closing movement of the steel plate and the next rush of sea coming on
board, before he leapt across the deadly gap.
He reached the control box, and slid back the hatch, pressing himself
into the tiny steel cubicle as he unlocked the red lid that housed the
shear button. He hit the button with the heel of his hand.
The four heavy chains of the tandem tow lay between the electrodes of
the shear mechanism. With a gross surge of power from the ship's
generators and a flash of blue electric flame, the thick steel links
sheared as cleanly as cheese under the cutting wire - and, half a mile
away, Sea Witch felt the release and pounded ahead under the full thrust
of her propellers taking with her the forward starboard tank still held
on main tow.
Nicholas paused in the opening of the control cubicle, hanging on to the
sill for support and he stared down at the single remaining tank, still
caught inextricably in the tangled moving forest of Golden Dawn's
twisting, contorting hull. It was as though an invisible giant had
taken the Eiffel Tower at each end and was bending it across his knee.
Suddenly there was a sharp chemical stink in the air, and Nicholas
gagged on it. The stink of crude petroleum oil gushing from the
ruptured tank.
Nicholas! Nicholas! The radio set slung over his shoulder squawked,
and he lifted it to his lips without taking his eyes from the Golden
Dawn's terrible death throes.
Go ahead, Jules. Nicholas, I am turning to pick you up. You can't
turn, not with that tow. I will ut my bows against the starboard
quarterdeck p rail, directly under the forward wing of the bridge. Be
ready to jump aboard., Jules, you are out of your head! I have been
that way for fifty years/ Jules agreed amiably. Be ready. 'Jules, drop
your tow first, Nicholas pleaded. It would be almost impossible to
manoeuvre the Sea Witch with that monstrous dead weight hanging on her
tail. Drop tow. We can pick up again later. You teach your
grandfather to break eggs, I Jules blithely mangled the old saying,
giving it a sinister twist.
Listen Jules, the No. 4 tank has ruptured. I want you to shut down for
fire. Do you understand? Full fire shut down.
Once I am aboard, we will put a rocket into her and burn off cargo. I
hear you, Nicholas, but I wish I had not.
Nicholas left the control cubicle, jumped the gaping, chewing gap in the
decking and scrambled up the steel ladder on to the central catwalk.
Glancing over his shoulder, he could see the endlessly slippery grey
wall of racing cloud and wind; its menace was overpowering, so that for
a moment he faltered before forcing himself into running back along the
catwalk towards the tanker's stern tower half a mile ahead.
The single remaining seaman was on the catwalk a hundred yards ahead of
him, pounding determinedly back towards the pick-up point. He also had
heard Jules Levoisin's last transmission.
A quarter of a mile across the roiling, leaping waters, Jules Levoisin
was bringing Sea Witch around. At another time Nicholas would have been
impressed by the consummate skill with which the little Frenchman was
