A voice from the beach replied, “But, you are black, like the devil’s spawn mutants that hunt us!” Ongu Walking Tree laughed, and replied, “Well, I do eat crocodiles, but if anyone tried to eat one of my children, they would not survive even looking at them! I will come ashore and stay with you as insurance while you send someone out to our ship to check us out!”
Ongu sat on the beach, telling the people what to expect in Australia and what the Carsons had done to help both the Americans and his own people, the Abos.
The small boat came back to the beach with the motor wound all out! Two men jumped from the boat, screaming, “IT’S TRUE AND THEY HAVE FOOD FOR US, DOCTORS, WARM BEDS AND HOT WATER SHOWERS AND NO MUTANTS LOOKING FOR A FRESH MEAL!”
One of the men had gathered up a bag of food from the table in the mess deck and he started passing it out to the children who had gathered on the beach.
They took on two hundred people from that place, they all looked like walking skeletons. The same scene was repeated all the way up the coast. They were warned to stay away from Portland and Seattle as the mutants had taken over those places and had eaten all the survivors.
By the time they reached Whittier Harbor in Alaska, they had rescued nearly two thousand people. The ship was packed, but, after the horror stories the survivors told them, they were not willing to leave anyone behind.
The ruin was awful, the stories would give them nightmares for the remainder of their lives. The tough Rangers were seen holding two and three children in their arms, making it very plain that those children were theirs!
They sailed back down Cook Inlet, stopping at several small islands and adding Alaska Natives to their collection that included White people, American Indians, Black people and Alaska natives.
Oddly, American Black people were only a tiny minority of those they rescued. It was a mystery that not even those whom they rescued could explain.
Many years later, it was discovered that black people were more sensitive to the radiation and they became either mutants or they died. It had to do with the absorption factor of their skin. After that was discovered, the Carsons forbade any of the Australian Aborigines, or South Pacific Melanesians from going to North America for their own safety.
They made several additional voyages to North America but, finally they made a trip and found no one, not even any mutants. As far as they could tell, the west coast of North America was a dead land, devoid of all human life.
Most of the refugees settled in Darwin or close by and, for some reason, the weather was beginning to change. The winters became wetter with more rain than ever recorded in the past and farmers were posting record crops.
Carson Colony was growing by leaps and bounds and the Rail service had to be expanded to a daily train, rather that semi-weekly. Huge loads of grains and fruits were being shipped from Darwin and Australia, which had been hard pressed to feed everyone after the collapse, suddenly had a food surplus that they could sell in places in Southeast Asia that had historically been unable to feed all their people.
The Carsons still had the majority of the sea freight business and their ships were sailing back to back voyages. They were scrambling to scavenge abandoned ships throughout the region. Steel was still too scarce to build new ships.
They were now at forty ships and they had expanded the Nautical School to supply sailors, mates, engineers and engine room personnel to meet the demand.
As shipping increased so also did piracy! Ongu Walking Tree was now the senior officer of the CROCKYDALE RANGERS, he had risen in rank to Full Colonel. He had drained the local bands of Aborigines of their young men.
The Carsons were building or converting vessels to be Ranger Patrol Boats, but they were fast running out of hulks to reclaim.
THE RIVERS OF SOUTH VIET NAM AND CAMBODIA
History told the Carsons that many metal patrol craft had been abandoned in South Viet Nam and Cambodia by American forces in the 1960’s. Things had changed drastically since that time and the Carsons were on good terms with the governments of both countries.
Times had changed and the politics had mellowed and both countries needed foreign exchange to survive. TJ and JJ were now the “older generation” and they both had been born long after the conflict in either country had taken place. Their own sons, led by Tommy III and Jeremy III, just referred to as T3 and J3, had both passed their license exams for Captain/Chief Engineer, following a long standing family tradition.
The two young men were relaxing a bit after the push to take their exams. They were at their Papas’ home, sunning themselves beside the pool, when JJ and TJ walked up. They both knew, without asking, that their Papas had something on their minds.
Whether it was telepathy (which they had been accused of) or merely intuition was unimportant at that moment. Their Dads sat down and spoke with them about going to South Viet Nam and Cambodia and negotiate a deal to recover the old rivercraft that had been abandoned by the American Forces more than two hundred and fifty years earlier.
