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CHAPTER SEVEN

The storm in the hold

The dark wave that came quickly nearer and nearer to the Nan-Shan looked as high as a mountain, and had a thin white line up at the top of it. The ship was still for a while, and then she started to climb this mountain of water. Tons of water fell onto the deck. Every man on the ship grabbed what he could, and held on.

The Nan-Shan climbed the enormous wave for what seemed like a very long time. Then she began to go down the other side. Again, tons of water fell heavily onto the ship, making her shake from top to bottom.

In the engine room, Jukes and Rout looked at each other with horror on their faces.

‘If another wave like that hits us, it’ll finish us,’ said Rout.

‘What can be left on deck after such an enormous wave? If it destroyed the ventilators, there’s no hope. Now it’s all gone up there for sure - the wheelhouse, the bridge, the chart-room - everything,’ said Jukes.

But there was no second wave, and a short while later they heard MacWhirr’s voice in the speaking-tube again:

‘That was a little uncomfortable. But we have to do our best. Jukes, when your men have picked up all the money. I want you to come back up to the bridge. I need you here.’

‘Yes, sir,’ replied Jukes, and - not feeling very happy about it - he went to get some men for the job.

Twenty minutes later, Jukes and sixteen of the crew arrived at the hold. Opening the door for the second time, he saw the same chaos as before. But this time he was ready for it. Shouting at his men to help, he started to push the Chinese labourers into one corner of the room.

The crew joined arms to make them all stay in the same place. One of the crew then brought some rope, and they used this to make lifelines.

Now the Chinese labourers could grab onto the lifelines, and not fall from side to side. After they fastened the ropes well to the sides of the hold, Jukes and his men started to move all the broken pieces of wood and the money into a locked room just next to the hold.

While Jukes and his men were doing this work, the Chinese labourers were terrified. What did these sailors want to do to them? Some thought that they were going to steal all their money. Others thought that Jukes and his men were there to kill them.

They sat on the floor, their faces full of fear. But to Jukes their fear looked like fury. Suddenly one of the labourers started speaking to him loudly in Chinese. He pointed at the locked room where their money was, and then started shouting.

At once, the rest of them started shouting at Jukes and the crew. The crew didn’t understand them, but their Chinese words seemed angry, and they seemed to be threatening Jukes and the others.

So Jukes and the rest of the crew left the hold as quickly as possible, closing the heavy metal door behind them loudly.

They were all happy to be out of the hold. It was not only because of the Chinese labourers there; sailors don’t like the idea of drowning below the deck.

At once, Jukes went up to the bridge to look for MacWhirr. He found him there, holding on to the railings.

We did it, sir. We picked up all the money like you said, and we fastened some lifelines to the walls for the Chinese labourers to hold on to.’

‘Well done. I knew that you could do it,’ answered MacWhirr. ‘Did you?’ said Jukes to himself.

‘The wind’s stopped,’ said MacWhirr.

It was true. Although the waves were still enormous, there was no wind at all. Suddenly Jukes noted that he could again hear all the usual noises of the ship - the deep noise of the engines, the crew calling out to each other, the noise of creaking wood.

‘It’s not over yet. My book says that there’s worse still to come,’ explained MacWhirr. The Nan-Shan was now in the eye of the storm, the exact center of it - where all was strangely quiet and calm. Soon they would start sailing through the other part of the storm.

But Jukes seemed not to hear what MacWhirr was saying. He went on, ‘It wasn’t easy. We had to fight to do the job. They didn’t understand that we were trying to help them. They seemed to think that we were trying to hurt them. I was worried when we put all their money in the locked room.

They didn’t like that at all. They started to shout at us. I think that they were threatening us. We had to get out of there as quickly as possible. You told me to pick up all the money, but it wasn’t as easy as it seems.’

‘Well, we had to do the right thing by those labourers. Jukes. Even if we have only five minutes more to live, we’ve done the right thing by them. And that’s that.’

Jukes was still excited about his adventure, and had more to say.

‘But that isn’t the end of it, sir. They’re quiet now, but there’s going to be more trouble. They know that this isn’t a British ship anymore. I didn’t like that Thai flag from the start, sir. And it’s not going to be easy when we give them back their money.’

‘No, this isn’t the end of it,’ answered MacWhirr. ‘Can you stay on deck for a minute, Jukes?’

‘Are you going below, sir?’ asked Jukes quickly. From his voice it seemed he felt sure that the storm would start once he was alone on the bridge and in command of the ship.

The captain went into the chart-room. It was dark inside, but he knew the room well, and felt his way. He lit one of the lamps and went over to look at the barometer. It was pointing down to ‘Very Stormy’ - the worst MacWhirr had ever seen.

So the book that he was reading and the barometer agreed, getting out of the typhoon would be far worse than getting into it. He looked around the room that was usually so tidy but was now in chaos, and thought, ‘Perhaps it’s the last time I’ll do this!’

‘I got another man to take Hackett’s place,’ said Jukes to the captain when MacWhirr came out on deck again. ‘It wasn’t easy to get anyone to do it, but I didn’t want to have to be helmsman myself.

Hackett’s resting now, not far from the wheel. He looks half dead. The second mate’s there, too. Is he hurt, sir?’

‘No. He isn’t right in the head.’

‘But he’s hit himself, sir. He’s got a cut on the side of his face.’

‘Yes. I had to knock him down. Listen, Jukes, the typhoon will come back very soon, and this time it’ll be worse than before. It’ll take this ship and pick her up, and shake her and try to break her. It’ll take what’s still above deck. Of course I know that there’s not much now to take.’

’. only us two,’ said Jukes.

‘Yes, and if the typhoon takes me, you’ll be in command. The second mate will be no help to you,’ answered MacWhirr. Jukes was suddenly quiet at this. MacWhirr went on: ‘If that happens, make sure that you go on sailing into the wind, do you hear? Stay on course, and stay calm. Hold that one idea in your head, and the ship will survive.’

Just then, they could hear the noise of the wind again. It seemed like a great number of soldiers hurrying nearer very fast. The few minutes of calm were finished.

MacWhirr thought for a minute about how well he knew the Nan-Shan from years of sailing her. She was almost like a home for him. ‘I wouldn’t like to lose her,’ he said aloud to himself, while the waves began to hit the deck again.