Chapter 16. There and Back Again

Minnie carefully helped the little girls onto her boat, chattering a mile a minute with them. About fishies, shrimp, big waves, going swimming, all the things she loved about being a sailor. Other parents, seeing how comfortable she made the twins, came with their children to be with her too. Will was loading the smaller boat with the various bags and bales of supplies these passengers had. There were thirty people travelling this time, Will would have to come back for the rest while Minnie and Naomi protected the first lot. “I’ll be back for you in a few minutes.” Will said, pushing first the dory and the the folder into the icy water. Minnie quickly rowed towards the Rose, Will followed a bit slower. There was a big load on this little boat, piled a bit high. Don’t want to turn turtle, he thought. Taking it slow he reached the boat safely and began tossing the load onto the deck. When the boat was empty he quickly pulled it up and onto the deck. Min had shepherded the people below and he went below to take stock. Everyone was in the mess, having a warming tea or juice and toasted bread and cheese. The children were in a bit of shock, the youngest not really understanding what was happening. “I’m going for the rest guys, back in a flash.”, Will told Minnie and Naomi.

Returning to deck he stepped in to the waiting boat and took off back to shore. It was a matter of a few minutes to load up the waiting passengers, bid the others goodbye and head back. He helped them on deck then boarded himself, and helped them down to the warm mess. Minnie had made the children at home, and was sitting with them talking and laughing. The adults seemed nervous and happy to be moving on, but the idea of water travel was terrifying. “We’re getting underway in a little while, it will be a fairly long trip, about a day I think.”, he announced, “Try to relax, you’re safe on the Rose with us.”. Beckoning to Minnie, “Let’s get cracking.”. Leaving the mess in Naomi’s capable hands they once more climbed to the main deck. “Brrr dad, it’s getting colder huh.”, said Minnie with a shiver. “Yeah it is,” Will agreed, “You go ahead and get into the wheelhouse, start prepping, and turn that radiator up huh?”. Minnie saluted and took off, lantern bobbing along. The mid deck light was on still, but it was full dark now, the sun was long gone. He tied the dory to the davits and pulled the boat up and locked it in place, then to the bow and pulled the anchors. This time they came up easier, no wiggling around needed. He lighted the bow lantern and the light spread out a bit, not enough to pilot by though. That would be all compass work tonight. They took headings as a matter of fact now, whenever a course change was made it was recorded. So as long as they followed these headings, in reverse and kept to the same speed they would end up in the right place. The navigation skill was a remarkable thing. It made tasks like this easy.

Going into the warm wheelhouse was lovely. Still not as warm as below, darn single pane, but quite comfortable. Minnie had taken off her thick coveralls and had a jacket ready to put on if need be, still wearing warm woollen pants, and boots of course. “Okay, sweetie, let’s head out.” he said as he relaxed in his big chair. “Aye aye.”, and she pushed the throttle, slowly in creasing to half speed and turning the boat back out to sea. “We’ll take this heading for half an hour, then start south.”, Minnie said, checking the chart in front of them. The watch, kept in a protective case, was Minnie’s duty to wind every day. She still wanted to take it apart and try to copy it, but it was just a matter of finding time, and calm enough water to do it in. So far, that had not happened. It would someday, no hurry.

As they pulled away from the shore the waves started to build again, six to eight feet high, no whitecaps yet, which was a good thing. These were bad enough. Will pulled the cap off of the mess voice tube and gave a whistle. It took just a moment but Naomi answered. “Hello up there, waves picked up hmm?”. He laughed “Gee, how did you guess. How is everything, do you need Minnie or me down there?”. No, most visitors have gone to sleep, or try to anyways. The little ones too, mostly. I am just visiting with Katya and Therd, Cal too.” she replied. “Righto, call us up if needed, we’re going to be busy for awhile.”, and he capped off the tube. “All quiet below dad?”, Minnie asked. She had a good grip on the wheel and was correcting the course as needed. The wind had come up and the spray from the bow waves was freezing on the glass in front. If this kept up Will was going to have to go out and knock the ice off. Too much buildup was not safe.