T3 and J3 would have attempted to walk on water had their Daddies asked them. They hopped a ride with one of their freighters headed in that direction and made their way to Ho Chi Minh City, where they were well received.
The Carsons were the only major shipping company still around and no government in its right mind would alienate them. There was no hesitation to grant their request and the government offered the services of their own River Navy to recover the wrecks.
With a steady stream of wrecked river craft headed by barge to Carson Point in Australia, the shipyard began tooling up to repair the craft and to make them seaworthy.
Some of the river craft were fairly large and would be ideal for the Rangers, whose security commitments were continuing to expand. With the change in the weather, the west coast of Australia was becoming a haven for small time pirates.
The swamp conditions were ideal for mangrove that could hide the pirates’ small boats until the last moment, then they would race out and capture one of the many small merchant ships that plied the coast of Australia.
The once desolate west coast was gaining in popularity as locations for resorts as well. Construction on a new resort complex was well underway at King Sound and the Kingsway Corporation had options for two locations on Eighty Mile Beach. The long rollers that came in at Wallei were Olympic Quality and the Kingsway Corporation Director had dreams of resurrecting the World Olympics.
With reliable rainfall, farmers were edging closer to the “Red Center” of the country. Ancient watercourses again had all year streams in them and the climate was ideal for grains and corn.
TJ and JJ began thinking about ship construction and they took a trip north to visit with the folks at Gaiun Steel and Shipbuilding. There had been a steady relationship with that company for years and, when the two men showed up with sketches of a new grain carrier, Pei Gaiun was anxious to land the contract. He need not have worried, the two emissaries, T3 and J3, already had instructions to land the best contract possible with Gaiun.
The contract was signed with a promised delivery date in nine months. It would the first new construction of a major ship since The Fall. The ship was to be diesel powered with an engine on each of its two shafts. It was to have four holds with grain augers in each hold to facilitate off-loading.
As soon as the new Patrol Boats began coming out of the shop, they were trucked down to Exmouth Gulf where they were building a new CROCKYDALE Ranger Base at Onslow.
The CROCKYDALE Rangers had grown over the years to be a major military force. They had started out as a Carson Shipping experiment to protect their own ships and were now jointly supported by the Australian Government and Carson Shipping.
Carson Shipping had insisted that the Aborigines be allowed to join, right from the beginning and now, many of the high ranking officers of the Rangers were Aborigines. They were a fearsome force and almost singlehanded they had kept the local pirates under control.
The Rangers built their new base and moved in just as the Jeremy Junior was delivered. The new grain carrier was the first major ship built since the Fall of North America and most of Europe.
Tommy, Jr and Jeremy, Jr were in their 90’s and it was to be the last trip they would ever make. They became ill in the voyage to Onslow and they died as they had lived, together in each other’s arms. The entire Carson Shipping establishment went into mourning!
They must have known their end was near, they had left instructions that they wished to be buried together on a high point overlooking the new shipping center at Onslow.
Australian Air had to put on extra flights to Onslow, as the Australian nation mourned their loss. The Family was staggered and the CROCKYDALE Warriors all wore black armbands in mourning the death of the two men who had created their Ranger Force.
The Rangers renamed their base at Onslow, FORT JJ & TJ RANGER BASE. In later years, a sculptor created statues of the men from the local red granite and they were placed at the gate of the Fort named in their honor.
In time, FORT JJ & TJ would become the most important military installation in the country as invaders overflowed out from the Malay Archipelago.
A WORLD RECOVERS
Carson Shipping was spreading out, as new ships began to come on-line, traders wandered further and further from home in search of business opportunities. They discovered that Great Britain still existed, but France had sunk into savagery as Muslims streamed northward from Africa and the Middle East.
Germany was struggling to survive and in the north, only Poland and Norway still existed. Much of the Mediterranean was a radioactive wasteland and Africa had sunk into tribal groups, each making war on the other.
The coastal area of China remained functional and South Korea had assimilated the northern part of the peninsula and was barely feeding all their people.
Japan was becoming a forbidden zone as it become a feudal state with warlords and a weak emperor.
