Coasts of Cape York (60 page)

Once in the flying boat Willy felt safe and relaxed. He was told to take a seat behind the pilot. As soon as the rubber boat was lifted from the water and dragged through the door was closed and the engines started. After a few minutes warm up and a lot of careful study of the take-off area the throttles were opened and the ‘Catalina' began her take off run.

As the aircraft unstuck and lifted clear of the water Willy relaxed. Now he felt much happier. Mr Jemmerling, who was seated in the co-pilot's seat, now turned to Willy and asked him for advice on their course. Willy suggested that they first search around the Flinders Group and other islands in that area. This suggestion was accepted and the ‘Catalina' set course for Flinders Island.

Five minutes later they were over Blackwood Island. Willy looked down at the calm blue sea and the gentle surf washing the island's rocky shore and could only marvel at the change ten hours had brought. Already the night of terror seemed to be an unreal nightmare. They circled the island at 500 feet, then went over to Denham Island. As they circled it Willy pointed out where they had been marooned and where the spring was on the south side.

As they circled around over Bathurst Bay the pilot pointed off to starboard. “What is that black object on the shore over there?”

“Looks like a ship. We had better investigate,” Mr Jemmerling said.

The plane came around to starboard and Willy saw the tiny dark shape they were referring to. It was on the beach near the eastern end of the bay. ‘Near where we went ashore to try to get the ‘Kittyhawk',' he decided. Then it came to him what he was looking at. “That is the barge the
Bonthorpe
was towing,” he said.

“What the devil are all those black things?” the co-pilot commented.

Willy could see them now and he laughed. “They are forty four gallon oil drums,” he said. “The barge was carrying five thousand of them and about four thousand went over the side in the storm.” He had a vivid image of the drums toppling overboard and of the entire surface of the sea being dotted with bobbing fuel drums.

As the ‘Catalina' flew over the area Willy saw that the black object was indeed the barge
Oura
. It was stranded in the sandy shallows and appeared undamaged. Scattered along the beach, sometimes singly but more often in clusters, were hundreds and hundreds of drums. Most were right up on the edge of the trees at the back of the beach but hundreds of others were still floating around on the sea. In places they had gathered in huge clusters.

“That will take a bit of cleaning up,” the pilot observed.

“Yes, poor old Capt Kirk will have to foot that bill,” Mr Jemmerling agreed.

That made Willy feel sorry for the Kirk's again and he became anxious that Graham might have his lifestyle changed dramatically because of it.

By then the ‘Catalina' was almost at Cape Melville. At his suggestion they turned to port and headed North East to check around Pipon Island.  There was no sign of any wreckage or boats there so they turned to port and headed west. Ten minutes later they were circling King Island. That was also devoid of wreckage or people so they went on west to the Clack Islands. Here again they drew a blank.

“We should go out to look for this Crab Reef,” he suggested.

There was a short discussion about fuel and it was revealed they had enough for another five hours flying. The plane turned to starboard and went north. Willy stared out, feeling unreasonably anxious. He decided that this was because they were heading away from the land and out towards the deep ocean and the outer Barrier Reef. He was surprised that the sea was now so calm he could see down to quite a depth. The coral reefs began to appear and their shapes were so obvious he could easily identify them on the chart.

‘That is Corbett Reef off to port,' he told himself.  He nudged Jacob and pointed to the left. “That is the reef where we first picked you up. Over on the other side of it.”

Jacob nodded. “Yeah. I should have got one of those GPS things. It might have helped us find places.”

All Willy could do was keep his face neutral to hide his contempt. He went back to studying the sea and the chart. At five miles to the minute it was not very long before a great scatter of reefs appeared ahead. ‘The outer Barrier Reef,' Willy thought. He was struck by the line of surf on the eastern side and by how the ocean colour changed dramatically to a dark blue on the ocean side. ‘Really deep water,' he thought.

With competent navigators and electronic navigation aids it took only a matter of minutes to locate the correct reef. The pilot pointed down and said, “There it is, Crab Reef.”

