A Ship's Tale (49 page)

There were some threatening gestures from the patrol ship, and now their captain appeared, carrying a megaphone. “
This is your only warning. Heave to, or my orders are to board you and take you by force. You must surrender to us, or face worse consequences later
.” Bowman's answer to that was to give him a Churchill V sign,
reversed
. We heard the MTB hailer splutter before he put down the megaphone.

I didn't think they were going to fire on anyone, as there was too much danger of missing and of hitting the land on either side of us. Boris agreed, and we all came back down to the deck. I was supposed to be the official sparks, although Harris was always taking over—maybe Bowman and Edward had forgotten that. No matter now.

Edward was at the radio, talking to several dozen small boats assembling in the basin below Dumbarton. He was explaining the situation and arranging for them to position their crafts across the path of the patrol boat. We'd pass between them, leaving them to fan out in our wake and slow the pursuing vessel. Edward then got in touch with the tug office and arranged for not one, but two tugs, to take us in tow and bring the extra pumps and petrol. Our pumps were getting overwhelmed and our petrol to keep them going was nearly gone.

After finishing with the radio, Edward made some calculations and said, “From here to where we take on the tow at Greenock is about twenty miles. We'll be under tow for about two hours all told, right up to the shipbuilder's yards. I've asked the tugs to radio Mr. Reith that we're going to need dry docking as soon as possible.”

Now came the most tense part of the chase. No matter how many times the MTB spoke to us, we ignored her. Just let her try and board! Lying in the scuppers were an assortment of pins and boathooks just in case we were to repel boarders. As time went on, it was obvious their captain had calculated the odds of his crew numbers against ours, and realised we could knock them all back into the sea if they tried to climb aboard. Still her sudden surges across our bow and attempts to throw grappling hooks over the rails kept us busy cutting their lines and casting the grappling hooks back into the sea to sink out of harm. Harris, at the wheel, was calling on all his expertise to ensure that he didn't collide with them nor let them throw us too far off course. The boys were busy adjusting the yards and sails to maintain good speed. This deterred the MTB from contemplating a near ramming. The boat had no weight for such an action.

After an hour and a half of this intimidation, we were about to enter the narrow reach of the Firth at Wemyss Bay. The captain of the MTB decided, literally, to take his last shot at stopping us. He roared into the narrows and then swept round in a tight circle, until he was bows-on to us.

Putting his engine in slow reverse, the captain again picked up his megaphone and came to the bow.

“
My orders are to stop you in any way feasible, even using force. I have a deck gun here—enough to hole you badly at the waterline, so you'll surely sink. I'll give you one more minute to surrender, or I shall fire
.”

We all turned to look at Bowman, who was now standing on the bridge deck with his cap on and his best dress uniform. He was the very picture of a man accustomed to commanding and to being obeyed. I think we could have surrendered right then and there if he'd ordered us to do so. Instead he gave one of his old growls and turned to Harris, saying in a voice loud enough for us to hear, “Harris, d'ye remember when I used to teach ye poker as a youngster, and ye'd go on making remarks about how this hand or that was going to flatten me. What did I use to say to ye?”

“‘Put up or shut up,' Uncle Billy,” Harris replied, with a bit of a choke in his voice.

“That's right,” Bowman roared. “Put up or shut up. He's put up his hand, but it isn't worth the ante. If I were him and had a real hand,” he lowered his voice, “I'd be putting it down. I certainly wouldn't be making stupid threats against an unarmed sailing ship, the great numpty. It just shows what twits we have in Whitehall as our masters.” There was a cheer as he finished speaking. Now he gave his order.

“Steady as she goes, Mr. Mate. Hold your course.”

“Aye, aye, Captain,” Harris replied with a smile and held the wheel immobile in a grip of steel.

I suspect the captain of the MTB had no love of the job he'd been given. He must have been thinking of alternatives to the last crazy actions he was ordered to make. He'd been ashore and must have seen newspapers and heard the wireless, enough to know that his bosses at the Admiralty were not popular at all. He must also have realised that actually shooting and, God forbid, hurting anyone would have meant his own court martial, as the high command ran quickly for shelter. Not shooting would mean that he'd have the public with him, and his masters wouldn't be able to punish him without raising even more hands against them.

