Coasts of Cape York (56 page)

“Wouldn't we all,” Mr Marshall said with a chuckle. “But we can't just leave the barge. Don't worry, the cyclone may turn away. Anyway, if you are going to be at sea in a ship then
Bonthorpe
is the one to do it in. She was built for fishing and oil rig support off Iceland and in the North Sea. It doesn't get any rougher than there, normally.”

That was some small comfort to Willy but deep down he knew he was scared and he turned to stare anxiously through the windows. He found he was praying: that his father was safe; and that the cyclone would not come their way.

But the midday weather report shattered that hope. The weather radar images on the computer screen clearly showed the swirling rain bands and the forecast track showed the cyclone to be only 150 km to the South East and still heading their way. On the nearby chart table was the carefully plotted position of the cyclone, hour by hour and based on satellite photos of its eye, showed a curving track with them directly in front of it. Instruments on the mast informed them that the local wind speed was now up to 50 knots- 100 kph, and rising.

“We are really in for it,” Capt Proctor said grimly. “Alan, get down there and check every single thing you can secure is as tight as it can be. This is going to be bad.”

Willy felt his heart beat faster with anxiety and the fear began to swell towards panic. “Oh no!” he thought.

 

 

CHAPTER 36

 

CYCLONE

 

Willy looked out through the bridge windows and stared at the sea with growing anxiety. To deepen his concern he saw that the sea to starboard had quite changed in colour and character in a very short time. Now it was a sort of dirty brown or grey, all flecked with angry, tumbling whitecaps. There was a very clear line where the sheltered water in behind the mountains gave way to the open water that was under the influence of much stronger winds. Willy saw that there were sudden swirling eddies which came from either side to buffet the ship and to give the helmsman a few minutes of hard going till the ship's bows were again held steady into the worst of the wind.

After studying the steadily worsening scene for ten minutes Willy experienced what he recognized as intense fear. He knew enough about cyclones to feel that. But the van der Heydens were obviously quite ignorant of them, other than in the most general terms. When they came up from the saloon Julia joined Willy and Andrew near the chart table and she looked at it with a puzzled expression on her face. “If this cyclone is so far away why are we concerned? Can't we just get out of its way?” she asked.

Willy saw a look of baffled incredulity cross Andrew's face. “We are already in it,” he said.

“What do you mean?” Julia asked.

Andrew gestured outside and then pointed aft across the port quarter. “This wind, it is part of the cyclone. They are gigantic revolving storms. But they don't just suddenly arrive and then go away. They are not like tornados. A tornado might last a few hours and cause great damage, but it is very small. When a tornado blows through a city it can take out one side of the street and leave the other quite untouched, and it is gone in minutes. I have seen pictures where a tornado has blown a house to bits while the houses on either side were hardly touched. Cyclones are massive. They aren't a hundred metres across, they are hundreds of kilometres across.”

He paused to see if Julia understood. But she still looked puzzled so he said, “This wind here just gets stronger towards the centre. Didn't you hear the weather report? They are warning places up to five hundred kilometres south of here. The dangerous winds on this one must be three hundred kilometres wide.”

Carmen had been listening and she pointed to the chart. “Cyclones rotate in a clockwise direction in the southern hemisphere. The most dangerous sector is the left forward quadrant, the quarter on its left front as it advances. That is where the strongest winds are and where most of the rain falls. The radio just said they are getting gale force winds and flood rains in Cooktown and all the way south to Cairns.”

“But it's not raining here,” Julia objected.

Carmen looked exasperated. “No. That's because this wind has already crossed the coast somewhere down near Cairns, dropping most of its rain, then done a big circle inland and then come back. That is why we are facing South West but the cyclone is approaching us from the port side. We are luckily in the dry quadrant of the cyclone.”

“But… but.. I mean, how long do they last?” Julia asked anxiously.

“Days,” Andrew said. “This started hours ago and could go on till tomorrow afternoon. It just depends on which way the cyclone goes.”

That sent Julie below to join her mother and brother looking very thoughtful. Capt Proctor, who had been listening to all this said, “You kids seem well informed about cyclones. Have you been in one before?”

