The Atlantic Express
by: justjames17
(Copyright 2004 -2007 by the author)

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...
 

Chapter 48

Charles leave expired and he was informed that Foxhound was repaired and ready for sea once again, He made his farewells to Shev and Rhami and his host Sir Humphrey and enjoyed a last gin and tonic with Sir Humphrey while awaiting the car to arrive from Colombo. Charles felt a little sad leaving as he'd enjoyed the tranquil plantation and the most enjoyable sex he'd experienced with the hot-blooded young lads and even the brief encounter with the young girl who had sucked him off. The lads were clinging to him tears coursing down their cheeks as the thanked him for all the great fun they had had together, the girls were hovering in the background but didn't approach the group. Charles thanked the lads again whispering that he had truly enjoyed their sex together and that he hoped to return one day to have more fun.

The staff car arrived in a cloud of dust and pulled up in the driveway at the foot of the wooden steps leading up to the veranda, the driver stepped out and opened the rear door then stood at attention saluting as Charles climbed inside, he closed the door and collected Charles' baggage placing it in the Humber's boot before climbing in and driving away as Charles waved goodbye through the open window. The trip back down the mountains was enjoyable and they soon arrived in the swarming city honking the horn as they threaded through the pedestrian clogged streets.

The car swept through the gates where the sentries saluted by slamming their hands to their shouldered .303 rifles at the sight of the shiny gold braid on Charles' cap, he saluted them back and the car wended its way to the wharf where Foxhound lat waiting. Charles smiled at the sight of the repaired ship newly painted in the camouflage colours for the tropical seas. The car stopped at the brow where two of his crew stood guard, he climbed out and was saluted smartly and as he stepped onto the sloping brow the duty petty officer piped him aboard as the duty officer, navigator lieutenant White saluted him and welcomed him back. White barked an order at two seamen to collect Charles' baggage as he asked if the First Officer was on board.

Charles strolled away to check on the new turret and looked up to see the new funnel, the dockyard seemed to have excelled themselves and the ship looked like it was brand new. Charles was well pleased and he left the deck to go to his cabin to change into a working uniform, Bradley beamed at him as soon as he appeared welcoming Charles back and asking if he'd enjoyed his leave. Charles grinned at him rubbing his crotch and said, "Excellent thanks Bradders and everything you could desire was laid on by Sir Humphrey, it was a great break."

Bradley smiled and said, "Sounds like that cannon of yours got plenty of action sir."

Charles grinned and said, "Less of the sir you old reprobate, you know we don't use titles here between you and I in private. Yes, to answer your question, there were some really delicious local lads who enjoyed male sex so it was fantastic."

Bradley smiled and nodded as he assisted Charles out of his shore going uniform after laying out his normal working shorts and shirt, Charles dressed and Bradley poured him a small Scotch and water which he tossed down his dry parched throat before thanking Bradley and leaving the cabin heading for the bridge. He strode onto the bridge and acknowledges the salutes from the men working there, he strode to the wind break and surveyed the deck below where men were cleaning down the deck removing the traces of the dockyard workers. The ship was looking ready for sea and he sent a runner to find the first lieutenant, Alan Harbury appeared quickly and saluted Charles welcoming him back then gave him a run down on the current state of the ship.

Foxhound was fully fuelled and munitioned and they were expecting orders at any time, Charles thanked him and checked the logbook to see everything was up to date. He found that the reports were all correctly entered so he filled in a report of his returning and closed the tome. Charles sat on the bridge stool for a while just enjoying being back on board as he watched the bustling naval base and harbour. Charles heard a vehicle drive up to the berth and he stood up strolling across to stand on the lookout wing and saw an officer alight carrying a brief case and speak to the sentries who saluted and allowed him aboard.

