High Seas Series: The Brandon Saga ~ Escape

 The Carl

There were few towns on Nicaragua's Atlantic coast, they did stop at Little Corn Island in hopes of getting some fresh food, but what little food they had, did not appeal to the Americans. They did purchase a couple of pieces of 'dulce', sugar cane stalk, for the two little boys to suck on before heading back out to sea. They finally came along the long sweeping curve of the Costa Rica coast and three days later saw them entering the port of Limon.

Charlie's old friend, Captain John Talbot, had made arrangement with the Harbor Master to notify him when The Carl made port. The Carl entered the port and they were directed to the small boat pier adjacent to the Heavy Freighter Harbor. There was a Guarda Costa office for them to check in and present their documents.

They found all the officials spoke excellent English, although Ben spoke Spanish like a native, having grown up along the border with Mexico.

While they were checking in with the Coast Guard, Captain Talbot arrived and hugged his old friend and Chief Engineer. He had brought one of his own security men to stand watch over the Carl, while he took them all up to the house to clean up and have a hot, home cooked meal.

Charlie worried a bit about the chests of gold under the foredeck, but John told him his men would see the Carl safe. He advised them to deposit the gold in the Banco Nacional, it had an excellent reputation for safety and it would establish them with financial legitimacy and make their stay much easier.

John Talbot took them all to his home up on a hill overlooking the city. Unlike Mexico, the streets were clean and in good repair and there were no beggars holding out their hands for money.

Domingo had a death grip on Ben's hand the whole way to John's house. They found out later that he was afraid the policia were going to take him away. When John found out about that, he asked Ben if he wanted a son? Ben ended up with adoption papers for Domingo and he was registered at the American Consulate. They were not really in business, they had no communication with Washington and even their light bill was on the charity of the Costa Rican Government, but they gave Ben a paper stating that the boy was an adopted American child.

It was during this time that Carl began talking to Ben and, before either of them realized it, they were holding hands! Carl's Mother, Evelyn was not surprised, in fact, she just "harrumphed" and said, "Well, its about time you did what you should have done before we left! It was written all over yer faces, so stop pretending that you are just friends."

What little news there was from the United States was unvaryingly bad. Business was at a standstill and there were reports of people starving in the streets. San Francisco and much of Los Angeles had burned and Mexican gangs had crossed the border had taken over Texas. Riots were common all over and the Army was attempting to fill in for the civilian police, who had walked off the job after not getting paid for over two months.

They moved the Carl to a private yard that was fenced and provided security full time and they moved the gold to the Bank at John's suggestion to establish spending accounts for each of them.

Both Domingo and Little Carl were enrolled in the American School in Limón and Dom's English improved rapidly as did Carl Jr.'s Spanish. The two boys were a grade apart, but Junior looked after his little brother like a mother hen. It was not uncommon for him to have to bring a note home because he punched some bully's lights out while the bully was picking on Domingo. Both Ben and Carl found it hard to scold Junior, after all, he was only doing something they would have done themselves!

Domingo was a small child, he was healthy enough, but his stature would always be small. He enjoyed art class and he began bringing home papers that were worth framing, in fact they did frame some of them! Dom had a gift and his two Papas, Ben and, now Carl, were determined to cultivate Dom's gift of art.

At the end of the school year, Dom's teacher held a showing of the children's art and Dom's stood out as almost professional. Sra. Sanchez recommended they take Domingo to a special class given by local artists who could better evaluate and help the boy during the summer vacation. Dom was excited to go and pestered both Ben and Carl until they went to sign him up.

Ben and Carl were trying to complete their degrees, they had both enrolled at the National University. They did not have courses directly related to Marine Engineering or Marine Science, but it would be close enough that they could apply for their licenses, if or when the American Government ever began to function again.

Costa Rica did not have a seagoing Merchant Marine and they felt no need to license small boat operators.

There were several small freighters tied up at the pier, their crews had apparently abandoned them and they were just sitting there, making rust. Carl mentioned it to both John and Uncle Charlie and wondered if it might be an opportunity for them.

Both men were interested, so the two young men took a trip down to the ships to look them over. One ship was a wreck, one of its two boilers had blown and it was evident that water was leaking into the forward hold.

The other ship however, was in much better shape. It was diesel powered and looked to be much newer than the other vessel. The bank was holding the paper on both ships and the bank President was delighted to have someone interested in taking at least, one of the ships off their hands.

Charlie refused to go back to sea, he said his heart couldn't stand it, but, if the boys and John wanted to do it, he would act as agent for them and try to arrange cargos.

Ben and Carl took Captain John down to the ship and the man was impressed, not only with the ship, but the way the young men presented their ideas and themselves. He foresaw them both going places and doing things in the near future and he figured that he wanted to be part of it! He was tired of sitting in his house, remembering how it "used to be"!

