IC - Chapter Five - Onto The Ice

[Raiko]

McRaven finds a single key in the one of the captain’s pockets, the only other things of interest are a penknife and a pocket watch.

The desk drawer opens easily, the inside is lined with oiled leather to protect the contents against the harsh elements. Inside the drawer Isugtag finds the Walleroo’s logbook, together with several personal letters, a fountain pen and a photograph showing the captain with his wife and three boys.

The final entry in the logbook is detailed below:

March 12th. It is over. My hand is wholly useless now, lost to the gangrene, and the red lines of infection have spread past the tourniquet and up my arm. There is nothing to be done. My own stench disgusts me.

Bowers passed on in the night.

I am no Shackleton, no Mawson, to face the odds and overcome them. I am merely an old tired soul who has lost the gamble and will die alone upon the ice. The horrible endless ice. It is beautiful, but heartless. In these past few days I have come to hate its cruelty. It cries, and whispers, and moans to me in the still air, grinding hopes and prayers away in mindless hostile fury. I pray the others got away. There is nothing for anyone here. Even the whales are long gone.

Should anyone ever find this log, let me praise once again the excellence and skill of my officers and crew. Their loyalty and stout hearts are without peer. I wish them well and pray that they are now safely homeward bound.

I give my love to Nancy and the boys. May they find happiness in years to come. I only regret I cannot hold them to me one last time.

God forgive me for what I am about to do.

Stephen Willard, Captain
SS Walleroo.

As he removed the logbook, Isugtag also noticed that there appears to be a false panel at the back of the drawer.

[Decrepit]

"Where would 'the others' have gone?" Jack wonders aloud.

[Steerpike]

"Poor bastards must have taken a lifeboat...." McRaven falls silent then, and moves back to the trunk, key in hand.

[amarriner]

Isugtag reads the last entry in the logbook then passes it around to the others for their perusal. He looks at the captain and feels sorry for him. The isolation and feeling of inevitability must have been awful. Isugtag looks back to the drawer and scoops up the remaining contents. Noticing the evidently false door on the drawer he attempts to open it up or at least to figure out how it works.

[Ghost_1971]

"I think all we can do is take these items, in the hope of passing them on to his family. It will be some small comfort, but at least they can put the matter of their missing father, and husband, finally to rest."

[Raiko]

The key that McRaven found unlocks the trunk, which turns out to contain the Captain’s changes of clothes, a box of .38 ammunition for his revolver, and very little else.

Isugtag locates a small catch that opens the hidden panel. Behind the panel he finds a leather pouch and intriguingly another key. The pouch feels like it contains coins.

[Dave Syrinx]

When John finishes the search without finding anything he exits the captain´s room and takes a look in the corridor. "Can someone shine a light over here? I´m freezing my nose off. Let´s get those doors checked." John waits in the doorway.

[Steerpike]

McRaven places the box of shells for the .38 on the bed, then methodically checks through the clothes and the interior of the trunk

[Ghost_1971]

Callum walks over to John and lights the area he is looking at, with his lamp. "There you go matey. That any better?"

[Dave Syrinx]

"That´s just great Callum! I´ll check if these doors are stuck or not." John walks along the corridor and tries the doors...

[Decrepit]

Jack ambles over to Callum and John to see whether he can be of any help.

[amarriner]

Isugtag takes the pouch and the key. Look here, he grunts, showing the key and the pouch to the rest of the group. He gives the pouch a gently shake as he displays it so the others can hear what he assumes is money.

[Steerpike]

McRaven smiles as Isugtag shows the group the key

"John? Do you reckon you could find the pursers safe in this beat up old tug?"

[Dave Syrinx]

John looks at McRaven. "If we find the purser´s office, no problem, it should be here somewhere..." As he tries the doors he read the plaques if any are visible. Vapors surround John as he works his way down the corridor.

[Raiko]

The only other doors with writing stencilled onto them are the First Officer’s cabin, the radio room, and the galley; there are six other doors, all leading into deserted crew cabins. The corridor ends in a tangled mess of twisted metal, broken wood and solid ice close to a hatch door that John realises leads back out onto deck where the bodies were lined up.

Noticeably there aren’t any more bodies inside the ship, other than Captain Willard’s, it appears that all the other dead are lined up out on deck. Everyone else must have left in the boat.

Looking back through all of the cabins with Callum and Jack, John finds a small safe in the First Officer’s cabin, but its door is open, the interior is empty and a key has been left in the lock. The safe key is larger than the one that Isugtag found.

[amarriner]

Isugtag is intrigued by the key he's found, but so far they haven't seen whatever it is the key unlocks. Maybe there's something on the bridge they missed, or something aft ...

[Dave Syrinx]

"Maybe it´s for the cargo holds!" John suggests, "Let´s find out... this corridor is impassable."

[OrionUK]

"Do you fancy going hunting for whatever that key fits?" James say's to Isugtag. "If enough care has been taken to hide the key in a hidden compartment then it muct be reasonably important!"

[amarriner]

Isugtag nods his assent to James. Perhaps there's something we missed on the bridge? If not we could head aft ...

[Steerpike]

"Well...we should give this room a proper once over make sure there is no wall or floor safes...then we can try the cargo holds, see if there was any secured stuff down there...we can't hang around here too long though"