Roger had been The Captain on The North Princess cargo/passenger ship for sixteen years, for two weeks on, one week off. She had been in dry dock for the past three months, while the crew cleaned her bilges and applied a fresh coat of white marine paint to her massive exterior and interior. She glistened in the May sunshine as her glossy new finish baked dry in the sun and left the smell of oily acetone hanging in the warm breeze.
As he walked up the on ramp to board her, he saw the words ‘North Princess’ gleaming in the sun. He had mounted a 30 foot scaffold last week to paint them on her starboard side with a wide bristle brush, and he still had the black drops of paint on the dungarees he was wearing to show for it.
He had missed The Princess and being at sea these past three months, and was looking forward to the familiar trip up the coast to Skagway, Alaska, with two brief stops to unload and reload in Kitimat and Prince Rupert.
The North Princess had 30 passenger cabins up top, and the fares on the cargo/passenger ship were much more reasonable than a cruise ship, so they often took school field trips up the coast with 30 kids, and 8 parents and a teacher along for the trip.
They students brought their school work and books to read and dvds to watch in the large mess hall below the deck. The cook would satisfy all their requests for kraft dinner and ice cream and hot dogs while they were on board, and the crew were pretty tolerant of the kids running around on the ship as long as they didn’t go outside near the rails, where they could climb up and potentially fall in to the freezing waters.
Roger’s watch didn’t begin for another two hours, so he dropped his kit bag on his bunk in his cabin and set up his room. He unloaded the heavy kit bag that contained Tylenol, Polysporin, Bandaids, Ben Gay, mouthwash, razors, a radio, his oil skin coat, and his clothes and it felt like home. There was nowhere to shop on the one week voyage, so he had to bring more items in case he or someone else on the crew needed them. There was nothing but glaciers and snow-capped mountains, and peaceful waters with whale pods ahead. A serene paradise to erase the land-locked frustration he had felt for three months.
He walked outside and heard the huoh huoh huoh sound of seagulls around the ship as he watched the tow motor operators load pallets onto the ship’s deck. Everything had to be in order before the mayhem struck when the students arrived. Passports would have to be checked and lanyards with security tags with their names on them would have to be worn at all times. They were sailing from The Vancouver dock in Canada into the USA to Skagway, Alaska.
The students were always so excited, that the crew knew they would be running around the ship for the first few hours until they gradually settled down into their chairs outside the giant mess hall below deck with their cell phones and Ipads and fidget spinners. They also watched dvds on the big screen tv, and were treated to all their requests for Kraft dinner and hot dogs and ice cream by the chef.
In their classroom at sea for the week, the students were assigned to draw a map of Alaska, and add all the cities and ports that they passed by on it, and Roger and the crew were happy to answer any questions they had about the journey. But at the same time, they were also happy that curfew was 9 pm and they would be in their cabins during the night watch, so the crew could enjoyed the quiet oscillating waves of the sea in peace and enjoy the stars lighting up the black sky above.
Roger spotted a yellow school bus pulling up to the dock and he set up the guard rails on the plank for the students as the crew prepared to check their names off the passport list and hand out their lanyards.
Bussy the long shoreman was driving by on a tow motor to load a container as he waved to Roger from the dock. Bussy was a jokester. He was a funny Scottish man who always had a joke to tell ya. Roger was so by-the-book serious that Bussy and him got along great, he was Roger’s yin to Bussy’s yang.
“I won’t be getting her loaded on time wee all those rug burners in me way” he said to Roger as sped by the students on his ride. Roger smiled. He liked Bussy because he never knew what he would come up with next, and Roger was as predictable and reliable as the pendulum on a clock.
Miss Kennedy, their teacher, approached Roger first and introduced herself, as the giggling gang of fifth grade youngsters lined up single file behind her to board the ship. The group of parents were at the back talking among themselves and would do the final head count to ensure all the kids boarded the ship.
Bussy signalled to Roger that he had one more crate to load and did a strange figure eight to the port side and picked up a cargo container with the forks of his machine. Roger loaded the final students onto the ship and prepared the crew to embark from the port.
Bussy looked back as he drove away and said to Roger: “In case of explosions call Bussy Rog”. Roger shook his head at the prankster and went to take the wheel to set sail when he saw a sign dangling from the crate that Bussy had put on last. It had an orange square attached which meant dangerous goods.
He immediately radioed the crew to attention and ordered them to secure the students in the aft of the ship. He radioed Bussy to call the marine police emergency response team to check out the dangerous cargo before they embarked.
Then Roger noticed a camera on a tripod behind the box, and some smoke arising from the back like dry ice. He ginergerly walked around the side and saw Frances from the crew videotaping and then he saw Bussy laughing from the dock. “Happy Birthday you old coot! said Bussy. “There’s enough candles on yer cake to cause a right explosion.” said Bussy.
Roger breathed a huge sign of relief and relaxed his shoulders. Bussy had remembered that today was Rogers’s 50th Birthday, and had pranked him with a huge cake full in the shape of his beloved North Princess with 50 sparklers on it waiting to be lit, in the container, and he had filmed the whole thing.
The crew sang happy birthday and they all laughed and the students came running from the aft for a piece of cake and an exploding sparkler. And they all sailed away into the sunset.
seagull video - Youtube