The visitor clambered up the ladder to the bridge and saluted Charles then opened his brief case extracting a buff coloured manila envelope and presented it to Charles. Charles accepted it and thanked the young sub-lieutenant who saluted him and left to return to headquarters leaving Charles to read the orders contained. He broke the seal and pulled out the typed pages, as he read he saw that they were to load drums of high-octane fuel and proceed forthwith to rendezvous with two motor patrol boats for a mission to Banda Aceh on the Northern tip of Sumatra. The fuel was to resupply the patrol boats tanks due to their limited range.

Once off Banda Aceh Foxhound would wait offshore while the two patrol boats made their way in shore to rescue some British and Dutch civilians fleeing from the invading Japanese forces. Once rescued the refugees would be transferred to Foxhound for transport back to the safety of Colombo while the patrol boats kept them company and refuelled on route again. Charles was worried about the refuelling at sea as they would virtually have to heave to in dangerous waters and risk being attacked by either aircraft or submarine not to mention the risk of fire with the highly volatile petrol on their deck.

As Charles finished reading the orders a 3ton truck rumbled along the wooden wharf to stop alongside, several sailors climbed out and began unloading the heavy 44-gallon drums. The first lieutenant was on hand with a work party and a cargo sling was rigged, swung out and lowered to the wharf, the drums were rolled onto the cargo net and then raised up by winch and swung aboard. The drums were positioned aft near the depth charge rails and securely lashed down for the voyage. The truck rumbled away and Charles went on deck to check the dangerous cargo, he tugged at the lashings and found them secure so he gave the men a well done and returned to the bridge to prepare for getting underway.

The lines were singled up as Charles rang down for slow astern on the port engine and slow ahead on the starboard, he ordered cast of forward as the Foxhound began to move, the bow swung out clear of the destroyer's stern ahead then he ordered stop both engines and cast off stern line. The destroyer drifted out from the wooden wharf slowly, he ordered slow ahead both and Foxhound began to move ahead with hardly a ripple except for the disturbance caused by her massive slow spinning props. She ghosted away passing the line of moored destroyers and made her way towards the long defence boom across the harbour entrance, the small tug huffed and puffed belching smoke as it hauled the boom open for Foxhound to pass through then closed it behind her as her stern moved away.

The two motor patrol boats came growling out of the small creek where they were based and fell in one on each side of the larger vessels bow, the sleek launches looking deadly and fast even at low speed. They gradually increased speed as they headed out to sea, the launches revelling in the smooth conditions as their bow waves built and three long white wakes spread out behind the small armada on the tranquil blue tropical sea. The day passed calmly and night descended hiding the three vessels from any spying eyes, next morning the sun rose with all three vessels at action stations. Foxhound's guns sniffing the air as the gunnery director and lookouts searched for any dangers, the horizon and sky were empty of any threat so the crews were stood down and piped to breakfast leaving the duty watch on guard.

The day passed sultry and hot, the sky hazy as the hours past and they could see huge thunder heads building in the east as the steamed towards them. Charles prayed they were not going to run into foul weather that would cause huge problems for the smaller patrol boats, he decided to heave to while it was still calm and top up the patrol boats fuel tanks for safety. He signalled them and rang down stop engines, Foxhound's deck stilled as the big turbines slowed and stopped, she began to drift on the current as the two wooden boats came slowly alongside fenders out to protect their fragile hulls. Lines were cast up and secured, as the black gang (engine room crew) appeared to carry out the fuel transfer.

The drums were opened and the hand pumps inserted, the stokers began pumping fast to fill the tanks as soon as feasible so they could all get underway again before dark.

The boats refuelled they cast off the lines and all three got underway again as the sun sank behind them, darkness fell and the eastern horizon flashed and flickered with lightning illuminating the huge columns of cumulus nimbus. The glassy sea reflected the sky show and what wind there was came from astern blowing towards the vast storm filling the whole horizon ahead. Their course was taking them directly towards this monster, would it dissipate as the night progressed and the air cooled a little or were they in for a savage battering before daylight?