Between going to school and rehabilitating their ship, which they had named The Domingo, it took them sixteen months to ready the ship to sail. It helped that they were both awarded their degrees and they could devote the last six months full time to the project.

John raised nearly a million dollars, American equivalent, for the project. Of course, it was all in Costa Rican Colones, but they figured it would spend as well as any other currency.

There was no dry dock in the country, so they had to sail the Domingo down to Brazil in order to get a Lloyds of London Insurance Certificate. The ABS was no longer functioning. (American Bureau of Shipping)

John had agreed to Captain the ship and Ben was going to be the Chief Mate. Carl, of course, would serve as Chief Engineer. Since Costa Rica had no Merchant Marine and no bureaucracy to administer one, both young men applied for Brazilian Licenses. They took the test and neither of them had a problem, in fact, they both privately said the test was a joke. However, the license was the important thing and they both now had what they needed.

With a clean hull and fresh bottom paint, they sailed the Domingo back to Limon with a minimum crew. They were met at the pier by two wild eyed children, demanding their Daddies take them the next time!

Dom had painted a large painting of the Domingo as it sailed out of Limón Port and Charlie had the painting expertly framed. Several local people wanted to purchase the boy's painting, even offering the equivalent of twenty thousand US dollars!

The child refused, it was for his two Daddies!

It was known now that Ben and Carl Sr. were a couple, most people just ignored the problem. There were a few, however, that attempted to make trouble. Carl had attained his full growth now and he was a very intimidating man, over six and a half feet tall and weighing in at 285 pounds! All of it was muscle! Only a few troublemakers dared challenge him and the few that did, regretted their actions for the rest of their lives! He would not accept them harassing his Ben either, it was a fast way to a hospital visit!

The dockside layabouts gave both men a wide berth!

Two years after they had begun the project, they had a cargo for the Domingo and they had collected a crew to operate the ship. It was a grand celebration as the Domingo pulled away from the pier. It was the only merchant ship to claim Limón Port as its Home Port and even the Mayor came out to witness the sailing.

John was on the bridge wing observing Ben as he made ready to get underway. Ben pulled on the ship's horn telling all other ships he was getting underway astern.

Carl was in the Engine Room, ready to answer all bells. The First and Second Assistant Engineers were both standing by, watching to see how Carl expected them to operate their own watches. They had not found a Third Assistant Engineer yet, so Carl was going to have to stand a watch himself until one was located.

They had cargo for Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires. Uncle Charlie was working on more cargo forward of BA.

Ben backed the Domingo away from the pier and ordered ahead slow.

Down below, Carl stopped and reversed the big diesel engine and restarted it in the Ahead direction. The Domingo slowly gathered speed as she made her way out of the harbor. Ben increased the speed until they were chugging along at sixteen knots.

It would be a couple of days down to Rio, he was sure they would all be familiar with the Domingo by that time and they would be comfortable in their jobs.

They were.

Charlie had been working the telephones, with no American ships operating in southern waters and worldwide business nearly at a standstill, what cargo units he could arrange, were small and easily handled by a novice crew.

They arrived in Rio with a short load in the forward hold, and, after they had offloaded, the fruits of Uncle Charlie's work became apparent, the forward hold AND the after hold were both filled to capacity! Only by jiggling crates and a few well said prayers, kept them from having to endure deck cargo!

They called at BA and juggled the cargo around to get at the freight for that city; they were still novices and were just learning about sequential stowage priorities.

Their next port was Santiago, Chile. Ben would have preferred not having to negotiate Tierra del Fuego on their very first trip, but he had John standing there making sure they would not have to swim!

They called at Puerto El Quisco and delivered the cargo destined for Santiago and took on Deck Cargo destined for Valparaiso. They really did not want to bother with deck cargo, but the agent was frantic to get the load to Valparaiso, so, when he doubled the rate, they felt they had no valid reason to say no.

They were surprised to learn that they had already established a reputation for good service and on time delivery on their very first voyage.

They got a radio message from Charlie that he had them sold out, they were to take on cargo at Valparaiso and take it directly to Sydney, where he figured he would fill them up again with a full load back to Santiago! The Domingo performed faultlessly, she was a fast ship and, when they arrived in Sydney, the Aussies were surprised that there were Americans running the ship.

When they saw Ben out on deck, running the cargo handling, they noted his small stature and thought him a child. That is, until Carl showed up and backed Ben in an argument with an Aussie Dockie! The man took one look at the giant man standing behind the Mate, with his fists that were all knotted up and the Dockie decided that he would work the cargo like the Mate wanted it done!

It would be three months before The Domingo returned to her home port, two small boys came flying across the gangway before it was even tied down and crawled into their Daddies arms. They loved Gampa Charlie and Gamma Evelyn, but they NEEDED their Daddies!

