Chapter 17 Loading Up

After an uneventful night the crew was waking. Will and Minnie were first up to greet the sunrise. They were having coffee and warmed milk on deck, in the wheelhouse with all windows opened. Will had boarded up the broken window and would repair it today. A beautiful fresh day, a warm wind was riding up from the southern coast. Bringing the smell of hay and growing things to the salt air. The water was calm and hopefully warm if diving or wading was required. Minnie was looking forward to swimming today, looking for fishies.

They could hear stirrings below as the teens woke. Eager chatter, seems they were looking forward to this too. A couple of the boys climbed to the deck and were hanging over the railing pointing at this or that. Chuck called from below and they scampered back down. Will had a thought then. “Minnie” he asked “ What would you think or Chuck or Naomi being with us all the time, or maybe both of them?”. He could see Min thinking it over. “That would be fun”, Minnie answered, “they both smell nice, good peoples.”. Will made up his mind to ask them, after seeing how today went though. But that was later, now it was time to get their day going. They headed down below to the main deck, Minnie to the galley and Will to the main store room. There he found two long containers of canvas, rope and wood. With a block and tackle he loaded them onto a cart, which he then rolled to the ore hold. As he was going to return to the main deck he was distracted by Min, “hey dad, breakfast is ready.” she called. “Sounds good.”, he replied, and entered the mess.

Going to sit in his usual spot he could see kids happily eating fluffy pancakes at each table.Minnie was working on her own stack but there was a covered dish beside her, hopefully for Will.As he sat in his chair, he poured his coffee and started on his breakfast which turned out to be pancakes.“Yum yum huh” said Minnie, when her mouth was mostly empty. Nodding, Will made short work of his meal, eager to get to the days work.

The children finished up their meals and they were gathered in groups on deck. Will opened up the hold doors and using the cargo crane, lifted the bundles out. These turned out to be collapsible boats that were quickly put together. Will was amazed in times like this that, despite having never used anything like this before, he just innately knew what to do. The boats were assembled and checked, Will again used the crane to lift and lower the boats over the side. Minnie rode down with them and caught hold of a line, tied it to a hasp on the bow and was towed over to the open stairs. Both of the folders were tied off and waiting for their crew. Making sure everyone was wearing a life belt Will climbed into one and Minnie the other. They were joined by nervous teens and they rowed for shore.

There were sandy beach areas, but the sand was dark with minerals. Rocks abounded and lifting one Minnie was horrified to find, “yuck, it’s a icky, what is it dad, help”, she scrambled back and dropped the rock on the poor crab with a crack. Will laughed, “just a crab Min, if you gather enough we can eat ‘em tonite.” Minnie looked at him “eat that thing, never”. As they were looking for crabs, Chuck and Naomi had organized the others into work parties.

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The first loads were going to be coal and as luck would have it there was huge piles of glistening anthracite near where they beached. Buckets were filled, dumped into the small boats, when full Will or Minnie would con them back to the Rose.The process was reversed and coal dumped into the waiting bunkers.

A few trips like this and it was noon and time for a good lunch.Naomi and her helpers had packed tureens of soup, loaves of bread and cheese.Tea, cold and hot was to drink and the crew fell to with an appetite.Minnie scarfed her food down and was back to searching for more crabs, but all she found was little ones.

Will took the first trip after lunch back to the Rose and saw the coal bunkers were full as they could be.So returning to the beach they started with copper and iron ores.Hard work but as a team they loaded bucket after bucket into the small boats then dumped into the waiting holds.

The day was winding down and so was the groups energy. Minnie was curled up in the rocks where the sun had warmed them, several of the children beside her. All tired out from the hard work. Will was still going strong, loading the ore bags into the boats and paddling out to the Rose. There he craned the last bags aboard and down onto the hold. His vitality and stamina sure helped with this. Before he came to this world just thinking about work like this would have put him down, now he was still going strong. But that was enough for today. He returned to shore to pick up the tired crew, waking Minnie so she could travel in the other boat to keep everyone safe from the lake. Together they rowed back to the Rose for the evening.

Dinner had been planned hours ago and the kitchen crew had worked hard.Two large baked hams, golden fried potatoes, mashed turnips, gravy for everything and buttered rolls.Two kinds of pie for afters, apple and raisin.Everyone ate until bursting and applauded the kitchen staff for a wonderful meal. While everyone was still in the mess, Will and Minnie checked out the boat. “We gotta lot of rocks dad, heavy heavy.” said Minnie as they looked into the hold. “We do have a lot, but more to get tomorrow, about the same we have now”. replied Will. The hold was marked with lines showing weight guides. Up to here, about Wills waist, was a full load of ore. Both holds were about half that now. A full day tomorrow would do it. Then fish on the way back.

Drag nets were in the main store room and Will took a look before resting for the night. Long and heavy and frustratingly heavy to use but a sure fire way to catch fish.Barrels of salt stood by to store the fish after the catch.“Lots more work here Min, we might just steam back with the ore and just catch fish off the deck.”mused Will.“Yuck fishies” was the reply. Will laughed, “yes fishies can be yucky.”. A quick turn on deck showed the anchors tight and holding. The weather was fine and clear still. The small work boats had been craned aboard for the night and all was ready for the crew to take a good nights sleep. Will lit the marker light on a mast over the wheelhouse and headed below.

Heading into the mess Will found it empty and cleaned up.The crew cabins were quiet except for the occasional whisper or snore.Minnie had gone ahead and readied their room.The bed had hot water bottles by the feet as it was a bit chilly.Will closed the portholes, latched the door, and slipped into the warmed bed.“Night dad” mumbled Minnie on her side, a curled up mass of blankets.“Night Min, sleep well”, he said.

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William Harris

Age 51

Intelligence 15/50

Strength 20/50

Vitality 20/50

Stamina 22/50

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

Captain of the heartboat Rose

Navigation 2

Mechanic 2

Minnie

Best dog of all

Age 5

Intelligence 5/25

Strength 9/25

Vitality 16/25

Stamina 16/25

First Mate of the heartboat Rose

Piloting 2

Mechanic

And sleep took him.