Coasts of Cape York

by Christopher Cummings

  “It’s all there is,” Graham answered.

  “But.. but it could have anything in it,” Mrs van der Heyden objected.

  “It might have a bit of bird poo and some salt and dust,” Graham agreed, “But the human race evolved drinking dirty water so I doubt if it will hurt you much. Anyway, the other choice is going thirsty and tomorrow that will mean heat exhaustion and death.”

  Julia added her encouragement. “Come on Mum. I will go first.”

  “Don’t you dare Julia. It hasn’t been treated,” Mrs van der Heyden snapped.

  “I’m thirsty,” Julia replied and knelt to drink. After a few sips she said, “It tastes OK.”

  Jacob then hesitantly moved up to drink but his mother still refused.

  Carmen then turned to Graham, who had become their acknowledge expert on being cast away. “What do we do now?” she asked.

  “Find somewhere to shelter for the night,” Graham said. “This place is no good. The wind is blowing straight into it.”

  He led the way back among the boulders to the west and found a sheltered nook. It even had some sand in it so wasn’t too uncomfortable. The group moved out of the wind and settled themselves. Willy sat between Julia and Carmen and stretched out his legs.

  Almost at once Mrs van der Heyden began to complain again. “We can’t stay here. Where will we sleep?”

  “On the sand,” Graham replied matter-of-factly.

  “Oh that’s impossible! We must go somewhere else,” Mrs van der Heyden objected.

  Graham obviously lost his temper as he snapped back, “Well off you go! I’m staying here. You can go where you bloody like. If you can find a better place then good luck to you!”

  “Oh, there’s no need to talk like that,” Mrs van der Heyden replied.

  Carmen interceded. “We can find somewhere better tomorrow,” she said.

  “We will get rescued by then surely,” Mrs van der Heyden queried.

  “By whom?” Graham snorted.

  “Your father.”

  Graham shook his head. “He will have enough trouble getting the Wewak back out of the river. Then he won’t know where to start looking. But yes, he will find us in a few days.”

  “Or an aeroplane will,” Willy added. “He will radio for help.”

  “A few days!” Mrs van der Heyden cried in shocked disbelief. “But what will we eat?”

  “Nothing much,” Graham answered.

  “But.. but we will die!”

  “No you won’t,” Graham replied. Willy could tell by his voice that he was getting exasperated. He went on, “It takes weeks and weeks to die of starvation.”

  Carmen agreed. “I read somewhere that people have lived for sixty or seventy days without food.”

  Mrs van der Heyden continued to grumble. Willy sighed. ‘This is going to be a long night if this keeps on,’ he thought. To change the subject he said, “OK Jacob, tell us about the treasure you are looking for.”

  There was a silence broken by Mrs van der Heyden who said, “That is our business.”

  That annoyed Willy. He said, “We all just risked our lives to save you. I think that makes it our business too.”

  “Oh but!”

  “Mum!” Julia interjected. “Willy is right. If they hadn’t saved us those horrible crooks would have… would have..” She sobbed and Carmen moved over to hold her from one side while her mother hugged her from the other.

  After Julia had been comforted Willy turned to Jacob who was sitting at the end. “Well Jacob? That is twice we have saved you. I think you owe us.”

  When Jacob hesitated Andrew said, “It won’t matter. It’s not a secret anymore. Besides, the crooks will get to it first now.”

  That convinced him. In the darkness Willy saw Jacob nod. Jacob then said, “You read the headlines on those magazine articles I had? Well that got it all going. If we had a light you could read them but I have read them so often that I can give you the gist of them.”

  After a short pause Jacob went on. “The first article appeared in the newspaper in September last year. It is the one titled ‘Mystery of Makassang Crown Jewels?’ Do you know where Makassang is?”

  Willy did but Graham answered first. “It is a little independent island country next to Indonesia. We fought a war to help them stay independent a few years ago. My cadet company commander, Capt Conkey, fought there. He has told us a bit about it.”