Willy looked down and felt a surge of excitement. The shape corresponded exactly with the chart. He could see that Crab Reef was in among a real jumble of small reefs. ‘That might account for why the Dornier wreck hasn't been found before this,' he thought. It was certainly well off the normal air routes and would be a very dangerous place to take a ship.

Crab Reef had a lagoon several kilometres long inside a wide fringe of coral. The water in the lagoon appeared to vary in depth but was mostly clear of coral outcrops and had a sandy bottom. Willy stared down, his eyes searching for anything that might resemble an aeroplane in shape. But his gaze almost immediately fixed on a more obvious shape. It was dark in colour but lighter than the brown and black looking coral.  Seeing it caused him to suck in his breath as he recognized what he was looking at.

“That is a boat down there,” he croaked.

“You are right,” Mr Jemmerling replied. “Upside down and submerged.”

‘Oh my God!' Willy thought in horror. As the ‘Catalina' went into a sharp bank to port to circle the place he saw quite clearly that what he was looking at was an upturned motor launch. It lay about fifty metres from the edge of the lagoon, near a sort of outcrop that protruded into the lagoon and was silhouetted against the sandy bottom. Then his eyes focused on the coral outcrop and he gasped again.

“That is the plane wreck down there. It is stuck right against the reef and has lost a wing,” he cried.

As they circled around again Willy stared at the shape and was even more convinced. ‘That is definitely it,' he thought. He could see why any casual observer flying over would not suspect the shape was anything other than just more coral. ‘And it would be invisible from a boat. Only a diver would notice it,' he decided.

But was the treasure still in it?

Then Willy shifted his attention back to the capsized launch. It looked battered and damaged but much of the bottom was intact. To add to his concern he saw that part of the hull was actually breaking the surface. ‘It must have air trapped in it, or the water is every shallow,' he thought. But even as these thoughts crossed his mind another horrible possibility came to him. “There might be people still alive trapped in that launch,” he said.

The plane went around again, slower and lower. They all stared at the upturned boat. Mr Jemmerling said, “Is that the
Saurian
?”

Neither Jacob nor Willy could answer. Upside down as she was and with the superstructure obviously smashed it was impossible to tell. “It doesn't matter,” he said. “We have to go down and check.”

“Serves the buggers right,” the pilot said.

Jacob stared wild-eyed at the launch and then cried, “I hope they are dead!”

Willy was horrified. “We have to look. We can't just fly away,” he cried.

Mr Jemmerling looked at him and said, “What can we do? You would need diving equipment to look inside safely and we haven't got any.”

“Can't we at least land and tap on the hull to see if anyone answers?” Willy asked. He was now feeling awful. The thought of leaving without checking appalled him. “Please! I will never sleep again if we go away and then later learn that there were people trapped inside.”

The plane circled and Willy could see that Mr Jemmerling was studying the situation. After a couple of minutes he shook his head. “We can land easily enough on that lagoon but I think it is too risky. And even if we did find there is someone alive how would we get them out? If we knock a hole in the hull that will let the air out and it will sink. No, it is a job for divers. We will radio the authorities.”

As he said this Willy felt a surge of desperation. Then it came to him and he said, “We can get divers and diving equipment. Carmen and Andrew are both qualified divers and there is diving gear on Jacob's yacht.”

Mr Jemmerling sucked his teeth and said. “We would have to ask them. It will be dangerous and they may not want to do it. I don't like the idea of them risking their lives for a couple of murderers. And they might find dead bodies. That will give them nightmares for the rest of their lives.”

“We can at least ask,” Willy pleaded.

“Yes, alright. Mr Johnson, take us back to the
Bonthorpe,
” Mr Jemmerling ordered.

The ‘Catalina' swung round to a South Westerly course. As it settled on this Willy was gripped by an intense feeling of urgency. He said, “Sir, can we please radio and ask to have the diving gear ready when we get there?”

Mr Jemmerling looked irritated but nodded. “Yes, alright. By Jove, you can be a persistent blighter Williams!” He then radioed Capt Kirk. Capt Kirk answered almost immediately and agreed to have the diving gear ready.

