Willy looked outside again. In the starlight he could now make out the rugged, flat-topped mountains a few miles to port. He noted that the sea was slightly rougher than earlier but that mostly the landing craft just slid across it with a gentle twist and roll motion. Only occasionally did the flat bow strike a larger than normal wave. When it did she shuddered slightly and there was an audible ‘thump’ and a few seconds later droplets of spray would splatter on the windows.
Capt Kirk frowned and bent to look at the radar, tapping it a couple of times. Then he picked up his binoculars and made his way out onto the port wing of the bridge and stared ahead. Carmen moved to look at the radar screen so Andrew and Willy joined her. Carmen pointed. “I think it is this little blip he is worried about,” she explained.
Willy studied the greenish picture with interest. He saw that the shape of the coastline was clearly visible. So were a couple of pinpoints that were small reefs with beacons on them. Andrew pointed to a distinct blip several miles ahead. “That is a boat,” he said.
Suddenly Capt Kirk came to the door of the wheelhouse and called, “Bring her round to starboard two points Lester, there’s something ahead there.”
The mate did as he was told, spinning the wheel, then steadying the LCT on the new course. No sooner had he done this than Capt Kirk let out an oath and shouted, “Bloody hell! Hard a-starboard.”
Willy followed Andrew out onto the starboard wing of the bridge as the Wewak began to swing into the waves. “There!” Andrew cried, gripping his arm and pointing across to port. Willy glimpsed a dim grey shape which he then realized was a small motor launch without any lights on. For a second he held his breath, fearing there would be a collision. Then he saw that they would miss. The motor launch suddenly rolled violently and turned sharply away. The sound of a frightened ejaculation carried across the waves.
Capt Kirk bellowed at the motor launch through a loudhailer, telling the people on it they were bloody fools and should have their navigation lights on. There was no reply but Willy saw patches of white which indicated that the launch had increased speed and was powering away, heading inshore.
As the Wewak turned to starboard the launch vanished from Willy’s view behind the superstructure. He and Andrew hurried back into the wheelhouse but did not go out onto the other wing of the bridge, where an angry Capt Kirk was fuming. “Bloody idiots!” he snapped. He turned to look back into the wheel house and ordered the LCT to turn back onto her proper course. Then he shook his head and said to the mate, “I wondered what that blip on the radar was. It was so small I thought it might have been a defect on the screen. I couldn’t see any lights. Just as well I went out to look or we would have run that silly bastard right over.”
“No survivors then,” the mate replied grimly as he steadied the landing craft back on course. “If they didn’t get killed in the collision, or drowned in the wreckage, they would have been minced up in the screws.”
Willy was appalled and winced at the mental image of the ships propellers slashing and slicing into people. Knowing that the Wewak was brightly lit with all the regulation navigation lights, plus lights in the superstructure, he wondered how the near collision could possibly have occurred. He said, “Surely they could see us coming?”
Capt Kirk, who had again stared out to port, lowered his binoculars and gave a sad shake of his head. “You’d be surprised how rarely people in boats keep a lookout astern.”
“Still hasn’t got any lights on,” Andrew commented.
“Can you still see him?” Capt Kirk asked, again raising his glasses.
“No sir,” Andrew replied.
Only then, as Willy stared through the window at the dark sea and darker coast beyond, did the thought occur to him: ‘I wonder if that was the man we followed making his escape from Cooktown?’
Map 2: Princess Charlotte Bay
CHAPTER 24
BATHURST BAY
Willy turned to Capt Kirk. “Sir, that launch might have the man I was following on board. He might be trying to escape from Cooktown on it. That’s why it has no lights.”
“Maybe,” Capt Kirk answered. He looked around as Willy’s parents, the Becks and Stick all crowded up into the wheelhouse to find out what was going on.
Andrew, who had been staring out through binoculars, lowered them and said, “What if they were keeping tabs on us? Wasn’t that what you thought; that Mr Jemmerling was paying them to spy on us?”
Willy thought about that and felt confused. “But why would they have been ahead of us then?” he said.