  Jacob nodded. “Well I didn’t know until Grandad read the article and showed me on the map. He used to be an officer in the Dutch Navy you know, and back in the Second World War he was based there. The whole region used to be called the Netherlands East Indies. Apparently Makassang was what they called a ‘protectorate’. That meant that the local ruler ran the place with Dutch protection and guidance.”

  “A rajah,” Carmen added.

  “Yes, that’s right,” Jacob agreed. “Well, in September last year they crowned a new rajah. The article is about the fact that they had to use imitation jewels and a fake ‘Sword of State’ for the ceremony because the real ones had gone missing at the time of the Japanese invasion in February 1942.”

  “The article says that it is a pity that no-one knows what happened to the jewels and asks the question- were they stolen or were they lost? Apparently the Japanese claim that they did not take them, that the jewels were missing when they occupied the palace. The Japanese ambassador suggested that either they were hidden by a person or persons who later died and took the secret with them, or they went with the royal family when they fled.”

  Jacob looked around, and saw that he had their full attention so he went on. “That was the bit that got Grandad’s attention. He told us that he was the navigator on a Dutch flying boat that evacuated some of the royal party the night that the Japanese invaded.”

  Willy interrupted. “A ‘Dornier’ Do 24, a big machine with three motors. The Dutch had about thirty of them in the East Indies.”

  “Yes, that is right,” Jacob agreed. “Well, Grandad said that there were two flying boats. The other one took the Rajah and his family and personal servants, plus some Dutch officials and their families. His plane carried the Vizier, what we would call the ‘Prime Minister’, the Lord Chamberlain, who was the official in charge of the royal household, various other officials and some Dutch officers and their families. Grandad said they only carried one piece of hand luggage each and he did not remember any mention of crown jewels.”

  “They flew to Horn Island but were attacked on the way by Japanese ‘Zero’ fighters. Grandad said that they managed to escape but that both aircraft were damaged. At Horn Island they did some repairs, refuelled and then flew on, heading for Cairns. But they did not make it. They ran into a bad tropical storm and then found that the battle damage was worse than they had thought. They crashed in the sea. Grandad said it was horrible. He helped get a lot of the passengers into a rubber life raft but the waves turned it over and then swept them across a coral reef. Everyone else was drowned. He then drifted for five days before being rescued.”

  Graham interrupted, “Did he know where the plane crashed?”

  “Not really,” Jacob said. “But somewhere in this area.”

  “Who rescued him and where?” Willy asked.

  “Some Aborigines from the Lockhart River Mission Station,” Jacob answered.

  “What about the other plane?” asked Carmen.

  “The one with the Rajah? It made it safely to Cairns,” Jacob said.

  Willy was fascinated but puzzled. “If your Grandad was the navigator, how come he didn’t know where the crash was?” he asked.

  “Because they were flying in cloud in a bad storm,” Jacob replied. “He had a good idea, but could not pin it down exactly.”

  “Is that what the notes and chart were about?” Willy asked.

  “Yes.”

  “So why didn’t he go back and look before now?” Willy asked. “Why didn’t people look for the wreck before then?”

  “Because the
re was a war on,” Jacob replied. “Australia was in a state of crisis. Singapore had surrendered to the Japanese only five days before, the battle for Java was underway. The Japanese had already landed in northern New Guinea and were bombing Port Moresby and they did the first raid on Darwin the day after the crash. He said everyone was just too busy or they didn’t have the resources. Later there seemed to be no point because no-body knew the crown jewels were missing.”

  Jacob paused, then said, “Grandad said they did a couple of flights to look for survivors but did not see any. He said it was his worst memory of his whole life, the little Dutch children trapped in the sinking wreck and drowning, and women screaming, people fighting to get into the raft. He had nightmares about that but never spoke of it until last year.”

  “But, if it was a flying boat, why did it sink?” Willy asked.

  “Apparently it struck a coral reef on landing. The coral ripped the floats off and the bottom out of the hull. He said the only reason he got out was because it crashed in a lagoon inside a reef,” Jacob explained.