All of Southeast Asia was a powerhouse of manufacturing and enterprise and was the major trading partner of Australia. Of the Great Russian Bear and most of Eastern Europe, nothing had been heard since The Fall and traders who had attempted to enter the area were never heard from again and were presumed to have been eaten by religious cannibals who were reported to live in the area.
The Carsons had hoped to be able to return to their homeland, but all their ships reported the major coastal cities all glowed an eerie blue at night. They had heard some weak radio signals from the southern coast of North America and they were planning an exploratory voyage to that area for sometime in the future.
Mexico was determined to be a dead desert wasteland and all attempts to land in Central and South America was met with primitive savages who were thought to be cannibals.
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THE END (kind of)
This story will be continued in THE EXPLORERS and will chronicle The Carson Family’s attempts to recolonize the land of their birth. Another one hundred years will pass before they are able to make their first exploratory voyage to that ruined land and, what will meet them will cause them both terror and also hope.
[email protected]
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 SIX
They decided to take The Ghan to Alice Springs and begin recruiting in the Tribal Lands. Everywhere they went with Andrew, they drew a crowd and Aborigine Teens are no different from any other teen boys, the smell of adventure drew them like flies. The Carson Family had a good reputation, even among the Aborigines, so it was only a short time that they had sixty boys signed up. Before they could change their minds, they had the boys on the train headed to Darwin!
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A CALL FOR HELP
The Radio Room Operator buzzed Captains TJ and JJ, telling them there was a message trying to come through on the Emergency Channel. Both Captains went flying down the hall at a dead run. As they came in the Base Radio Room, they heard “Any Sta…. y Station…. his is …. ug ….ong ha…..I….abl……anklin I….ease …..ond!”
The Chief Radio Operator came flying in and began working the call himself. He boosted the gain on the antenna and sent, “Station calling, this is Carson Shipping calling from Darwin, Australia. Please boost your signal and try again, over” Almost immediately, they heard, “....arson …ipping, ….is eavy Tug Long..aul I ….disabl….Frank….Islan…..artica….chor…..drag…..uel lo….ed……tance…. over” Gus Stanley, the Chief Operator replied, “I understand you are the Heavy Tug Long Haul and you are disabled at Franklin Island in Antartica. You are low on fuel and your anchor is dragging, is that correct? OVER”
Suddenly, the signal came in strong and they heard, “Carson Shipping at Darwin Aust……You are …..only…..tation oper……. ease… elp….. ice …sing …..el….ive…ay le..t.”
JJ said, “Tell them we are sending a small freighter to pull them back here. I can get the Sadie to them in five days if we leave right now.” He turned to Tommy and said, “Let’s roll bro, you make her go and I will drive!”
The two Captains ran from the Radio Room and headed to the Sadie Carson. The Sadie was fresh out of overhaul and had a clean bottom. She was a twin screw ship with two main engines and was equipped with a towing winch on her fan tail.
The Radio Room continued to work the call and, as soon as the Sadie Carson came on-line, they sent a continuous update as the Sadie raced toward the frozen sea that surrounded Antarctica.
Jeremy was in the Engine Room using every skill he ever had learned to squeeze more power out of the two Fairbanks Morse engines. They had plenty of manpower, when the Emergency hooter had sounded, everyone within hearing had responded. Even some students from the Nautical School had come running, offering any help they could.
As they raced south, the air grew colder and the engines worked better with the more dense air. The pit-log was quivering at 19 knots and would gain daily until the ship was speeding at 24 knots by the time they entered the Ross Sea.
JJ never left the Engine Room the entire voyage, nor did his brother, TJ, leave the Bridge. The Company Chief Radio Operator jumped onboard, just as the Sadie drew away from the pier and he worked the radio, leaving only for those body functions that were absolutely necessary.
The Engineering Students were fascinated as they watched JJ tweak each injector on the two main engines as the incoming air temperature began dropping. He patiently explained to the students that, as the air temperature dropped, the air became more dense and there was more oxygen available on each intake stroke of the engine, so more fuel could be burned to create more horsepower.
He told them that it was a dangerous thing to do and that one had to maintain a careful watch on the exhaust temperature of each cylinder to avoid blowing a piston crown or wiping a wristpin bearing.
The students knew they were getting an “education” from a Master of the Marine Engineering Trade, things that they might go their entire career without learning otherwise.
