横浜市鶴見区に密着した地域型のスワンアカデミー英会話教室。未就園児から大人まで、3人までのグループレッスン、個人レッスン、セミプライベートレッスン、オンラインレッスン

There was laughter around the table at which four men sat, consuming their evening meal, over which steward Burger hovered, picking up an unused dish or pouring a cup of coffee as required, in general trying to ward off a mess at present to save himself some work later. Hollister had a natural ability to tell stories keeping all who were listening, interested and entertained which was pleasing in the arctic night, so far from what most people would consider normal or natural. “Captain, I must say, you do set a fine table. Is the food this good on all whale ships?” Mason smiled and shook his head. “No, Mr. Hollister the food we are enjoying this fine evening is an exception to the trade. Messrs. Roland, Hughes and Jones thought the better we ate, the more successful we’d be and,” said Mason taking a drink of Ed’s most recent brew of java and fighting the natural gag reflex, “I must say that it is a good incentive. No, Mr. Hollister, our usual fare consists of ships biscuit, peas, rice and salt pork, keeps better for long voyages.” “What is hunted up north, certainly not sperm whales?” said Hollister. Mason shook his head, “No, not this far north.” “What then?” “Walrus oil is profitable enough,” said MacDonald. “Really?” said Hollister. MacDonald nodded his head, “Sure. A bull might weigh anywhere from two to four thousand pounds. They are fairly easy to kill on the ice. In the water they may ram a boat or dive on ya.” “And how much oil will a walrus give up?” MacDonald shrugged, “450, 500 animals may show 300 barrels.” “Anything else?” “The hide is tough, good for trunks and such. There is a market for the ivory.” “The problem with hunting them though,” said Dunn. “Is that it takes away food and other things from the Eskimos.” “What do ya mean, Isaac?” asked Hollister. “There ain’t much to hunt up here, Jack. Walruses and seals, ya know. The more we take, the less they have.” “What about the whales?” Mason took a sip of tea, “Well, as I said you’d be hard pressed for sperm whales, this far north, though damned if the oil in ‘em ain’t the best there is. They’s in the Atlantic and Pacific along with the grey whales. Right whales are fine to hunt. They’re slow swimmers and float when they’re killed.” “Making them easy to tow,” said Dunn. “Up north, we hunt bowheads and humpbacks. Oil and bone. One season can net two years profit.” “If you’re lucky,” said Dunn. “How many times have you worked up north Captain Mason?” Mason thought for a moment, “I’ve done two seasons with the Greenland fishery Mr. Hollister and Mr. MacDonald has a season to his credit as well as time spent around Alaska.” “Aboard the SPIDER?” asked Hollister. MacDonald nodded his head and took a sip of Ed’s repulsive coffee. “Yeah, the old SPIDER,” said the first mate. “Aesop, what exactly happened aboard that ship?” Hollister asked. MacDonald shrugged his shoulders, “Hell, I don’t know Jack at that time I was just a cook boy. My perspective would be the same as Timmy Reiner’s on this trip. I think there were signs, but Sebastion, he was the Captain, he couldn’t see ’em.” Dunn with a hot mug of tea shook his head, “No Aesop, I don’t think he wanted to see ’em. Both Rainer and me cautioned him about staying any longer, but all he saw was them dollar signs.” “Isaac,” said Mason, “I’ve read accounts of what happened, does it bother you to talk about it?” Dunn shook his head again, “No, I wrestled those demons a long time ago, Captain.” “If you don’t mind me asking, what were the events that led to the loss of the SPIDER,” asked Hollister. Dunn smiled. “Now that is a tall order Jack, but I’ll try and do my best. Ahh…let’s see, Sebastion was going out on the SPIDER, first time as Master and he had some high expectations, anyone could see that. Both me and Rainer learned right away that he wouldn’t listen to anyone’s advice on anything.” “Did you know you were heading up to the Arctic?” asked Mason. Dunn shook his head. “No not at first. We expected to be working in Asia, off the Japans and the like, but Sebastion was in a hurry to get rich and got this wild idea we could make more money in the arctic. He was like that change his mind on the flip of a coin.” “So you weren’t ready for any arctic work,” said Mason. “No, an’ me an’ Rainer tried to tell ‘im that, but he wouldn’t listen. He convinced the crew it would be a walk in the park and they’d have money spilling out of their pockets.” MacDonald nodded, “Yeah, Sebastion got ’em all thinking they was gonna be wearing silk and living the easy life for the rest of their days, boy was he ever wrong.” “But not