However he'd worked things out in his own mind, the MTB backed away, then with a sudden roar, shot forward and under our bow, setting us rocking up and down in the wake of her huge bow wave as she roared off, baffled.

Again everyone cheered, forgetting all discipline. Many came up to the bridge to congratulate Bowman, who'd have none of it. “Simple common sense lads, ye've all got it to use,” he protested, but was smiling at the praise nevertheless.

We were now well into the river inlet looking up at the 240-foot twin peaks of Dumbarton Rock and the impressive Dumbarton Castle of stone with its many flags flying in the breeze. The River Clyde flowed on one side and the River Leven on the other two. This had been a fortress before the Romans left these shores and had been a military base as recently as the War. The lookout sounded his bell and called the welcome tidings, “Small boats ahead!”

Soon there was a whole flotilla round us. There was a great deal of shouting through the megaphone between the boats and Bowman, Harris, and Edward, as they all greeted one another with long familiar nicknames and broad smiles. One huge figure, even bigger then Harris, in one of the smallest of the boats, spoke for them all when he roared, “Bowman, ye bloody Scotsman! Now ye've really beaten the Sassenachs (folk that aren't Scots) and they'll never forgive you.”

“I dinna care,” Bowman roared back. “I'm never going back there anyway.”

“Cast down a line,” the big man called out. Bowman nodded and I quickly cast one down. He attached a bundle and we hauled it aboard. It was full of newspapers. As we looked at the papers, we saw that these were ones that Richard had saved for us. Banner headlines shouted: GETTING READY FOR THE GREAT DAY, THE BONNIE CLYDE COMES HOME! There was a shot of Harris feeding the bear, headed: BEARING UP. There were also pictures of the ship in full sail, showing her to be a proud vessel and not some old wreck taken by a pack of cranks.

Bowman seemed to be everywhere, encouraging the boys, keeping an eye on the MTB, and talking by megaphone with friends in the boats. He'd dispatched a boy to the royal yard to keep watch for the tugs but it would be another hour before we came in sight of Greenock. It was one of the slowest hours in my life.

The wind stayed in the same quarter so that we didn't have to change the set of the sails.

In the midst of our suspense, Katherine suddenly appeared on deck with two helpers, all carrying trays of coffee and biscuits as if it were a family outing. We laughed and cheered, breaking the tension. Bowman in particular was charmed by her action and invited her to take coffee with him in the wardroom. I was again struck by her ability to read the situation and come up with an idea that helped those involved. When she came out later she gave me an odd look, partly a smile of happiness, partly a little frightened, but I'd little time to think about it at that moment.

At last there came a faint call from the masthead, “Tugs approaching!” Boris pointed out that in order to secure the towlines to the tugboats, we'd have to reef most of the sails. Bowman gave the order to ensure we were nearly at a standstill when the tugs arrived. As we began pulling up sails to the yardarms, I went into the chart room and found Edward bending over the charts, muttering to himself.

The sparks from the MTB was still carrying out his orders and calling on us to surrender. Obviously his captain had forgotten him. To Bowman, who came in just then, these were still fighting words, and growling that he wanted to hear no more of this rubbish, he picked up the handset and snapped, “This is Captain Bowman. Ye willna stop us, nor will ye board my ship. We willna surrender, so cease your endless blathering!” He put the handset down and returned to his cabin.

Chuckling, I went back on deck. Bowman reappeared and was carrying a folded flag under his arm. He took up his position on the bridge deck. Most of the sails had been taken in with exception of the spanker and flying jibs and all hands were on deck. The towering masts were reefed and looked almost as they had been before the voyage began, and we were slowing in the water.

“How much longer until we have the two tugboats alongside?” Bowman asked Harris, who was still at the wheel.

“Not much longer,” Harris replied. “Less than twenty minutes.”

“All right, let's give them a new thought,” Bowman said. Calling Robert, he gave him the flag he was carrying. “Strike the British colours. That they'll take as a sign of surrender. Wait two minutes and then run this up the mast,” he ordered. Robert put the flag under his arm, saluted, and went down to the mainmast.

