High Seas Series: The Brandon Saga ~ Escape

Carl swung around through Galveston's suburbs to collect his Mother, Evelyn d'Lentiss Brandon and almost physically shoved her into his truck.

When he went to fill his gas tank, there was a sign in front of the station that said, "CASH ONLY". Fortunately, he had cashed some checks that morning, intending to pay his dorm fees and the fee for a lab course he wanted, so he had the money to fill his tank. The "Cash Only" sign worried him, was something going on that Uncle Charlie had gotten wind of? He was glad his son, Carl, Jr. was with his Uncle Charlie, if there was ever a man who would protect a small boy, that was Uncle Charlie!

He noted there were no other cars on the road and that raised his apprehension level even more. He asked his Mom to try and find a news station of the radio, but all she could find was static. Out where they were, that was not too unusual, so neither of them were overly concerned.

The only way to get to Uncle Charlie's was to go north and cut over to I-69. It would change to Highway 77 a ways out of Driscoll and get worse the further south they went. It would be dark before they got there.

When they got up to the Interstate, there was still no reception on the radio and Carl kept still, he didn't want to frighten his Mother any more than she already was. They both knew by now, that something terribly wrong was happening, the lack of traffic and no radio reception told them it more than just a local minor thing.

They drove on in silence, Carl was pushing his Ford truck harder than he liked to. It had been a gift from Uncle Charlie, Carl's old Toyota mini truck had been on its last legs. If one looked down between their legs, they could have seen the pavement going by!

Uncle Charlie bought him a nearly new Ford 150 with the expanded cab and 4-wheel drive. It was a honey of a truck and Carl took good care of it, it was only a year old and still looked like new.

As they got further down the highway, Carl found himself pushing the big truck harder, there still was no traffic and he found himself running at seventy miles an hour down the deserted road. He backed off a bit, but said to himself, "What the hell, even a cop would be nice to see right now!" He climbed back up to seventy miles an hour!

Just before they lost the divided highway, Carl spotted the sign for Baffin Bay Inn. They still had a long way to go and they would lose the pavement about twenty miles in and have to proceed on a graded dirt county road.

They curled around the swamp and found Vattman Road. The town of Vattman only existed in some realtor's mind, it consisted of a rickety gas station, a beer joint and a general store. As they passed through, it looked like the bar was doing a "land office" business, which seemed odd since it was only three o'clock in the afternoon.

Past Vattman, the road was going to get bad, so Carl stopped to fill the truck with gasoline and stretch his legs. The pumps were auto-pay and it accepted his credit card without question. He double checked his oil and they hit the road again, still headed east.

It was with relief, just as the shadows were deepening, they rolled into Loyola Beach. It seemed to be pretty busy, people were hauling groceries out of the grocery store like there was a famine coming on, but his Mom was getting tired and she just wanted to get there, so they turned north and took Bayshore Road towards Drum Point.

The best speed he could make was only twenty miles per hour, the road had always been bad, but it seemed to him that it was worse than he had ever seen it. It looked like it had been freshly plowed! He would find out later that it had been plowed, that very morning by his Uncle Charlie!

At long last, his headlights picked up the flagpole that his Uncle had erected right after he bought the place and he could see lights on in the house. He parked the truck and both of them got out, grateful to be able to stretch their legs. Carl hobbled a bit until the kinks were out and they both headed for the front door.

A little six year old whirlwind tackled him the minute they stepped up on the front porch, Carl Junior was swinging from his arm and Carl did not have the heart to scold the boy, in fact, he was overjoyed to see his son. He picked him up and pretended to grunt and groan as he exclaimed, "Good Grief, BOY, how much bigger are ya' gonna get?"

Little Carl didn't answer, he just gave his father a kiss on the cheek.

Carl wiped the side of his face and shouted, "OOOOH COOTIE GERMS!"

They were both laughing, it was a routine they went through whenever Carl came to Uncle Charlie's. Charlie was dishing up supper as they came in the house and Carl started to ask why the rush to get here, and Charlie just shook his head and said quietly, "Later, son, later."

