Missing Presumed Lost

by Fred Lockwood

  Chapter 35

  On board the Ghost Ship

  Before they had left Split Shaun had returned to the marine scrapyard where he had found the Moffat water cannon. During his years at sea he had visited numerous scrapyards and unearthed bits and pieces that had proved to be invaluable. Under a pile of rubbish, he had found two sound grappling irons and broad aluminium rungs from a long but rotten rope ladder. Over the following days he and Patrick had spliced new rope around the forged eyes of the grappling irons and tied solid knots every thirty cms. At the time they were not sure when they would ever be used but the time was close. They had also spliced and lashed the salvaged aluminium rungs into two stout lines and created a very smart rope ladder. It was much easier than a rope when trying to get up or down the side of a ship!

  Jack stood on the deck, midships, and swung the grappling iron, overarm, in a broad circle alongside his body. He quickly built up speed and with a final twirl he heaved it upwards and over the rail of the Gronkowski 34. It clattered against the steel face of the rear tower and dropped onto the deck. He retrieved the rope slowly and saw one of the prongs catch on the lower rail; he had a sound fixing. In a smooth motion he hauled on the rope and stepped up onto the top of the Sultano’s rail. Without hesitation he stepped off into space, swung towards the hull of the freighter and landed on his toes, knees bent. He didn’t scale the side of a ship at sea very often but he knew what to do. It was simply a case of leaning back, gathering in the rope as he ‘walked’ up the side of the ship. Fortunately it wasn’t very far to the rail and he was able to grab it and ease himself over the side. Once on board he slipped the light rope from across his chest, walked a short way along the deck and secured one end to a large bollard. Sandro was waiting to catch the rope and tie the rope ladder to it. Jack hauled it across the space and then lashed it to the bollard. Sandro and Shaun climbed up the rope ladder and Jack helped them over the edge and onto the deck.

  Jack led the way, along the deck and towards the stairway up the side of the rear tower towards the bridge. Everything was coated in a greasy, black coating from the fire. As Jack negotiated the stairs he automatically grabbed hold of the rail and immediately felt the oily smear across his palm. They climbed directly to the bridge; the door was open. Jack called out as they approached but sensed it would be abandoned. The three of them stopped just inside the bridge, took a brief look around and then fanned outwards. Sandro headed for the chart table.

  ‘The chart of the area and equipment are missing,’ said Sandro. ‘If I had to guess I’d say the navigation officer took all he needed to the lifeboat. It’s difficult to say what portable kit he may have available but he probably has a hand-held GPS. It would be all they need to make a nearby port.’

  ‘All the displays are off and there is no power,’ Shaun remarked. If we can get a back-up generator working we may be able to call up the track from the GPS and discover how far they have drifted,’ he added.

  ‘Nothing here,’ said Jack, ‘let’s try the mess and see if it can tell us anything.’

  A single plume of black smoke was curling from the direction of the engine room but blowing away from them as they walked down the stairway and turned towards the galley and mess. The hatch was open and Sandro led the way inside. Directly in front of them, on the deck, was a discarded life-jacket and a yellow smoke hood. He stepped over them and surveyed the shambles. The remains of a hasty meal were strewn across the main mess table. Stainless steel trays, mugs and cutlery lay where they had been abandoned. There were crates and cardboard boxes stacked on the floor with provisions scattered around them. On the end of the mess table was a shallow plastic tray with cans of fruit and processed meat neatly packed. There were packs of biscuits and a huge slab of cheese. Alongside was a 5 litre plastic bottle of orange juice and a nineteen litre plastic bottle of water. Sandro turned to survey the scene. By the entrance to the bridge, on the floor, was a pile of abandoned clothing.

