The Boy and the Battleship Read online

  The Boy and the Battleship

  The Navy Cadets

  C.R. Cummings

  Also By

  CHRISTOPHER CUMMINGS

  *The Boy and the Battleship

  The Green Idol of Kanaka Creek

  Ross River Fever

  Train to Kuranda

  The Mudskipper Cup

  Davey Jones’s Locker

  Below Bartle Frere

  Airship Over Atherton

  Cockatoo

  The Cadet Corporal

  Stannary Hills

  Coast of Cape York

  Kylie and the Kelly Gang

  Behind Mt. Baldy

  The Cadet Sergeant Major

  Cooktown Christmas

  Secret in the Clouds

  The Word of God

  The Cadet Under-Officer

  Barbara and the Smiley People

  The Boy and the Battleship

  The Navy Cadets

  C.R. Cummings

  www.doctorzed.com

  Copyright © 2014 by Christopher Cummings

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  Published 2014 by DoctorZed Publishing

  DoctorZed Publishing books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

  DoctorZed Publishing

  10 Vista Ave

  Skye, South Australia 5072

  www.doctorzed.com

  61-(0)8 8431-4965

  ISBN: 978-0-9923909-7-6 (sc)

  ISBN: 978-0-9872495-8-6 (e)

  National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry

  Author: Cummings, C. R., author.

  Title: The boy and the battleship / Christopher Cummings.

  ISBN: 9780992390976 (paperback)

  Series: Cummings, C. R. The navy cadets; 1.

  Subjects: Military cadets-—Fiction.

  Terrorism—Fiction.

  Dewey Number: A823.3

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and dialogues are creations of the author or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to any individuals, alive or dead, is purely coincidental. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

  Cover image © gio_banfi | istockphoto.com

  Printed in Australia

  DoctorZed Publishing rev. date: 05/02/2014

  Dedication

  To my mother,

  the late Cynthia Adelaide Cummings (nee Wickham),

  a sailor’s wife,

  for her love and support

  and for her sound advice on relationships and life.

  Map 1: Coral Sea

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 1

  THE DESTROYER

  It was a perfect North Queensland winter day: clear blue skies, a crisp fresh breeze, and a sun just warm enough to be pleasant. Twelve-year-old Graham Kirk breathed deeply and looked out over the ruffled chop the wind had churned up on Trinity Inlet. He felt wonderfully alive and excited. Sniffing the sea smells with a mixture of pleasure and nostalgia he turned his gaze back to study the ship.

  Graham was standing on the bow of HMAS Hobart, a guided missile air defence destroyer. The ship was visiting Cairns after exercises in South East Asian waters and, unusually in these times of heightened security after the ‘War on Terror’, was open to the public. Graham and his friends had leapt at the opportunity and they had just spent an hour climbing everywhere they were allowed to climb.

  Graham’s gaze moved intently back along the anchor chains on the focsle, over the steel breakwater to the forward 125mm gun turret, before travelling up the front of the superstructure to the bridge windows; and on up to the lattice work of the mast, with its array of radar scanners and aerials. What an impressive sight, he thought. I wish I was old enough to join the navy now.

  He sighed wistfully. Ever since he could remember his one ambition had been to become a naval officer. Earlier that morning he had watched the destroyer sail in from the Coral Sea. As it came into port if had looked most impressive: long, sleek and deadly; the grey and black ship sliding silently over the grey-green waters of Trinity Inlet against a backdrop of dark green, jungle-covered mountains. The memory sparked one of his favourite day-dreams. In it he was the captain of the destroyer. The ship would make a majestic entrance after some heroic deed—with all the people down on the Cairns Esplanade watching. Before the admiring eyes of his schoolmates the suitably modest captain steps ashore to a hero’s welcome—a welcome in which Cindy would play a suitably romantic part.

  Perhaps I have just rescued her? Graham pondered. Maybe from a cruise liner which had been taken over by terrorists or pirates? He liked that idea and smiled.

  And there was Cindy!

  She had just hurried into sight. Seeing her sent a sharp stab of guilt and anxiety through Graham. The day before he had made a naughty suggestion to Cindy and now he was concerned that his bad behaviour might get him into trouble. Cindy was a Year 10, three years older than him, and was a very attractive brunette with a shapely body that her school uniform did little to conceal.

  Scorching fantasies about her burned through Graham’s mind and he squirmed with a mixture of arousal and anxiety. A few weeks before he had reached puberty and that ecstatic experience was seared into his brain. Since then Graham had found his whole being stirred into seemingly continual arousal. His interest in girls was now firmly alive. And Cindy had not responded negatively to his hints and innuendos. But now he worried that he had gone too far.