The supper was superb, like every meal Uncle Charlie had ever served them. After the meal, Carl had to look at Junior's report card and his test scores and, finally, Uncle Charlie said, "Time for bed, young man, we are gonna be busy tomorrow."

Carl took his son upstairs and saw to it that he brushed his teeth and he listened to the boy's night time prayers before he kissed him and tucked him in for the night. Junior called out, "Ya don't need ta' leave the hall light on no more, I'm a big boy now."

Carl went down the stairs, very uneasy about what had gotten his uncle all riled up about. Old Charlie took them out on the front porch and they sat there in the dark, Finally, Charlie said, "The banks are closed and they ain't gonna reopen."

Evelyn almost screamed, "WHAT?"

Charlie said, "That's right, they ain't gonna reopen, there is no money. The country is broke, they have been printing money as fast as it can come off the presses and, now, the creditors are demanding payment an' there ain't any money to pay them with. The biggest creditor is China and they have hijacked the Arabs into not delivering any oil until the bills are paid. There just ain't enough oil here in this country to keep us going, so many wells has been closed in and fields put off limits, we can't even keep the lights on. I expect the power to go off in the next couple of days."

Evelyn was sitting in her chair, crying softly and Carl asked, "What are we gonna do, Uncle Charlie?"

Charlie replied, "Costa Rica!"

Carl looked at him in question and Charlie continued, "I got the boat here, and the hull has been caulked and I rebuilt the engine, again. The boiler is fine and the deck house is rain tight. I got thirty tons of coal sitting in the barn an' I got all kinds of food stocked up, we will run the Carl down to Costa Rica and wait out the storm."

Evelyn asked, "What will we do for money?"

Charlie snickered, "I got three big boxes of old gold coins hidden under the floor of this house, I figger that will see us through a bunch of years before we need ta' worry."

Carl sat thinking and said finally, "Unc, the two of us can't run the Carl by ourselves an' Mom will be busy keeping Little Carl outta trouble."

Charlie replied, "Have ya' got any ideas about some extra help?"

Carl thought for a few minutes and said, "Yeah, my roomie, Ben Davis. He has nobody, his folks kicked him out and he is struggling to stay in school. He's a helluva guy and is just the type person we need to skid the Carl down to Costa Rica!"

Charlie asked, "Why was he thrown out?"

Carl replied, "He's gay, Unc and his Dad damned near beat him to death. He isn't my type, I still like girls, but I know he is a hard worker and he gets along with nearly anyone."

Carl was not all that sure about part of that statement, lately he had caught himself thinking about Ben in ways that surprised him, but now was not the time nor the place to explore that feeling.

Charlie asked, "Can you get in touch with him?"

Carl replied, "Sure, he has no place to go, so I am sure he's still in our dorm room."

Charlie handed Carl the telephone and Carl started the process of getting connected to his dorm room. The connection was terrible, but, finally a sleepy voice answered, "uuuuu hhhellow?"

Carl said, "Ben, I want ya' to come right away to my Uncle Charlie's place over at Drum Point. This is NOT a joke, Ben, there is something very serious happening and you may not live through it if you stay there!"

Ben said, "Yeah, I know. The power is off and school is closed down. I am stayin' 'cause I ain't got no money."

Carl replied, "Go into my room safe and there is a box in the back marked, 'Headache Pills'. There are thirty silver dollars in it. They are each worth about fifty bucks each. Take them all and fill up your old jalopy with go-juice. As soon as ya' get here, we are gonna get the hell outta Dodge!"

Ben asked, "On WHAT?"

Carl replied, "I had better not say on this phone line, just come as fast as you can, there is a map in the safe on how to get here. Get crackin', Roommate!"

Ben Davis jumped out of his bed and threw some clothes on. He trusted Carl like he trusted no other person. If Carl wanted him to get the hell outta Dodge, he had a damned good reason!

