Chapter 34. Rocks and Shoals

The next morning Minnie was on deck early and sketching the impressive rocks. Naomi was with her and would write a description of where it was and when the crew had come across it. When they had a goodly amount Will was planning to edit it together into a book and take it to the bookseller at Newton. Right now there was a bit of an argument going on, Minnie was saying that Naomi’s description of her picture was too bland, not exciting enough. Naomi was right back at her saying that not every picture was was exciting. It was a wonderful area with many things to sketch, however it was just a bunch of rocks. Will was puttering on deck and had actually remembered to bait and lower three crab pots, just to see what would happen. Minnie noticed and came over to ask what was happening, argument forgotten. “Just seeing if we can get a few crabs, right kind of area anyway.”, he pointed to the rocks, “We’ll see in a couple of hours anyway.”.

She looked down at the black cold water, “This is too different from the nice friendly water near Laketown, we can just jump in there and swim around for hours, here it’s just brrr, I’d freeze my tail if I went in there.”. Naomi stood beside her, “I’m sorry I called you a furry idiot Minnie.”. Minnie laughed “That’s okay, I’m sorry for calling you a skinny numpty and a bad hair girl with dumb long legs like a crab.”. Will was nearly bug eyed in trying not to laugh, where did she come up with it.

While they had been working , Will had been fishing. But his luck was still bad, not even a nibble. He was sure if Minnie or Naomi threw in a line the fish would be happy to come aboard, but not him lately. One more long cast toward the huge rock wall and then it was time to get moving again. Then, remembering the crab pots, started lifting them. They felt heavy as he hauled them up, he could just see it now, steamed crabs for dinner. Nothing. “Not even one little guy, huh dad?”, said Naomi. Minnie just laughed “Next time we’ll drop them, for sure to get some then.”. He just sighed. Will was going to take first watch and so Minnie went below to set the boiler heating and check the coal supply in the auto feed bins. As soon as she gave him the good word, Naomi and he cranked up the anchors, hit the throttle to half full, and off they went again. South. They were still many days away from home port but it was getting closer. Keeping one eye ahead and one eye on the compass a couple of hours passed. The coast was pretty much the same, spruce trees and snow.

Looking at the horizon to the west he wondered if there was anything that way. If this was indeed an analog of his old world, the they were just leaving Alaska and coming down the upper British Colombia coast. That could mean that the Hawaiian islands were to the far west. Maybe next year, he thought. He was sure that both Newton and Laketown would need coal, maybe iron and copper too. Hopefully Laketown has completed their barges now, then perhaps a logging run for them too. It was mostly rolling farmland and orchards around them, but he hadn’t really explored around much. For all he knew there might be forests near, probably not considering Stephen had mentioned logging to him. Naomi’s casual remarks about wagon driving made him think it was farming mostly. But firewood had to come from somewhere, there was much he didn’t know about their society. If Naomi wasn’t too busy later he would have to ask her. However that could wait, it was tea time. Busying with kettles and teapot for a few minutes, then taking his hot mug outside to enjoy the afternoon sun. Looking landward there were some really heavy clouds building, this warm break was over soon.

Sure enough, an hour later the bad weather was back. Wind, rough water, heavy snow. Minnie had joined him and they were enjoying the bread and cheese she brought up for a snack. No matter where she was, her pockets or side bag, toolbox or tool pouch, there was always a few biscuits wrapped up in a cloth. Or a couple of pieces of bread and butter, used to be hard boiled eggs too, but not lately. “We going to tie up for the night, or keep going out of this?”, she asked as a particularly high wave smacked the bow nearly under for a second. Fighting her way back up the icy blue-green water cascaded over the sides. Will had one hand on the wheel, easily holding her on course, teacup in the other. “I think we’re gonna keep going, but what do you think?”, he replied. Naomi came clattering into the wheelhouse at that moment. “Holy moly it’s bad out there, we going to keep going or anchor up?”, she gasped out. Dripping wet, it looked like ice was forming all ready. Minnie helped her to sit, peeling off the wet layers. “You sure picked a bad time to come up, you got splashed bad, warm up by the fire.”. Will saw she had been soaked by that last wave, good thing there were lots of blankets in here. Right through her coveralls, woollen pants and shirt too. “Get a cuppa into you too, warm you up.”, he added. Naomi had stripped to her shift, luckily that had stayed dry, then wrapped up like a moth in blankets. “Brrrr, that was horrible, I hope I don’t get a sniffle, or worse.”, she managed finally, “That waters cold.”.

