Chapter 26 Shrimping

Ah shrimping, such fun thought Will.A fair bit of work but well worth it.He had decided not to use a trawl net, yet.Hand tossing a net, either from the dory or off of the Rose wouldwork well enough for their needs.Without cold storage they were limited to their catch size.He was planning to try to preserve some in jars and had found all the necessary equipment in their store rooms.Jars, lids, salt and fresh water was all they needed.

They had anchored near the river mouth as close to the chart marking as he could figure.Minnie on the helm, Will on the port bow sounding and Naomi sounding on the starboard bow.They had hit a depth of 130 feet and Will dropped anchor there.It was a bit late in the day to start catching now so they blew the steam out of the engine and boiler, closing it down for the night.It was planned to stay here for a couple of days.

After a hearty soup and bread dinner the crew settled in for a few card games, which Minnie handily won. Will told a story of their old life, Naomi played for them. A very peaceful and restful evening, only broken when Will told Minnie she had to keep the cabin tidier. There was much yelling of…it’s not only me, and you’re a slob too, or I’m just a little person. They came to an agreement of cleanliness but it took a while.

Sleeping in just didn’t happen anymore, not that Will wanted to. Getting up early, having a busy and fulfilling day, early to bed. This was their life now. No more rotting in bed all day, there was a huge sprawl of a world for them to explore. So the sunrise found Will and Minnie arguing about who has to make the bed, who has to clean the head, if the tidying schedule has to start today or tomorrow.

In other words, a normal day on the Rose.

“It’s ok Min, I will do it today and then you tomorrow…ok? said Will. “But you have to help Naomi in the galley, I feel like poached eggs today.”. Minnie’s eyes shone “I love poached eggs, so stiff and runny,,,on bacon k.” and off she scampered. “I think you forgot…” the door opened again and Minnie ran in, grabbed her hat and left with a wave. “…your hat.”. Will laughed.

Will could tell the weather was fair still by the way the boat felt.Gentle rocking, no wind roaring through.He was so looking forward to the days work, but first food.He burst through the open mess door and cried dramatically “My gallant crew good morning, I hope you’re all quite well…,”.He didn’t get the response he hoped for, which was not surprising as neither of the other two had any idea of what he was on about.

“That’s part of a song, from a operetta called the H.M.S. Pinafore.” Will explained.“There’s lots more and I mostly remember the lyrics, but I am pants at the music.”.A good thing he was a patient man, because he then had to explain what an operetta was, what was a pinafore, why is it called H.M.S., what does pants mean.Also did he know more because Minnie thought it was a good tune but was sad because she couldn’t whistle too well.

“Have you heard of a penny whistle Naomi?Does that exist here?” he asked.She nodded “We have those, were they in your old world too?They have been around for a while here, very popular.”.“Could I play that dad?”, asked Minnie.“I think so, it’s a pretty simple instrument, six holes and usually in the key of d.We will have to look for one here, on board I mean.” Will went on, “ I like the music that can be played on them, simple catchy tunes.Your mom used to play one…long time ago.”.He teared up at the memory of his wife, sitting in their small back yard, him reading, here happily playing her recorder or guitar.

“She was very musical, I can sing a bit or whistle but not play a tune on anything. When she lost the ability to play or sing it was very hard on her, hard on us both really.”. Will sighed, eyes closed and remembering. He felt small arms circle around his neck, Minnie leaned in for a comforting hug. “I remember her a bit too dad, I loved her.”. Naomi sniffled seeing how much this person was missed by these two. The tough captain and his bubbly first mate, both leaking tears. The thought of leaving this boat one day was an awful thing. In a few short days it had become home, Will and Minnie family.

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“So…”, said Will, breaking the sad mood that had overcome him,“we have a fair bit to get to, a few things to think about.First thing I want to think about is breakfast.”.Minnie laughed “Me too dad, me too.”.Naomi stood upand headed to the galley, “its all ready, I just got a bit distracted.”.She returned with two large cast iron pans,.“Egg cakes?” asked Minnie, “yummy yummy eggs”.“Sure is, one with onions and one without, I know you don’t like onions Min.”.Minnie cheered and shovelled a huge portion onto her plate.As Will did the same….however he had the one with onions, he had a thought.I sure miss ketchup, I wonder if we could make something like that.Laughing to himself he decided to get a notebook to keep with him to keep track of all these wonderful ideas.

