‘We’ve only got thirty two feet here at the
top of the tide.’
‘It’s high tide now. She wants to get into
Hamilton Wharf, take on supplies then head out on the next tide for
San Francisco. We’ll only have about twenty hours at best to
service the ship. That’s why we’re rounding up everybody we can to
get down to the docks to help out. It’s a tall order Dick, I want
you to be there to make sure everything goes okay. I’ll drive you
down to the wharf, if you like.’
Dick stood up. ‘I’d better get some clothes
on, then.’ He turned to Helen. ‘It’ll be a long job by the sound of
it. Better make me lots of sandwiches.’
‘Don’t bother, Helen,’ McDougal said
quickly. Security for the
George
Washington
is so tight that nothing is allowed on or
off the ship—not even lunch boxes. And there’s a total
communications blackout for everyone except the vessel’s senior
officers. Once you’re on that ship you can’t get off it or leave
the dock until she’s ready to sail.’
Dick smiled wryly. ‘Bloody Americans. They
expect a lot, don’t they?’
‘You know how the Yanks are, Dick. They’re
paranoid about the secrecy of their ship movements. Especially the
ones carrying casualties. But don’t worry. They said that the
ship’s kitchens will provide hot meals for everyone working the
vessel and bunks for anyone who can’t leave the ship after working
a full shift.’
Dick got up and went through to the bedroom
to dress and Helen took his place at the kitchen table. She picked
up the teapot and topped up McDougal’s cup. He took a sip and said,
‘Dick was saying the other day it’s quiet around the house with
Mike away at camp and Faith working all hours for the
Americans.’
‘
Yes, it is.’ Helen sighed. ‘And with
Dick always working such long hours, it gets a little lonely.
Something always seems to come up to keep him down at the
docks.’
‘Oh well, this war can’t go on forever, you
know,’ McDougal said sympathetically. ‘At least you’ve got Faith
here in the house when Dick works the night shift.’
‘
Yes, she usually is and I’m thankful
for it. But this weekend she’s off to Coolangatta. She’s leaving
straight from work tonight.’ Helen smiled a quick smile. ‘There
really are a lot of perks associated with working for the
Americans, you know.’
*
The Point Danger Private Hotel was perched
high on a rocky headland overlooking the Pacific Ocean. To the
south there was a sweeping view of the northern New South Wales
coast and to the north lay the twenty five miles of pristine
beaches that formed Queensland’s magnificent Gold Coast. Beneath
the gracious old building, the sleepy twin towns of Coolangatta and
Tweed Heads straddled the border of the two states.
Before the war, the Point Danger Private
Hotel had been a favorite holiday destination for the families of
well-heeled business and professional people from Brisbane and
wealthy property owners from the bush. All that changed when the
Americans arrived. They promptly reserved it and most of the other
quality resorts on the Gold Coast for the exclusive use of senior
military personnel and their guests. When Major Lyle Turner felt
the need for rest and relaxation, like many officers from
headquarters, he invariably chose to go there.
It was after six o’clock when the US Army
staff car took it’s place among a row of identical Packards in
front of the hotel. Lyle Turner took his suitcase and Faith’s from
the boot of the car and led the way inside. A young receptionist
with a wide smile and knowing eyes greeted Lyle warmly, then looked
on with more than passing interest as they signed the guest
register. When they’d finished, she rang a small bell on the desk
and when a youth arrived to carry their the guests bags upstairs
she gave him two keys to adjacent rooms. Faith noticed as she
changed her clothes for dinner that there was an adjoining door
between the two rooms
They had arranged to have a drink before
dining. When Faith answered Lyle’s knock on her door, he was
wearing a tailored olive-green sport shirt, cream slacks and tan
colored snakeskin shoes. She had rarely seen him out of uniform. In
the casual but stylish American civilian clothes, he looked even
younger and more handsome. Suddenly Faith felt quite plain in the
simple floral semi-formal frock she had brought with her.