The storm continued ahead and the wind picked up as air rushed to fill the gap as the storm sucked more air pumping it skywards, the patrol boats began to feel the effect of the building seas as they buried their bows into the back of the waves throwing spray skywards. Their decks awash as they wallowed along beside the Foxhound, Charles ordered the group to slow hoping the patrol boats would be more comfortable, and not overstraining their cross ply wooden hulls. The lightning flashes flared illuminating the chaotic scene as the three vessels struggled on into the storm's centre.

The wind howling now driving spray like bullets, the two patrol boats nearly invisible, they almost resembled submarines so low in the water were they, their crews were all wearing safety harnesses to stop them being swept overboard and lost. The boat on Foxhound's port bow suddenly lost power and vanished from view as it was swept away, Charles searched the chaos but was unable to locate it in the flying spray and spume. He prayed they were all right but they had to press on to their objective, to rescue the civilians.

The night was a nightmare, the storm unleashed incredible turbulence and foxhound was pounded unmercifully, the remaining patrol boat struggled on valiantly, submerged more often than afloat she was pummelled and flooded, her between decks were awash as the water leaked in through every seam on her deck and superstructure. The windscreen had been torn away and one of her machine gun turrets was demolished and swept away while a torpedo tube was bent out of shape, the dawn found the two vessels still afloat, battered but holding their course. No sign of the third patrol boat could be seen and they dared not use their radios to see if they could contact it as it may alert the enemy to their position.

They neared Sumatra as the sun dipped below the horizon and they steamed inshore off Banda Aceh, Charles and the lookouts searched the beach looking for the refugees, a lone figure ran from the jungle waving his arms, Charles looked through his binoculars and saw it was a white man, he signalled the patrol boat to close the beach. The small boat motored close in and held position as the crew called to the man to bring the people down and begin swimming out to them. The man called back that they would need assistance so a life buoy was floated in with a line attached to tow the people out to the boat. Two men began shuffling people down the white sand and two by two they were pulled out to the patrol boat where crew helped pull them aboard.

The rescue took till well after dark but was finally completed and as the boat began to motor out shadowy figures could be seen hurrying along the sand to stop in a group, the sound and flashing of a machine gun could be heard and seen as bullets raised spray near the fleeing boat. Charles observed the threat and ordered the guns to silence the enemy, the twin bofors guns fired flinging their rounds into the small group of troops and the sand flew as the machine gun was silenced and the men decimated by the heavy fire. The patrol boat and Foxhound steamed away into the night to stand well off the coast before transferring the refugees.

The transfer was accomplished and the patrol boat refuelled ready for the long trip back to Ceylon, the two vessels steamed away through the night and dawn found them alone on the wide Indian Ocean. Charles tried to contact the missing boat but no response was received, it looked as though she had foundered during the storm. A feeling of sadness gripped the crews of the vessels, the refugees greeted Charles when he left the bridge and entered the wardroom where they were placed after the transfer and the leader, a British consular secretary explained to Charles how they had missed the last boat evacuating the civilians when their cars broke down on the trip to the port. He had used a military radio left in a truck to put out a call for their rescue and so now they were aboard the ship.

The crew were fussing about the civilians and Charles was watching a very cute young Dutch lad who was sitting by himself in a corner, he wondered why he was alone and asked the Englishman what the lad's story was. He found out the lad had been lost and left behind when his parents were evacuated and they had picked him up on the road to Banda Aceh and brought him with them. Charles studied the lad and saw a well-fit blond haired lad of about 17 summers, he appeared to be well developed in all ways as he sat there in his underwear and a blanket while his sodden clothes were being washed and dried to remove the salt. All the civilians were wrapped in blankets awaiting the return of their clothes. Charles looked at the young lad and smiled at him warmly, the boy looked up at the handsome captain and smiled back at him making the dimples dance in his smooth cheeks.

To be continued...
 

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Posted: 11/30/07