  Jack strolled through the mess towards the galley. The cooking range was cold. Fat and scraps of cooked food lay congealed in the pans; no one had bothered to clean up. He moved on to the walk-in cold room and store, unhitched the heavy latch and pulled the door open. As he switched on his torch and moved inside he could feel the coolness surround him. Jack flicked the torch beam across the shelves and across the floor. He could see cans of food, glass and plastic bottles, as well as cardboard boxes stacked in wire trays. He moved to a large chest freezer at the far end of the room and opened the lid. He could see the array of plastic tubs, wrapped meat and fish. It was all neat and orderly. There was no impression of it being ransacked. As he turned to retrace his steps the torch beam fell on two trays of eggs that had been knocked onto the floor. No one had bothered to clean up the mess.

  ‘If I had to guess I’d say there was an orderly evacuation of the ship,’ said Jack. ‘Looks like they have had a hasty meal, taken charts and instruments onto the lifeboat and enough stores for their intended journey,’ Jack added.

  ‘It could be that the food on the table was dumped because they already had enough on board. At three or four knots it wouldn’t take long to make shore or a port,’ offered Shaun.

  ‘But why abandon the ship when it looks a long way from going down?’ asked Jack. ‘Let’s check out the engine room and see what it’s like,’ he suggested.

  Shaun led the way down another flight of stairs and immediately the smell of burning diesel was overpowering. They all paused to climb into the fire suits. Jack could vaguely remember the accompanying video that showed how they should be put on. Fortunately, there was a series of illustrations that gave a step by step guide on how to do it! The last instruction was to turn on the air supply from the small twin tanks in the back pack. Although cumbersome it was a relief to escape the stomach-churning smell. A plume of black smoke was slowly curling out of the hatchway, only to be drawn away by the gentle breeze.

  ‘Stay close and don’t touch anything,’ said Shaun as he ducked inside the entrance to the engine room.

  Sunlight was trying to penetrate the gloom but it was like entering a cave. Three torch beams flicked around like slim, pale fingers. Almost every surface was coated in a thick, black, sticky layer as smoke billowed from a deck below and wound its way over bulkheads and overhead pipes to the open air. Shaun moved cautiously along the walkway and towards the main engine bay. He pointed at one of the main bearings and the main prop shaft that had broken free. He led the three of them as they skirted around debris and pointed, again, at the distorted deck and generator that had been thrown onto the engine. Shaun retraced his steps to the exit and out onto the open deck. Once he was upwind of the smoke he unzipped the hood and breathed fresh air. He turned to Jack and Sandro:

  ‘Well, this ship isn’t going anywhere soon,’ said Shaun. ‘They have definitely been in a collision. The portside deck and bulkheads are distorted. It looks like the force of the collision threw one of the generators against the engine, a main bearing has disintegrated and prop shaft has broken free. I can’t tell at the moment if it all happened at the time of the collision or the bearing seized because it was out of alignment. It looks like fuel lines were severed and the whole place covered in diesel.’

  Shaun paused to collect his thoughts and then turned to both Jack and Sandro:

  ‘There is obviously a small fire in the lower engine room. It’s my guess that there’s a pool of diesel down there but not enough oxygen to power a serious fire. I reckon we can extinguish the fire but need to know how badly she is holed before any thought of pumping her out. I also need to check the watertight doors below. Let’s go take a look.

  Shaun led them around the deck to the stairwell that would take them down to an area next to the lower engine room and to the companion ways that stretched along the length of the ship. They could see blue smoke swirling in the stairwell and pulled the hoods over their heads before making their way downwards. At the bottom of the stairwell Shaun turned left and after a couple of str
ides stopped abruptly; Jack bumped into him. The smoke was light and the torches illuminated the scene. Directly in front of them was a closed hatch with a jet of fan-shaped water cascading onto and along the sloping deck. Shaun pulled off his hood and turned to Jack and Sandro:

  ‘They tried to scuttle the ship,’ he exclaimed. ‘Do you see that flash mark at the top of the door? There’s been an explosion but it wasn’t powerful enough to blow off the hatch. I can’t tell if the charge buckled it or if it was jammed during the collision. It looks like someone has wedged a charge against this watertight door with that Acrow prop. There is obviously sea water, under pressure, behind that hatch. Once this hatch is open water will rush along these companion ways and throughout the ship. Let’s go,’ said Shaun as he replaced the hood and retraced his steps back to the main mess.

