Everyone except Capt Proctor and Mr Marshall were ordered off the bridge. The ship then got under way, shaping a course South West through the Rattlesnake Channel. This brought them out into more open water and into bigger waves. The wave pattern was very confused and it was rough going but Willy was so worn out he felt no fear. Instead he went below and lay down again. So tired was he that he was again asleep within minutes.
The Bonthorpe came to anchor about a mile off the mouth of the Normanby River at 1:45pm. The noise of the anchor chain roaring down the hawse pipe woke Willy and snatches of conversation penetrated his fuddled mind. Waking himself and rubbing gummed up and sore eyes he went to look. He was surprised to see that the sea had now subsided to mere ripples. The wind was now just a pleasant breeze from the north.
Between them and the shore was a huge area of shallows and sand bars and he could see why Capt Proctor had not wanted to take such a deep draught vessel closer to the shore. But how to get ashore to check?
Willy joined an anxious and distressed Graham on the deck aft of the superstructure. Carmen and Andrew joined them. They stared glumly at the intervening shoals and water and puzzled over how to get in.
“One thing is for sure, this ship won’t be going in,” Graham said. “She draws seven metres and it is hours before the tide is up.”
Willy puzzled over the problem. He was deeply worried about his own father but could see that not knowing was tearing Graham apart emotionally. ‘His parents might have been dead before the storm,’ he thought. ‘The crooks might have shot them.’ But how to find out? He could see that ideas such as rafts were absurd. Not only was there the danger of crocodiles but the river appeared to be in flood and large quantities of debris: logs, trees and grass, were washing out.
Then a sound reached his ears that sent his hopes soaring. “An aircraft,” he said, looking around. The plane was coming from the north and he shielded his eyes from the glare and squinted in that direction. After a minute’s fruitless search he suddenly spotted a tiny dark shape. Even as he detected it his brain registered the silhouette.
“That is the Pterodactyl!” he cried.
It was. The flying boat came straight towards them, flying at about a thousand feet. As it reached them it went into a banking turn circling them. Willy suddenly became agitated. “Carmen, quickly! Radio the Pterodactyl and ask them to search up the river. Quick!”
There was a rush for the wheelhouse. Willy emerged on the bridge panting and excited. ‘A plane is just what we need,’ he thought happily. He arrived to find Capt Proctor already talking to the aircraft. Carmen danced with impatience and then requested politely that she be allowed to use the radio. A puzzled Capt Proctor nodded. Carmen sat down at the table and grabbed the handpiece. “They are friends of ours,” she explained.
She quickly called Pterodactyl, using the plane’s name rather than its registration call sign. It was Mr Jemmerling who answered. “Who is that? Over,” he replied.
“Carmen, Carmen Collins. I am here with my brother Andrew and with Willy Williams and Graham Kirk. Over,” she replied.
“What are you doing on that ship? I thought you were all on the Wewak. Over,” Mr Jemmerling answered.
“We were on the Wewak. It is a long story, one that you will want to hear. Please sir, can you fly south up the Normanby River and see if the Wewak is still there, with a yacht. Over,” Carmen said.
“South up the Normanby. Roger, over,” Mr Jemmerling replied.
Willy saw the flying boat bank sharply and head south. ‘We will soon know the worst,’ he thought.
CHAPTER 38
TEST OF COURAGE
As the Pterodactyl flew towards the low lying coast Willy glanced at Graham. He saw that his face was set in a sort of frozen mask, his eyes filed with anxiety. ‘Poor bugger! He will know the worst soon; and so will I,’ he thought.
The flying boat was still quite visible when Willy saw it turn and then go round in a wide circle, low over the distant mangroves. ‘They must be able to see something,’ he decided. But there was then an agonizing wait of five minutes while the flying boat went round and round.
Then the radio crackled and he heard Mr Jemmerling’s voice calling, “Hello Wewak. Wewak, this is flying boat Pterodactyl, over.”
There was no answer but the flying boat kept circling and Mr Jemmerling called three more times. There was no response and Willy felt a sensation of sick apprehension churning in his stomach.