The closer to the Ross Ice Shelf they steamed, the faster the Sadie was sailing. They began seeing large floating chunks of ice, some as big as small islands. They were being careful using the radio now, the tug had run out of fuel and was relying on their batteries to power their radio.
On the last day out, the Bridge Lookout spotted the mast of the stricken tug. JJ began slowing the Sadie and he pulled up, alongside the stricken vessel. The Bo’sun shot a line across and the crew of The Long Haul heaved the tow cable across the tug’s bow and secured it to the towing post.
The seas were too rough to attempt to ferry any fuel over to the stricken tug, but, now that they knew they were rescued, they drained the remaining fuel from the emergency generator tank and rigged diesel fuel heaters for the Bridge and the Mess Deck.
It was a long, slow trip home and both TJ and JJ had time to speak on the radio with the Captain of The Long Haul, Fritz Unger. Captain Unger owned the Long Haul outright and he agreed to join the Carson Family of ships in return for a block of Carson stock.
They had done that for a couple of other ships and it had worked out quite well. Both TJ and JJ saw a real advantage in having their own heavy tug as part of their fleet.
The first thing they did as soon as they got back to Darwin was to run the Long Haul through the Dry Dock, her bottom was badly fouled and little maintenance had been accomplished since the collapse. When Captain Unger and his ship joined the Carson Fleet, she was like a brand new ship.
THE CARSON FLEET “GREWSOME” MORE
The next few months passed with little excitement, commercial activity was still growing in South East Asia and the Carson Ships were the hauler of choice for most of the area. There were a few smaller competitors, but they still had the only operating tankers in all of the Far East.
The Nautical Schools were turning out sufficient graduates for them to keep their ships manned and, surprisingly, some of those graduates were now working in the shipyard and the refinery. They even had several relief crews, complete with Masters and Chief Engineers to be able to rotate whole crews ashore for some downtime.
There was a persistent rumor about a group of ships tied up at Makassar, Indonesia. The rumors told of nearly new ships tied up where their crews had abandoned them and that no one was claiming ownership. Some rumors even told about the ships being haunted and that the local natives refused to go anywhere near them.
Both JJ and TJ thought it would be a good idea to check the story out, if nothing else, the old ships could be a good source of spare parts. They “bounced” the idea around for a couple of weeks before deciding to go take a look.
They asked for volunteers and four complete ship crews who were on shore rotation volunteered. They also asked for volunteers from the Crockydale Rangers, nobody knew just what they were getting into.
The Sadie was equipped with cargo tanks up forward, so they made arrangements to fill the cargo tanks in case some of the ships were operable and could be sailed home. They had four complete ship crews, two platoons of Crockydale Rangers and sufficient captains and chief engineers to man four ships.
They sailed from Darwin and headed north to Indonesia. They passed through the Bali Straits with no problems, most pirates and vandals had learned to leave any ship flying the Carson House Flag completely alone, that is, unless they had a death wish. They equated the Blue Carson Flag with those dreadful sharpshooters everyone called the Crockydale Rangers.
The two ships sailed north to South Sulawesi and the old port of Makassar. Reports had it that the port was completely abandoned and that squatters were living in the old buildings.
They skirted around the swampy island of Bauluwang Island without seeing a single fishing boat and, as they approached Makassar, they saw a few small plumes of smoke rising above the old town, but, otherwise, it appeared to be abandoned.
They cautiously approached a group of ships anchored out in the bay, without seeing a single sign of life. The wind whistled around the ships, making a moaning sound and rattling a few lines that were hanging free. Otherwise, the place was as quiet as a grave.
Some of their own crews were jittery as frightened mice, but there was just NOBODY around. They spent the night at anchor, the wind moaned and rattled all the night through, but they were not bothered by anything flesh and blood.
They spent the next several days exploring the derelict fleet and found two nearly new dry cargo freighters, a small tanker and a large ocean tug about the same size as the Long Haul. Between the Long Haul and the Sadie, they could ‘liberate” three of the four ships they wanted. TJ figured they had enough fuel in the Sadie’s cargo tanks that they could fuel the small tanker and get it home too.