  “And you think that the crown jewels are in the wreck?” Willy asked.

  “Yes.”

  Carmen asked, “What was the second article about?”

  “Once my Grandad read about the jewels he started doing some research. But he was not the only one. He kept bumping into a man named Hobbs. The article was written by him.”

  “Hobbs! Mr Jemmerling’s man!” Willy cried.

  “Could be,” Carmen agreed.

  “So what was in the article?” Willy asked. He itched to read the two documents.

  “Much the same as the newspaper report except that it was published in an aircraft magazine and has lots of technical information on the planes. It gives details like the aircraft registration numbers and names of the pilots and so on. Grandad is mentioned as the only survivor. It also mentioned that he flew ‘Qantas’ Flying boats after the war and that he was still alive and living in Sydney. After that he got lots of calls from people, some of them cranks.”

  “It was horrible!” Julia said. “Total strangers would send him letters or telephone, accusing him of having stolen the jewels and murdered everyone else. It… it.. it upset him terribly. It.. it.” She burst into tears.

  While his mother comforted her Jacob finished, “We think the stress brought on the stroke that killed him. Grandad died in October. That’s when I got interested.”

  “Did your Grandad leave the notes and things?” Willy asked.

  “Yes he did,” Jacob said.

  “So how did Gator Smith and his scaly mate Corey get involved?” Graham asked.

  Jacob grunted, then said, “I told my friend Karl about this and he knew Gator. We needed a boat and Gator had one.”

  “So why didn’t you find the wreck on your first trip?” Willy asked. “Why did they shoot Karl and try to kill you for your maps?”

  “Because I wouldn’t let any of them see the notes or chart,” Jacob said. “We spent a week looking and I suppose they got impatient. I.. er.. I couldn’t find the reef.”

  “Yes,” Graham commented sarcastically, “We’ve noted that seamanship and navigation aren’t your strong points.”

  “Well so what? I’m a builder, not a sailor!” Jacob retorted, obviously stung by the jibe.

  Willy was not impressed. ‘Coastal navigation isn’t that difficult to learn,’ he thought. But he said, “So the wreck is on a reef somewhere?”

  “If the sea hasn’t washed it away,” Jacob agreed.

  “So that is why you have the diving gear?” Andrew asked.

  Graham nodded and said, “Well, maybe there is still a chance. If we can contact a ship or plane tomorrow we just might beat the crooks to the wreck, if you can show us where to look.”

  “I can do that,” Julia agreed.

  Willy felt a surge of interest and hope. ‘A wrecked ‘Dornier’ flying boat. That will be really something. But can we get there first to get the crown jewels?’ he wondered.

  CHAPTER 35

  SEMAPHORE AND STORM

  The discussion of details went on far into the night. Willy learned that Jacob’s father was the son of Cornelius van der Heyden and that he was a builder. Mrs van der Heyden was a Dutch migrant who had come to Australia as a little girl in the 1970s. The parents had met at a Dutch cultural event. To fund this trip they had scraped together all their funds and gone into debt. Mr van der Heyden had been unable to come for business reasons. It was obvious to Willy that the whole expedition was launched with poor preparation and on a shoestring budget.

  It was an uncomfortable night and Willy got very little sleep. Between the sound of the sea, the sand getting into his hair and clothes, and the stones digging into his flesh it was physically unpleasant. There was also the continual nagging anxiety about his father. ‘If he is alright he will be really worried about us,’ Willy thought unhappily.

  The wind died away to a strong breeze for much of the night. But apart from one light shower of rain which lasted a few minutes, there were no incidents. Graham said there was no point in having any sentries. As he said, the chances of the crooks coming back, and of then finding them on such a large and rocky island in the dark were too small to count.

  The diminishing wind lifted Willy’s hopes that they would be quickly found and that they could then try to beat the crooks to the wrecked ‘Dornier’.

  As the first flush of dawn showed in the eastern sky Graham stood up and looked around, then woke everyone. “Drink first, then we start a watch roster so we can try to contact any ship that comes past,” he said.

