Round Two of the Shipwreck Creative Writing Challenge. Option 3: The Sea Wolf

It was a glorious morning when Captain John Miller a tall man of dark complexion with long mustaches and short beard, an adventurer since young, expert and sailor, old sea wolf, was wearing a fur coat, and in his mouth a freshly lit tobacco that smoked very distressed, while walking through the old pier from one side to the other to meet Thomas a sailor famous for his experience and exploits in the sea. Together they argued about the long trip they had to take the next day, because Miller opposed and Thomas, on the contrary, wanted to sail at whatever cost.

The discussion between them deepened, since Miller was a man of great experience and very cautious, he knew perfectly well that the force of the sea is imposing and had to be respected; every trip he made was studied in detail, the weather and all the possibilities for a successful journey, but Thomas, despite being an excellent sailor, was impulsive, an attitude that made him fail in many of his decisions.

From a young age, being a sailor became Miller's obsession; in his meeting with Thomas he told him that the sea is his life, It is therefore he was far from his family, whom he had abandoned some years ago to fulfill the great dream of being a sailor and navigating the rest of his life, but being an expert cost him dearly, being alone in the distance without his family was the price he had to pay, reason enough to feel overwhelmed, he wanted to return to the side of his children who were already a couple of teenagers.

The time passed and at dawn on a Friday, February 4 exactly at 5:00 am, the Nimbus sailed from the archipelago of Fire land, located at the southern tip of South America, between the Atlantic, Pacific and Antarctic oceans with a excellent weather on the blue waters; the trip was long and they had to pass through the Strait of Magellan. However, since the boat was destined to have difficulties, the majority of the crew would not be seen again, according to the superstitions of one of the crew, because at Thomas' insistence they decided to set sail on a Friday without paying attention to the predictions of not navigating that sacred day.

Captain Thomas was a desperate man, stubborn and incredulous at the superstitions and old legends of the sea, so he ignored the warnings of the old sailors who were in the place; thus they left in the Nimbus, a jewel of boat impelled by diesel engines and with an extraordinary length. Miller's first stop was in Porvenir, there the crew is supplied with supplies and at the same time they carry out preliminary studies, the trip was quiet without much disappointment; The final route was to reach Puerto Natales through the Magellan Pass and to the Pacific Ocean.

During this journey, they would go through Dawson Island and Desolation Island; the crew spent that night in Porvenir, they sang and told old sea tales sitting on the rocks around a bonfire, while they drank local liqueur and ate roasted fish under the light of the moon and the stars. That night several meteorological reports reported the approach of a strong tropical storm that could trigger in hurricanes, Thomas and Miller, despite the warnings decide to continue with the challenge, otherwise their crew did not see with good eyes the idea and leave the project, not without first having a strong discussion between them, with all the odds against the crazy idea of Thomas that is still going.

the next morning before the sun shows its ray on the horizon, the Nimbus leaves the port Porvenir, with the provisions of the trip and ignoring the signs of nature, the old sailors wish them luck, but do not see with good eyes the The stubbornness of that pair of men, something ugly and terrible was about to happen to those who challenge nature and want to impose their will.

In view of the fact that the Nimbus ship did not reach the Natales port, a search and aerial tracking was authorized, covering some 120,000 nautical miles, without any result, apparently the Nimbus like so many ships that went to sea for the first time disappeared. .

In the early morning of March 10, an English flagged vessel spotted an abandoned ship, this one was semi-flooded, but the sailors could clearly identify that it was the Nimbus, Captain Charlie authorized the boarding of the ship, but in the place it was not they found traces of crew or their bodies, the log book was also missing; Captain Charlie reported on the discovery and the Nimbus was taken to the port for investigation, the news ran like wildfire, the search for the crew began without any fruit; as a result of the fact the tabloid press and many people began to form hypotheses, many of them absurd, some headlines said there were all was they killed by pirates, others more preposterous assured that the ship was cursed, there was simply a huge halo of mystery in around the boat and its crew, but then, what happened on board the Nimbus? It was the question everyone asked.

"Shortly after leaving Porvenir, the boat presented a mechanical failure in the machine room, opening a gap where the sea water began to enter, the main suction pump stopped working and before putting the auxiliary in motion, it is already was underwater, meanwhile you Miller tried desperately to transmit a distress signal, but all effort was in vain since the antenna was broken and far from the horizon was observed the arrival of a storm, with violent waves of almost 3 meters of height, One of those extraordinary waves ended up pulling part the port, thus increasing the flood, fate had already sentenced those men. "

Tired and exhausted Thomas and Miller decide to leave the Nimbus in a small boat, Miller had a deep wound in the head, while Thomas tried to maneuver the boat and keep it in balance, the waves were violent and the time seemed to have no end, becoming quickly in a nightmare, 24 hours went by and the pair of friends continued to sail aimlessly and disoriented, but Miller was still very weak only said between his lips to his friend -Thomas, If I do not get out alive account my children that I love them, saddened Thomas listened to him giving encouragement, but still felt that this was the last trip of his friend.

After that adventure that both decided to undertake together without thinking about the serious consequences, they were aware of the danger in which they found themselves. At dawn in the middle of the sea Thomas begins to wake up Miller but he did not react, however he insisted: - ¡Miller, wake up, react, do not leave brother!, were the words of Thomas while shaking the body without life, the great old sea wolf had deceased, Thomas very desperate began to scream and regret the loss of his great friend. In his struggle to survive Thomas is forced to throw the body of Miller with all the pain of his soul at the bottom of the sea, had no choice. Thomas was destroyed seeing his friend die in these conditions and remaining alone adrift in the middle of the ocean, he thought in an instant to let himself die and throw himself into the sea before the madness played with his mind.

It was a morning when the sun on high was getting worse, Thomas opened his eyes and observed that in the raft he had an unexpected visit, it was an albatross resting peacefully, for a moment he thought of old Miller, since the legend tells that the are birds are carriers of the souls that perish in the sea, ¿coincidence or superstition? The truth is that this bird that looking at a dying man indicated that it was close to from the mainland.

Suddenly the bird lifts and Thomas tries to see where he is going, in the distance he could see that there was a fishing boat, surely there would be a nearby island, Thomas strongly asked desperately for help, those men put him on the boat and Thomas before the emotion and the bad condition I is faints , when he reacts, he wakes up, in a hospital all disoriented in Cook Bay coast with the Pacific Ocean, it was simply not his time to embark with the grim reaper.

Five years have passed since that tragic day, but "If you are born to sailor your place of rest is the sea", Thomas continues sailing the seas and ocean with more strength and experience, every year he performs the same route in honor of that old friend who one day saw depart, now Thomas is a captain with more wisdom and next to him travels his inseparable companion, that boy that old Miller left in his home to go to fulfill a big dream.

By: @edurley

Source image: https://steemit.com/writing/@steemfluencer/5zyfe5-round-one-of-the-shipwreck-creative-writing-challenge