Two days later, John, Ben, Carl and Charlie were seated in the ship's mess, going over the end of voyage reports and tallying the bills of lading and gross receipts. Charlie had a pleased look on his face and asked John, "Well, are ya' convinced?"

John smiled and replied "Yep!' He turned to Ben and said, "Captain Ben Davis, you are now Master of the Domingo!"

Ben's eyes went wide and he stammered, "mmmmmeemmME"?

John laughed, "Hell, Son, you been doin' all the work, I was just along for the ride. Good Grief, you even snaked us around Tierra del Fuego, TWICE, without a single problem. You don't need me, I can go back to my retirement and watch the paint dry on my house!"

That was exactly what he did!

The local businesses now had an avenue for increased sales and they rapidly took advantage of it. The railroad was running extra freight runs from the interior, coffee they had been unable to move because there were no ships calling at Limón Port, came pouring into town, ready to be swung aboard the Domingo.

There was a rail car of crated papaya that they hesitated to accept, but it was only going as far as BA and the shipper guaranteed they could not be held accountable for spoilage.

They felt they had hardly had time to shower and change clothing when both holds were full and the hatch covers battened down. This was Ben's first time, being in complete charge and no John to back him up. He had a case of the "worries" and Carl gave him a hug in the mess and whispered, "Ya' are gonna do fine, love. Go up there and show them all that YOU are the CAPTAIN of the MV Domingo!"

Carl's faith in his Life's Mate steadied Ben down and it was with full confidence in himself as he pulled the chain on the Ship's Horn and began backing away from the pier. As soon as they hit the breakwater, everyone on board could feel that the ship was loaded to capacity, she was down to her summer load line! Carl had to struggle to get the engine up to sixteen knots, it was a six cylinder diesel and they not only heard each cylinder fire, they could feel the "thud" all over the ship!

About half the load of coffee was consigned to a broker in Rio and he was so anxious to get his hands on it, he brought his own workers to help stack the bags on his trucks. There was a little grumbling from the stevedores, but that was the consignee's problem, not their own.

The remainder of the coffee was destined for BA, but the shipper had given Ben about forty pounds to spread around as samples. Before they had departed from Rio, the telephone wires were burning up between that city and Limón, the shipper warned Charlie that he had more than a whole hold of orders for the next "turn-around"!

It would not be long before the two young men were groaning about never having a day off!

The few contacts that John still had in North America reported dismal conditions in what remained of the United States. Starvation was rampant and local thugs had set up satrapies all over the country, ruling with guns, knives and slavery!

A friend told him, via short wave radio, that Texas was lost, the drug cartels had taken over completely. Both Dallas and Houston were burned to the ground and Fort Worth was in the midst of a war between rival cartels.

Farming and cattle ranches no longer existed and the few gringos trying to hold on were hiding in the mountains near El Paso. California had died in a sea of fire and both Oregon and Washington had been taken over by Orientals from China and Vietnam.

What was left of the American Government was now in Memphis. Washington, DC was a pool of radioactive wreckage and the weather in New England had changed so drastically, few could survive there.

All of those John had contacted, asked him if there were any jobs on the ship he had told them about and that got him to thinking, those two boys were making a name for themselves, maybe if he could locate another ship, they might be a place for his old buddies to get out of the mess they were in, or at least, get their children out!

He spoke with Charlie about the matter and he agreed, it was worth looking into. Charlie found a possibility at Puerto Jimenez in Panama. It was a ship very similar to the Domingo. They would have to wait until the Domingo returned before they could go look at it.

John contacted his friend back in the "States" and they were all eager, one said he would walk to get there, he was so anxious to get himself and his family away from the awful conditions in North America.

Even Canada had disappeared, nobody had heard from anybody north of Akron in two years.

When the Domingo returned from Sydney, Bill Phillips, their Purser was dragging bags of Australian Dollars, Pesos from BA and Brazilian Reales in a wheeled cart. Shippers were so eager to use the new shipping line that had suddenly appeared, they were driving freight rates sky high!

Both Ben and Carl thought it would be a good idea to go up to Panama and take a look, their local National Bank had contacted Banco Comerciál de Panama, who had seized the vessel for back payments. It had belonged to a now defunct Saudi business and the bank was willing to let it go for payment of the dock fees and take over the payments.

The bank had quoted them that the only remaining payments amounted to less than $125,000 American.

The two men had thought to take the Carl and go up there to take a look, but the Domingo was due in port in a week and Charlie was sure he could scare up a cargo to pay their way Puerto Jimenez. Costa Rican coffee was worth its weight in gold and Charlie was able to sell a whole ship load of coffee to several buyers in Panama.