Pterodactyl abruptly turned towards the Bonthorpe. As she flew towards them Mr Jemmerling called them up. Carmen answered at once. Mr Jemmerling acknowledged and then said, “The Wewak is there and she looks quite undamaged. There are people on her superstructure waving. I think one of them is Capt Kirk and one is definitely a woman. There must be something wrong with their radio, over.”
Willy felt the band around his chest loosen and saw Graham sigh with relief and sag. Mrs van der Heyden then said, “Can you ask them if our yacht is OK?”
Carmen did and Mr Jemmerling confirmed that there was a yacht moored to the bank near the Wewak. “It appears alright,” he added.
“Oh thank heavens for that. We might salvage something from this disaster after all,” Mrs van der Heyden commented.
Willy now said to Carmen, “Carmen, please ask Mr Jemmerling if he can search for the Saurian.”
Mr Jemmerling came back after she had made this request, saying, “Yes, but I want to make sure the people on Wewak are alright first. Do you have a boat? Over.”
“Negative. It was washed overboard during the cyclone. Over,” Carmen answered.
“Alright, we will use our rubber boat. We will land and you can tell me this story while we get organized. Over,” Mr Jemmerling replied.
Willy was pleased and surprised at that. He also became anxious. ‘There is a lot of floating debris coming out of the river,’ he thought. ‘If the flying boat hits a floating log it will sink.’
But it was obvious that the people in the aircraft could clearly see the problem as they flew up and down a couple of times, then came in to a landing approach well to the east. By then the sea had subsided to ripples only a few centimetres high and the flying boat kissed the water with barely a bump. For a couple of minutes she slowed, showing a lovely curl of white bow wave. Then she turned and taxied over, anchoring a hundred metres from the Bonthorpe.
Ten minutes later Mr Jemmerling was helped aboard from the Pterodactyl’s rubber boat, which was crewed by Mr Hobbs and Harvey. Willy felt very pleased to see him and hurried over to help him aboard. Mr Jemmerling shook his hand and gestured to the ship. “Looks like you took a bit of a battering.”
“We did,” Willy agreed. “It was bloody horrible. Give me flying any day.”
Mr Jemmerling laughed and turned to greet Capt Proctor. Willy then introduced the van der Heydens. That really got Mr Jemmerling’s interest. “You are the chap Willy helped to rescue, the one who was floating in the sea with a shark?”
Jacob nodded. He looked exhausted and somehow defeated and Willy felt sorry for him. Mr Jemmerling next shook hands with Mrs van der Heyden and Julia. Then he looked at Carmen and said, “And there is an interesting story you said Carmen?”
“Yes sir, but it can wait. Can we please check to see if the people on the Wewak are alright?” Carmen answered.
Mr Jemmerling nodded. “Of course. I will send our boat into the Normanby River with a radio to check on the Wewak and her people. While that is done we will fly around and see if we can locate anyone else who might need help.”
“It will be dangerous going up that flooded river in a rubber boat,” Capt Proctor warned.
Mr Jemmerling gave a thin smile. “You are right. That is why I will send Mr Hobbs here and a couple of volunteers.”
Graham at once put up his hand. “Please sir. I have to go. My mum and dad and sister are on Wewak.”
“It will be dangerous.”
“Oh poo!” Graham snapped. “I have spent my whole life in li
ttle boats in these waters.”
Andrew said, “Besides, even the crocodiles must have some sense of what is worth eating.”
That caused a laugh and eased the tension. Mr Jemmerling said, “Yes, alright. Who else?”
Willy at once put up his hand. “Me sir. I want to find out if my dad is alright.”
“Of course. Now, it is only a small boat. Room for one more,” Mr Jemmerling said.
Mr Marshall at once volunteered. “I can help with any ship work,” he added.
The relief expedition was quickly organized. Mr Jemmerling was ferried back to the ‘Catalina’ and the rubber boat returned. Somewhat anxiously Willy joined the small party in the rubber boat. That short step was a small test of courage for Willy as the boat looked so small and so close to the water and he was acutely conscious it was only an inflatable. As he lowered himself to a sitting position he eyed the muddy waters around them with anxiety.