He stuffed a small bag with some clean underwear and socks, along with the only two decent shirts he had and a pair of jeans that had only a few small holes in them. He found the silver dollars Carl had told him about, along with the map and he headed out to his car, hoping the wheeled wreck would even start.

He had to dicker with the station attendant to get his gasoline and it took four of the silver dollars before the guy would let him pump the gas.

Ben drove off into the night, there were only a few cars on the road and he couldn't find anything but static on the car radio. He had wondered why Carl had left so abruptly and had been fearful it had something to do with him. He couldn't help himself, he had fallen in love with his roommate who was strictly straight!

It was a long drive, he worried about his old car, but it purred along. About three AM, he turned off the freeway and headed south on I-69, it was only a divided highway and he didn't see any lights, no cars and no houses could be seen. He had to use a flashlight to see the map, he was looking for a sign that said, "Drum Point Inn", he cruised past the Inn, there was not a single light showing.

He followed the road around the swamp marked on the map and almost an hour later, he cruised through town of Vattman, again, there were no lights.

He turned left when he hit the bay, and headed north to Drum Point. It was just getting light as he spotted Mr. Brandon's flag pole and saw lights on in the house.

He shut down the car, and the thing backfired something awful and he heard metal parts falling to the ground. It sounded terminal! He thought, "Oh well, I can always ride back with Carl."

Before he could knock on the door, a grinning Carl pulled it open and brought him in to a lighted kitchen, warm and smelling of breakfast cooking on the stove. He said, "God, Carl, I hope ya' got some coffee there. I'm beat!"

They heard Carl's Uncle coming down the stairs and Carl quickly hugged his friend as he whispered, "Ben, there's big trouble and the whole damned country has crashed. Uncle Charlie has a steam boat that we are gonna bug out on and try to get to Costa Rica, where he has an old shipmate who is willing to take us all in. Do you have your passport?"

Ben replied, "Yeah, I took everything out of my safe and tossed it in my bag."

Charlie entered the kitchen and reached out his hand for some coffee, "Gimme before I croak!" He sat down and explained to the boys what they had to do.

Ben asked, "Mr. Brandon...."

Charlie interrupted him and said, "Forget the Mister stuff, just call me Charlie, or even Uncle Charlie like Carl does."

Ben replied, "Well, eeer, Uncle Charlie, how come you got lights, nobody else does?"

Charlie smiled and said, "Generator out in the barn, we are gonna need it to let the Carl down to the water this morning."

By now Evelyn had struggled downstairs and Little Carl was rubbing his eyes in the doorway. Charlie served everyone breakfast and the adults some coffee. Little Carl got a big glass of orange juice and they all ate pancakes and scrambled eggs.

By now, it was light outside and Charlie offered Ben a bed, but he said he was good for a while yet, so the men went out to the large barn, where they found a wooden hulled US Navy Launch, from about 1918. The hull had been freshly caulked and the planking all had a fresh coat of haze gray paint. The deck house was pure white and they could see the top of a gleaming, polished steam engine poking its head up, through the top cover of the engine compartment.

Charlie proudly pointed out the engine was a four cylinder cross compound steam engine, built by the Joshua Hendy Corporation in 1916. The boiler, forward between the deck house and the Engine Compartment, was a Babcock and Wilcox vertical Scotch Marine Boiler that was completely rebuilt, with all new flue tubes and the rivets had all been re-swaged. It was positioned with the firebox facing aft so that one person could tend the engine and fire the boiler.

There was a thousand gallon fresh water tank under the after deck that supplied both the boiler makeup and the passenger's needs. The hotwell sat beside the engine and he had rigged up a generator to run off the steam engine next to the hotwell.

There was a modern radar set and three different types of Marine Radios installed on the tiny bridge and a small distiller to make fresh water from sea water sat just aft of the engine.

Ben asked, "How many horsepower does the engine develop, sir?"

Charlie replied, "Ya can forget that sir stuff, too, the engine develops about a hundred horsepower at sixty-five revs on the shaft."

Ben asked, What about compasses?"