“Reminds me of the time mom and I went rafting.”, Will said, “It was like liquid ice, great time though.”. Minnie looked at him, “You went in on purpose? Are you nuts, was mom?”. He adjusted course, they had been knocked off of their line a bit. “It was an adventure. You dress in rubber clothes, a helmet and life jacket.”, he said, “Then ride little boats down a wild river.”. Naomi shook her head. “Only you dad.”. Laughing he remembered out loud “Then we rode a bus back to town, had a great meal then back to our camp and passed out in bed.”. Minnie had only got some of that, what was a bus, rubber clothes? Back to camp…dad was weird, sounds like mom was too. “We went back and did it again, couple of years later. It was harder on us, we could hardly walk when we finished the trip, no regrets though.”. “Could we do something like that, it does sound kinda fun.”, Minnie asked. Will shook his head, “The boats were made of rubber, or latex maybe. You inflated them with air, if they hit a rock they just bounced.”. Naomi thought this sounded pretty dangerous indeed. “I think I’d be too scared.”. Her temperature had come back up and she felt better. She had been face to face with a wall of green water, doing that again, on purpose was not going to happen.

Minnie looked outside, cranking the wiper to clear the ice snow mix off of the window for a minute. “I think we should just run with it, finding a harbour will be tough. Going too near the coast isn’t a good idea.”, she said. Will nodded, “Okay, let’s give it a couple hours and see what’s up then.”. He fed couple of split logs into the stove, the cold had come back with a vengeance. It was leaching it’s way in, under doors, through gaps. This time a damp cold, not like around the burrows. There it was a dry cold, sucking the moisture out of everything. It didn’t help that Naomi’s gear was soaked with salt water, but it should dry quickly hanging near the stove. Will was wearing his coveralls as was Minnie, but opened to the waist with the sleeves tied around, boots still on too. Just in case they needed to go outside in a hurry. “I hope not, it’s pretty icky outside.”, Minnie said, resting her forehead on the glass. “Let’s just stay in here for a while, we are either pulling away from bad weather or directly into it.”, Will mused. “Nice, any idea which one?”, Naomi asked. “Nope, but it’s definitely one or the other.”, Will laughed.

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Three hours later it had proven to be that they had headed into bad weather. Still rough seas, windy as all-get-out, and the snow…thick wet snow lashing down. Perhaps the most miserable weather they had encountered. Naomi and Minnie were going below, to refresh for a bit, prepare some food, more substantial than the few leftover biscuits in the tin. Nothing hot though, too rough to cook in. But a couple of cheese sandwiches, smoked sausage, nice crunchy carrots, and some preserved fruit would be nice. Watching for a lull in the waves, they were dressed and ready to zip out. “And go.”, called Will. Holding the door open behind them, he watched as they scrambled along deck and made it down below safely. No trips or splashes this time. “Next time we come this far, in this bad weather we’re going to have a covered walkway .”, he told the ship as she climbed yet another wave. Now that he thought of it he had to write it down, in the to do section. That done he had something else planned, that he could only do while alone. Christmas presents!

In a secret notebook he had written what he was getting for Minnie and Naomi. As it was their first Christmas together it should be something special. He had racked his brain, whenever he had a chance to think about it. There was a skipping rope for both. He had worked on these for a couple of weeks now. Finely braided rope, polished wooden handles. Carved roses adorned the handles, not too deep but enough to give a good grip. A sled for Minnie, iron runners for high speed down hills, room for a passenger too. He hadn’t been sure if Naomi would have wanted one, she didn’t like the cold much. For her he had put together a book of recipes from his old world. What the food was and how to prepare it. From apple crisp to pizza, olliebollen to cheeseburgers. Anything and everything he could remember. Any other presents would have to wait until they got to Newton. For the candy store, he had an idea about candy canes, if the confectioner could make candy sticks then surely he could give them a bend, to hang on the tree. Ah, tree ornaments. He had cut a few shapes out of copper. Small stars, snowmen, candy canes, circles with holes punched in them and tied loops of wire to hang them with, some had been painted red, blue, and of course yellow. He couldn’t wait to decorate the waiting tree. Unfortunately there was no colourful paper aboard to make garland with, so again that would have to wait. If they got there in the next week surely he could pick up what he needed however ‘time and tide wait for no one’. Better to plan with what they had, rather than depend on something that might not happen. Thinking back to the tree again he remembered something his father had told him. Before electric lights to decorate with they had used candles. In small especially made holders, candles would be clipped to branches and lit. He wondered if they could do something like that, only use it a couple of times because it’s a waste to burn up candles for nothing. There was quit a supply of tin aboard, in sheets of varying thickness, it would be fairly easy to cobble something together. But they could all work on that, Minnie was a skilled tinkerer. It would not be difficult.