The little candle-lit bar just off the dining
room faced out over the ocean. They sat at a small cane table
beside an open window. Beyond the window, bright moonlight shone
over the gently heaving sea. Below them they could hear the surf
pounding on the rocks. A few couples sat around in the shadows at
other tables making conversation in hushed tones. All the accents
were American.
‘I noticed the receptionist seemed to know
you,’ Faith whispered when Lyle sat down after bringing drinks from
the bar. She smiled at him suspiciously in the candlelight. ‘I
don’t think it’s the first time you’ve invited a girl to Point
Danger.’
Hunter smiled. ‘You’re the very first,
Faith.’
She laughed and took a sip from her glass of
gin and tonic. ‘You don’t expect me to believe that, do you?’
‘But it’s true,’ he said in mock surprise.
‘Cross my heart and hope to die.’
She smiled and squeezed the slice of lemon in
her drink.
‘If anyone’s looking for a romance,’ Lyle
said, ‘there’s always plenty of members of the opposite sex checked
in here. It fact, it’s very rare for either male or female officers
to invite guests to Point Danger.’
‘Then why me?’
‘I think you know why, Faith.’ He suddenly
became very serious. ‘It’s because you’re very special to me. And
if there’s to be any romance, I only want it to be with you.’ He
reached across the table and covered her hand with his. ‘I love
you, Faith.’
She was surprised by his admission and it
must have shown on her face.
‘I mean it, Faith,’ he said earnestly. ‘I
really do.’
She looked at him across the table and tried
to make light of what he’d said. ‘And I don’t suppose that the
moonlight and the ocean and us being away together in such a
romantic place has got anything to do with it?’
‘It’s got everything to do with it, Faith,’
he whispered. ‘That’s why I asked you to come here. I told you,
you’ve become very special to me.’
‘And you are special to me too, Lyle. You
must know that. But I thought we agreed to be just …’
‘Just good friends?’ he said quickly. ‘That’s
all I wanted at first,’ He squeezed her hand gently. ‘But surely
you must have realized as time went by that I wanted more?’
‘
A man like you can have anyone he
wants, Lyle.’
‘I don’t want just anyone, Faith. I want
you.’
‘But I told you at the start, I wasn’t ready
for anything serious.’
‘That was then, Faith. How do you feel
now?’
‘Losing someone you care about is a terrible
thing, Lyle. But I’m just about over the hurt now. Time really does
heal everything. And I know it would have been so much worse
without you. You’ve been so wonderful and so patient. I really
appreciate everything. It’s just that I think…
‘Yes?’
‘I think I need just a little more time, I…’
She hesitated when a waiter approached their table.
‘Your table is ready, Major Hunter,’ the
waiter said. ‘Would you care to follow me through to the dining
room?’
*
Darkness had fallen at the Hamilton
docks and tugs already were positioning the
George Washington
into place when Dick arrived in
Ian McDougal’s car. The entire area was cordoned off by American
soldiers who were controlling a steady stream of ambulances, US
Army trucks and also a long line of commercial vehicles arriving
with provisions for the ship. MP’s at the main gate quickly checked
Dick’s identification and allowed him to pass through. As he
hurried across the wharf toward the enormous vessel, the tugs were
beginning to withdraw and wharfies were securing the last of her
mooring lines.
Dick approached a group of officials
standing at the edge of the wharf. Among the group was the local
naval officer, the ship’s agent, the wharf manager and several
Australian and American Army personnel. Dick was surprised to see
an Australian Major and a US Marine Colonel present. Usually the
arrival of a transport didn’t warrant the presence of anyone
ranking higher than a captain at best. It was plain that the
George Washington
was receiving
special attention.
When Dick announced he was the senior
union representative of the gangs working the ship, the Marine
Colonel, a somber looking grey haired man, turned to him quickly.
‘We were disappointed that union problems in Sydney made it
necessary to divert this ship here en route from Guadalcanal, Mr
Sharkey,’ he said tersely. ‘I must advise you that now she is
berthed she
will
be serviced.
Should your members stop work for any reason, their duties will
immediately be assumed by the military.’