Stick answered, “Maybe they are slower than us and wanted to get a head start?”
Capt Kirk shook his head. “No, that launch has a good turn of speed. Besides, he wasn’t watching us at all.”
The mate agreed, adding, “How would he know we were going to steer North East? For all he knew we might just have been heading back to Cairns.”
Willy moved to the radar and stared at the screen. “Can we still see him?”
The mate pointed to a faint blip. “That’s him, about a mile on our port beam.”
“Can we try to catch him?” Willy asked.
Capt Kirk snorted and shook his head. “Fair go young fella! He could easily outmanoeuvre us, even if he couldn’t outrun us. Besides, we don’t know if it is your friend or not.”
Andrew laughed. “And even if we did, what would we do, run along side and board him with cutlasses?”
“But we must do something!” Willy cried.
“We will,” Capt Kirk replied. “I will notify the relevant authorities of a breach of marine regulations and they can investigate.”
“You will tell the police?” Willy asked
“Yes, and the Coastwatch and Customs,” Capt Kirk replied. “Now, if all you people wouldn’t mind leaving the bridge please; it is getting a bit too crowded here.”
As Capt Kirk began radioing Willy went down to the saloon with the others. He wanted to go out on deck but the door was closed and the ship’s ‘Standing Orders’ were no-one out on the deck at night. Instead he sat and drank cold Milo and discussed the situation with the others.
After half an hour he asked if he could go back up onto the bridge again. Capt Kirk said yes so he went up. A check with Andrew informed him that they were now off Cape Bedford and that the dark cape ahead on the port bow was Cape Flattery. He was also told that Capt Kirk had informed the police, Customs, Coastwatch and Marine Safety Organization. Also the incident had been noted in the ship’s log.
Willy looked at the radar but could see no sign of any blip that might be the motor launch. “Where is it?” he asked.
Capt Kirk pointed astern. “We’ve left him behind. He is too low and over the curve of the earth so we don’t have him on radar any more.”
Willy pointed to another blip. “Then what is this thing?”
“Those blips are small islands and that one is a small craft a mile or so ahead of us on the port bow,” Capt Kirk answered, adding, “You can see his lights.”
Willy looked and could, tiny dots of white light against the dark mass of Cape Flattery. “I wonder if that is the yacht Dyfken?” he said.
Capt Kirk shrugged. “Could be. It would be about right. We are overhauling them quite quickly. They must be only doing about seven or eight knots to our twelve.”
Willy stared at the tiny lights. ‘I wonder if that is Jacob and his family?’ he thought. Again he wondered what it was that Jacob was doing off the coast of Cape York. He voiced this to Andrew, adding, “You’d think he’d stay away after his last experience.”
“Whatever he is looking for might be very valuable,” Andrew suggested.
That led them to another discussion of the treasure theory but, as on previous occasions, they argued round in circles for lack of information. It was 10:00pm by then and Willy’s mother called him down for another cup of Milo.
“It is bedtime for you,” she said. “You’ve had a very long day.”
Willy did not
want to go to bed. Partly he was too interested but he also wanted to see if anything else developed. Reluctantly he did as he was told. Out on the canvas covered enclosure he found it was very windy and scatters of spray came back from time to time but the canvas screens kept most of it out. Satisfied that the ropes, netting and canvas screens would stop him slipping out of his stretcher and over the side in his sleep he lay down and made himself comfortable. The four stretchers were placed facing fore-and-aft so he actually felt quite comfortable.
Soon afterwards Willy slipped into a deep sleep. By now the throb of the engines was a comforting background noise and the movement of the ship wasn’t so marked as to cause any alarm or to tip him out. There were dreams but later he could not remember them, only that he had dreamt.
A sqwarking noise woke Willy. Feeling tired and bleary eyed he pulled his sleeping bag aside and looked up. To his surprise it was already getting light. Then the sqwarking came again and he saw it was coming from a large seagull which was hovering on the wind just forward of the screen. ‘Bloody hell! Where did that night go?’ he muttered. A check of his watch told him it was no illusion. It was just after 0500.