  Willy sat up, rubbing eyes gummed with sleep. He felt gritty, dirty and tired. Stubble on his chin both pleased and annoyed him. It made him feel more manly but it also felt unpleasant. “How will you do that?” he asked.

  That was the problem. Graham shrugged and said, “If we could light a fire that would help. Has anyone got any matches or a cigarette lighter?”

  Nobody had. “What about a mirror?” Graham asked.

  “I have, but it’s only a little one,” Julia replied. She dug in the pocket of her jeans and extracted a small compact. Inside the lid was a small, circular mirror.

  “That will do,” Graham said.

  “How will you use it?” Andrew asked.

  “I know how,” Carmen said.

  Willy puzzled over how to use the mirror. “Are you going to send Morse Code or something?” he asked.

  Carmen shook her head. “No. I will just use it to attract attention. Then I will use semaphore and hope there are some old navy-trained sailors on the ship.”

  “Where will we do it from?” Graham asked.

  “Top of the hill,” Carmen replied. “Come on, I’m thirsty.” She led the way back to the spring. In daylight it looked even smaller and less palatable but Willy was too thirsty to be particular. He thankfully drank as much as he could, trying to ignore the slicks of bird manure and green slime that ringed the small rock pool. This time Mrs van der Heyden drank some, but with evident disgust.

  Carmen then said, “No need for us all to go up. Mrs van der Heyden, you stay here with Jacob and Julia.”

  She then led the way up the hill. In daylight this was quite easy going and it only took her twenty minutes to reach the summit. Willy went with the group. As soon as he reached the top he moved across to look down to where they had landed the previous day. To his relief there was no sign of the Saurian or their boat.

  He then scanned the sea in all directions, hoping to see a ship. There was none. Graham explained that the main shipping channel was to the north of the island group. That was dispiriting news and made Willy doubtful of a quick rescue. With nothing else to do the friends seated themselves on a big boulder and talked. The main topics were the chance of being rescued, the previous day’s chase, and the chances of finding the crown jewels.

  The sun slowly came up but it was a weak and watery sun which shone fitfully through a thin layer of high cloud. Carmen and Andrew both
studied that cloud and the wind very hard. “I don’t like the look of that sky,” Carmen said.

  “The cyclone?” Graham asked.

  Carmen nodded. “Yes. I think it is getting closer.”

  “A ship!” Andrew cried.

  Willy looked and saw the distant shape of a big freighter. It was butting its way west across Bathurst Bay, puffs of white spray showing every few seconds. Carmen sprang up. “Quick! We aren’t ready. Get two sticks about a metre long, quickly,” she ordered.

  This was easily done as grasstrees dotted the hillside. Carmen then instructed Andrew to make two flags with shirts. Graham and Andrew at once pulled off their shirts and began tying them to the sticks. Carmen took out Julia’s mirror and held it in one hand while extending her other arm and raising a finger vertically. By the time she was ready Willy was surprised to note that the big ship was much closer.

  “He’s pushing along,” he commented.

  “Probably trying to outrun the cyclone,” Andrew suggested.

  Carmen now positioned herself facing towards the ship. Very carefully she moved the mirror until she could see the sun’s reflection on her arm. Having done that she moved the reflected light slowly along her arm and onto her upraised finger, all the time keeping stick and ship in line. When the reflected sunlight reached a point where the beam of light, her finger and the ship were all in line-of-sight she gently moved the mirror up and down so that the light would appear to flash.

  “You need the finger as an aiming mark,” she explained. “Otherwise you can’t tell if the flashes are pointed at the observer.”

  “You learnt that at navy cadets,” Graham said.

  “Yes, and the semaphore. You and Andrew have those flags ready for me to use for semaphore.”

  All Willy could do was nod. He felt a bit useless as the other boys tied their shirts to the sticks by their sleeves. He went back to watching. By this time the big ship was level with them and so far showed no sign of responding.