The others nodded and Willy shook his head. Graham said, “Only on land, last January in the Mulgrave Valley.”

“Ah! The famous gold mine expedition!” Mr Marshall put in.

Capt Proctor turned to Andrew. “What about you two navy cadets?”

Andrew nodded. “Yes sir. Same cyclone but Carmen and I were on a small boat to begin with and then got marooned on Cape Bowling Green.”

“Ah. I think I heard about that. That was when those fishing trawlers were sunk or washed ashore wasn't it?”

“Yes.”

Capt Proctor peered closely at Andrew. “Are you scared?” he asked.

Andrew swallowed and nodded. “Yes sir. Terrified!”

“Good! Sensible man! You might survive in that case,” Capt Proctor said. He then slapped Andrew on the back in a friendly gesture and said, “You lot had better go below and have a hot meal and a hot drink. It might be your last chance for a good while and you will need all the energy you can get. Off you go.”

Willy did as he was told but within minutes knew he was going to find it harder to cope with than he thought. While going down the steps and along the companionway he experienced a wave of fear that he suspected might be some sort of claustrophobia. He broke into a cold sweat and found he badly needed to be able to see out. It took him an effort to seat himself in the saloon. ‘But I have to. I must eat. I might need the energy,' he told himself.

For half an hour he stayed down in the saloon, perspiring and almost screaming with fear. He managed to hide this and tried hard to act normally. As soon as he had eaten he made his way back up to the wheelhouse. For him just being able to see out and to think that he might have a chance of getting out if the ship rolled over made the fear easier to bear.

The others came up as well and stood looking anxiously out.  Once again the conversation returned to cyclones. Capt Proctor did not help Willy when he gestured aft with his pipe and said, “This is Bathurst Bay we are in. It is the site of the worst cyclone disaster in Australia's history; Cyclone ‘Wahine'. Back in the 1890s that was. I don't remember the details but I seem to remember that about a hundred schooners and luggers were sunk or smashed onto the beaches and hundreds of people drowned.”

“Were you there Skipper?” Mr Marshall asked with a grin.

“Humpff! Don't you get cheeky Mister Mate!” Capt Proctor replied, but he then grinned.

Willy managed a sickly grin but then returned to staring out. To his concern the weather was obviously deteriorating. More and more dark clouds came scudding over and the first real showers of rain began blotting out the view.

“Can't we go somewhere safer?” Julia asked.

Capt Proctor shook his head. “Not with the barge in tow. This is as good a spot as we can find. At least here we have some shelter from the mountains.”

“But aren't the mountains dangerous to be near?” Julia asked.

Capt Proctor nodded, “Yes, but only when we can't see them. As long as the weather stays clear or the radar works we know where we are. If we left this area and tried to reach the open ocean we would be in among the coral reefs and that would be deadly. We would not see them until much too late.”

Willy saw Andrew shudder. Andrew said, “That's what happened to the
Merinda
, the ship my grandad died diving on. She must have struck the reef with almost no warning and been forced under. She was about the same size as this ship.”

“Steady Andrew,” Carmen said, touching his arm. Willy saw that Andrew was sweating and looking very pale. ‘How I feel,' Willy thought. Andrew shook his head. “But we are trapped here, embayed.”

“Yes, embayed,” Capt Proctor agreed, studying Andrew with worried eyes. “But that ain't such a bad thing to my way of thinking. Whichever way the wind blows we run the risk of being blown ashore if we have engine failure. But at least most of the shore is sandy beaches. If we get blown onto one of them we stand a very good chance of surviving. The ship is unlikely to break up. Even on the rocks I reckon we should be safe enough. So relax.”

Willy saw Andrew swallow and nod. “Yes sir,” he croaked.

But it was still small comfort to Willy. He moved to stare out through the stern windows to try to hide his fear. As he stood there his eyes focused on the barge, which was wallowing at the end of its tow line. Every wave was breaking against the barge, throwing up huge sheets of spray and making it look like a rock in the surf. Then an odd flickering caught his eye.

‘What is that?' he wondered. He stared and this time distinctly saw a small black object detach itself from the top of the pile of empty oil drums and go flying off onto the sea. Another followed it. “Captain, something is happening to your barge,” he called.