you?” smiled Hollister. The first mate grinned. “There was no way in hell I was gonna get rich as the ship’s cook boy no matter how much bone and oil was brought on. No, it was the others trying to grab that brass ring, not me.” “So what happened?” asked the newspaperman. Dunn shrugged his shoulders. “Same thing that always happens when everything goes to shit. First everything was alright, ice weren’t bad, the hunting was good, but then…” MacDonald sighed, “And then, when the ice had us where it wanted us, it stranded us. It was that simple.” “Low on food and fuel, Sebastion never counted on us getting locked in,” said Dunn. “Scurvy throughout the crew, everyone freezing and Sebastion had the audacity to die first.” Hollister looked concerned, even Dunn had reassured him their last night in New Bedford, still… “Could that happen to us? I mean starving and freezing to death doesn’t seem the most ideal way to die, if you ask me.” Mason looked at the table. “It’s not without possibility Mr. Hollister. Work in the Arctic is obviously not without its risks,” he raised his head and looked at the reporter. “But we’ve done everything we could think of to avoid the same situation as the SPIDER.” Dunn smiled, “We got lots of food Jack, we ain’t gonna starve.” “And,” said MacDonald, “We’ve reinforced the ship and we loaded a lot of coal, wood and oil, we’re gonna be ok, Jack.” Hollister looked somewhat embarrassed. “I’m sorry gentlemen, I sound like some questioning old woman, forgive me.” “Mr. Hollister, any man that fought at Gettysburg and participated in Picket’s charge, I hardly consider an old woman. Your concerns are justified, believe me, we thought of them as well.” “Thank you Captain Mason, I appreciate that,” said Hollister. “Now, what is the difference with the ice, I mean isn’t all the same?” “Not exactly Jack,” said MacDonald. “If you look where we’re sailing now, you’ll see ice floes and lots of ’em.” “And what is an ice floe, exactly?” “Frozen seawater, usually flat and free moving, some are big and some are small,” said MacDonald. “How big?” asked Hollister, he didn’t think there was much to fear from the smaller ones. MacDonald shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know, some are a couple of miles across, ain’t they Isaac?” Dunn nodded, “Yeah, some bigger. We’re coming up on the floe edge, where the ice meets the open water you’ll see some big ones then.” “We’re not there yet?” “Not yet,” said Mason. “When do you figure Isaac?” “I don’t know Captain. If the weather holds, five days, seven days at most I figure.” “And after that?” asked Hollister. MacDonald smiled, “Pack ice, Jack.” “Pack ice?” repeated the writer. MacDonald nodded. “Yeah, Jack, ya see, ice floes move but pack ice don’t.” “Pack ice doesn’t move?” MacDonald shook his head, “Nope, it’s all frozen solid, don’t move. So the farther we get past the floes to the floe edge and to the pack ice which should be stable, it’ll help us get to where we’re going.” Hollister nodded, at least that sounded reasonable but as new to the arctic that he was, he knew that ice melted and speed was a vital factor in this enterprise. “What can you tell me about the dogs we’re carrying?” The men at the table laughed. Hollister certainly did have his questions, then again, that’s how he made his living they all knew that. “Well, they ain’t house dogs, they are literally mean sons of bitches,” said Isaac. “These dogs are born to work and they love it. They can pull damn near twice their weight a hell of a long ways, rest a bit and keep going. There is always a boss dog or what we calls a king dog, all the other dogs follow his lead. He eats first, breaks up fights between the other dogs and if any dog challenges a king dog, he better win cause if he don’t he’ll be dead.” “What do they eat?” Dunn shrugged his shoulders, “Damn near anything, meat, fish even dog shit, they don’t care. If a bitch has a litter ya gotta keep the king dog from ’em till they gets older or he’ll eat them too.” Hollister could envision such a thing and he did not find the thought very appealing, Dunn continued. “For this trip we got plenty of corn, we mix it with fish and tallow, it’s good enough for them.” “If dogs are the normal way to travel in these parts, why haven’t they been used before?” asked Hollister. MacDonald shrugged. “Takes time to learn how to handle dogs and like Isaac said, the little bastards can be as mean as the Devil, besides,” the mate laughed, “most civilized people think of ’em as pets, they think it’s cruel to use ’em the way the Eskimos do, it’s just their way is all.” “Most accounts I’ve read, talk about men pulling the loads