Chapter 40. Sargasso Woes

The crew was definitely stuck.The Rose was surrounded by a debris field, who knows where it came from, unable to move without damaging the engine.

Naomi had never heard of anything like this, but her on-the-water knowledge was admittedly low.Will’s plan was to cut a path for the Rose to scoot through, using hand tools.That was going to be fun.

They had gone through their supplies and they would be okay for at least a couple of weeks, fresh water being the decider.Food wasn’t a problem as long as they could fish.

Will had tested cutting the dense mat and it was doable, difficult though.Luckily nothing was growing back together so whatever was cut stayed cut, a passage was possible.The problem was that the mat would be drawn to the prop and would entangle it and very quickly damage it.

“What about a cage around it, to keep the stuff off,”, said Minnie, who was reading over his shoulder.“It would have to be a really big one, around the back of the whole boat, the suction is very strong.”, replied Will.

The shore was at least 500 yards away, and in an hour Will had cut around ten feet. With all three of them cutting it should take around a hundred hours, about 5 days going fairly hard at it.

Will closed his logbook, stretched his arms over his head with a crack. .Minnie was sitting beside him.His little friend looked worried, “are we going to be okay?”.Will reached and took her small hand in his, “I promise you we are going to be just fine, a bit of hard work ahead but we’ll get it done.”.

They left Wills small office and headed on deck.Naomi was there, gazing out over the heaving mass, she turned as Will and Minnie came over, “Hey captain, Min.You two look happy, have a plan?”.Minnie nodded “We are gonna cut and cut and cut, all day then pull the boat, then cut and cut and cut.Eat lunch and pull the boat.Sounds like fun huh.”.

Will laughed a bit, “Just another day right? But first I need tea and toast, gotta feed the boiler.”. Naomi finally smiled “Well if you two are this happy then we should be ok.”. They headed below to the mess and galley, to start the day the best way, with breakfast.

Will got his toast, but it came with eggs, bacon and fry potatoes as well.Coffee was in a bit of a short supply so they were saving that for a rainy day.He preferred tea lately, no real reason, it just tasted better.They were dawdling a bit over their food, today was going to be a test.

Stopping in their capacious storeroom Will hunted down axes, saws and hatchets along with lengths of rope, lifebelts, gaffs and rakes.Two would be cutting, one spotting.His fear was falling in and not being able to find an exit.Everyone would be roped to the dory for safety.

It took a few minutes to lower the boat, all climb in, ropes tied, tools tied on as well to prevent loss.Will and Minnie started the cut with Naomi overseeing them.

The mass was hard to cut but they fell into a rhythm after a bit. Pieces too large to cut easily were hauled up and tossed to one side. The other debris was sawn mostly, chopped where they had to. But using axes in a slippery wet area with unstable footing, not a great idea.

After an hour Minnie was starting to flag, her wiry arms, while strong, were not made for repetitious work. She wearily climbed aboard the dory and Naomi took her place. Sawing sawing, for hours. Will stayed at task, his increased strength and stamina helping, when he first arrived he would have been helpless.

The sun was high and was beating down mercilessly.Minnie had rigged an umbrella for the person in the dory, but the cutters were directly in the suns rays.Wide brimmed hats and long sleeves, no exposed skin…this prevented sunburn.

As lunchtime rolled around they headed back to the Rose, surprised at how far they had come. At least 40 yards had been opened and showed no sign of closing. They would try to take the Rose through this channel.

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Minnie’s sure hand was at the helm, when Wills bellow of “Ahead dead slow.”, rang out.She slowly pushed her way into the laboriously cut passage, Will pushing larger clumps away at the stern.Reaching the end, Minnie killed the engine.

Taking stock of how far compared to how long it took Will was quite happy.“Well we did this far in four hours,now we know what we’re doing, what works, then we will be out of this in a few days.Thank goodness we have a steam engine and not sails..”.