From the sitting position Willy felt even more anxious. The water was lapping at the inflated rubber sides and seemed to be only a few centimetres from him. He had the impression he was already sinking and thoughts of the rubber being punctured by floating logs caused his fear to shoot up. But he determined not to show it and tried to focus on the task.
The boat set off, pushed along by its small outboard motor at about 5 knots. As it made its way into the shallows the ‘Catalina’ took off and then came back low overhead. Willy watched it with interest. “I wish I was up there instead of down here in this crocodile soup,” he commented.
The others laughed but Willy did note them cast a few anxious glances at the murky, muddy water that surrounded them.
The ‘Catalina’ circled twice over the Wewak and then turned to head west, following the coast of Princess Charlotte Bay. At the next river mouth it went inland and did some more circling. Then it continued on, following the coastline.
Willy watched till the ‘Catalina’ was out of sight, then transferred his attention back to his own predicament. He was secretly appalled at the speed of the muddy current and by the amount of floating debris that it carried. The rubber boat was continually dodging trees and logs and frequently pushed through floating muck. To get up the river they had to hug the banks to keep out of the strongest flow.
It took about twenty minutes to cover the distance but at 3:05pm they rounded a curve and the yacht and the Wewak came into sight. From that distance they both looked quite undamaged. To Willy’s relief there were people visible working on deck and these soon saw them and began waving. He waved back and found himself all choked up and in danger of blubbering in front of his friend. Then he saw his father and tears did come and he didn’t care. Weeping with joy he waved.
A couple of minutes later he was helped aboard. His father was also overcome with happiness and for the first time in his life Willy saw him cry. “Oh Willy!” he croaked, then hugged him tight. Willy clung to his dad for several minutes, uncaring what his friends thought.
They obviously thought it was perfectly natural for Willy noted tears on the faces of all the Kirk family when Graham was embraced by them. Even tough Capt Kirk looked to have watery eyes and Graham certainly was crying.
Willy’s father eased him away and looked him up and down. “Oh I am glad to see you. I was afraid you were a goner when that cyclone hit,” he said.
“So did we!” Willy answered.
“What happened?”
“It’s along story,” Willy replied.
At that Capt Kirk interrupted. “Then let’s save it for later. I want to get these vessels out of this river while we can. If we waste time yakking we will lose the tide.” He at once gave orders and sent people to carry out various tasks. Willy was sent with Graham to tend the mooring lines at the bow and Mr Hobbs and Mr Marshall to take over the yacht. They climbed back into the boat and went across to the yacht with a towrope. The Wewak was then untied from the mangroves and turned itself to face downriver. That done the towrope was brought across by the rubber boat. Once the tow line was secure Mr Hobbs returned to the yacht and fastened the rubber boat to the yacht by its painter, then climbed aboard. After coiling and stowing the mooring lines Willy and Graham made their way to the monkey island to act as lookouts.
The voyage downriver to the open sea was then begun. The first part was easy, the river being deep and the current of flood run-off hurrying them along. The tricky part was navigating the sandbars at the river mouth but by staying in the main flow they made it without incident.
As they moved out into the open sea near the Bonthorpe the ‘Catalina’ reappeared, flying in from the north. The Wewak was manoeuvred alongside the Bonthorpe, fenders being placed over the side by Graham, Kylie and Willy. The two ships were then lashed together. The yacht was tied up astern. Mr Hobbs motored over to the ‘Catalina’ and returned a few minutes later with Mr Jemmerling.
There were greetings and much chatter and Capt Kirk called them all to the saloon of the Wewak. Everyone crowded in and Mrs Kirk, helped by Kylie and the cook from the Bonthorpe produced afternoon tea. Willy noted that it was 3:45pm by then and he began to fret. Now that he knew his father and Graham’s family were safe he had begun to think about the Saurian and its possible fate.
Carmen then told the story, starting with when they had taken the Dyfken in tow. As the story of the arrival of the crooks and the subsequent chase and handing over of the maps unfolded Mr Jemmerling looked more and more interested and incredulous. Capt Kirk told how the crooks had boarded the Wewak and explained that they smashed the radios in both vessels and also took the satellite phone before leaving.