A glance showed all the others still asleep. For a few minutes Willy lay back and contemplated trying to go back to sleep. But the attempt was a failure and he decided he may as well get up. Slipping quietly to the deck he stood up and looked out.
About a kilometre ahead to starboard he saw a small rocky island with a lighthouse on it, the light now flashing faintly in the dawn. To the left of the island was a rocky headland with flat land inland of it. At least ten kilometres beyond the headland was a much larger feature, a regular range of rugged mountains.
‘I wonder where we are?’ Willy thought. He patted down his tousled hair, found his chart and made his way to the wheelhouse. Carmen and the mate were on duty, Carmen at the wheel. “Can I come in?” Willy asked.
“Certainly,” the mate replied.
Willy went to the chart table. “Where are we sir?”
The mate pointed. “Here, about a mile south of Barrow Island. That is Barrow Point off the starboard bow.”
“What are those mountains ahead?” Willy asked.
“Cape Melville. Bathurst Bay is around the other side of it,” the mate answered.
Hearing that sent Willy’s excitement level up. ‘Nearly there,’ he thought. He said, “How long before we get there?”
“About three hours,” the mate answered. “Time for more sleep if you want it.”
Willy shook his head and moved to look out through the front. He noted that the sea was even calmer, was almost flat with only small waves. For that he was thankful as it meant they could land.
For the next hour and a half he watched the passing coastline and pondered all that had happened during the last few months. He was then called down for breakfast and found all of the others now awake. A big breakfast of sausages, fried eggs, mushrooms, toast and cereal followed. Willy found he was very hungry.
By the time breakfast was finished Cape Melville was off the Wewak’s port beam. Willy came on deck after cleaning his teeth and stared at the rugged coastline in something approaching awe. The cape appeared to be made of thousands of giant grey boulders with only small clumps of scrub between them. It was one of the most forbidding landscapes he had ever seen.
At 0700 the Wewak rounded the end of the cape and headed west, slipping between some offshore rocks and Pipon Island. To check that what he was now looking at was actually Bathurst Bay Willy went up to the wheelhouse. He found Mr Beck and Norman leaning over the chart table with Capt Kirk.
Capt Kirk tapped the chart with the end of a pencil and shook his head. “I can’t land you exactly there. The water is too shallow offshore and there are a few shoals. It will have to be a kilometre further west I’m afraid.”
“Are you sure?” Mr Beck asked.
“Positive,” Capt Kirk replied. “I landed a mineral exploration team a bit further along only last Wednesday.”
“Can you put us ashore straight away?” Mr Beck asked.
Capt Kirk nodded. “Pretty well. High water is at ten forty two, at two point eight metres. We like to go ashore at the start of a rising tide so that we lift off as soon as we unload.”
“Are you staying at all?” Norman asked.
Capt Kirk again shook his head. “We are contracted to lift these mining people off tomorrow so we will land you and then pull out and anchor, then come in again to pick them up.”
Mr Beck did not look happy and he and Norman moved aside to talk quietly. Capt Kirk looked at Willy. “Yes Willy, what is it?”
“Sir, those big islands ahead at the other side of the bay; is that the Flinders Group?” Willy asked.
Capt Kirk nodded and pointed ahead. “Yes. The one on the left is Denham Island, with Blackwood Island beyond. The big island in the centre is Flinders Island, with Stanley Island behind it to the right. That low island off to seaward of them with the lighthouse on it is King Island,” he explained.
Willy remembered seeing them from the air and noted that from sea level they looked even more barren and rugged. “Thanks sir,” he said. Once again he anxiously scanned the whole stretch of the bay but what he was looking for- the Pterodactyl- was not there. He had half expected to arrive and find the ‘Catalina’ sitting on the bay. It was a relief to see nothing but calm sea.
