IC - Chapter Five - Onto The Ice

[Raiko]

SS Gabrielle - The Southern Ocean
Nighttime - Tuesday 25th October, 1933

The wind increases lifting the thick fog and the sea roughens, but the card game keeps everybody's spirits up and as midnight passes the barometer starts to slowly climb back up.

*********************************************

SS Gabrielle - The Southern Ocean
Wednesday October 26, 1933
SS Gabrielle Noon Position:
Latitude: S63°50'
Longitude: E167°44'
Wind: SSW 60+ kts
Last 24 hours: 212 miles

By morning on the 26th, the promised storm has not arrived, the Gabrielle turns southward once more, sailing through widely scattered ice floes. It begins to slow intermittently, the sky a dark grey and vision outside is sometimes hampered by flurries of heavy snow.

The Gabrielle steams south toward the ice pack. Shortly after noon the barometer plummets once again. Within an hour it has fallen lower than any of the scientists on-board have ever seen before. A solid wall of black clouds pours from the southwest with breathtaking speed, falling on the ship in a wave of howling wind and spray.

The vessel is caught in the grip of a terrible storm. The average wind-speed is well over sixty miles per hour with some gusts approaching one hundred miles per hour. The savage wind clutches at the booms and wires, hammers open doors, and threaten to tear away wood and canvas covers before they can be battened down. Immense waves rise high overhead, crashing down across the decks with hollow thundering booms.

The Gabrielle rings and shudders with every attack, heeling and plunging deep into the grey Antarctic waters. Men suffer and struggle in the engine room and on the bridge, trying desperately to bring her bow around before the ship is torn apart by the force of the storm. It is all but impossible to stand; walking without handholds is out of the question.

All around, the air is full of the screams and groans of the tortured ship as its metal plates are stressed in every possible direction at once. Above decks the rain sweeps in horizontally from the south, carrying with it hail and sleet that scours flesh and shatters glass. The crates lashed in the holds shift with every pitch and roll of the ship, the ropes and straps holding them in place strained to their utmost, their creaking adding to the cacophony above. The dogs, helpless in their cages aft, scream and howl in terrified confusion.

The storm does not cease. Hour after hour the ship wallows on. Again and again the bow disappears beneath the wall of waves. Time after time watery hammer-blows slam against the superstructure and cover the bridge windows in rime.

Belowdecks, expedition members huddle miserably in the lounges or in their cabins, clutching bowls and basins and moaning in distress. The ship’s kitchen is awash with water from pots swept off the stove, but the cook and his messboys struggle to prepare a hot meal.
Just after 6pm, a terrible tearing crash is hear from somewhere forward as the bow of the ship slams downward into a trough. The crash is repeated moments later, and then again a third time, as the Gabrielle heels and slews. It is obvious that some heavy piece of cargo has gotten loose and is slamming about in its hold.

Starkweather has fought off the seasickness this time, hearing the crashes from the holds he realises that swift action is needed, "Damn it! Something's loose in the hold!"

Looking around the mess he picks out the most able expedition members, there isn't a lot of choice as almost everyone is incapacitated by seasickness, even the dependable Sorenson brothers.

"James, Olof, Sean quickly get some flashlights!"

"Callum, Isugtag, Jack get some rope, it's suicide out there if we're not lashed together!"

A couple of members of the Gabrielle's crew also jump to assist.

Whatever it the crashing is, something must be done swiftly, or even greater damage could result.

[Ghost_1971]

Callum quickly leaps up and heads for the nearest storage cupboard. Picking up as many coils of rope as he can carry, he heads to where the others are waiting. "Which hold is the loose equipment in?" He secures the rope to the ships superstructure and double checks the knots. "I dont mind going first. I've had a lot of experience using ropes in bad weather."

[Dave Syrinx]

John gets the extreme weather gear on and finds himself entangled in the ropes on way to the cargo holds. "Watch your steps boys!" he screams over the sound of blistering winds and salty waves that penetrates the shielding walls of the ship´s mess. "Are you ready to face this?"

[Raiko]

[OOC: Please note - nobody has tried moving out onto the deck yet. This requires different stat/skill checks. For today just get the gear, and try to stay standing]

[Henrik]

Olof curses. He has never expected this kind of weather. They are truly helpless now left to the mercy of the weather gods, if such mercy can be had at all. The engineer tries to find a working flashlight dresses quickly in something that will protect him from the cold and water at least for a few minutes. Hopefully they will not spend so much time outside.

[BlackGoat]

As adrenaline courses through him,Sean searches for a short time and finds the cold weather gear. He puts it on and looks for a flashlight. After assuring that it works he looks around for the others he is to accompany.