Ten minutes later the
Pterodactyl
was over the Flinders Group, skimming past the highest peaks at only 1000 feet. Once again Willy marvelled that they had survived the chase and the cyclone. ‘I will never forget being marooned here,' he thought.

Another ten minutes had them circling at 500 feet over the mouth of the Normanby River. Looking down from above Willy could clearly see the
Bonthorpe, Wewak, Dyfken
and the small rubber boat all moored side by side. To Willy's eyes the
Wewak
looked much too large to have fitted into such a small river but he now appreciated just what a useful craft she was. ‘She looks just like a model,' he thought as he studied the LCT.  It confirmed his opinion that flying was the only way to go. He even laughed when he realized that the ‘Catalina' was bouncing more in the afternoon turbulence than the
Bonthorpe
had been that morning and he barely noticed it.

Mr Johnston did two slow circuits to check the landing area for obstructions and debris before he brought the flying boat down. It was a text-book landing on an almost calm sea. The ‘Catalina' was then taxied over to near the ships and anchored. By then it was nearly 5:00pm and Willy was starting to fret. ‘If we don't hurry it will get dark and we will have to wait till tomorrow,' he thought anxiously.

But it was another 5 minutes before the rubber boat was alongside and ten more before Willy was able to climb up the side of
Wewak
to put his proposal to Carmen and Andrew. As he did Willy saw Carmen nod and Andrew go pale and look anxious.

Mr Jemmerling then explained the situation regarding the
Saurian.
Gesturing to Willy he said, “Young William here insists that we send divers in to check that there is no-one still alive and trapped in the hull.”

Capt Kirk looked aghast. “My word yes! That would be to awful. I made a mistake once when we found the wreck of a yacht on a reef. We flew over in a light plane and I saw the yacht was upside down with what appeared to be the stump of the mast driven up through the hull. But there was no movement and no sign of life so we flew on, looking for a fishing trawler. Later I learned that there had been a man on board, an Islander, and he had died. It hadn't been the mast I had seen. It was a naked black man standing upright but apparently too exhausted to raise his arms. I found that out when someone went to the wreck and reported the hull was still sound and the mast hadn't been driven through it. It haunts me to this day.”

Mr Jemmerling looked grim. “No doubt, but whoever looks inside this launch might also be haunted all their life if they find a dead body. I don't want to be responsible for traumatising these kids. And we must remember that these men are murderers. They might become violent or take hostages.”

Later, when he thought about it, Willy was sure it was that ‘kids' that tipped the balance. Andrew at once said. “I am willing. If we don't go and there is someone in that launch I will be haunted with guilt anyway.”

Carmen shook her head. “You don't have to go Andrew. I will.”

Andrew's face set in a stubborn mask. “We will both go. Divers should work in pairs.” He then turned to Capt Kirk, “Sir, we want to go. We will be careful. We are trained at wreck diving and have… have some experience. You may not know but I found my grandfather's body in the wreck of the
Merinda
.”

Capt Kirk nodded. “I did know. But you are both minors in my care. You are my responsibility.”

“Please sir!” Andrew cried.

Both Capt Kirk and Mr Jemmerling were obviously unhappy with the idea and continued to discuss it. While the adults debated Willy fretted, went to the toilet, and became even more anxious as the minutes slipped away. With every minute the sun seemed to slip lower in the west and he became more tense. Finally he interrupted, pointing at his watch and saying, “Please Capt Kirk. It will be dark if we waste any more time.”

Capt Kirk frowned but then nodded. He turned to Andrew and Carmen and said, “OK, you have my permission. But promise me you won't take any risks.”

Both Andrew and Carmen promised. Willy watched admiringly, knowing that Andrew was scared but trying not to show it. He said, “Can we please hurry. We need to look before it gets dark. The weather might change during the night or the air trapped in the pocket might leak out.”

Mrs van der Heyden now spoke for the first time. “Are you going to use our diving gear?” she asked.

Andrew nodded and explained that they had already laid it out and checked it. She pursed her lips and muttered, “It would have been nice to be asked.”