They set to work, snaking the ships they wanted out of the “nest”. None of them appeared to be damaged and they had been shut down in an orderly manner. The small tanker had once been named the “FONG DOW” and several of the crew snickered but did not reveal what that name meant. They pumped enough fuel across to the FONG DOW to make an attempt to bring it to life.
They got the emergency generator working and they built up air pressure to start the main generator and the single main engine. Aside from being stiff, both engines started and ran as rough as a cob horse until they warmed up. They cautiously filled the hydraulic coupling on the main engine and the screw began to turn obediently.
That done, they went to work on the two freighters and got them running. The last vessel to snatch was the ocean tug, Pong Pui. Nobody wanted to tackle the translation of that name either, but there were several very red faces among the crew. The tug was the easiest of the bunch to get started. They were stretched very thin on man power, but everyone agreed it was worth the risk.
They apportioned out the Crockydale Rangers to act as helpers and guards. The Long Haul was towing one of freighters and the rest were under their own power. The Long Haul led the parade and they began their trip home.
Other than the towed freighter, the FONG DOW, wanting to wander a bit, the entire return trip, however, was so uneventful, everyone was anxious to get home, just to be relieved of boredom! The only excitement on the whole trip was the tow cable between the Long Haul and the FONG DOW broke just as they entered Darwin Ship Basin.
The Crockydale Rangers were a bit disappointed that there was no excitement, that is, until they arrived home. Nobody had discovered that the Pong Pui was inhabited!
When the sailors went on board the Pong to set the anchor, they discovered two teenagers, a boy and a girl, along with ten small children, none over six years old! Nobody could figure out where they had come from, they definitely were not Malaysians. They looked more like Polynesians.
They were light skinned and very pretty children. Dirty to be sure and very hungry. The teen boy, who said his name was Tolongo, finally told them that they had escaped from some “bad mens”, but he refused to tell anyone from what place they had come. His sister, Talama, also refused to tell them any information about where they were from or why.
After the “smoke and dust” had settled, the boy, Tolongo, came to TJ and JJ to plead his case. He said, “Please Masters, let us stay together. Wes all Family n’ Talama and me got our cousins away from those mens what were gonna to sell us. Please, sirs, cannot we stay together, us is the only family the youngers have left.”
TJ asked him, “Supposing my brother and I adopt you all. We are both ship captains and all we would need to do is to add onto our house. It might be a little crowded until new bedrooms can be built, but it is summer right now and we have a big sun porch that will do for a while.”
Tolongo and his sister whispered to each other for a bit and then Tolongo said, “If’n ya will promise we can all stay together, then we agree.” Construction began that day to enlarge TJ’s and JJ’s house.
CARSON COLONY
The people in Darwin had begun to call the settlement west of town, “CARSON COLONY” most of the folks who worked for Carson Shipping also lived there. The Carsons had been upfront in their demand that ALL their employees were welcome there, including those who were Aborigine.
All of the CROCKYDALE Rangers lived in the small settlement and while crime was infrequent in the Australian Outback, it was completely nonexistent in Carson Colony.
The CROCKYDALE Rangers had set up their own patrols during the time the Malay Pirates were threatening them and they just continued the service. There was always a small child who had become lost, an older who needed some assistance or an errand that needed running. There was also the danger of wandering crocs, especially when small children were about, playing or even just going to school.
The crocs did not migrate, but at certain times of the year, they had a breeding season. At that time, the bulls were the most dangerous and they would chomp on anything that moved. It was at this time that the residents of Carson Colony were awakened in the middle of the night by shots and the roaring of enraged bull crocs.
The children and newcomers had to be warned to not go outside to see what was happening and to let the CROCKYDALE RANGERS take care of the problem. Children had to be warned that not even the elevated porches were safe, a croc could race up the steps in the blink of an eye!
Electricity and piped water had been run into the Colony and an elementary school had just been completed. The high school was in Darwin and a bus came to take those students to school each day.
Australia still had the “School of the Air” service and the few children who lived down the coast, where their parents worked in the Croc Meat Processing Plant, used the School of the Air service. The School of the Air was administered out of Alice Springs and was fully accredited.
There was also a Flying Doctor Service, but a number of doctors had fled America with the Carsons and had set up practice in Darwin. There was even a small clinic in Darwin that was more a small hospital than a clinic as it had twenty beds and two, state of the art, operating rooms.