Lunch was a pretty happy affair, sandwiches and raw carrots, kept nice and cool in their wondrous iced box. Tea for Will, milk for Minnie and Naomi. Seeing how his friends enjoyed their daily delight made Will ponder if he should start drinking milk again. He had stopped years ago, because of various reasons, but this world had changed him in many ways. Perhaps it was time.

He had emptied his tea mug, took the milk jug from Minnie and poured a nice cold glass.The silence as he raised it to his lips was complete.Minnie and Naomi knew he loathed milk and were wondering if he had lost his marbles in the sun.Taking a big gulp. “Ah that’s delicious, I am going to drink this every day!”.Minnie’s betrayed eyes looked at him, “Really, that’s great I guess, I can share with you.”.

“Nah, I’m kidding, still can’t stand it.It’s all yours.”, Will said. Minnie nearly fell over laughing as did Naomi. Pouring another tea, in a clean cup mind you, Will laughed with them.“Good one dad.”, “yes good one captain.”.

“I think it’s time you called me Will instead of captain, okay Naomi?”,Will asked.“I didn’t want to presume too much captain, I mean I love being here, I lo..like you and Minnie so much, I feel so at home, like I have always belonged here.” Naomi said.“Well I love you too, and captain dad of course, he’s always been my dad, even when he was old and creaky, used to pick me up and cuddle me when I was sad, hurt him tho, he ouched a lot then, but he still did, you should call him that too,”, gushed Minnie, “maybe not dad though, do you have a dad and mom too, I know your sister, she gave me yummies when I first got here, so yeah.”.

Naomi blinked at that barrage, “um I did have a mom and dad but they died when I was little.”.Will chuckled “Will is fine, but if you still want to call me captain, that’s okay too.”.

Lunch wound down, dishes and leftovers hustled below and the crew went right back to it.Cutting, sawing , hauling and tossing.They managed to cut the same distance before calling it a day.Sticky with sweat and sap from cut branches, messy hair and wet fur, clothes stiff from dried salt…it was a tired crew that climbed aboard the Rose and cleaned up.

Again pilot Minniewas at the helm, Will was astern, Naomi keep watch at the bow.The boat fired up and slowly moved down their channel.The prop sucking in debris, but not fouled, yet.

Will as not sure about anchoring, if the mat moved but they didn’t the boat could be in trouble.He decided to tie off to the debris field, and hope for the best.

Dinner was again a quiet affair, the exhausted crew ate slowly.A simple meal of bread, cheeses and sausage.Then relaxing in the mess with a story and a tune or two.Minnie had fallen asleep and collapsed on Wills lap, Naomis head was bobbing as she tried to read.Will picked up Minnie, bade Naomi good night and headed to his cabin. He heard Naomi’s doorclose as well.

The boat was secure for the night, boiler off and fire damped. He carefully covered Minnie’s with her quilt, lay on his side of the comfortable bed and thought..menu

Menu

William Harris

Age 39

Intelligence 20/50

Strength 38/50

Vitality 32/50

Stamina 33/50

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

Captain of the heartboat Rose

Navigation 3

Mechanic 3

Mason 1

Outdoor Chef

Arborist 1

Labourer 1

Minnie

Best dog of all

Age 5

Intelligence 13/25

Strength 20/25

Vitality 19/25

Stamina 19/25

Affinities for fishing, swimming, husbandry, mariner

First Mate of the heartboat Rose

Piloting 3

Mechanic 2

Crab Catcher

Shrimper

Joker

Arborist

Labourer 1

Naomi 0’Malley

Age 16

Intelligence 18/50

Strength 18/50

Vitality 18/50

Stamina 18/50

Affinities for cooking, fishing, gardening, swimming, mariner

Second Mate of the heartboat Rose

Management 2

Cooking 3

Homemaker 2

Arborist 1

Labourer 1

Who knew cutting all those branches would give me new skills…and labourer hmmm. I guess hard work payed off for us all. Strength increases across the board, that will help us too and vitality and stamina.

I just wish that I knew more about these skills and affinities, I wish I knew more..

MORE…

Oh oh!