And here he was, not half an hour later, knocking ice build up off of the bow railings, anchor windlasses and chains. Mostly at the bow but the side railings were getting very thick too. The trip up had not been this bad, high seas but the wind hadn’t been this high. As he went around the boat, knocking off clumps of ice, a thought hit him. Why not a steam line, to melt it quickly. He quickly dismissed this idea, it would take a lot of water to keep any kind of pressure. Their boiler was efficient but it might be better to construct a smaller simpler one for this problem. Then again, he thought, I don’t want to be messing around with a high pressure steam line, on a slippery deck, at night, on eight foot waves. Maybe when we stop and drop off, or anchor closer in for a meal, we’ll see then.

Job done he went belowdecks to check in. It was quiet, more so than he thought it would be. He found Naomi in the mess, Katya and Therd had retired but Cal was still visiting. “Hey dad”, Naomi looked up as he came in, “Pretty rough up top tonite huh?”. He laughed “Oh yeah, it’s fun for sure.”. She handed him a tray with some covered dishes, “I put this together for you guys, but couldn’t bring it up.”. “Thanks, we were getting a bit peckish, there was a few biscuits left but you know Minnie.”. She laughed. Hefting the tray he headed back to the stairs. It was very cold and very slippery walking back to the wheelhouse, but he made it okay. As he entered with the tray Minnie cheered “Food! That’s wonderful dad, I am starving to pieces.”. Setting the tray on the map table, he kicked the door shut behind him. “Pretty cold out Min, wet and slippery, stay in here tonight k?”. “Oh yeah”, she answered “That’s all for you.”.

The radiators were hissing and crackling as they heated up the wheelhouse, warming it up after the blast of cold air. Will unbuttoned his coveralls but kept them on as he would probably be outside again. Turning his attention to the tray of food he found a few sandwiches, half of a cake and some cookies, and best of all a flask of warming tea for him and one of juice for Minnie. For the next little while they enjoyed their food, while remembering the warmer days, barbecuing on the bow, shrimp feasts, going swimming. “After this trip is done, we’re going back south where it’s warmer. I’ve had enough of the cold.”, Will said after drinking his tea. “I’d love that.”, Minnie said “Nice people here but it’s just too chilly all the time.”. Will nodded “We’ll add it to the trade route, twice a year maybe, one trip when things are warming and another just before this time of year.”. Minnie shrugged, “It wouldn’t be so bad, but we’re doing four or five trips for these guys, and giving them a lot of our trade stuff.”. “I know, it’s going to be a tough few days, worth it though, to help.”, Will smiled at his first mate, grumbling away about frozen tails, no milk, can’t wear her favourite hat, stupid ice. He patted her shoulder “We’ll get through it, but now I’m gonna check the ice.”. Buttoning up and putting on hat and gloves again, it was time to brave the outdoors.

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This time the ice wasn’t so thick. Just a few clumps on the anchor chains, but the rest didn’t need cleaning yet. The Rose had a low profile and there wasn’t too much danger of capsizing from extra weight. She had a deep hull, made for seas like this and the spray was now really only building up on the wheelhouse which stood ten feet above the main deck. Going back inside “We’re good on the ice, you want a break on the wheel? Curl up for a while maybe?”. Min thought that was a good idea and turned the wheel over to him, made a nest of pillows and blankets and laid down with a yawn, “Tell me a story, helps me sleep dad.”.

Will thought for a moment. “When I was a teenager I rode my bike everywhere. I worked part time packing groceries at the local store and saved my money for a new fifteen speed racing bike. A BRC semipro, I still remember the name, it was bright orange and chrome.”. It was like yesterday, walking into Apollos bike shop on 14th street. He had taken the bus from home and it was a pretty long trip, transferred twice but finally got here. He had of course stopped at the used book store just across the road, just to look and ended up with a backpack full of some great used books. Mostly science fiction, that was what he mostly read at that age. But back to the bike shop. Walking in he was recognized by the clerk and was beckoned over. The bike he had ordered was waiting for him behind the counter. A special order and he had to pay for it before he picked up. A two week wait and his mom and dad thought he was silly to have done that. In fact his mother called him an idiot, that had stuck in his mind ever since.

