Status:
Cruise Ship the HMS Sensation
DESTINATION : GREECE
PASSENGERS : 50
CAPTAIN : HUXLEY
MATE : HAWKINS
'Captain! There is a leak in the lower decks. Five engineers are dead. The ship is going to go down!'
Those were the words of first mate Hawkins that fateful afternoon, just as the sun had set over the seas.
'Prepare my escape boat,' the captain replied, hastily. 'It is important that I quit at once! If I set off right now there is a good chance I will escape unscathed. What happens after that is up to you, Hawkins. I hand command of the ship over to you!'
'But captain... You can't do that.'
'Are you questioning the word of your captain?'
'Yes indeed I am. And with good reason.'
'I forbid it. Now is the time for action, not treason.'
'But captain - you can't abandon ship. It is not the way of things!'
'Ah! I know what you are getting at, Hawkins. That old adage, a captain must go down with his ship! Ha! Nothing but superstitious, mythological hodgepodge! It makes me laugh just to think about it. No! We will have none of that nonsense today! So please, Hawkins, prepare my boat. It is time I must be away!'
'But sir. I must insist. You cannot abandon your crew. It is just not right! Please, I beg you, please, reconsider. It is just not the way. Your reputation is at risk!'
'My reputation will mean spit if I am dead in the sea. Now please, let's stop the talk. We are running out of time and I must be away. So please, Let's not chatter about this anymore. I beg you. Go now and prepare my boat, there's a good man.'
'I will not!'
Hawkins had made up his mind to stand his ground on the matter.
'Come now Hawkins! We have known one another for a long time now. Please don't do this to me!'
'You are not getting on that boat,' Hawkins replied. 'I won't let you abandon this ship. The moment you do that you are abandoning not only this vessel, but your dignity!'
'Let dignity hang! I value my wellbeing far more!'
'There are civilians on this ship! Their safety is our priority!'
'No. I do not need to get involved with any of that business.'
'But you ARE involved! You are the captain!'
'Look here, Hawkins! Stop it! This is an emergency and my life is at stake and I need to get off of this ship right away!'
But Hawkins was having none of it, and he wasn't afraid to let the captain know how he felt:
'You are going nowhere!'
After he said that Hawkins locked the door and buried the key into his pocket!
Witnessing this deed the captain started to panic.
Hawkins was a very tall brute of a man. The captain would liked to have tackled him for the key, but he knew he would immediately loose in a straight up fight being the smaller and more frail man.
So he resorted to the only strategy that he had at hand which was pity and begging for mercy...
'Don't do this, Hawkins! This is not the way.'
'It is the only way,' Hawkins replied.
'I beg you, Hawkins! Don't let our friendship end like this! The ship is going down and I need to get off it now! Please don't play the fool here! Give me the key!'
Hawkins would not give the captain the key.
'Now listen to me, Hawkins,' the captain continued, 'I have a lot to lose. Please! Don't do this! There are people back home who depend on me, Hawkins. Come on! You know me! You know I am needed. I am an important man! I have dependants. My life is more important than anyone else on this ship! For goodness sake why are you not listening to me? I thought you understood? For crying out loud, Hawkins! Stop acting a fool and open your ears. If you won't open your ears, then at least have the decency to open your heart. Open your heart for me! I don't deserve this. Look at the bigger picture here. I have dependants. I have a home. I have things to take care of. Please understand. Why aren't you listening?'
Hawkins never said a word:
But he kept his hand tight around his pocket where the key lay.
He was resolved to stand his ground to the captain!
'Why are you doing this to me, Hawkins?' the captain went on. 'Stop being selfish! You are acting a fool right now. Have you no decency? Do you really want me to die? I thought you were a good man, Hawkins? A kind man. A man of honour - integrity. O how wrong I was! Look at you now! You have become a monster. A selfish pig. Don't you care about anything else except your stupid code of duty? Can't you see what you are doing here? You are about to let your very old friend die! A man who has helped you so much over the years. There is still time for you to change, Hawkins. Be the man you really are and give me the key. Please. Don't let it end like this. I am too important. I have things I need to do before I die... Important things! Please listen to me!'
'You can't let you leave this ship,' said Hawkins. 'I won't let you defy your position. You must stay the cause. You must go down with the ship...'
'No! Please stop acting like an idiot, Hawkins! Stop at once! Damn you man! You are not being reasonable!' the captain cried. 'I can't die like this! Look at me, Hawkins, I am trembling. This is fear you are looking at right now. Okay. I will tell you the truth: I am a coward. There you go. You know everything now. I am a coward. I am scared to die. I also fear pain. When I took this position as captain of a cruise ship do you ever think I would face a day like this, with the ship going down in such a dramatic fashion? Of course not! I would never have signed up for the job otherwise. I am scared, Hawkins! So I am going to beg you one last time, as a human being, please give me the key! Okay, Hawkins. I can see that you don't care about me or my life. But you are going to die as well. Listen to this then:
'I have a plan! We will escape on the boat together. I am a wealthy man. I have a trust fund. When we make it back to land it is all yours, my estate, everything. You will be rich, Hawkins! On my honour I will pay you well! Now how about handing that old key over, hey, old friend?'
Hawkins did not move, but he did have this to say - a question for his captain:
'Important things? You said you had important things to do? What did you mean when you said that?'
'My father is going to die, and it is my fault!' the captain replied. 'He told me a few weeks ago that he was planning on changing his will. This happened after we had a really horrible argument. It was the same old thing. You see, he wanted me to carry on the family tradition and study law and become a lawyer, but no! I wanted to be a sailor, and feel the sea air on my face and the rest is history. He was unhappy with me because of the decision I made. I didn't know how unhappy he was not until we met one weekend and he told me he had written me completely out of his will! He was going to sign everything over to my brother and his family. I couldn't let that happen! I couldn't afford to lose my heritage not to my brother - the solicitor - and my fathers favourite. Before I set to sea I found out that my father had mellowed after the argument and he had decided to write me back into his will! Good news, right? NO! And this is why: Before I knew about his change of heart I put a hit on his head! Yes! And on my brothers as well. So you see, I have to get back to land to save them!'
Hawkins was aghast! The shock and the horror was wrought in the creased and crinkled lines of his ugly face.
NO!
How was his good and honourable captain, his old friend who had helped him so many times in the past, capable of such evil? Hiring an assassin to kill his own father and brother...? It was totally unthinkable! Utter madness!
'You are a disgrace!' Hawkins replied. 'You deserve to drown!'
Harsh words indeed! But the captain wasn't interested. He had had enough of Hawkins nonsense!
'Hawkins! I am giving you an order as your captain! Give me the key! Now!'
Hawkins pulled the key out of his pocket and handed it over to the captain.
The captain sighed with relief.
'You have made the right decision today, Hawkins,' he said. 'I am proud of you!'
The captain unlocked the door, but when he opened it the sea water poured in to claim him - forever.
It was too late!
The ship had already sunk.
In the years to come the ship would be a home to fish, and a tomb of secrets forever lost to time!
And no one would know and no one would remember.
(Remember! All spelling errors and grammatical mistakes are intentional - the author 😆)
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