Two helpings later Will and Minnie took care of cleanup, they weren’t needed on the helm today anyway.He was feeling a bit slow from breakfast but knew he would work it off quickly.Minnie seemed to be having the same problem but she would work it off too. Boundless energy was her gift, always ready to either run or nap.

They made quick work of dishes and wiping down tables and so on and headed on deck to prepare for their day. Will still had a vague plan to construct an outdoor cooking area and Minnie was dying to help him until she found out that mortar is hard to wash out of fur. They had poked around in all the holds and storerooms and had found a quantity of brick and mortar. So a brick BBQ it would be with a couple of metal grills to cook on. Might not be ready today…but Will was going to do his best.

They had prepared the nets the night before and started to practice throwing them off the side. “Hey don’t forget to tie that net off or its going to be a one way trip all the way down…right guys.” Will shouted. He was busy mixing mortar and hauling bricks up to the deck, to his decided site. At the bow of the boat, backing on to the wheelhouse base. The boat wouldn’t flex there and crack the bricks, nice and out of the way but easy to get to . And the best part is that the smell of whatever they were grilling would spread to the rest of the boat.

As the morning wore on the grill was taking shape. Brick laying was hard work but not as hard as it used to be. Will had build a few like this before. He always preferred a permanent grill station compared to the flimsy metal propane ones that were so popular. Two large cooking areas with the large chimney to one side. As he finished laying the first few lines of brick Will went to see how the practicing was going.

Minnie and Naomi had become pros at net hurling.So it was time to give it a shot for real.They had practiced with a few sizes and while Naomi could handle a12 foot net, Minnie was more comfortable with an 8 footer.Over the side they went and down down to the bottom, deep below.After feeling the nets settle, they tied the line to the cranes, bounced the nets a few times and began hauling them up.If none were found the first few times Will was planning to slip anchor and let the boat drift a couple of hundred yards and try again.

On the port side Naomi was hauling hers up…Minnie on the starboard.Both seemed to be lifting a lot of weight but it might just be the water dragging on the nets.“Hooray , looks like we caught something dad.” said Minnie.“Let’s hope so.” he replied.As the net came up it was indeed full…of weeds and muck.Naomi’s too, no shrimp.“Keep trying guys, I got bricks to lay.” and Will returned to the bow.He could hear the two cheering and calling to each other as they continued to lift and throw.

The grill was mostly done, bricks all set in place, mortar drying nicely.He had found two metal cooktops in the engine room of all places.Tucked in behind the boiler.They were actually spare andirons for the boiler, to hold burning coal.But they were flat and sturdy, and most importantly would work.The work had only take a few hours which surprised Will.He thought it would have taken much longer, and last time he constructed one it had taken a few days.“I guess being able to carry 200 pounds of bricks at a time and not get tired helps.”.

He could tell from the excited yelling that they might have caught something good.He made his way back to where they were throwing and there were two nets full of large shrimp.“Oh excellent guys, that's a great catch.”.It was a great catch, at least a hundred pounds of shrimp between them.Now for the best part.

Will lowered a large bucket over the side and filled it with fresh lake water.They dumped the shrimp into the buckets to purge.Minnie was not happy to pick up the still wriggling shrimp, it was icky and there was now goo on her fur.Will knew that she would just love the next step.After the buckets clouded up he repeated the process until the water was clear.“Ok crew, let’s get popping.”, he said happily.“Popping?”, asked Minnie.Will showed her by picking up a shrimp and easily popping it’s head off with his thumb.“Gaaaaaaah”, Minnie screamed, “What did you do that for?.”Naomi reached down and started beheading too, “ You don’t really eat the heads, you can if you want though.”.“Yuck” was the reply.But Min did reach down and started helping.Luckily there was not too much blood in shrimp but the peeling of their armour and tail nearly sent her over the side when Will did the first one.

Between cries of ahhhh, and how could you, my beautiful ears are yucked up, they managed to peel most of the shrimp.The small ones had been tossed back in, some had been mangled while preparing.But they ended up with about 40 pounds of ready to cook shrimp.

Naomi had done this before with Regina so she had brought out the spices and the pans for frying and baking. Will had checked his bbq and it was just not ready yet, too bad. So down to the galley they went.