Episode 11: 'Gray Departure' (Part 3)
Murata, pointing his binoculars at the Ocean Lion, says.
“Alright, I need you to take notes...”
Hiroaki replies with a “Yes,” and hurriedly takes a mechanical pencil and a notebook out of his chest pocket. Thus, the design work began.
“Bow, starboard side, exactly 600.”
At that voice, Hiroaki opens his notebook and writes F/S-600.
Before he can even catch his breath, Murata reads the next one.
“Bow, port side... also exactly 600—”
The Tomidahama Maru circles about 50 meters around the bow of the Ocean Lion and steers hard to the left. Then, as it runs parallel to the ship, it begins reading the draft at the center.
This involves measuring by eye the numbers cut from steel plates and welded to both sides of the bow, midship, and stern. This was a measurement to determine the ship's weight.
Reading the draft from a tugboat rocking in the waves is difficult. But that was the fruit of Murata's experience.
Once the visual estimation is finished, Murata raises his hand to the dockmaster in the wheelhouse. Upon confirming this, the master turns the tug sharply. Then, as he points the bow toward the gangway on the starboard side, he goes at slow ahead. Around that time, a large swell approaches.
The master sticks his head out of the wheelhouse, looks up at the main ship, and quickly pulls the ring on the ceiling.
“Kwooo, kwooo, kwooo.”
A high-pitched whistle blows three times toward the sky...
It bounces off the hull onto the sea surface, echoing and mixing with the sound of the waves.
“Lower the gangway! Crew, we're boarding!”
Shouting that, he pulls the ring once more.
“Kwooo, kwooo, kwooo.”
He blows the whistle persistently.
It rang repeatedly, as if a dog were barking at a bear.
“Hey, what are you doing!”
Perhaps because he is short-tempered by nature, the master gets irritated.
Everyone else looks up, drawn by that. Just as everyone started wondering what the guys on duty were doing, a face in a running shirt finally appears.
While putting his arms through his jacket and wiping his eyes with a towel, the man grabs the handle of the gangway with sleepy eyes. The winch begins to turn, and the gangway stored on the ship's side tilts to a horizontal position. When he changes the handle there, the tip begins to descend.
During that time, the tug drifts violently in the waves. It is like a helicopter hovering, looking very unstable, and everything is shaking.
“Alright, wait there!”
The master shouts with his fist clenched, and
the gangway stops with a jerk.
Furthermore, he guides the descending gangway while giving signals as if he were slinging a load.
The man standing at the tip gives a lowering signal with one hand while grabbing the tip of the gangway with the other. Even during that time, the bow moves up and down... but he sews through that gap, wraps a rope around the landing, and shouts.
"Now, get on board—"
At that voice, the man carrying the speaking tube was the first to step to the bow, place his right foot on the step of the gangway, and quickly shift his weight to board.
But just then, the bow of the Tomitahama Maru dipped down with a groan, and immediately slammed into the hull.
The impact instantly sent the man reeling backward, and he let out a loud cry. The man behind him panicked, grabbed the gangway, and tried to push it back.
But human strength was no match for it. The recoil from hitting the hull sent the tug drifting rapidly backward, and along with it, the man holding the speaking tube...
Just as it seemed the man, suspended between the gangway and the tug, would tumble into the sea, he let go of the speaking tube he had been carrying on his shoulder. He then flipped his body and collapsed onto the deck of the bow.
As a result, the speaking tube, which had briefly floated in the air, plunged straight into the sea surface. The golden brass glinted in the waves for a fleeting moment before fluttering down into the murky water.
"Ah..."
In that moment, the bow rose again.
"Now, everyone, get on quickly—"
Without a moment's hesitation, the dock master shouted. The tug pressed its bow tire cushion against the hull. At that instant, the bow crew jumped onto the gangway, climbed the stairs, and boarded in silence.
(Continued in Chapter 12)
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[Note | Author Page]
https://note.com/right_canna2847
[AMCO Knowledge Lab | Official Site]
https://qs07n.hp.peraichi.com/
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