It was into this place that the last ship to escape from North America came. It was not a Carson ship, but they had heard of the Carsons and had radioed ahead, asking permission to join with them.
The refugees included medical personnel, several Dentists, mechanics, electricians, metal workers, carpenters and a whole group of farmers. All had brought the tools of their trades and the farmers had nurtured cuttings and seedlings all the way across the Pacific Ocean in the hope they could begin again somewhere safe.
The refugees told of terrible hardships, and strange animals that they believed were the results of the awful bombs.
As they came down the gangway of the ship they had named, “Paradise Seeker”, many dropped to their knees and kissed the red soil of Darwin. They had been short of food all the way from Seattle and the picnic the people of Carson Colony put on in celebration of their arrival, floored them. There were abundant tears among them as the people of Carson Colony heaped food on their plates.
The arrival of these refugees set the Carsons to thinking, wondering if there were any other folk trapped along the West Coast of North America, who had no way to escape.
THE RESCUE VOYAGE
Tommy and Jeremy felt they were getting too damned old to make such a voyage, but both JJ and JR believed they could do it. The Joel Carson II was their largest ship, it was nearly three times the size of the Paradise Seeker that the refugees had arrive in and she had cargo oil tanks that would hold enough fuel for them to make the return voyage without worrying about running dry.
They batted the idea around for several months before they finally said they would do it. JJ would serve as Captain and JR would serve as Chief Engineer. If something happened to either one, the other could serve. In addition, First Mate Johnny Taylor had his Master’s license and could step in as Captain if needed.
Once they decided to go, Major Ongu Walking Tree said he and two companies of Crockydale Rangers would accompany them. The poor young Ranger Company Captains were mobbed by Rangers, all demanding to be included.
Once the decision had been made, things moved swiftly and their departure was timed to bring them to the West Coast of North America at the beginning of spring. They planned to start along the coast of California and work their way north, all the way to Port Wittier in Alaska, before heading for home.
There was a flurry of weddings and more than a few very red faces among the crew as they pulled away from the pier and headed west. There was also a group of crying young men and women as they watched their new husbands sail away.
It was an easy voyage, the seas remained calm and the Joel II performed perfectly. They swung by the Hawaiian Islands and saw no sign of life on any of the islands.
They then aimed for the California Coast at San Diego. When they arrived, they were met with absolution ruin and desolation. They sat in the harbor and blew the ship’s horn and called on the loud hailer for three days and no one responded.
The found no sign of life until they reached Eureka, California. There, they discovered a group of survivors subsisting on fish and seaweed. They sent a small boat ashore, the ship could not close on the coast because of shallow water and numerous shipwrecks.
They found forty people barely alive, they looked more like walking skeletons than living humans. The small children were the worst. The sailors could not believe they were even still alive!
They collected the survivors and ran them out to The Joel, more in hope than certainty that they would still be alive the next morning. Some were not, but the majority of the adults and all the children did survive.
As they sailed north, they stopped wherever they spotted a column of smoke. As they approached Crescent City, California, they saw numerous campfires and armed men on the beach. They sent one small boat towards the shore, waving a white flag with a red cross painted on it.
Captain Walking Tree was in command of the boat and he used the hand hailer, “We are from Darwin, Australia we represent the Carson Family from your lands and we offer to take you back to our land, where there is food, doctors and a place that is safe for you all and your children!”
A voice from the beach replied, “But, you are black, like the devil’s spawn mutants that hunt us!” Ongu Walking Tree laughed, and replied, “Well, I do eat crocodiles, but if anyone tried to eat one of my children, they would not survive even looking at them! I will come ashore and stay with you as insurance while you send someone out to our ship to check us out!”
Ongu sat on the beach, telling the people what to expect in Australia and what the Carsons had done to help both the Americans and his own people, the Abos.
The small boat came back to the beach with the motor wound all out! Two men jumped from the boat, screaming, “IT’S TRUE AND THEY HAVE FOOD FOR US, DOCTORS, WARM BEDS AND HOT WATER SHOWERS AND NO MUTANTS LOOKING FOR A FRESH MEAL!”
One of the men had gathered up a bag of food from the table in the mess deck and he started passing it out to the children who had gathered on the beach.