The store had polished and waxed her, what a beauty she was. Side pull alloy brakes, golden chain, alloy wheels and narrow racing tyres. Pulling his bike license out of his back pack he fixed it to the loops on the seat. Thanking the clerk who had helped him he rolled the bike out the front door and mounted up. It rode like a dream, responsive and quick to shift, no clatter or pull. “I rode that bike for the next four years, everywhere. To school, to work and on the weekends we went everywhere. My best friend was from another country, Holland, and his family didn’t drive cars much. They rode bikes, everywhere.”. Minnie was snoring by now, she had quickly dropped off but that was okay. Thinking back to the endless summers when he was a young boy, then a teen and finally growing up and away from things like his bike. Getting into cars, a full time job, meeting his wife, kids, houses, schools. Wow, he thought, it’s been a busy life.

Speaking of busy, the wheel was not exactly hard to hold but needed constant adjustments. Checking the course they were about six hours from, hmm what to call it. New Burrows, or the Holes, nope not either of those. Maybe just the Burrows, but they were the new ones. That is if they could actually dig there. Hopefully the rock was the same, or the advance team had found caves. Time would tell he thought. The Burrows it would have to be then, and he marked it on the chart. The other place would just be the pickup zone, or maybe the Cairn. Yeah, he liked that. So that was marked down too.

As they steamed south the winds tapered off and so did the waves. Only three or four feet now and much easier on the passengers. Minnie had woken after a couple of hours and taken the wheel again. Will sighed and dressed in his winter gear again and went outside to check ice build up and see if he could scavenge a cuppa. He had to spread sand outside the door, on the steps and along the deck. It was pretty slippery and he nearly came a cropper a couple of times before making the stairs. Opening the doors the smell of belowdecks hit him, not terrible but enough to let him know that people were up and about. The corridors were a bit messy with furs and boots spread around. A few toys had escaped from crew quarters and it was an odd sight indeed. Entering the mess he found most of the adults sitting around the long tables enjoying more toasted bread and cheese. The little ones were happily eating oatmeal with raisins, again a treat they never got. The adults seemed to relax as he neared, releasing a tension they didn’t know they had. It was the lake effect working on them. Naomi’s presence dulled it a certain amount and Wills even more, but eventually it would overcome them. And the odd thing was that it seemed to affect some quicker than others. The children were fine, as usual. But the quicker they made the Burrows, the better.

“We’ll be docking in a few hours, don’t worry, the worse part is over. Much calmer now and not as cold.”, Will announced. Therd spoke up “It was pretty bad captain, all we could do was try to sleep. How do you stand it?”. Will laughed “I kinda like it, keeps you on your toes.”. Naomi came out of the galley, followed by Katya who was carrying, oh happy day, a fresh pot of tea. He quickly filled a mug, sugared it and enjoyed a lovely warming sip, “I better get back up top to Minnie, I’ll whistle down when we’re close okay?”. Naomi nodded “No worries, it’s all under control down here dad, see you soon.”. Up he went to the dark cold deck, even less waves now than when he went down. The Rose was easily just steaming along through the dark seas, not too much in the way of light, just the deck lantern. But he could see the horizon to the east was getting a little lighter. “Good deal”, he muttered. Minnie was easily handling the boat now and was glad to see him back. “If you shut off the lanterns in here it feels like you’re flying, it’s weird.”. Laughing he passed her some warm juice and a few pieces of cheese toast wrapped in a napkin and took back the wheel.

As he took a mouthful of tea she asked “Are the stinkys all okay?.” He tried not to but ended up spitting tea out in a laugh. “What?”, he asked intelligently. “The people, all the guys downstairs, the ones we picked up, you remember them right?”, Minnie reminded him. “Well yeah I remember, but why the stinkys.”. She tapped her nose “I smell things a bunch better than you, and I could smell them coming before they even got on the boat.”. Oh right, he thought. “They’re nice people but when there’s a lot around it’s hard for me to tell who’s who, I know your smell and Naomi’s, some of the littles but the others are just a lot.”.

As they talked the sun was beginning to make an appearance, just a red line at first but then rising to full glory in just a few minutes. The frost and rime on the windows began to steam away, for a while they were steaming through a fog of their own making. That cleared fast and they could see calm seas ahead and even a bit of blue skies. “That’s nice to see huh dad?” asked Minnie. “Oh yeah,” Will answered, “A very good sign.”.