“What have you in mind, and what flag is that?” Harris enquired suspiciously.

“Ye'll soon see. 'Tis not the skull and crossbones,” Bowman responded. “Just one of the last cards in the deck to be played out. Now, assemble the crew on deck and get Edward to take the wheel for a spell.”

Harris gave the orders, and soon the crew were standing on deck below the bridge deck. Bowman insisted that Katherine come up to stand by me on the bridge.

Once everyone was present, Bowman took Harris by the arm to stand next to him and he motioned to Katherine and me.

“You two stand here,” Bowman ordered, and we moved closer together and stood in front of him.

“Well now, we're all gathered here as they say, and everyone knows these two are engaged to be married. I find it unthinkable to release them to be married in front of strangers. For my last act as captain of this ship I have the power to pronounce them man and wife, if they still want one another. What say ye?” and Bowman looked at me expectantly.

I was completely taken by surprise and hesitated, wondering how Katherine would take this—no white dress, flowers, or the whole ceremony. “Well?” He asked louder.

“Yes,” I sputtered, looking at Katherine, “I do very much!”

She blinked back at me. “Can he really do this?” she whispered.

“Yes, a ship's captain does have that authority,” I confirmed.

She cleared her throat. “Yes, I do very much,” she quavered shyly.

“Ye're both sure of that?” Bowman asked sternly.

“Yes!” we chorused, holding tightly onto one another's hands and finding it difficult to breathe.

Bowman looked around, “Normally it's the custom to ask if anyone has an objection to the marriage. Be sure that if anyone speaks now, he'll swim the rest of the way.” Everyone laughed. Then, he spoke directly to us and with proper seriousness, “Being a man of extremely few words, most of them irreverent, I'd like to say only that it is now so. That is, I pronounce that ye are now husband and wife.”

Cheers and applause went up from every member of the crew. Even Bowman was smiling from ear to ear and applauded with everyone else. “Well?” he asked with raised eyebrows, so I drew Katherine to me and we embraced with a kiss. That drew more cheers and applause from everyone.

Katherine gave Bowman a hug and a kiss on the cheek, which made his face go crimson. “Get on wi' ye now,” he rasped, shooing us off the bridge.

As we went down, everyone crowding round to offer congratulations, I held Katherine's hand tighter and she snuggled against my shoulder. I think it was the shortest wedding any of us ever attended, perhaps the shortest on record.

“I'll make sure ye have a licence, because there's a real log on this ship. I've been keeping a record, such as it is. That's one of the pleasures of being in command,” Bowman said in a satisfied tone. “But now for something not so pleasant, something we all must understand.” He cleared his throat and moved up to the bridge rail.

“Shipmates, I would like ye to know that it's been a privilege and an honour to serve with such brave lads as ye all are, and under such unfavourable circumstances. Every one of ye has brought something to this endeavour, where we've travelled approximately one thousand miles from the Thames to this point. Our average speed has been around twelve knots, although we surely had some quicker times during the storms. We had a great deal of luck getting this far, but none of this could ever have been achieved without the efforts of everyone in this company. I know that I've occasionally been a hard taskmaster, and ye've been more than respectful with me.”

Bowman continued, “Your remaining duties now are to assist in securing the towlines to the tugboats arriving to take us up river. There's nothing the MTB can do now to stop us from reaching our final destination. He'll not use his deck gun. He'll only shoot off his mouth, which he has been. When we're secure and finally tied up at the dock, ye must follow these instructions carefully: I want all ye boys to leave the ship as quickly as possible, taking with ye only what ye can carry. There'll be people waiting for ye, so get into the crowd as quickly as possible. They're good people, so please show them the respect ye've given everyone here.”

One boy spoke up. “How will we know them?” he asked.

“They'll know you,” Bowman responded. “Harris and I will assume responsibility for anything the English government may dish out but I want ye to understand that ye've done nothing wrong. We invited ye on a holiday and ye accepted, nae more than this. And if you get questioned by these new-fangled National Health people or the police, just tell the truth. Don't make up any stories about anyone.