Charlie grinned, "I got me a First Mate? There are two compasses, a Maggie and a Sperry Gyro in the cabin, there is an electronic repeater next to the wheel, along with a Marine GPS. We gotta put the fuel aboard after we launch her, my jury-rigged marine railway won't take the extra thirty tons of coal."

Carl groaned, "And it's all in bags?"

Charlie laughed, "Yeah!"

They went to look at the "railway", it was made from three heavy duty industrial trailers welded together to keep them straight. There was an electric winch system in the barn to lower the trailers down to the water.

Charlie said, "Once the Carl is in the water, we can use the trailers to haul the coal down and toss them in the forward hold." He continued, "I figger we will go through about a bag, mebbe two bags a day. Each bag is five hundred pounds, so we will have to use the hoist to swing them aboard the Carl. At a half ton usage a day, that will give us sixty day's run time and I figger we will reach Puerto Moin near Limon in twenty ta' twenty-five days. My old skipper, Cap'n Johnny Talbot, lives in Limon and is waiting for us. He is a good guy and I got him on the telephone two days ago an' he was urgin' me to come right then."

They turned around and found Ben sitting on a box, tears running down his face. Carl ran over to comfort his friend and put his arms around him, "Ben, what's the matter, you don't wanna get the hell outta here?"

Ben looked up at Carl and replied, "I got nothing to contribute, I am just dead weight to you guys."

Charlie looked closely at the two young men and saw feeling for each other pass between them, whether they wanted to admit it or not. He knelt down by Ben and said, "Son, you got lots to contribute, besides a strong back, you got deck training that I don't have. I am just an old, broken down Engineer, you know how to use a sextant properly and you kin plot a course, neither Carl or I can do that. Carl an' I will keep the teapot working and you will have to do the steering, that's the only way we are gonna get there safe!"

It took the combined efforts of Carl and Charlie to convince the young man that they not only wanted him along, they NEEDED him.

It was Little Carl who clinched the deal, he walked up to Ben and said, "Mr. Ben, will you teach me how to steer the boat?"

That did it, with tears still rolling down his face, Ben picked up the little boy and hugged him, "Yes, I will teach you how to be a helmsman and steer the boat!"

It took them the rest of the day to get the Carl in the water and fill the water tank. The next morning, they hauled the coal down and stowed it in the forward compartment and, just before dark, they fired up the boiler, so the smoke could not be seen in the dark.

They tested the engine and the small distiller and both worked perfectly. The engine turned over like smooth glass and the engine exhaust condenser that Charlie had rigged up, worked perfectly, only a slight amount of fresh water was lost around the piston rods of the engine. There had to be a little leakage, otherwise, the packing would seize up.

Before they turned in for the night, they ran a long extension cord down to the Carl and put the lighting batteries on charge. When they were underway, the little generator on the engine would keep the batteries charged.

The next day was spent carrying clothing and treasured items down and stowing them aboard the Carl and the two young men helped Charlie carry the heavy boxes of gold coins down and put them under a hatch up forward that they covered over with bags of coal. By the time a few bags of coal had been dragged across the hatch, nobody would ever be able to find it, unless they knew exactly where it was.

There was no refrigerator on board, so all their food would have to be preserved or dried.

Carl tried out the little marine toilet in the main cabin to make sure the hand pump worked and they tested the two compasses, the GPS and the radar. Everything worked perfectly.

They planned on sailing the next day.

There was little sleep for the adults that night, they were all keyed up and the anxiety rate was over 100%! The only one of them that got a good night's sleep was Little Carl and he couldn't understand why everyone was yawning at breakfast. He just thought, "Screwy Adults!"

They hauled the last of the food, medicines and toys for Little Carl down to the Carl, while Carl fired up the boiler and slowly brought the steam pressure up to a hundred pounds. He rocked the throttle a couple of time to start warming the engine and filled all the lubricating cups while he was waiting for everyone to come aboard.

Evelyn was still a little hesitant about the trip, but her life was wrapped up around her son Carl and his son, Little Carl, so she figured she would have to go along to keep them both out of trouble!

