Campion
Star
- Joined
- Mar 11, 2015
- Location
- Eastern US
The work on the freighter had gone south fast. Mike had nothing in common with the hard-drinking roughnecks aboard.
He'd signed on the ship out of a youthful romanticism of the sea and wanting to see exotic sights.
Instead, he'd spend almost all his time below decks, cleaning and carrying. Hard but honest work...though his shipmates were brainless. But his hard work above and below had left his 5'9" frame tightly muscled and deeply sun-bronzed.
He'd carried a box of maps up to the for-castle, and was walking down to the main deck when he saw it. An absolutely massive wave. He looked around desperately and grabbed a life ring, then took a big breath as the goliath wave swept over him. He was washed from the deck, which was just as well as the hundreds foot tall swell flipped and crushed the boat like an eggshell, driving it deep under.
Mike flew through air and water and came up spluttering. All night he held to the ring and by morning he heard breakers in the water. LAND! But there had been no discovered island close on the charts.
The rising sun revealed broken coral islands with a mountain rising from the lagoon. He saw shark fins occasionally, but none seemed to approach. He pulled himself carefully over the breakers onto a sand covered small coral island, seeing a chain of them curving away in each direction. Many of the isles sported coconut palms, which was a great relief. That spelled a chance for him. After resting for an hour, he pulled a knife from his pocket and drilled holes in the top of a coconut to get the milk.
There was a lot of sealife around, but he needed water. So he swam into the lagoon, and made it up to a sandy beach. It was about 80 feet deep by 100 yards wide. Bordered on each side by protective high cliffs. He crawled up it and climbed a ledge to a cave. Inside it was cool and he slept. Waking he was in the dark and heard an echo...of water. Surging forward he found a pool of fresh water and he drank, then returned to the beach. His deep blue eyes began the search for food and he tied his long brown hair back with a bit of frond strand. Oddly, a large tuna was caught in a tidepool and he blessed his luck as he killed it, then feasted on its raw meat.
Alone...how would he make it this way? He was only 19. He tried to be brave, but wondered if he would spend his days all alone going mad or just dying by accident.
He'd signed on the ship out of a youthful romanticism of the sea and wanting to see exotic sights.
Instead, he'd spend almost all his time below decks, cleaning and carrying. Hard but honest work...though his shipmates were brainless. But his hard work above and below had left his 5'9" frame tightly muscled and deeply sun-bronzed.
He'd carried a box of maps up to the for-castle, and was walking down to the main deck when he saw it. An absolutely massive wave. He looked around desperately and grabbed a life ring, then took a big breath as the goliath wave swept over him. He was washed from the deck, which was just as well as the hundreds foot tall swell flipped and crushed the boat like an eggshell, driving it deep under.
Mike flew through air and water and came up spluttering. All night he held to the ring and by morning he heard breakers in the water. LAND! But there had been no discovered island close on the charts.
The rising sun revealed broken coral islands with a mountain rising from the lagoon. He saw shark fins occasionally, but none seemed to approach. He pulled himself carefully over the breakers onto a sand covered small coral island, seeing a chain of them curving away in each direction. Many of the isles sported coconut palms, which was a great relief. That spelled a chance for him. After resting for an hour, he pulled a knife from his pocket and drilled holes in the top of a coconut to get the milk.
There was a lot of sealife around, but he needed water. So he swam into the lagoon, and made it up to a sandy beach. It was about 80 feet deep by 100 yards wide. Bordered on each side by protective high cliffs. He crawled up it and climbed a ledge to a cave. Inside it was cool and he slept. Waking he was in the dark and heard an echo...of water. Surging forward he found a pool of fresh water and he drank, then returned to the beach. His deep blue eyes began the search for food and he tied his long brown hair back with a bit of frond strand. Oddly, a large tuna was caught in a tidepool and he blessed his luck as he killed it, then feasted on its raw meat.
Alone...how would he make it this way? He was only 19. He tried to be brave, but wondered if he would spend his days all alone going mad or just dying by accident.