  Suddenly she saw him. To his intense relief she smiled. “Hi Graham! What ya doin’?” she called.

  “Just studying the ship,” Graham answered, his heart beginning to hammer with the instant excitement he now experienced when he was in her presence. “What are you doing?”

  Cindy glanced behind her. “Trying to avoid my little brother,” she replied.

  Her little brother Max was a class mate of Graham’s. He shrugged. “I haven’t seen him. He might be with Pete and Steve.” Emboldened by her friendly greeting and by being alone with her he said, “Are we going to meet again?”

  “Only in secret,” Cindy replied. “I don’t want to have any trouble.”

  “When?”

  Cindy again looked behind her. Her eyes were alight with mischief. “I don’t know. I will see when we can organi
ze something. I will see you later.” With that she hurried off around the other side of the superstructure. Graham was left aroused and hopeful. Maybe? he wondered. He stood there in a state of euphoria, amazed that an older girl had even spoken to him. She is really attractive, he thought, knowing that he did not really like her and sensing that what he was experiencing was just pure lust.

  That notion sent several waves of guilt through him; firstly for doing such things at all and secondly for being disloyal to Thelma, the latest object of his adoration.

  And there was Thelma.

  At that moment she and her black-haired friend Janet Ozgood appeared out of a doorway behind the gun turret. Thelma was in the same class at school and Graham had only recently noticed her. Now he thought the sun rose just because of her. Actually she was a fairly plain looking girl with a straight nose, hazel eyes and hair the same colour as his, mousy fair. But she was nicely shaped for her age with quite a big bosom and she always looked happy.

  For a moment Graham admired her, and unconsciously compared her with her friend. Janet is prettier, he decided. And she’s got bigger boobs and better legs. At that he felt a twinge of disloyalty and rationalized. Anyway, what can you expect? Thelma is only in Year 8. She will develop as she gets older. And besides; Janet is a…

  Graham struggled to form an opinion but failed. He was a bit in awe of Janet. She always looked and acted so cool and grown up. Instinctively Graham sensed that she would never be the girl for him, however beautiful she was.

  The two girls turned to talk to a young man Graham had never seen before; a man of about twenty with long blond hair tied in a pigtail. He’s a scruffy looking jerk! Graham thought, resentment fuelling his uneasy jealousy. The man said something and both the girls laughed. Then they moved out of sight along the starboard side.

  “Hello Graham. Having a good day?” asked a girl’s voice.

  Joany! Graham recognized the girl who had appeared beside him. Joan was another Year 10 girl. She was a pretty blonde with shoulder length hair and ruddy cheeks. “Hi Joany. Yes thanks,” he replied.

  Joany nodded. “Good. See ya,” she said. She wandered on across the deck and for a moment Graham admired her nice curves and good legs. The fact that another Year 10 girl had bothered to speak to him got him all flustered and set his fantasies working.

  From the port side appeared Graham’s friends: Max, Peter and Stephen. Behind them was Kylie, Graham’s little sister. Last in the line was Margaret, Kylie’s best friend, and Graham’s devoted admirer!

  Peter waved and moved to join him. “We wondered where you were,” he said. “We went looking for you down at the blunt end. Have you seen all you want to see yet?”

  Graham smiled. “No, but they won’t let me look in lots of the places I’d like to go. I wish they’d let us look down inside, in the engine room and places like that.”

  Stephen shook his head. “I can’t see them allowing that,” he put in. “They’d be too worried about things getting broken or pinched I reckon.”

  “Or sabotage,” Max suggested.

  “Sabotage!” Graham scoffed. “What rot! Who would do any thing like that? And what could a person do that would matter anyway? We were all searched before we were allowed on board.”

  Kylie joined them. “Some of those Peace Protesters perhaps?” she said.

  “Peace Protesters! Fair go Sis. This is Cairns, not Sydney. Where would you find a demonstrator here?” Graham scoffed.

  Kylie pointed over the side. “There are some on the wharf right now,” she replied.

  “Where?” Graham was astounded, and annoyed. He resented any criticism of the navy, or its role. To check he walked to the port rail and looked down at the wharf.

  To his astonishment he saw that his sister was right. Half way along the wharf, near the gangway leading onto the quarterdeck, were a small group of people with placards. They were just standing talking to the navy people there. Graham felt a rush of indignation. He counted the demonstrators.

  “Oh, there are only seven of them.”

  “It’s been enough to attract the TV people,” Peter said, indicating a TV news crew heading along the wharf.