Charlie let Ben take first trick on the wheel, while he stood lookout up on the bow. There was no telling what was half-submerged in the bay.

Just before they departed, Carl ran the bilge pump to drain any water that had collected during the night, then he rocked the engine, warming the cylinders and making sure there was a good coating of moisture on the cylinder walls to lubricate the pistons.

Ben hollered, "Half Astern," and the Carl began to move away from Charlie's pier. Ben got the Carl turned around and ordered, "Ahead, two thirds" as he began guiding the Carl down channel, towards the Inter Coastal Waterway.

They hit the Waterway about noon and turned south. Ben said he would take the wheel until they exited the waterway at Padre Island. He was beginning to wonder if he had made a mistake, when the channel exit finally appeared. He steered the small ship between the buoys and they were in the open sea of The Gulf of Mexico before turning the wheel over to Charlie.

The seas were calm and the sun was shining brightly, Evelyn managed to fix a lunch for everyone and Carl started up the distiller before he latched the engine throttle so he could eat. He stoked the firebox and set the dampers before coming up for lunch. As long as the engine was not laboring, it was not necessary to continuously stoke the fire.

After lunch, Charlie and Ben got the charts out and plotted a course that would keep them well offshore of the Mexican coast and cut across the Gulf between Arrecife and Granville Shoals, before putting in at Cancun for supplies.

They settled down to the comforting regular clank and thunk of the small steam engine, there was no place they felt safe in tying up for the night along the Mexican Coast, so they "bit the bullet" and traded shifts around the clock, steering and feeding the boiler.

Evelyn did all she could to help, feeding the boiler was beyond her, but she did steer during the day to relieve either Charlie or Ben.

The American Marine Weather Service was not on the air, but their Spanish was almost good enough to get some feel for the weather from the Mexican Coast Guard.

It took them two weeks to round the point at Paraiso and they figured they would be safer if they pulled into Isla de Mujeres, rather than Cancun, as it was a much smaller port.

They docked at the tourist port, there were no cruise liners in port and the Harbor Authorities hardly glanced at their papers. The local merchants would not accept American paper money, but the minute Charlie pulled a Gold Double Eagle out of his pocket, they were falling all over themselves, anxious to make a sale!

They had managed to keep the water tank full and they still had plenty of fuel, so they stocked up on perishables and some fresh milk for Little Carl.

Uncle Charlie bought each of the adults a cold Mexican beer that they downed gratefully.

They had decided to spend the night under the watch of the Policia del Puerto and were getting ready to sail the next morning. Ben stepped over to Charlie and whispered, "We got a problem."

Charlie looked at him and Ben pointed to the pile of bags of coal. They could see a child's foot tucked under a half full bag of coal and it wasn't Little Carl's! Charlie said, "I ain't gonna toss a kid off the boat, if we gotta, we can let him or her off somewhere down the coast, maybe the convent at Playa del Carmen."

Ben agreed and let Evelyn and Carl know the situation.

They eased the Carl out of the small harbor. Once they got out to sea, Ben went up to the fuel pile and gently pulled on the foot they had seen, it was attached to a small boy, about five years old. The child was covered with coal dust and it took Evelyn nearly an hour to clean the boy up. All of Little Carl's clothes were too big for the child, so she wrapped him in a towel while she rinsed out his clothing.

They were able to decipher that the child's name was Domingo and he had no parents. Amazingly, by evening the two boys, Domingo and Little Carl were chattering in what could only be called, "Spanglish"! By the time they neared Playa del Carmen, there was no way any of them were able to take the little boy to the Carmelite Convent, Little Dom had become one of them!

They continued down the coast, they skirted Isla de Cozumel and stood a bit further out to sea, not wanting to attract any attention from the Mexican Coast Guard. They gave Cayo Culebra a wide berth as well as Isla de Techal as both had bad reputations as being strongholds of the drug cartels.