Carmen came through and relieved Andrew at the wheel. Andrew came over to look at the chart and then started talking to Willy. While they talked Stick and Marjorie came up to join them. Capt Kirk frowned and said, “It’s getting a bit crowded in here. We are going to be doing some manoeuvring soon. If you kids want to watch then go up onto the monkey island. It’s safe enough in daylight.”
Willy had not been up to the monkey island, the highest level of the superstructure directly above the wheelhouse, so he was happy enough to follow that suggestion. However his mother insisted he roll his sleeves down and get a hat before he did. The group made their way aft to where a ladder led up through a trapdoor and climbed up to the deck above. Once there Willy was glad they had because it gave them a very good view in all directions. The only drawback was the lack of protection from wind and sun.
No sooner had Willy settled to leaning on the railings at the forward end than the hum of aero engines made him look around. ‘Is that the Pterodactyl?’ he wondered. The aircraft was easy to locate. It came from behind them and was flying low. His brain instantly noted its details: high-wing, twin-engine, retractable undercarriage. As it flew overhead at about 500 feet Willy noted the red and white paint scheme and badges of the Custom’s Coastwatch Service.
Andrew shielded his eyes to watch it then said, “I hope they have found that launch we nearly ran down.”
“I hope so too,” Willy replied. As the aircraft flew on westwards his thoughts turned to his suspicions about who might be on that launch.
For the next half hour the group stood and watched the coastline slipping by about a mile to port. The weather was clear, with a gentle breeze from off the land, but very humid and sticky. The sea was calm and there was almost no surf breaking on the beach. Only a distant line of cumulus clouds behind them showed any possibility of any change.
The beach held Willy’s attention, for all of its monotony. It stretched almost unbroken for about 20 kilometres, all the way from Cape Melville to the Bathurst Range at the Western end of the bay. Backing the beach was a long line of sand dunes, gleaming white in the tropical sun. Crowning the dunes was a belt of stunted scrub: low, twisted trees and bushes which looked to be quite a thicket. Behind that the tops of a eucalypt forest showed. From his study of the map Willy knew that there was flat land extending inland for several kilometres, right to the base of the Melville Range. Hidden from view were large areas of salt marsh, mudflat, swamp and more sand dunes running parallel to the beach.
After proceeding several miles from the cape the Wewak turned to port and headed in for the beach. As the LCT no
sed slowly in Willy clearly saw areas of shallow water showing up and could soon see the bottom the whole time. As the Wewak continued on towards the beach Willy did some daydreaming, imagining that he was on a navy landing craft heading for an enemy held coast during wartime.
Images from movies he had seen of amphibious landings made him shudder. ‘Guns firing, tracer bullets flying, smoke, fire, dead marines in the surf,’ he pictured. He said to Andrew, “I wouldn’t like to be on a landing craft if this was a battle. There is no cover at all.”
“It could be pretty grim if there was any real opposition,” Andrew replied. Willy then realized that he had been having similar thoughts as Andrew went on to say, “It must have been great when Wewak really did her stuff at Makassang. I reckon commanding a landing craft would be a great job.”
Stick, who had been listening, snorted and said, “You could end up real dead, real fast. I think I’ll stick to a career as Air Force ground crew.”
“I’ll go for the glory,” Andrew said, his eyes sparkling. “If you survived it would be something to be really proud of.”
Willy knew that Andrew was very romantic and that made him smile because he also knew that Andrew had proved he was very brave. “I didn’t know this ship was at the landing at Makassang,” he said, referring to the Australian intervention on that island ten years earlier.
Andrew nodded. “She was. She was one of six landing craft that went in with the first wave.”
“So what does Wewak mean?” Stick asked. “I mean, it’s not Australian is it?”
Andrew shook his head. “No. It is a town on the north coast of New Guinea. She was named after it because the Australian Army did a landing there back in World War 2. So she is really named after a battle as well. She was later transferred to the PNG Navy and kept her name. They sold her to Mr Kirk two years ago when they got a new LCH.”
As he explained this the Wewak grounded very gently with a series of slight shudders while still about 50 metres from the shore.
Coasts of Cape York Page 29
