Chapter 30 Barge Bargains

The meal that was brought on board was, sumptuous, enough food for 20 people was brought first to the dock. Covered dishes leaking steam, and wonderful scents. Mind you there were to be at least 15 people eating. The councillors had, most of them, brought along their significant other, or an older child in one case. Naomi, Minnie and Will helped carry the food aboard then down to the mess. Aided by the three porters who had brought the meal up and onto the dock in small wooden carts. They had even brought dishes. Just like takeout in our old world, thought Will.

The Roses mess deck fit everyone comfortably and the tables had been rearranged into one long “L” shape. Will at the head with his crew on each side, it was left for the others to choose seats.

Sliced beef in gravy, braised and boiled vegetables, mounds of potatoes fried and mashed, jacket potatoes, soft rolls, crispy rolls, desserts by the ton.Puddings, cakes and of course cookies.“No shrimp Minnie”, whispered Naomi.Overhearing this Dave leaned over to ask “You like shrimp first mate?”.Will laughed “a little too much I think, we found a fantastic spot on the way here, few days back,”,Dave considered this “I hope we can come to an agreement about bringing some here, few hundred pounds would be good for us.”.

Will agreed but was really trying to enjoy his meal without too much business talk, so far so good. Minnie, whose mouth was finally empty and was able to talk now answered Dave “yup I love shrimpies and catching them too. Makes you strong pulling in the nets.”. She flexed her thin but hard muscled arm. Will reached over and poked her, “Ooh so strong.” he laughed.

Dinner was followed by coffee and, oh joy, fresh milk.There was wine and ale, which Will enjoyed immensely but not overdoing things.Minnie tried both with a hearty yuck and stuck with her milk happily.Naomi was a bit young for alcohol yet and since Will was in loco parentis he was making that decision for her.Dishes and serving bowls cleared away it looked like it was time to talk business.

“So captain”, started Matt “We have looked over your cargo, and we are willing to trade for everything you have.”.Evelyn spoke up “Especially the cooking oils, quality oil is very hard to make properly and Laketown has always had the best.”.“We have been able to source our own coal and ore but it takes a very long time to get it back here overland from the shore gleaning’s.added Dave, “A priority for us would be to ask you to do a coal and ore run for us first.”.

Will thought for a moment, eyed Minnie and Naomi who had no argument it seemed. “We could do that,” he stated. “The Rose is weight limited to how much coal we can handle though.”

Gemma smiled at this “Magnus left his cargo barges here when he left for Laketown last time. They were pulled anshire just before he left, but they should be quite serviceable.”.

Barges, why hadn’t he thought of that, so much more could be brought that way.He hadn’t seen any in Laketown where the Rose was berthed so he just assumed none existed.But now it had been mentioned it seemed common sense.“That is a very good idea, but what about a crew for loading?” he asked “we had a group of 10 teens that came along last time.”.

Samantha had brought a young man with her, around 12 and she spoke up “That's how we did it here too captain, a young crew with you.A couple of older kids to wrangle the young ones.My Edmund,”.The young man interrupted “Just Ed mom.”.Samantha laughed “Sorry, Ed would like to go along if you don’t mind.”.

Minnie looked over at the two, “red hair dad, they have red hair, weird right. But you can come with, I like littles, lots of fun and chasing.”.

Will tried not to laugh turning it into a cough instead, “red hair is not weird Minnie, just a colour.”. Min looked at Samantha and Ed very intently, “Why do they remind me of something, someone I knew, from before I was me?”. Will asked Minnie to wait until later when they could have a proper talk about it but he ensured her there was a reason that red hair was familiar to her.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

The talks went on for a couple more hours,not just business but like in general, kids, pie over cake, and so on.The agreement was made that in return for their cargo of oils they would receive a large supply of glassware and glass vessels, also lenses which were Newtons speciality.

Also the Rose and crew would make a three or four day trip north to their ore fields and load as much iron, copper, tin and coal as the three large barges would hold.In return for this their coal would be replenished, the Roses boiler would be descaled and serviced, stores would be loaded along with a quantity of ice.Sealed in metal cases the ice would be used in an ice box.For storing food and drink that needed cooling.

“Like milk?” asked Minnie.She was still upset that the goat and chicken idea did not work out.The animals had gone berserk when brought onto the boat and had to be released less they injure themselves trying to escape.

