Dave dismissed his small shattered illusion and said, 'Then to that extent, I guess the movie business is just like life.'
Chapter SIXTEEN
Dave met Jock, the Duke's electrical officer, and Niven, the second officer, on their way out of the bridge wing.
'I was going to come and check the handset on your radio, wasn't I?' admitted Jock.
'Hey, no problem,' said Dave. 'Fixed it myself. But what about this hurricane? Is it going to catch us up, do you think?'
'We're on our way down to the radio room to get the latest weather report,' said Niven. 'You're welcome to join us, sir, if you're interested.'
'Thanks, I'd like to.'
Dave followed the two men along the corridor to the radio room.
As Jock waited for a detailed weather map to be printed out on the fax machine, Niven said, 'I wouldn't worry about the storm, if I were you sir. It's my job to lay off courses and to take account of any hazards to navigation. That includes storms. If Hurricane Louisa looks like it's getting too close, we'll simply alter course and try to get out of her way.'
Niven's comment sent up a small distress signal in Dave's head about the rendezvous. 'By how much do you think we would have to alter course?' he asked.
'That all depends, sir,' said Niven.
'Storm Force Nine,' said Jock, reading the map. He tore the fax off the machine and handed it to Niven. 'Heading northwest toward the North Atlantic Plateau. Straight for us.'
'I'd better give this to the captain,' said Niven. On his way out of the radio room, he called back, 'Provided Louisa stays on course we should be able to sidestep her without much of a problem.'
Dave nodded, although he was not much reassured by this latest news.
'The second officer's right, sir,' said Jock. 'We'll probably just go a bit further south, that's all. Might put us slightly behind schedule, only you wouldn't want to be on this ship in a storm, sir. Because of the high profile, see? The Duke's like a floating multi-storey car park. What's more, there's not much in the way of freeboard.'
'Freeboard?'
'In the tropical zone you expect the best weather, so you load more cargo with a consequent reduction in freeboard,' explained Jock. 'Increased freeboard increases the safety of the ship in bad weather. And vice versa. Plus, we're working on the summer loadline. That also decreases our freeboard.' Jock grinned and began to roll a cigarette.
'Ach, don't worry yourself. If we do have a problem we can always radio that
submarine.'
'You really think it's there?'
Jock lit his cigarette, flicked a switch on the radio to change channels, and Dave heard the sound that he had heard before. Jock said, 'There it is. Broadcasting right now.'
Dave remembered Keach screwing around with his Tracvision antenna and wondered if the signal could have anything to do with the Baby Doc.
'Wait a minute,' he said. 'Before, you said you thought a sub was only a possibility. That it might be one of the boats on this ship that was broadcasting.'
'Aye sir, that was the first possibility. The sub was the second. And now that I think about it, there's a third as well.'
'What's that?'
'One of the boats on this ship is broadcasting to the submarine.' Jock sucked on the cigarette with slow precision and half swallowed his inhalation of smoke.
'You really do think it's there, don't you?' Dave repeated dumbly.
'I'm no sonar man,' said Jock. 'But there was something there on the echo sounder, last time I looked. It's not very accurate, mind. All it does is give you the depth of clear water underneath the hull. But anyone could see there should have been more water than there was on the sounder. Of course, for all I know it could have been a reef, or even a friendly whale.'
'But you don't really think that, do you, Jock?'
'No sir, I think it's a sub.'
'What about the captain? What does he think?'
'Granny?' Jock laughed. 'All he cares about is his garden and that woman on the Jade. Fancies his chance, by all accounts. He doesn't give a shit about any submarine.' Jock flicked ash across the radio table. 'Quite exciting when you think about it. A spy aboard the Duke.'
'But why?' said Dave. 'Why would anyone want to spy on this ship?'
'Ah well, that's the question, isn't it, sir? Why indeed?'
Jack Jellicoe was sunbathing in his garden. This consisted of several terracotta pots filled with lobelia and scented geraniums, which were arranged around one of the bow engine towers on top of the bridge. Lying on his sun-lounger, with a cool-box of ready-mixed pink gins by his side, and a novel by P.D. James, the captain was in his element. But he knew, as soon as he saw his second officer approaching, that something must be amiss. Niven was a competent officer and would never have disturbed him unless it was something important.
'What's up?' he barked.
Niven handed over the fax. 'Weather map, sir. I thought you ought to see it straight away.'
'Thank you Two-O.' Jellicoe scrutinized the map carefully.
Niven said, 'Hurricane Louisa, sir. Following us. Thought I'd better lay in a new course. I've marked it up on the fax, sir.'
'I see,' Jellicoe said sourly. 'The only problem with this new course is that it takes us straight along the Tropic of Cancer.'
'Yes sir. I thought if we stayed south the storm would pass by well north of us, heading toward the Azores.'
'And where do you propose that we should sail north to ourselves, when we want to head toward Gib and the Med? Which is, after all, where we are ultimately bound.'
'Well sir, just north of the Canary Islands.'
'Just north of the Canaries, eh?' Jellicoe smiled bitterly and then pointed to the two brass cannon that were pointed out to sea. 'What about those?'
'How do you mean, sir?'
'In case you'd forgotten, we stole those from the island of Lanzarote. Which, if memory serves, is one of the smaller Canary Islands. Thus placing me and my ship in rather bad odor with the local government's chief budgerigar. You see my point?'
'Yes sir.'
Jellicoe took another look at the map.
'We can't possibly go anywhere near there.'
'No sir.'
'Here's what we'll do, Two. I've seen this kind of thing before. The storm will have largely blown itself out by the time it gets to us, take my word for it. No, we'll stick to our original course. However, just to be on the safe side, tell the chief engineer to give us maximum revs. We'll try to put some distance between ourselves and Louisa. It'll probably get a bit rough, but nothing we can't handle. You know, Two, contrary to popular opinion, the best place you can be during a storm is at sea. When Hurricane Bertha struck the American coast, US Navy officers ordered their ships to sea, to save them from being thrown against the harbor walls. That should tell you something.'
'What about the ladies on the Jade, sir?'
'What about them?'
'Tonight's their cocktail party, sir.'
'Oh, that.' Jellicoe took another look at the weather map and shook his head. 'Should be all over by the time the sea starts to get up.'