They took on two hundred people from that place, they all looked like walking skeletons. The same scene was repeated all the way up the coast. They were warned to stay away from Portland and Seattle as the mutants had taken over those places and had eaten all the survivors.
By the time they reached Whittier Harbor in Alaska, they had rescued nearly two thousand people. The ship was packed, but, after the horror stories the survivors told them, they were not willing to leave anyone behind.
The ruin was awful, the stories would give them nightmares for the remainder of their lives. The tough Rangers were seen holding two and three children in their arms, making it very plain that those children were theirs!
They sailed back down Cook Inlet, stopping at several small islands and adding Alaska Natives to their collection that included White people, American Indians, Black people and Alaska natives.
Oddly, American Black people were only a tiny minority of those they rescued. It was a mystery that not even those whom they rescued could explain.
Many years later, it was discovered that black people were more sensitive to the radiation and they became either mutants or they died. It had to do with the absorption factor of their skin. After that was discovered, the Carsons forbade any of the Australian Aborigines, or South Pacific Melanesians from going to North America for their own safety.
They made several additional voyages to North America but, finally they made a trip and found no one, not even any mutants. As far as they could tell, the west coast of North America was a dead land, devoid of all human life.
Most of the refugees settled in Darwin or close by and, for some reason, the weather was beginning to change. The winters became wetter with more rain than ever recorded in the past and farmers were posting record crops.
Carson Colony was growing by leaps and bounds and the Rail service had to be expanded to a daily train, rather that semi-weekly. Huge loads of grains and fruits were being shipped from Darwin and Australia, which had been hard pressed to feed everyone after the collapse, suddenly had a food surplus that they could sell in places in Southeast Asia that had historically been unable to feed all their people.
The Carsons still had the majority of the sea freight business and their ships were sailing back to back voyages. They were scrambling to scavenge abandoned ships throughout the region. Steel was still too scarce to build new ships.
They were now at forty ships and they had expanded the Nautical School to supply sailors, mates, engineers and engine room personnel to meet the demand.
As shipping increased so also did piracy! Ongu Walking Tree was now the senior officer of the CROCKYDALE RANGERS, he had risen in rank to Full Colonel. He had drained the local bands of Aborigines of their young men.
The Carsons were building or converting vessels to be Ranger Patrol Boats, but they were fast running out of hulks to reclaim.
THE RIVERS OF SOUTH VIET NAM AND CAMBODIA
History told the Carsons that many metal patrol craft had been abandoned in South Viet Nam and Cambodia by American forces in the 1960’s. Things had changed drastically since that time and the Carsons were on good terms with the governments of both countries.
Times had changed and the politics had mellowed and both countries needed foreign exchange to survive. TJ and JJ were now the “older generation” and they both had been born long after the conflict in either country had taken place. Their own sons, led by Tommy III and Jeremy III, just referred to as T3 and J3, had both passed their license exams for Captain/Chief Engineer, following a long standing family tradition.
The two young men were relaxing a bit after the push to take their exams. They were at their Papas’ home, sunning themselves beside the pool, when JJ and TJ walked up. They both knew, without asking, that their Papas had something on their minds.
Whether it was telepathy (which they had been accused of) or merely intuition was unimportant at that moment. Their Dads sat down and spoke with them about going to South Viet Nam and Cambodia and negotiate a deal to recover the old rivercraft that had been abandoned by the American Forces more than two hundred and fifty years earlier.
T3 and J3 would have attempted to walk on water had their Daddies asked them. They hopped a ride with one of their freighters headed in that direction and made their way to Ho Chi Minh City, where they were well received.
The Carsons were the only major shipping company still around and no government in its right mind would alienate them. There was no hesitation to grant their request and the government offered the services of their own River Navy to recover the wrecks.
With a steady stream of wrecked river craft headed by barge to Carson Point in Australia, the shipyard began tooling up to repair the craft and to make them seaworthy.
Some of the river craft were fairly large and would be ideal for the Rangers, whose security commitments were continuing to expand. With the change in the weather, the west coast of Australia was becoming a haven for small time pirates.
The swamp conditions were ideal for mangrove that could hide the pirates’ small boats until the last moment, then they would race out and capture one of the many small merchant ships that plied the coast of Australia.
