Thundering Typhoons! [ II ]
As they landed back on their feet, Noname dropped a question.
"What the hell have you been doing down there Henry?!"
"Long story cut short...." Henry responded quickly. ".....turn the ship around now!"
"What!..." Noname exclaimed. "... seriously Henry!? After we have gone this far?"
"Sorry to open this chest, but we haven't even moved up to a kilometer. It's not possible for this ship to oppose the strength of the wind..."
" And that's why we are letting the sheets to the wind!"
" We are heading in the wrong direction Noname!...". Henry blasted with a sense of compulsion. "... Our ship has gone off course! This isn't wind from the North, this is wind from the West, in fact, according to Louis, it's....." He stopped on noticing his nephew's absence. ".... Louis!??... He's supposed to be here!"
" Apologies..." Louis cut in as he dragged along the sail that had been let loose completely; he had earlier seen the sail being carried away by the wind and had to catch it before it was out of reach.
"....apologies Henry, but knowing the importance of this sail I couldn't just let it go."
"Brilliant of you Louis! ..." Henry complimented him. "...now without wasting our time, spill the rum!"
" Right!... from my knowledge of typhoons..."
" Did you just say typhoons?" Noname cut in in surprise.
"Uh..Yes?....we are actually on the outer rainbands of one, and it's headed South. Any direction we face that isn't South will only bring us closer to the eyewall of the typhoon and make the wind stronger.
West and Northwest
" Advantage?!" Noname asked in deep thought, narrowing his eyes in interest.
" Yes.." Louis continued "...the typhoon could probably sweep us back into course, we just have to stay away from the eyewall and maintain our position at the outer rainbands..."
" Yerr lost your anchor Louis? Coz that's crazy!.... ". Noname scolded but immediately changed his facial expression and gave a mischievous smile saying— "...Crazy it be ..... and that's why I love it !
Jack!..." he ordered. "...turn me ship around !
Santiago, pronto, take that sail from Louis and hoist it up the mast! – We've lost three of em to the storm already, and three won't be enough to sweep me ship speedy enough !
Henry, drain this ship of her heavy weight and Lee!...
.... Stand by!"
"Aye aye!!!!!". They all chorused and immediately took action in executing the given orders.
The ship, after a short while, and thanks to Jack's expertise, had completely and successfully rotated. Henry and Jack had finished their jobs but Santiago, on the other hand, was still struggling to fix the sail. There was heavy lightning everywhere, coupled with the intense wind - This was an indication that they were leaving the edge of the typhoon and entering the middle.
By the time Santiago got to where he would fix the last sail, the ship had already faced the direction of the wind, and the wind's great force immediately set the ship into a speedy motion.
Santiago was done with the lower vertex of the sail and was holding on to the upper vertices when the wind blew into the sail and made it inflated; he struggled against the force of the wind, pulling the upper vertices towards himself. He gathered all his strength and tried as hard as he could with his legs fixed firmly on the mast and his muscle-flexed arms wide apart. At this point, he was bound to hold on till the ship was independently back on its course, far away from the hurricane.
Jack also dragged forces with nature as he used all his strength and all his might to steer the wheel and oppose the attractive force of the typhoon. It was a battle of two men against one nature, a matter of whose stance would falter first . . . .
. . . . And as faith would always have it, when it comes to deals with nature, nature always got the upper hand; Jack pushed so hard on the wheel that his legs slipped on the wet timber, and the powerful wind tossed him in its direction. While being tossed out of the ship by the wind, he bashed his head on the mast, causing the all-agile Santiago to lose balance for a second and accidentally let go of one of the upper vertices!
Lee and Noname, on sighting their comrades defeat, quickly took action: Lee threw his cleaver at the wheels to temporarily stop its fast wind-initiated rotation by intersecting in one of its spaces and holding firmly to the floor, after which Henry and Louis took over its control. He then climbed up the mast as fast as possible, immediately after Santiago lost balance, and caught the other vertex, assisting Santiago in pulling it and maintaining its inflated shape for the ship's fast movement.
Noname, on his part, quickly let himself loose into the air and caught the now unconscious Jack, whose full body had already gotten out of the ship. He carefully dragged him back into the ship and, in a struggling manner, threw him below deck. The rest of the crew, while in their various positions, watched as the ship moved with a speed like no other, for such tremendous speed had neither of them seen in their life – A speed initiated by nature itself...!
"Captain!..." Henry called out to Noname. "...there is a compass in my right pocket, check if we are headed towards North!".
Noname struggled towards Henry and drew out the compass. Upon opening it, he saw the needle turning from East towards North by a degree per second.
"Captain?!" Henry called out to get a response from Noname.
"Aye!, North it is!... You guys just hang in there a little longer."
At this point, the eyes of the pirates were all teary, and their muscles had been strained almost to their climax, especially that of old man Henry. By now, the compass was almost at North, only a few degrees left....
" Keep strong yer grip !..." Captain Noname instigated his crew. "....just a few seconds...
... NOW! "
It had hit North and this was the time for them to steer the ship out of the typhoon, they had only a few seconds to do so... Quickly, Noname joined the duo at the wheel, followed by Lee. As for Santiago, he plopped to the ground from the mast as he had exhausted all the energy within him.
This was the point where all hands were to be on deck to totally overcome the effect of the typhoon. They struggled with all their might to steer the ship in the opposite direction; it was a drill of four men against one nature!
At this point, it was a matter of who would give up first. It was either they break through the force of nature....
....or let the force of nature break them!