Capt Proctor moved to look, then raised binoculars to study the barge. “Damn and blast!” he swore. “One of the lashings has come adrift. Drums are falling off.”

“Can we pick them up?” Willy asked, seeing another three drums topple off the huge stack.

Capt Proctor shook his head. “No chance. Too dangerous and not worth the effort. Damn! This is going to be costly.”

“Why sir?”

“Because each drum is worth a few dollars and because under the environmental laws Capt Kirk will have to pay to have them all collected and the environment cleaned up.”

That hadn't occurred to Willy and as he watched another stack of drums slip and tumble into the sea he felt really sorry for Graham and his father. “Are they insured?” he asked.

“The cargo is, but it will still cost a lot of money because we will be busy here cleaning up instead of carrying paying cargo up and down the coast,” Capt Proctor replied.

All they could do was stand and watch as drum after drum fell off. Then the next row came loose and also began falling off. Willy saw that the drums were piled on their sides in a gigantic stack and were held on by steel wire ropes tightened with bottle screws. It was quickly obvious that the entire stack would go over the side. Only the drums actually inside the hull of the barge were likely to remain.

“How many drums are there sir?” he asked.

“Five thousand, and probably four thousand are going to be lost,” Capt Proctor answered.

It only took about twenty minutes for all the drums above the hull of the barge to go over the side. By then the surface of the sea for many kilometres was dotted with floating 44 gallon drums. Willy found it an amazing sight. But it only lasted a quarter of an hour as the gale quickly drove the drums downwind and out of sight across Bathurst Bay.

Watching the lightened barge bobbing and yawing on the huge waves made Willy feel sick with fear. The 6:00pm weather report did nothing to ease his anxiety. By then the eye of the cyclone was near Cape Flattery. The wind speed in Bathurst Bay had increased to 70 knots and was now howling so loudly that normal conversation was impossible. There was also a steady shift in wind direction so that it was coming almost from the west. Watching radar images of the monster on the computer was no help. That seemed to just increase the tension.

‘We are in real trouble alright!' Willy thought, swallowing and feeling nauseous.

Darkness began to set in early, the clouds blocking out the sunlight. As it did driving rain began blotting out the view ahead. Willy moved to look out of the port side windows and also astern. He found he was gripped by chilling, paralysing dread. He also found he was gripping the edge of the chart table so hard that his hands hurt. ‘White knuckle terror,' he chided himself.

Looking through the rear windows of the wheelhouse was no more reassuring.  The stern was rising and falling sharply. Water was sloshing around on the aft deck and every time the stern rose it hauled the tow line clear of the water for 50 metres or so, white streamers of spray blowing off it. Then the tow line would snub at the ship and jerk the stern round. The distant barge was just a dimly seen, dark blob barely visible in a welter of spray and driving rain. Willy began to get tired of standing and of bracing his muscles to keep his balance and to hang on.

By 7:00pm it was fully dark and for Willy everything became more terrifying. The wind speed kept increasing until it was 90 knots and howling so hard and at so high a pitch that it set Willy's nerves on edge. Capt Proctor suggested they all just go down to the cabins and go to sleep but Willy could not do that. The van der Heydens did and so did Carmen but Andrew remained in the wheelhouse with Willy.

The hours dragged by with no let up. In fact the weather grew worse as the cyclone moved closer. Vicious cross winds buffeted the ship and rain lashed the windows so hard that even the ‘clear view' screens were of little use. Outside was just a terrifying maelstrom of white spray and flecks amid the blackness.

After three hours Willy had to go below to the heads. This merely confirmed what he knew- that he could not be cooped up where he felt trapped and where he could not see out. ‘Even if all I can see is the radar screen,' he thought.

The cook offered him hot chocolate from a thermos flask and Willy accepted that. That helped but he made his way back to the bridge as quickly as he could. Even moving about inside the superstructure was now both difficult and dangerous. He had to press his hands against the bulkheads on both side and going up the steps was like climbing a cliff. It was worse than being buffeted by turbulence in an aeroplane. As the ship rose his muscles all tensed and he felt very heavy. Then it would drop away and leave him with a horrible weightless sensation.