themselves,” said Hollister. Mason nodded, “And they failed in their objective. The minute we started planning this expedition, we intended to use dogs.” “And keep it small,” added MacDonald. “No reason to bring up a lot of ships and men where one will do the trick.” “No desire to recreate the Franklin Expedition, ehh?” said Hollister with a grin. “Nor the POLAIRIS or Greely Expeditions,” said Mason. Dunn heard the ship’s bell ring and stood up. “If you’ll excuse me gentlemen, I have the next watch.” Mason smiled, “Be off with you Isaac, don’t wreak the ship. Tell Danny, dinner is still warm and we’ll be here for another hour or so, if he’d like to come in.” “I’ll tell him Captain.” Dunn left the table and went to his cabin for his peacoat, his wool knit cap and mittens. Grabbing the required items, he went out on deck to take his turn on watch. He found Higgins at the ship’s helm, standing confident, glad that his watch would soon be ending. “Good evening Danny,” said Dunn approaching the third mate, who was stomping his sea boots on the deck, trying to keep the blood circulating in his feet. “Evening Isaac, how was dinner?” “Good, Captain said for ya to go down, still some hot food left.” “That’s the best thing I’ve heard all night,” said the younger man and commenced to give the turn over for the watch and after Dunn acknowledged that he had the watch, and the that the other crewmen were relieved, Higgins went below to get something to eat. Dunn looked at the compass to check their heading and then to the sails. Fore and Main courses were set and there was a enough of a breeze to move them at a good five to seven knots, look outs posted and a clear night. It was a good way to start the watch. He walked the deck. The dogs went into a barking fit when they saw him. He smiled, “Good evening, beasts of burden.” His words seemed to excite them even more and the barking became louder. Seeing that all was in order forward he walked aft to the ship’s wheel, getting to the ladder of the poop, he was pleasantly surprised to see Ahnah at the foot. “Hello Dunn,” said the Eskimo girl. He smiled, “Hello, Ahnah. Is everything alright?” “Yes,” she said a little absently. “I just like walking around this…ship, is that the correct word?” She and Peter had learned to speak English from traders and missionaries when they were younger but with little opportunity to use it, they were both a bit rusty. “Yes, that’s correct.” “It all looks very…hard to learn. Is it difficult to remember everything?” Dunn shrugged his shoulders, “Well, it’s like anything else I guess. First thing a person would learn are the ship’s ropes, we call it rigging and every vessel has two types of rigging.” “Two riggings?” asked Ahnah. Dunn nodded. “Yeah, we got standing rigging and running rigging. Standing rigging keeps the masts up,” he pointed to the nearest one, that being the Mizzen mast. “And the running rigging is what we use to handle the sails.” Ahnah pointed to the thick, heavy lines that made up the ship’s shrouds, part of the standing rigging. “And you climb these ropes to go up the…mast, is that right?” “Yeah, we call those ratlines, climb on the weather side…” he began and then noticed he’d lost her in his explanation. “With the wind at your back,” he clarified, “three points always in contact with the rigging, hands always on the lines going up and down, feet on the ones going across.” “It looks very high and frightening.” Dunn smiled. “At first, maybe, but after awhile there’s nothing to it.” She nodded her head and continued to observe the ship and the goings on of the watch around her. “How old were you when you left your family?” she asked. Dunn shrugged his shoulders, “About 13, working flatboats and carrying freight down the Mississippi. That was how I started.” “Mississippi?” she asked. “It’s a river in America, a very large river, long and wide. People use it for travel and carrying goods. That’s what we use flatboats for.” “Oh,” she said, “like we use umiaks.” “Yes, that’s right,” smiled Dunn. “Why did you leave your people Dunn, were you cast out?” “Well,” began Dunn, “if you knew my father…” Ahnah shrugged her shoulders, “I didn’t know my own father,” she said innocently, stating a simple fact. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…” he stammered embarrassingly, “I mean, my father wanted me to be like him but I wanted to be different, so I left. It was better for all concerned.” “I saw you in the water and men were shooting at you, why would men shoot at you Dunn?” The second mate sighed. “Sometimes outsiders are not as civilized as we like to imagine ourselves.” Ahnah touched the side of her face. “Yes, I know.” Dunn did not think Ahnah was unattractive the scar on her face gave it a sort of savage character, a hard beauty that was befitting for her. She was not a woman that would shed tears easily. “Did outsiders do that to you?” asked Dunn, restraining the urge to reach out and touch her hand. Ahnah nodded her head. “This and more,” she sighed. “Three men from a…ship and the one you know as Keelut.” Christ, thought Dunn, who didn’t have a high opinion of the Eskimo anyway, Keelut really was some kind of bastard, to do something like that to a young girl. “Well, Keelut’s gone Ahnah, you needn’t worry about him,” said Dunn. The Inuit girl shook her head, “No, he is not here but that does not mean he is not gone. We will see him again.” The second mate said nothing. He had no reason to doubt her. When he did see the son of a bitch, he’d teach him a lesson he soon wouldn’t forget. “When did you start to dream Ahnah?” The Eskimo girl smiled. “I don’t really remember, I was young and the dreams frightened me at first, so much so that I was afraid to sleep, but eventually I learned to accept them and the good that could come from them.” “Do you know everything that will happen?” She shook her head, “No. Most of the time the images are pieces and it takes time to put things together.” “Most of the time?” asked Dunn. “This ship. You, Mason and MacDonald have always been very clear. When I saw Mason on my father’s ship it was very easy to see as well as you and MacDonald alone in the cold trying to survive.” “And you knew we would come?” “Yes, I don’t know why, or for what reason, I just knew you would.” “Mr. Dunn,” called one of the men forward, “could you come here sir? Growlers ahead sir.” “On my way!” he replied, somewhat reluctantly. “Ahnah, go below and get some rest, I’ll talk to you again, when time permits.” The Inuit girl nodded and left the deck and Dunn concentrated on the business at hand, getting them through the ice. Ahnah descended into the hold, crowded with people and dark with the exception of a few swaying lamps casting shadows against the curved hull and separating bulkheads the crew had erected to allow their guests some form of privacy. It didn’t smell as bad as it could have. For the most part those in the hold adapted well enough to their situation, with only a few of them getting sick. Most of their time was spent on deck, taking care of their animals and hunting tools and weapons which was fine as long as they didn’t get in the way of the crew and their normal shipboard duties. Sedna smiled at seeing her daughter. “Ahnah, we saved you some food. Come sit down and eat something.” Ahnah sat down next to Allawah and little Tah, who was sleeping soundly in his mother’s lap, worn out from all the exciting things he saw aboard the SHY LADY. Within a short time Ahnah was passed some food to calm her rumbling stomach and gratefully took what her mother offered, a bowl of luke warm soup, bread and pork. “Were you on deck, Ahnah?” asked her brother. Ahnah nodded, “This umiak is so big I wanted to see how it moved through the water.” Peter nodded, “Yes, this ship is big. Was our father’s ship as big as this mother?” Sedna nodded, “Yes, your father’s ship was as large as this one. I don’t know if it was the same though, I see no differences, they all look the same to me.” Peter grunted and just shook his head it was such a wonder to him. When Sedna and Allawah got up to take little Tah to the head, Peter moved closer to his sister so they could converse.”These men and our people, do you know what will happen?” Ahnah shook her head, “Nothing certain or clear, I know there is danger ahead and more trials, but I am ignorant of the details. We must be strong, you above all others Peter.” “What are your thoughts about the outsiders?” he asked. She was silent for a moment, collecting her thoughts before she spoke. “They are not like the others we have met,” she said. “These men have a purpose far different than the other whaling ships. Why they want to go over the distant ice, I don’t know, but they have their reasons.” “Yes, I agree, they are different,” said Peter. “Mason and MacDonald look like they know what they are doing and I like the ones called Dunn and Higgins, the band does as well. There is something about Dunn, though…is he sad?” Ahnah cocked her head to the side. “Yes, in a way. He has ghosts from his past, Dunn is here to confront them,” she said. Peter nodded his head, “I have a feeling that before this is over we will all do the same thing.” Her meal finished, Ahnah found a place to lie down. She was tired and thought Dunn’s prior advice sound. Within minutes she was softly snoring.