They also see that a couple of the Indonesians in the life rafts are vomiting. Mossfield has some good Japanese seasickness tablets that she found on the Sam Simon. Nobody wanted to take them because they didn’t understand what was written on the label. Mossfield got hold of a translator and solved the mystery. A guinea pig vouched for them.
“They’re really, really good,” she says.
Now the crew of the Thunder can have them.
The radio crackles again.
“We have a bunch of charts and a computer,” Broadfield says from the bridge of the Thunder.
They have found the computer in the communications room.
“You have five minutes. Then get off the boat. Bring the PC with you,” Meyerson replies.
Hammarstedt and Meyerson don’t want the three on the Thunder to go below deck.
“It’s a ship no one knows the inside of. I don’t feel comfortable doing it,” Hammarstedt says.
But Vermeulen and Ager are already on their way. Ager climbs down onto the quarterdeck and trots one lap around it. He sees that somebody has left behind a blue jacket. The Sam Simon’s dinghy the Echo has also reached the Thunder. Together with the Gemini it circles the sinking ship. The crew is ready to receive the materials from the Thunder and to respond with the speed of lightning should Vermeulen, Broadfield and Ager need help. Ager throws his backpack with the telephone and camera inside down to Lex Rigby in the Gemini. Then he goes back to the hallway leading into the officers’ cabins and the bridge. He is handed a stack of charts and documents, runs out onto deck again and tries to find a good place from which to throw it all down to Rigby. Then he circles around a little before finding the broadside’s lowest point, the same place where two months ago they saw the crew of the Thunder hauling up fish. He throws the charts and a couple of folders down from the upper deck. Some of them are taken by the wind and end up in the ocean. Rigby fishes the wet documents out of the water.
Then Ager and Vermeulen climb down the few steps leading to the middle deck. They register that all the bulkheads and doors on deck are wide open – the exact opposite of what they should be if the captain wanted to prevent the water from spreading throughout the ship.
They find a door and stairway leading further down into the depths of the ship. First they come to the fish factory where the catch is cleaned, gutted and prepared for freezing. It is pitch dark, but in the beam of light from the flashlight, they can see that the factory is clean and neat. Ager is starting to grow worried.
“I can’t see fuck all,” he says to Vermeulen.
They are below deck and have no control over what is happening to the ship. What if it suddenly capsizes? Will they have time to get out?
They keep running towards the back of the ship. Vermeulen still has a tiny hope of saving the ship by stopping the leak, but to do so he must find the engine room. He has a pretty clear idea about what has happened. There are powerful ducts running into the engine room that channel water in from the ocean to cool down the engine. On these ducts there are a couple of heavy valves that can be opened to allow seawater to flow slowly into the engine room. Being an experienced ship’s mechanic, he knows that opening these valves is the safest way to intentionally sink a ship.
The sound of water splashing about in the bottom of the ship rises towards them and they find the hatch leading down into the engine room. It too is wide open.
“Look here,” Vermeulen says.
“Shit, man,” Ager answers, following right behind him.
“It is going to be impossible to get down there now.”
The water is about to fill up the entire engine room. In a short while it will rise through the hatch and fill the rest of the ship. Vermeulen takes a few steps down the steep stairway. He wants to try filming down in the darkness.
“Watch out! Looks like there’s a bit of a current in there.”
“There is a workshop here on the left which is flooded. There is no way we are going to get inside. The water is almost up to the ceiling of the engine room,” Vermeulen says.
“Yeah, yeah. Let’s get back outside,” says Ager breathlessly.
Staying put would be foolhardy. They quickly climb up the stairs again and into the large, open area amidships where nets, materials and floats are stored. One more task yet remains. Where is the freezer facility where the fish is stored? They are reluctant to leave the sinking ship before securing a fish.
On the port side of the deck they find a hatch that is boarded up. When Broadfield realizes that it is nailed shut, he starts tearing off the boards. Beneath a bucket full of cigarette butts and empty Marlboro packets Vermeulen and Ager find another hatch. It is too heavy and they are unable to get it open.
“There must be another entryway,” Vermeulen says and runs into the dark hallway of the ship together with Ager while Broadfield continues searching up on deck.
In the messroom there is a frozen chicken thawing on the counter, but they can’t find an entrance to the cold storage.
“Fuck, man. Do we have to wait for this piece of shit to sink,” Ager says.
The Thunder is listing more and more all the time. How much time do they have?
They find another entrance to the fish factory. The floor is slick and slippery, Vermeulen stumbles, skids and falls into an aluminium rinsing tank.
“Like fucking ice skating,” Ager says before reaching out his hand to haul his friend back onto his feet.
On the bridge of the Bob Barker they see that somebody has pulled up the rope ladder that was hanging over the Thunder’s gunwale. Is there still somebody on board?
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