The Domingo was in Rio, delivering a load of papaya and a trial load of pineapple. The Domingo was not refrigerated, but they had experimented and, if the fruit was chilled before lowering into the hold, it would remain fresh for about a week. It was not a high value cargo, but it paid the bills!

When the Domingo returned, John and Charlie hit the boys with their idea and it was agreed that they would haul some coffee and a load of tropical hardwoods up to Puerto Jimenez on consignment.

The two little boys went ballistic and demanded to be allowed to accompany Uncle Charlie and their Daddies on the short trip. There was no talking them out of it and Junior was getting pretty good sized for an old man to tell him, "NO!" It was evident he was going to be at least as big as his father, that is, if he didn't end up killing himself by tumbling over his own big feet!

Junior was eleven years old and stood as tall as Uncle Charlie! Domingo was still small, but he had gained a reputation as an artist and he intended to paint some pictures on the trip and sell them through the Fine Arts store in Limón. He had a standing order to let them have first pick of any painting he did!

By the time the Domingo was ready to take the run up to Panama, several prospective crewmen were already working their way to Costa Rica, just on the hopes that there would be a paying job for them.

They all toured the ship and found it watertight and the engine had recently been overhauled. It was incredibly dirty and foul smelling, John grumbled something about ragheads and they all agreed.

They decided to take on the ship and they had to find a drydock to get the ship inspected before Lloyd's would insure them. There was a shipyard there in Puerto Jimenez that could handle the small ship and they decided to run The Domingo back to Limón Port to collect their crew that was slowly arriving from the States. They had made good money on the scratch cargo they had put together and they decided to chance a repeat performance.

It was a quick trip home and Domingo surprised everyone by selling two of his paintings for the equivalent of fifty thousand dollars in reales! Charlie grumbled, "Hell, that's almost as much as we made hauling cargo up there, after I pay all the damned bills!"

They had assembled a Captain, two Mates, a Chief Engineer and one Assistant, plus an assortment of deck hands, an oiler and two enginemen. Almost by chance, they found another Mate locally. Juan Pedro Jeromes was out of work and desperate to feed his family. He had walked nearly two hundred miles from the west coast when he heard about the job.

He told them his two boys and their Mother were starving in Puerto Caldera, so Charlie gave the man an advance on his pay and had it wired to the bank in Puerto Caldera. Poor Juan Pedro was in tears, thanking Charlie. Times were hard and he would have taken any job, just so his family could eat, to have been able to land a job in his profession and the rate of pay these men offered him, he would walk on water to serve any need they asked of him!

He would eventually rise to Captain on a Domingo Shipping Company ship!

They hauled another cargo of coffee beans, papaya and pineapple north to Puerto Jimenez when the shipyard wired them that the ship was out of drydock and Lloyd's had accepted the work. Lloyd's issued them a Certificate of Insurance based on the hull report.

They were sure they were going to have to spend days cleaning up the ship and getting rid of its stink, but, when they arrived, they found that the shipyard had thoroughly cleaned the ship and repainted the living quarters. There was the faint smell of fresh paint, but the "stink" of stale sweat and unwashed bodies was gone!

They ran the ship over to the fueling pier and filled the fuel tanks and fresh water tanks. They took on enough food to get them back to Limón Port. The Chief Engineer, Bill Cummins, checked the engine out thoroughly, as well as all the auxiliaries and pronounced them ready to go. He said the main engine was a little stiff, but he put fresh oil in it and would change it again in Limón Port and that should take care of it.

Ben and Carl followed them back home, they had delivered their cargo to the broker, who had the coffee sold before it had ever entered port!

The new ship smoked a bit, until the engine had cleared itself. They would name the ship after they had returned home. There was no real choice of the name, it would be the MV Carl Junior!

Domingo presented Captain Dan Drysdale with a painting of his ship that would hang in the Captain's Stateroom until Dan Drysdale was forced to retire from old age. Then, he took it with him and his grandchildren inherited the painting when he died!

Both ships returned to Limón Port and Evelyn had a stack of cargo orders for Charlie to distribute to both ships. The Junior was sold out before they had even painted her name on the bow and stern plate! Business was so good, they had the loan paid off in a year and they owned the ship, free and clear!

The local coffee growers considered both ships as national treasures, they had feared they would never get their crops to a decent market again, now, they were planting additional trees! The papaya and pineapple farmers were equally as happy, their crops were getting to Rio and BA with little or no spoilage and commanding premium prices on the market in those cities.

Juan Pedro was able to bring his family to join him in Limón Port, a more happy man could not be found in the town! Captain Drysdale told John, "If you guys get another ship, make damned sure Juan Pedro Jeromes was appointed Captain!" He was worth any two mates he had ever sailed with!

Will Domingo Shipping continue to grow and prosper? What is happening back in the old United States, is it done for and its people ruined? Will it ever rise again? What is happening to those who manipulated the currency and destroyed America?