Willy, Andrew and Graham added some details of the chase and about the fight on the island and Willy explained how he had negotiated the release of Mrs van der Heyden in exchange for the maps. “That was when I spoke to this Gator character and he said he had never heard of you. It seems I was wrong sir. I jumped to conclusions that you were paying him to spy on us and to steal Mr Beck’s maps and so on but they were doing that all on their own. I’m sorry sir. I apologize for all those horrible things I said.”
Mr Jemmerling nodded and looked grave. “Thank you Willy. I appreciate your honesty and your courage in saying sorry. Now Carmen, this launch the Saurian, you last saw it heading north behind Flinders Island the evening before the cyclone arrived?”
“Yes. I am sure the crooks wanted to find the Dornier and get the treasure before we could warn the authorities,” Carmen said.
The details of the Makassang crown jewels and of Jacob’s grandfather had to be covered again and then Willy provided details of the Dornier. Mr Jemmerling nodded. “Yes, I’ve seen pictures of the Dornier flying boats- but a real wreck! Now that would be something.”
“It must be a war grave sir,” Willy put in, concerned that Mr Jemmerling’s desire to own vintage aircraft might over-ride his sense of what was right.
“Yes Willy. Give me some credit for decency please. Now, you think the crooks headed off out towards this Crab Reef out on the outer Barrier Reef?”
“Yes sir.”
“But didn’t these crooks know that there was a cyclone out there?” Mr Jemmerling queried.
No-one could answer that. The best that Carmen could suggest was that the last weather warnings they had heard had all put the cyclone well out to sea and heading South West towards Cairns. “It changed track the next day and came this way,” she added.
Willy now voiced his concerns. “We must go and look Sir. Could we use your plane to do that?”
“Yes we could,” Mr Jemmerling said. He looked at his watch. “Hmm. Coming up to four o’clock. We have about three hours of daylight. That gives plenty of time. OK, we will fly around for a couple of hours and see if we can locate this launch, and anyone else who might need help.”
As soon as Mr Jemmerling agreed Willy was gripped by an intense desire to be in the search plane. He said, “Please Mr Jemmerling, may I come with you?”
Mr Jemmerling frowned. “If your dad agrees.”<
br />
Willy turned to his father. “Please Dad,” he begged.
Willy’s father nodded and looked at Mr Jemmerling. “Yes, he can go. It is obviously very important to him.”
Mr Jemmerling looked doubtful, then nodded. “Yes, I see. Alright, and also young Jacob here, if he wants.”
Jacob looked unhappy but nodded. So it was agreed. There were a few more minutes spent in making quick preparations and then Willy, Jacob and Mr Jemmerling were ferried across to the flying boat in the rubber dinghy.
The short trip in the rubber boat was another small test of courage for Willy but he was so determined to fly in the ‘Catalina’ that he clenched his jaw and made himself act calm. But all the way across he eyed the muddy waters anxiously.
Once in the flying boat Willy felt safe and relaxed. He was told to take a seat behind the pilot. As soon as the rubber boat was lifted from the water and dragged through the door was closed and the engines started. After a few minutes warm up and a lot of careful study of the take-off area the throttles were opened and the ‘Catalina’ began her take off run.
As the aircraft unstuck and lifted clear of the water Willy relaxed. Now he felt much happier. Mr Jemmerling, who was seated in the co-pilot’s seat, now turned to Willy and asked him for advice on their course. Willy suggested that they first search around the Flinders Group and other islands in that area. This suggestion was accepted and the ‘Catalina’ set course for Flinders Island.
Five minutes later they were over Blackwood Island. Willy looked down at the calm blue sea and the gentle surf washing the island’s rocky shore and could only marvel at the change ten hours had brought. Already the night of terror seemed to be an unreal nightmare. They circled the island at 500 feet, then went over to Denham Island. As they circled it Willy pointed out where they had been marooned and where the spring was on the south side.
As they circled around over Bathurst Bay the pilot pointed off to starboard. “What is that black object on the shore over there?”
“Looks like a ship. We had better investigate,” Mr Jemmerling said.
Coasts of Cape York Page 45
