A Ravel of Waters

'Yes. That's why I want the three of you. I need your help and know-how!'

'Apart from your own.' She leaned down impetuously and touched my forehead with the tips of her fingers. 'You'll have to take the rap – you know that.' 'I know that, Kay.' She went on looking at me, then added, 'I'll troll for a blow tonight, Peter.' 'You do that, Kay.'

She waited, as if she expected me to say more. I was tongue-tied by all the cross currents. I said, 'Tentatively, ten tonight in my cabin with the others?'. She nodded. I hurried down the ladder to the bridge.

Grohman was already there. His slick Jetwind uniform offset his aquiline Spanish features. I felt by comparison rather like a bum-boat skipper in the black cold-weather rig I had hastily bought in Cape Town. Tideman pretended to be consulting a switch panel; Brockton was in a neutral corner near the radio office door.

Grohman tried to defuse the situation, for he must have been aware of my orders.

'Lunch has been waiting, sir, if you'd care to come. I'm sure you would also like to meet other members of the crew.'

I decided to play it cool and not precipitate a crisis. 'You mean, those that haven't gone off on a picnic,' I retorted sarcastically. 'Lunch is off. There's to be no picnic. This isn't a bloody Sunday school party’

Grohman remained unruffled, a trifle supercilious. 'I understand you have already cancelled my orders about the boats.'

'Picnic!' I exploded. 'What does a fit young crew like Jetwind's want with a picnic, for crying out loud!'

I suspected why Grohman kept his control under my unequivocal stand. He was playing from strength – the strength of the destroyer's approach.

'I felt that the morale of the crew was being affected by being cooped up in port,' he replied evenly. 'They needed a diversion. I arranged an outing in the ship's boats to Cape Pembroke – there's a fine beach there where they can swim and camp overnight…'

Overnight! I saw his game. Half Jetwind’s crew would be absent next day when the Almirante Storni made port. It was a subtle method of immobilizing the ship. Not even automated Jetwind could sail with only half her crew.

I cut his explanation short. 'As of now, the entire crew goes on regular sea watch. Four hours on, four hours off, plus the usual dog-watches. All shore-leave is cancelled. Is that clear?'

Fortuitously, Grohman had given me the opportunity to put the crew on full alert without raising suspicions of a break-out. It was a secrecy problem which had solved itself. Another – unsolved – was how to get a synoptic weather forecast from Weather Routing without revealing that I was preparing to put to sea. I urgently needed to know what was happening to the weather in the 400 sector of ocean between Cape Horn and the Falklands.

'But,' Grohman was protesting, 'the Ladies Circle has arranged a special movie show at the Upland Goose for those staying behind tonight and we shouldn't disappoint them…'

'The Ladies Circle can and bloody well will be disappointed,' I answered. 'What is the Upland Goose, anyhow?' 'It's the one and only local pub,’ Tideman interjected.

'Forget it,' I snapped. 'Put 'em to work. Sailoring, not cinemas, is what a crew needs. That's what they signed on for.' 'Circumstances have changed since then,' commented Grohman. His temper was beginning to rise. 'Thanks to you,’ I retaliated. ‘I intend to have my crew sharp and seamanlike, in port as well as on the high seas.'

Grohman bit his Up; Tideman said in his best officer-of-the-watch tone, 'What are your orders about the boat that is already ashore, sir?' 'What is it supposed to be doing?'

'Collecting supplies for the picnic. Beer, barbecue mutton, and so on.'

'I'm going ashore myself in a few minutes,' I replied. 'I want a small boat – I'll give the men at the jetty orders myself.'

'There's only one supermarket in the town,' Grohman said. 'The loss of that amount of trade will cause ill-feeling if you suddenly cancel it.'

'You're very considerate about other people's feelings, Mr Grohman.'

He rode the rebuke. 'This is a small place. You don't understand the situation.'

'It is not by my choice that Jetwind is holed up here,' I retorted. 'Remember that. This ship's place is on the high seas, not stagnating in this god-forsaken little port. A crew's a crew, and for me they work like a crew. Or else. Remember that, too. Further, you'll take the deck-now,' I told Grohman. I had done a quick mental calculation of watch-times so that Tideman would be on duty with me for the break-out. 'Get my boat alongside. I'll be back in an hour. 'Any questions?' I added rhetorically.

There weren't any, of course, after that, but Paul, who had stood outside the blast area, intercepted me as I left the wheel-house with Tideman. 'Any objection if I go on casing the air waves with young Arno, Peter?'

I wanted to say, I'd give anything for a weather intercept. Instead I replied, 'Okay, Paul. I want a word with you when I come aboard again.'