The once desolate west coast was gaining in popularity as locations for resorts as well. Construction on a new resort complex was well underway at King Sound and the Kingsway Corporation had options for two locations on Eighty Mile Beach. The long rollers that came in at Wallei were Olympic Quality and the Kingsway Corporation Director had dreams of resurrecting the World Olympics.
With reliable rainfall, farmers were edging closer to the “Red Center” of the country. Ancient watercourses again had all year streams in them and the climate was ideal for grains and corn.
TJ and JJ began thinking about ship construction and they took a trip north to visit with the folks at Gaiun Steel and Shipbuilding. There had been a steady relationship with that company for years and, when the two men showed up with sketches of a new grain carrier, Pei Gaiun was anxious to land the contract. He need not have worried, the two emissaries, T3 and J3, already had instructions to land the best contract possible with Gaiun.
The contract was signed with a promised delivery date in nine months. It would the first new construction of a major ship since The Fall. The ship was to be diesel powered with an engine on each of its two shafts. It was to have four holds with grain augers in each hold to facilitate off-loading.
As soon as the new Patrol Boats began coming out of the shop, they were trucked down to Exmouth Gulf where they were building a new CROCKYDALE Ranger Base at Onslow.
The CROCKYDALE Rangers had grown over the years to be a major military force. They had started out as a Carson Shipping experiment to protect their own ships and were now jointly supported by the Australian Government and Carson Shipping.
Carson Shipping had insisted that the Aborigines be allowed to join, right from the beginning and now, many of the high ranking officers of the Rangers were Aborigines. They were a fearsome force and almost singlehanded they had kept the local pirates under control.
The Rangers built their new base and moved in just as the Jeremy Junior was delivered. The new grain carrier was the first major ship built since the Fall of North America and most of Europe.
Tommy, Jr and Jeremy, Jr were in their 90’s and it was to be the last trip they would ever make. They became ill in the voyage to Onslow and they died as they had lived, together in each other’s arms. The entire Carson Shipping establishment went into mourning!
They must have known their end was near, they had left instructions that they wished to be buried together on a high point overlooking the new shipping center at Onslow.
Australian Air had to put on extra flights to Onslow, as the Australian nation mourned their loss. The Family was staggered and the CROCKYDALE Warriors all wore black armbands in mourning the death of the two men who had created their Ranger Force.
The Rangers renamed their base at Onslow, FORT JJ & TJ RANGER BASE. In later years, a sculptor created statues of the men from the local red granite and they were placed at the gate of the Fort named in their honor.
In time, FORT JJ & TJ would become the most important military installation in the country as invaders overflowed out from the Malay Archipelago.
A WORLD RECOVERS
Carson Shipping was spreading out, as new ships began to come on-line, traders wandered further and further from home in search of business opportunities. They discovered that Great Britain still existed, but France had sunk into savagery as Muslims streamed northward from Africa and the Middle East.
Germany was struggling to survive and in the north, only Poland and Norway still existed. Much of the Mediterranean was a radioactive wasteland and Africa had sunk into tribal groups, each making war on the other.
The coastal area of China remained functional and South Korea had assimilated the northern part of the peninsula and was barely feeding all their people.
Japan was becoming a forbidden zone as it become a feudal state with warlords and a weak emperor.
All of Southeast Asia was a powerhouse of manufacturing and enterprise and was the major trading partner of Australia. Of the Great Russian Bear and most of Eastern Europe, nothing had been heard since The Fall and traders who had attempted to enter the area were never heard from again and were presumed to have been eaten by religious cannibals who were reported to live in the area.
The Carsons had hoped to be able to return to their homeland, but all their ships reported the major coastal cities all glowed an eerie blue at night. They had heard some weak radio signals from the southern coast of North America and they were planning an exploratory voyage to that area for sometime in the future.
Mexico was determined to be a dead desert wasteland and all attempts to land in Central and South America was met with primitive savages who were thought to be cannibals.
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THE END (kind of)
This story will be continued in THE EXPLORERS and will chronicle The Carson Family’s attempts to recolonize the land of their birth. Another one hundred years will pass before they are able to make their first exploratory voyage to that ruined land and, what will meet them will cause them both terror and also hope.