"May God help us..."

[Dave Syrinx]

John adjusts the safety goggles and puts a gloved hand on the handle on the exit door hatch. "Sean, Poseidon might help us, God is sleeping out here..."
John winks at Sean.

[Raiko]

"Which hold is the loose equipment in?"

Starkweather shakes his head, "There's no way to tell from here. We'll know when we get closer."

"I dont mind going first. I've had a lot of experience using ropes in bad weather."

"Excellent!" Starkweather looks at the men gathered around, "We'll move in two teams, you and John can lead the first, me and Isugtag will lead the second."

At that moment the ship rolls violently again, most of those gathering to check the holds stumble, but everybody catches themselves except for Isugtag who falls and catches his head on a table. Another resounding boom echoes from the forward holds.

Groaning the big Inuit rubs the side of his head, as Greene struggles to assist despite his sickness.

"Are you ok to continue?" asks Starkweather, "There's no time to waste!"

Once Isugtag's injury has been assessed the two parties rope themselves together. Callum, John, Olof and one Henning from the Gabrielle's crew are in the first team. Starkweather leads the rest in the second.

On Callum's signal John pulls open the hatch leading out to the deck, he strains against the violent winds that try to tear the door from his grasp, barely preventing it from slamming into the wall. Wind and water surge through the open doorway, pouring through into the interior. Grasping a flashlight in one hand, and Captain Vredenburg's guide-rope in the other Callum steps out onto the deck, waves crash over his head, and wind and snow assail him, but the Scotsman stands firm and begins to make his way forward followed closely by John, Olof and Henning.

As soon as Henning is through, Starkweather leads the second team out.

Outside it is as black as night. The air cuts like a knife in the party's throats and lungs, numbing any exposed skin; breath whips away in thin streams of mist, lost in the storm. Anyone without thick protective garments would have been soaked to the skin and freezing in moments.
There is no light except that from the torches. Flying ice and spray make the flashlight beams solid columns of white against the darkness; visibility is less than twenty feet. The decks are rimed with ice, slick and uncertain under foot, and freezing water washes knee-deep against the cargo hatches with every breaking wave. The sound is immense; the boom of waves and the constant shriek of wind are so loud that everyone must shout to be heard. It will be impossible to hear where the noise is coming from without opening the access hatches in turn.

[Ghost_1971]

As the waves crash in, and the snow comes in sideways, Callum pulls himself slowly along the guide rope. He's experienced weather like this before, but never where the floor was moving under him too.

All he can do is make he way to the first hatch, and pray that every one can get the job done safely....

[Henrik]

"Gud fader som är i himmelen helgat varde ditt namn... Olof words the Lord's Prayer in his mind as learnt from his mother during his youth.

[Dave Syrinx]

John strides boldly against the torrents of gusting wind, keeping good speed, even footfalls. However at the instant when Olof finishes the oddly pronounced Pater Noster in something that sounds like something out of Beowulf, John skids on a ice-patch, goes down on one knee... He regains his tracking and climbs up, heading for the cargo hold... If lady luck stands him by, he´ll be back in the mess hall after this excursion. Sadly she smiles at someone else at this moment...

As John opens his eyes he realizes that he hasn´t left the mess yet. The strain and tension takes it toll on his mind. Memories of winters past.. The ship had been the Cleopatra not this vessel! The prayer Olof voiced reminded John of a former colleague, Richard Harris, who mysteriously disappeared eight years ago... Harris, being a professor in lingustics had studied at a univursity in Gothenburg. John pinches himself and checks that the knots are properly tied. "Double check your ropes, lads, don´t want to get washed overboard, do we?"

[OrionUK]

Seeing the first team struggle James didn't know whether to feel pleased to be in the second team or wished he had been in the first team to get this over & done with. James knew this was going to be a tough jaunt to get this job done in a storm of this magnitude.

[Raiko]

Hand over hand the little party pulls itself along the guide ropes to the hatches.

Callum's team make excellent progress, everybody stays on their feet all the way to the first hatch, which leads down to the number three tween-deck hold. The noise of the storm is so great that there is no way anyone out here could possibly hear what's happening down there, the only option is to open the hatches and check inside each hold in turn.

Callum and John begin to unseal the access hatch while Olof and Henning cling onto the guide rope. Ten yards behind them Starkweather and James lead the second team towards them.

Then disaster strikes, the Gabrielle rolls violently as it crashes into a huge wave, almost fifty feet high. Tonnes of water crash across the foredeck and everyone clings to the guide ropes for dear life, unable to see or hear anything but the sea, unable to even breath as the water floods over their heads.