They passed the last Mexican State of Quintana Roo and began edging back towards the coast as they wanted to stop at Belize City. One of the main bearings on the engine was beginning to "thump" a bit and Charlie wanted to scrape the bearing and refit it before it began to wipe.

Belize City was an English speaking ex-colonial city and they were sure they could replenish their supplies. They were running low on food, especially children's food, now that they had another mouth to feed. Dom had become one of them and there was no further talk of finding a place to let him off.

They had come almost two-thirds of the distance to Costa Rica and, other than the engine bearing, they had had no real difficulties.

Just in case, Charlie kept a loaded shotgun hidden in a hollowed-out beam under the seat where they ate and a pistol, again loaded, behind the lube oil tank for the main engine. He kept a rusted out old .22 caliber single shot pistol on the shelf in the galley that he could show any inspector and, if the inspector wanted to confiscate it, the darned thing was broken anyway and could not be fired.

They checked in with the Harbor Policia and the Funcionario Fronteriza and got their Permitar de Tourista and they were directed to a docking area for visiting private boats, out near the light house on Baron Bliss Point.

Ben offered to take Evelyn and the Little Boys shopping for food while Charlie and Carl pulled the front main bearing on the engine so they could scrape it in.

It was dark before they had the bearing repaired and Evelyn came back singing praises of Ben. Poor Ben was blushing bright red as she described how he could out haggle the vendors! He used some of the silver dollars Carl had given him, and he had squeezed them until Lady Liberty was screaming rape! However, they brought a good haul back to the boat, fresh fruits, canned milk and some fresh ground coffee. They had run out of coffee, and Ben would have committed crimes against God and Nature for a hot cup of coffee!

The next morning, they woke up to a storm front passing, the wind was high and they could see rain out to sea. After checking with the Marine Office, they decided to wait out the storm.

Charlie dodged the rain and made a run for the Telefono Office and placed a call to his friend in Limon, Costa Rica to let him know where they were. Johnny Talbot was relieved to hear that they were getting close; he had become worried about them. When Charlie told them that they had picked up a hitchhiker, Domingo, he laughed and said, "Don't worry about it, the Costa Rica Police are not too worried about five year old terrorists!"

That done, Charlie waited for a lull in the storm before dashing back to the Carl. He told them all about what his friend had said about Domingo and they all had a good laugh.

They fired up the boiler the next morning and made ready to sail. By the time the boiler was up to pressure and Carl had tested the work they had done on the bearing, it was close to lunch time, so they had their meal while still tied to the pier.

They heard shots fired down the street, so Carl jumped down in the engine box and Ben pulled in all the mooring lines. Charlie called out, "Back Full" and Carl already had the reversing lever pulled and he pulled the throttle open, gradually taking it to full. He didn't want to open it too fast, as the boiler might prime and flood the engine with water. It would either stall, or pop a head gasket! The cylinder relief valves were never intended to handle a cylinder full of boiler water!

They got out into mid harbor before Charlie stopped them so Carl could set the engine for forward. They pushed the Carl hard enough her bow was beginning to plane before they were out of the harbor.

Charlie had Carl to slow the engine a bit, they still had quite a ways to go and they were more than half way through their thirty tons of coal!

They continued down the coast, passing from Belize into Honduras. They were well supplied, so there was no need to search for a port although they were all getting "cabin fever" confined on the small ship.

They had to dodge the small islands on the north coast of Honduras, their copy of the Mariner's Advisory said there were frequently pirates hiding on those island. They saw several small boats, but none ever came their way and they passed them by.

As they passed the coast of the last state in Honduras, Gracias á Dios, literally, Thanks to God, and that is exactly what they did! They had to dodge the shoals off the east coast of Nicaragua before they could shoot due south.

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 stalks, 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 Rican coast and three days later saw them entering the port of Limon.

It had been a long, two-month trip in a small ship, with only themselves as crew. They were all safe and had met no serious problems along the way. The only excitement was the addition of a small boy who was immediately adopted by his older "hermano", Little Carl, jr. What is waiting for them at Limon and how long will they have to live there before they can go back home?