  Shaun, Jack and Sandro were standing around the main mess table.

  ‘I’m not sure what is going on here,’ said Shaun as he ran a hand through his sweat-covered hair. ‘The ship has obviously been in a collision, it’s holed below the waterline but the watertight doors are holding. So why try to scuttle the ship?’ he asked. ‘The weather has been good, we are fairly close to shore and a port… they could have issued a mayday if they really thought the fire was out of control and they were in danger of sinking. It makes no sense,’ he added.

  ‘It could be an insurance fraud?’ volunteered Sandro. ‘It’s an old ship but still has a resale value.’

  ‘We could take a quick look at the hull,’ suggested Jack. ‘If the damage is not too bad we may be able to put out the fire and make some temporary repairs. We still have a few sheets of ArmourTech and if we can stem the flow of water into the ship we may be able to shore up the breach from inside. Then it’s just a case of pumping out and calling up help to get her into port.’

  ‘Whilst you are thinking about that I’ll see if I can look into the holds. Maybe we can get an idea of the cargo she is carrying,’ said Shaun as he turned to make his way toward the main deck.

  The main deck was canting at an angle and it was awkward walking all the way for’ard to the first hold. Shaun reached for the winch chain and started a hand over hand pull to mechanically roll back the cover to the hold. He opened it enough so that he could poke his head inside and scan the hold with his torch. It was empty. He wound the cover shut and went to the next hold. There were six twenty feet steel containers stacked two high. They took up most of the hold. It was impossible to say what was inside them. They would need to see the manifest. Holds numbers three and four were full of wooden pallets each stacked with sacks and film wrapped to help keep the load intact. It was impossible to read what was printed on the bags. However, the cargo obviously had a value. He winched the covers back in place. Shaun moved to the next hold and was about to open it when he thought he heard voices. Voices coming from within hold number five!

  He grabbed the chain and started to draw back the cover. As it opened hot air and the concentrated smell of raw sewage wafted over him and shouts erupted below. The stench was overpowering and he kept his head turned away as he concentrated on winching the cover back as far as it would go. As the cover hit the stops he looked down into the hold. There were dozens of people staring up at him, shouting and waving their arms. He couldn’t understand what they were saying and why they were there. Then the maze of three high makeshift bunks crammed together started to make sense. The cargo in hold no. 5 was people.

  More and more people seemed to emerge from the bunks and joined in the shouting and arm waving. Shaun tried to signal with his hands to stop the shouting and then shouted:

  ‘Does anyone speak English? English, does anyone speak English?’

  The shouting and arm waving lessened and one of the figures shouted back:

  ‘I speak English. There are women and children down here. Please get us out,’ he pleaded.

  ‘You are all going to be fine. We will get you out. I will be back in a moment with help,’ Shaun reassured them before turning away and shuffling along the deck and back to the others.

  Chapter 36

  Unexpected cargo

  Shaun saw Jack and Sandro making their way for’ard towards him. He guessed they had heard the commotion and were coming to see what it was. As Shaun got close he blurted out:

  ‘There are dozens, maybe hundreds of men, women and children trapped in hold no. 5. They must have been in there days ’cos the place smells like a sewer and they are desperate to get out. One of the men speaks English so he may be able to tell us what happened,’ he added.

  As Jack and Sandro began to move forwards more quickly Shaun shouted:

  ‘We need to be careful,’ but no one was listening.

  Shaun ran after them and caught them before they reached the hold. He forced them to a stop.

  ‘We’ve got to be careful here,’ said Shaun. ‘There may be flooded sections between the access hatches and hold no. 5. If we open a hatch we may not be able to close it against the force of water and the people may not be able to get out. We may end up drowning them and sinking the ship! If we open hatches we may feed the fire with air. If we are going to get them out, the safest way is to bring them up by the hydraulic crane but I’ve got to get the auxiliary generator working first,’ he stressed.