‘There will be no unnecessary delays or work
stoppages here at the Port of Brisbane on this or any other ship,
Colonel,’ Dick said stiffly, ‘providing our standard working
conditions are met and the safety of the ship is not compromised in
any way.’
‘Thank you, Mr Sharkey.’ The Colonel became
more conciliatory when he heard Dick’s firm response, ‘I’m glad to
hear that. As you would know, it is imperative that this ship
leaves on tomorrow’s high tide, otherwise she might be stuck in
port for weeks. Now, if any problems arise which could jeopardize
her departure, I’d appreciate it if you’d contact me directly. My
name is Kensall, and like you, I won’t be leaving this ship until
she sails.’
As soon as the first gangplank was in place,
the official party went aboard and, as had become customary with a
vessel coming in from a war zone, the gantry operators and wharfie
gangs waited until the military gave them the nod to commence
working the ship. While they were waiting, Dick walked along the
wharf to talk with some of the union foremen.
As he spoke to wharfies near a gangplank at
the stern of the vessel, floodlights lit up the entire wharf and
stretcher bearers began carrying wounded soldiers ashore to the
lines of waiting ambulances. Dick had become used to the procedure
over the past few months but never before had he seen so many
casualties come off one ship, and he was surprised when an American
MP told him that only the most critical of the wounded were being
transferred to hospitals ashore. The MP said the majority of the
casualties would remain aboard, to be taken home directly to the
United States when the ship sailed. He said no one knew exactly how
many casualties were on the ship but it was in the thousands.
Dick was pondering the ordeal of the
Americans on Guadalcanal when several Australian Army trucks drove
up to the nearby gangplank and about fifty armed diggers clambered
down from them and hurriedly followed the Australian Army Major
onto the ship. After a few minutes they began to reappear, a few at
a time, rifles at the ready, as they escorted scores of Japanese
prisoners ashore.
Dick had never seen the enemy so close before
and he was more than a little surprised. The sullen-faced, ragged
little men shuffling down the gangplank with their hands on their
heads, looked harmless, even pitiful. They looked nothing at all
like the supposedly invincible, all-conquering forces which had
swept everything before them in their advance across the Pacific.
Some of the hapless prisoners glanced at the wharfies as they were
herded into the waiting trucks. Dick thought he saw defiance in
their eyes.
After the ambulances and trucks
carrying the prisoners had left the wharf, the huge task of
provisioning the
George Washington
for her voyage home began in earnest. Every gantry on the
wharf and on the ship was put into service. Fuel, food, medical
supplies and the thousand and one other essential items required by
the ship and her complement of crew and passengers, which rivaled
the population of a small city, had to be loaded in less than half
the time usually required. The long line of trucks waiting to be
unloaded was backed up down the roadway leading to the wharf as far
as the eye could see and it only inched forward slowly.
Every available wharfie in Brisbane had been
called in and everyone put their back into the task at hand. During
the long night and into the early hours of the morning, all the
gangs worked selflessly and tirelessly, ignoring their usual
sit-down tea breaks and smoke-oh’s and food that was sent to them
during the long night was eaten on the run as they worked. When the
first streaks of dawn appeared in the sky, there was still a huge
line of trucks on the roadway leading to the wharf, but finally the
end of it was in sight.
Dick was dead on his feet. Although the bunks
of crewmen on night duty had been made available to exhausted
wharfies, he’d spent the entire night trying to make sure the
operation ran smoothly. And it had. He was proud of the diligent
and workmanlike manner in which the wharfies had discharged their
duties and knew that in just a few hours, the huge undertaking
would be over in time for the ship to sail on the tide.
As a lifelong Watersider he took pride
in the heavy responsibility of preparing a ship for a long ocean
voyage, especially one as enormous as the
George Washington
which was carrying such a
priceless human cargo. Now, with the high standards he had always
set himself satisfied, and with the dawn breaking, he looked for a
quiet spot away from the hubbub of the gantries and the glare of
the lights where he could rest for a few moments. He found a place
near the bow of the vessel and sat down wearily on a chain
hawser.