Beside John, Olof is knocked off his feet by the force of the mighty wave, but manages to keep a firm grip on the guiderope.

Further back, in Starkweather's team, both James and Sean slip too, James keeps hold of the guide rope for a second, but Sean cannot and as the wave washes him forwards the sea both James and Cotter loose their precarious grips on the precious guide rope. Only the strength of Starkweather's fingers stand between his team and certain death.

For what seems like an eternity the mighty wave washes over the men, but eventually it passes, the Gabrielle still floats, her decks awash with water. The first team are ok, half drowned, but still clinging onto the rope.

Behind them Starkweather is still standing, James lies breathless on the deck, but beside him is the tattered end of the rope.

Sean and Cotter are gone...

[Dave Syrinx]

John helps Olof up and shouts to Starkweather; "Get over here, we better hold together!"

[Raiko]

Starkweather hauls James back to the relative safety of the guide-rope, both are stunned by the apparent loss of Sean of Cotter, but relieved to have survived themselves. The expedition leader looks desperately around the deck, searching for the other two. He shouts over the noise of the storm, "Can you see them James! I thought we were all goners for sure then!"

Starkweather just overhears the sound of John shouting above the noise of the wind and the waves, "Ok! We've lost two men! Can you see them!"

Meanwhile ahead of him, Callum manages to unfasten the access hatch to the number three hold. Taking a flashlight back from Olof he looks inside.

Everything appears secure down there, which is fortunate as the number three tween-deck hold contains most of the expedition's actual exploratory equipment, from base and trail radios to Nansen sleds. As Callum strains to hear anything above the dim of the storm, his head down through the hatch, the Gabrielle rolls again, less violently this time. The Scotsman hears another resounding crash from further forward, perhaps the next hold.

[OrionUK]

James, holding on to the guide rope as tightly as he can, looks around to see if he can see the two missing men. He steadies his feet and braces himself when the ship rolls again. He has been in a few sticky situations whilst racing cars and has even seen close friends die in crashes but he was still not quiet prepared for the savagery of this storm.

[Dave Syrinx]

John having secured the rope squints behind the goggles and scrapes off some snowflakes...
"Man OVER!" he calls, knowing there are no audience, but true to habit - they die hard! As he heads in the direction of the second team John shouts to Callum "STAY HERE! I`LL HELP THE CAP!"

[Raiko]

SS Gabrielle - The Southern Ocean - Approx 150 miles north of the Antarctic Circle
6:35pm - Wednesday October 26, 1933

Just for an instant John spots what may be a flashlight, out to sea, some two hundred yards off the Gabrielle's port-bow, then it's gone and John isn't even sure that it wasn't just a reflection on his goggles, visibility is terrible, the air filled as it is with spray and snow. In any case, if Sean and Cotter are out there, then they'll be dead in minutes in the near freezing waters of the Southern Ocean.

John reaches Starkweather, the English explorer grasps his outstretched mitten gratefully, and the two of them, followed by James make their way to the others clustered around the first access hatch.

Callum tells them the news, and the remaining explorers brace themselves for the perilous journey to the next access hatch.

Starkweather shouts to James, the racing ace is only a foot away, but he still struggles to hear Starkweather over the deafening noise of the storm, "Tie yourself to Henning! I'll bring up the rear!"

With two men down already, and the source of the noise still not located, the fate of the whole expedition stands on a knife edge, but at least now there are experienced mountaineers at the both front and the rear of the party.


The Southern Ocean - Close to the SS Gabrielle
6:36pm - Wednesday October 26, 1933

Three hundred yards away Sean surfaces once more, gasping for breath. His throat and lungs are burning from the icy salt water. His flashlight is gone now; it slipped out of his numb fingers the last time that he went under, and he can no longer even see the distant running lights of the SS Gabrielle in any case.

Beside him Cotter screams frantically as the two are taken under again by the raging currents of this awful storm. This time though, Sean cannot hold his breath for long enough and his consciousness mercifully slips away amid the agony as his lungs fill with the cold water of this, the most inhospitable of all the oceans...

[Dave Syrinx]

"Poor souls..." John whispers gruntingly. He judges the surface of the ship´s deck. "Be sure to have a secure footing before you move!" He keeps a low point av gravity.

[Ghost_1971]

Callum continues to pick his way along the deck. His mind is in a bit of a blur with everything thats going on. The storm..The loss of the two crew men... And the fact that they don't make it to the hatch, the expedition could be over before it's really started. The pressure is on.

'Come on lads! Not far now!' Callum shouts some encouragement to the others. 'I've been in tougher situations than this before!'