  Shaun started to say more but his words were lost as Jack and Sandro both turned and ran back towards the rope ladder they had used and began to untie it. At the same time they called to Kev and Patrick and explained there were dozens of people still on board, trapped in one of the holds.

  It had taken only minutes to retrieve the rope ladder and position it above the entrance to the hold. Shaun made it clear that he would be the one to secure it. When it was secure he leaned over the edge of the hold and bellowed at the crowd below:

  ‘The man who speaks English, where are you? Where are you?’ he shouted.

  Shaun recognised the man from his soiled singlet, bald head and grey beard. He shouted instructions into the hold below:

  ‘Climb up the rope ladder so we can talk and work out how best to help you all. If you can’t climb up just hold on and we will pull you up. I’m letting it down now.’

  Shaun was aware of a commotion below but he and Sandro were concentrating on letting the rope ladder down slowly. As they looked down they could see that the man in the singlet was making his way to the rope ladder but so were others! Suddenly there was pushing and shoving as younger men brushed others aside and began to fight their way up the rope ladder. Jack was amazed how nimble the first man was as he kicked away grabbing hands and started to scale the ladder. Others fought at the foot and it was clear that the strongest were starting to make their way topside.

  Shaun grabbed the end of the rope he had used to secure the rope ladder and pulled. The knot slipped and the whole ladder, with men on it, began to slide back into the hold. It fell on top of the crowd below and more shouting erupted.

  ‘I had no choice,’ explained Shaun. ‘Once those guys got on deck there would be no controlling them. They would soon outnumber us ten, twenty to one and swarm all over us. They would take us over. I’ve seen it before. We’ve got to control and calm the situation.’

  Shaun signalled with his hands that he wanted Jack and Sandro to listen:

  ‘This is what I suggest,’ he said.

  It took only minutes for Shaun to outline a rescue plan and for them to begin implementing it. Jack moved toward the rail and called for Kev and Patrick; they were waiting for him. He was just about to shout across to them when he stopped in his tracks. He turned and slowly walked back to Sandro and Shaun. The look on his face told them something was wrong.

  ‘What is it?’ asked Sandro.

  ‘I’ve been thinking and I don’t like what is emerging.’

  Jack paused to collect his thoughts. He had their undivided attention.

  ‘This looks like a people trafficking operation… and the captain tried to scuttle his disabled ship and drown everyone. It looks like he’s
in the lifeboat en route somewhere. If we call the coast guard for help it’s only a matter of time before it hits the news channels. What if the ship owners are part of the trafficking operation? For all we know they may even have instructed the captain to scuttle the ship!’

  Sandro butted in:

  ‘If we submit a claim for salvage and ask the owners about the manifest they will know the ship didn’t go down. They may be able to alert the captain so he and the crew can disappear.’

  Shaun continued the developing scenario:

  ‘It’s not just the owners and the crew. There must be others ferrying to and from the ship. If we blurt out news of the salvage the authorities may never get hold of those involved.’

  Jack moved to the ship rail and called to Kev and Patrick.

  ‘Kev, we need to contact the Italian coast guard but not on the marine radio. Can you come on board whilst Sandro returns to the Sultano and talks to them on the satellite phone?’

  Kev didn’t need to hear any more. He headed for the grappling iron and rope.

  ‘Patrick, can you come on board? We need to get the auxiliary generator working and rig up a pallet to lift people out of hold no. 5.’

  Carrying a nineteen litre bottle of water in each hand, down stairwells and across a sloping deck, wasn’t easy. Jack and Kev were both happy to set the bottles down next to the lip of the hold and give their arms a chance to relax. As they did so they ducked their heads over the edge of the hold and called to their spokesman. They told him to untie the thin rope from the rope ladder and throw it to them. They would then lower four large water bottles into the hold. Once the water had been lowered they wanted him to tie the rope to the rope ladder. They would then pull him up so that they could explain how all the people would be rescued, the sick, women and children first.