Will nodded “yup, if it works like it should we will be able to carry more fresh milk and eggs and they will stay good for about a week or ten days.”.He turned to Samantha who had suggested this upgrade to their galley, “is this a new idea or have you used this for a while.”.

“We have had ice boxes for about 5 years now,” she said “The only limit is the ice, we dug very deep storehouses and experimented with different methods of storing the blocks.”.Taking a sip of tea she continued “It took a couple of years but now we can store enough ice to last Newton all summer until winters return.”.“Not everyone likes change.” added Gemma “So the demand is not too high, but it is slowly growing as a business.”

Evelyn worked out a schedule with Naomi for installing the icebox in the galley and ice storage below. She was nervous about making decisions like this but Will encouraged and supported her, saying she had every right to do this as a crew person. There were many questions that she had about this new equipment but Evelyn was the right person to talk to.

Minnie was talking with Dave about boiler maintenance and was absorbing every word, Will could see his friend learning and growing before his eyes. Odds are that she would be playing a large part in the servicing that was coming.

As for Will, he had been fascinated by the barges. Just like that, their bulk cargo capacity had been multiplied by a factor of five or six. Now they could do one run and supply a village or town with enough coal or ore to last months at a time. Magnus had never used the barges, they had been his and Matt’s idea and after they were constructed he had just up and left. No reason given, just boarded the Rose and motored away, never to be seen again. “A strange man he was, always seemed distant.”, said Matt “ We were arranging to get the tow bollard installed when he said he had to go, and that’s what he did.”. Matt’s partner, an older gentleman who had been very quiet through dinner said “He was always sad, even when he was at his best. I think he lost someone when he came here and couldn’t get past it.”.

Will looked at the Rose tattoo on the palm of his left hand. To him it represented a promise, that he gave and a promise made to him. It was difficult to explain. As he fumbled an explanation to Matt, the older man nodded. “When you get as old as I am you will have seen a few mysteries in life.”. Will didn’t interrupt but thought…a few weeks ago I was as old as you. Matt continued “Before Magnus there was Yolanda, and before her Eric, he had been captain for many many years, now he was a scoundrel.”.

Eric…Will knew the name of all the previous captains of the Rose.But that was all, just the name and how long they had served.

Dave joined them at the mention of Eric.Minnie had gone back for seconds of cookies and milk and was now curled up beside Will, mostly asleep.“A very wild man was Eric, he was the last captain of the Rose when she was still still under sails.He and his crew blew in here every year, Matt served with him for a year or so.”.

“You must have some stories to tell then.” said Will.“To sail around this lake in a sailing ship, it’s a very different kettle of fish for sure.”.Hearing fish Minnie muttered about the evil fishies in her sleep, making Will laugh.

Seeing that some people, younger ones including Naomi and Minnie., had dropped off they decided to call it a night and would meet on the land end of the dock tomorrow morning. The loading of supper remains took a few minutes with everyone lending a hand and the small group trooped down the quay, accompanied by Will. Upon reaching landed they mounted horses and carriages the had patiently waited and left in a clatter.

Will returned to the Rose and found that Naomi had retired for the night as had Minnie. He secured the boat for the night and went to the wheelhouse to write down all the days happenings. A busy day indeed but a very productive one. After writing for a while he found that he too was beginning to droop so it was off to his cabin. Min was sprawled across the bed and he moved her to nest of pillows and covered her with her favourite quilt.He hit the head and doused the lights, finding the bed by feel.“Good night sweetie,” he whispered and made sure he could reach his little friend.Words bloomed behind he eyelids as he thought…

Menu

William Harris

Age 46

Intelligence 17/50

Strength 25/50

Vitality 25/50

Stamina 25/50

Affinities for gardening, cultivating, fishing, knitting, swimming, mariner ,

Captain of the heartboat Rose

Navigation 3

Mechanic 3

Mason 1

Minnie

Best dog of all

Age 5

Intelligence 10/25

Strength 13/25

Vitality 18/25

Stamina 18/25

First Mate of the heartboat Rose

Piloting 3

Mechanic 2

Crab Catcher

Shrimper

Naomi

Age 16

Intelligence 16/50

Strength 12/50

Vitality 10/50

Stamina10/50

Second Mate of the heartboat Rose

No skills at this time

Oh ho, thought Will. I think we might need a crew meeting in the morning.