All this was written down, list’s made and checked off. While the water and the weather raged outside. And was it ever, the wave height had increased to forty feet easily. Will had heard that the North Sea, in the old world, could get to 65 feet on a regular day in the winter months. He had even read about a rogue wave 85 feet high, on an offshore oil rig. So what they had right now was quite enough thank you. The voice tube whistled and made him start. It was Minnie, “Dad, it’s too rough for us to bring anything up to you, Naomi tried but dumped everything on the stairs, are you okay?”. She sounded worried. “I’m fine sweety, you guys stay below please, it’s pretty bad. The decks are drenched every time we hit a new wave. You would be soaked in minutes.”. “You can make tea right, you’ll be okay if you have tea.”, she asked. He looked over, the water cask was topped off and he had plenty of kindling for the firebox. The kettle was fitted tightly into a wire clamp on the hob. “Oh yea, I’m all set.” he answered. With a crash the Rose broached over a wave and started down the other side, water running off the deck. It was pretty exhilarating. It was a good thing that he had remembered to light the fore lantern, the afternoon was nearly gone and with it the meagre daylight that had made it through the snow. But keeping to their previous course would be safe, not running aground anywhere.

Two hours later, as timed by the watch in its special case, the water was finally subsiding. The towering waves had gone down to what they were more used to. Eight to ten foot heaves were liveable. Wind dying down, still heavy wet snow but it wasn’t being driven so hard. Naomi and Minnie had come up with a tray, finally able to make it. The meal was very appreciated, it had been a long time since breakfast. He told them of his plan to make a covered secure walkway, from the stairs to the wheelhouse. Both thought it a good idea, and Minnie had helped by sketching it out several different ways. Each rendition had tiny people fishing, or skating on the deck, swimming alongside the boat and even riding sharps and whales. It hadn’t taken her very long and they did eventually choose what they were going to build, weather providing and if they had the lumber aboard.

As the weather had finally started cooperating they had steered closer to shore, to anchor for the night. Trying to find an anchorage reminded Will of trying to find a parking spot at the mall. This one was too far, this one didn’t have enough room, and so on. A bit of protection from the wind would be nice, if not the deck would be a solid block of snow by the morning. One had eventually been found, by luck mostly. Again it was a huge glacial errant jutting out into the lake, easily eight hundred feet. Will couldn’t imagine the force needed to tumble the block of solid granite into the water. Lucky for them it was there, and the boat was secured in the lee for the night. Dropping anchors had been a real treat as was walking the deck to do a final check. Will sighed at the thought of one final thing, pumping out the bilge. With the amount of water that had run across her decks it was guaranteed that some had made it into the holds and then down to the bilge. It was better he tackled that right away, it would be pretty easy to put off after eating and warming up, nope it was right now. When he told Minnie and Naomi this had to be done the glares were epic. “Sorry guys, I’ll go up top with the hose, stay here and work the pump, okay.”. That went over better, but now Minnie was worried about him, that he would get cold or fall in or… “I’ll be fine sweetie don’t borrow troubles.”, he said.

It only took a short while to finish but the amount of water that poured was amazing. There must have been hundreds of gallons built up, Will had scheduled bilge cleaning once a week, but now it looked like it had to be twice a week at least. Oh well, he thought, things will be cleaner. Heading below the warmth felt great, he had got a bit soaked, but only with the wet blown snow, not the bilge water. That would have been, as Minnie would say, yuck.