backuponthesea's blog: "onceuponthesea"

The Off Port Cruise *

 

Part I**

 

Wellington, New Zealand

 

When the Monterey dropped anchor in Wellington, it was big news. It wasn't part of the main shipping

route, and the liners always went to Auckland or Chirstchurch. So we left a Gullverian footprint there

among the Lilliputian fishing boats and trawlers.

 

Albion Moonlight*** was on a mission; some folks he'd met in Hobart, Tasmania had friends in

Wellington and asked him to deliver something to them. It was a beautifully carved mahogany music

box. Trusting souls, those Tasmanians, or maybe he just had that kind of face. Just to be on the safe

side he searched it thoroughly before taking it aboard. Feeling around under the velvet and checking

for hidden compartments. It was clean and played a lovely tinkly Viennese waltz.

 

In Wellington steep cliffs rose from the sea, topped by plateau that overlooked the harbor and the

channel out to open water.

 

He stopped in a cafe, ordered a quadruple espresso . While the barrista was pulling levers and

making great clouds of steam appear he asked her for directions to the address he had for the box. “

Just keep walking up Shepard Street. First left when you walk out the door. All the way to the top. Big

house with bay windows. You can't miss it.”.

 

The street was a winding cobblestone pathway, as steep as any San Francisco hill. The town had a

European feel to it, old world architecture with lots of international travelers and a slower pace of life that made it feel like a step back in time.

The house was as advertised, unmissable. He knocked on the door and a cute, fearless little girl

about 5 years old opened the door. He crouched down to eye level with her and opened the lid of the

music box. She broke into a beaming smile, clapped her hands and jumped up and down twice.

“ Is this yours?”, he asked.

“Actually it's mine, but she thinks it's hers”. This from a fine looking dark haired woman coming down the stairs “ You must be Albion. We''ve been expecting you. Please, come in.”

“Thea, say hello to Mr. Moonlight”.

“ That's a funny name”.

“What? Moonlight's not funny. Thea**** is funny.”

“No silly. Moonlight's funny”.

“ Thea..don't be rude”, mom warned.

“ Hello Mr. Moonlight. Thank you for bringing my music box”,Thea said.

“ You're welcome, little m'aam.”

She had no idea what this meant but laughed anyway. Moonlight was used to this, and smiled as he

followed Thea's mom into the living room. She introduced herself as Julip. Moonlight said nice to

meet you. He didn't have time for any more name questioning. He had a ship to catch.

The windows offered a spectacualar view of the harbor and beyond it the sea. The Monterey was the

talk of the town.

Julip asked, “ Did you go to the casino in Hobart?”

“Matter of fact I did”, Moonlight replied. “Craziest game I ever saw. They give you these big paddles

and you flip coins way up into the air”.

“That sounds like fun”, Thea chimed. “Mommy, can we go to Tasmania and flip coins?”

“We'll see, sweatheart”.

“Do they really have Tasmanian devils there, Mr. Moonlight?”

“There is a differing of opinons on that one. Some claim they're real, some say they're just cartoons. Never saw one myself, but I heard they're nasty.”

“Nasty how?” Thea asked.

“ Devilish.”

“ Like with big fangs and red eyes?”

“Pretty much”.

Julip said, “ Enough questions. Can I offer you a drink, Albion? I just made some hot spiced cider”.

Moonlight accepted and she came back with two steaming mugs which they sipped while looking

down at the harbor

“Can you stay for dinner?”

“ I'd love to, but I can't. Ship sails at 5 this afternoon.”

“ Where are you going?”

“

I'm not sure. Tonga, I think”.

“ I heard the King of Tonga weighs 500 pounds”, Thea said.

“

I heard it was 350”.

“ A big fat king. Why do they have a king anyway? Nobody has a king anymore.”

“ I don't know. It's a pretty small island. Not much of a kingdom.”

“ Maybe he's king because he ate everybody”.

Moonlight and Julip laughed and drank more cider. He was thinking how nice it would be if he didn't

have to go. He felt good with them there, it felt like a safe and happy place. But he had his ride to get

back to and he tried to not miss what he didn't have. A wife, a child, a house on a hill, or a wanderer of

oceans chasing visions. There was always a trade-off, he thought, no matter what you do.

He got up to go and Julip and Thea walked him to the door and waved goodbye as he walked down t

he steep cobblestone hill back to the ship.

 

(to be continued)

 

* Title change to; The Off Port Cruise-(when a passenger ship passes up the usual ports of call for

less traveled places. Melborne, Austrailia instead of Sydney, Riatia instead of Tahita, etc.)

** Part I; because I forgot what part it's supposed to be.

*** Inspired by The Journal of Albion Moonlight by Kenneth Patchen.

****for Thea Juniper Taylor, the cutest little m'aam I ever met.

 

 

 

 

The Off Port Cruise

 

Part II

 

 

Wellington, New Zealand

 

Moonlight was on the fantail with Jan and Patrick as the ship came out of the channel. Feeling the familiar vibration from the huge diesels through the steel hull while the screws churned the water white in its wake.

 

The plateau above the harbor was lined by townspeople like a curious army observing enemy maneuvers.

 

“ We're gonna be on the news”, Patrick said, pointing to a camera crew running out with the ship on a fast, open 20 foot outboard.

 

Moonlight thought about Julip and Thea and wondered if they were among the people on the plateau.

 

Then suddenly the ship came to a shocking stop after the deafening screech of steel colliding into something sharp and immovable. The engines roared full-ahead and the stabilizer were deployed but the ship stayed trapped in the harbor, angled slightly in towards a shear rock wall and away from the channel.

 

“Sonuvabitch captain screwed the pooch”, Patrick said.

“ In front of the world and everybody”, Moonlight added.

“ You know if they can't get us ungrounded they have to pay us for the rest of the trip and fly everybody back to San Fransisco”, Jan informed us. We were all for that possibility.

 

A short while later 3 seagoing tugboats came out of the channel and took positions around the helpless Monterey. Tugboat deckhands threw heaving lines attached to ¾ inch steel cables which were hauled aboard and secured to large chocks, 1 on the bow and 2 on the seaside port stern.

 

They watched the scene play out from the safety of Moonlight's bench. The tension on the cables was at maximum. If it snapped it could cut a man in half.

 

“ There's an AB I work with who lost a leg to one of those things”, Patrick commented.

 

Moonlight didn't really care about the outcome, other than escaping with all his limbs still attached, but he was curious about the poundage of the King of Tonga.

 

After close to an hour of tugging the Monterey finally floated free. Divers were dispatched to assess the damage and pronounced it minor with no impact on the integrity of the hull. The tab for the tugs was probably close to $200,000 and deep shit for the captain.

 

And so finally we made our inglorius way out of Wellington, on to the next off-port of call.