  On seeing the media crew Graham felt another surge of anger. Mob of bloody vultures! he thought. “They just exaggerate and make things worse,” he said. What also annoyed him was that the media seemed to be grossly ignorant of even basic knowledge about the navy and often made the most elementary errors in fact. He watched them with sour distaste.

  Stephen leaned on the rail next to him. “The TV station probably paid the demonstrators to turn up,” he offered cynically.

  Margaret was shocked. Her usually cheerful, freckled face wrinkled in a frown of distaste and disbelief. “Oh Stephen! That’s a horrible thing to say,” she cried.

  Stephen shrugged. “It’s been known to happen before,” he replied.

  “It has not! You are just making it up,” Margaret said.

  “Sorry Marg,” Peter put in. “But it has happened.”

  Kylie stepped in. “Where? When?” she questioned angrily.

  Peter shrugged and looked embarrassed. “I can’t think of a specific example, but I have read about it.”

  Kylie sniffed in disbelief. Margaret looked worried. Graham felt annoyed that it was all spoiling their visit to the warship. “Never mind them. Let’s go and visit the bridge again,” he suggested.

  “No. I want to go home,” Kylie replied. She was a pretty eleven-year-old, in the same class at school as Margaret. She loved her brother but enough was enough.

  Max chipped in. “I agree. I’m thirsty and my feet are killing me. Let’s go home.”

  Reluctantly Graham agreed. The group made its way along the port side in single file. Graham went last. He looked around him continually, noting details and absorbing the atmosphere: the smell of paint, oil, saltwater and machinery; and the naval personnel in their various uniforms.

  Even though he was only 12 Graham was already very familiar with ships, mainly because his father was not only a Master Mariner but also owned several. With his older brother Alex and, to a lesser extent Kylie, Graham had grown up with, and on, ships. Captain Kirk operated two tugs, a large barge (a converted Landing Craft Tank) and a 250 ton freighter. His business took him all over northern Australia and the South Pacific. Sometimes the children did not see their father for weeks on end. At other times they went with him as unpaid crew, particularly during school holidays.

  To Graham merchant ships were all very well but they lacked the glamour and excitement of warships. His heart was set on the sea as a career—like his dad in the Merchant Marine if he had to; but for first preference as a naval officer. As he followed the others along the narrow strip of deck between the railings and the superstructure he studied all the details such as fire fighting equipment, pipes, bollards and cleats and various boxes and doors.

  At the stern they found a helicopter had been rolled out of the hanger onto the small flight deck. This was sufficiently interesting to distract the others and they joined the queue to have a look inside the machine. Graham wasn’t particularly interested in aircraft but he knew they were important in naval warfare so he studied the helicopter and then looked around to take in the details of the flight deck.

  As he did he found himself looking at Cindy. She was standing over near the starboard side and was chatting to a young sailor. To Graham she looked very attractive. She looks older than she is, he thought. Then he frowned at the way Cindy giggled at something the sailor said. She rolled her eyes and put her hand on the sailor’s forearm. She is flirting, he thought. The sight somehow disturbed him but he could not account for it, not wanting to admit that he might be jealous. She is too young to be behaving like that, he told himself. Anyway, it isn’t Cindy I like, it is Thelma.

  Graham looked around and noted that Thelma and Janet were also studying the helicopter. To Graham’s annoyance he saw that Thelma was talking to another youth. It is that Edmonson jerk from Ye
ar 10, he thought resentfully. This time he did admit to jealousy. Edmonson was another of the type Graham considered to be ‘long haired gits’ and he could not imagine what Thelma saw in him. But he did realize that Thelma was not really aware that he existed. I must get her to notice me and then I will ask her for a date, Graham decided.

  At that moment he was bumped and glanced to see that it was Margaret. She gave him a smile. “Your turn in the helicopter,” she said.

  Graham felt a spurt of anxiety. I hope Thelma doesn’t see Margaret with me. That might wreck my chances, he thought. In fact Margaret was starting to annoy him. For several years she had been Kylie’s best friend but had also made no secret of her admiration for him. At first it had been very nice and flattering but now he found it cloying and irritating. Twice in the recent past mates of his had teased him over being friends with Margaret, calling him a cradle snatcher who was interested in young girls. The fact that Margaret was only in Year 6 at primary school did not help.

  It will be a real shame job if Max or his mates notice. I wish she’d go away, Graham thought. But thinking that made him feel ashamed and guilty as he was very aware that Margaret was a very nice person and he really did like her.

  Graham gestured to the open doorway. “You go first,” he said.

  “You are sure?” Margaret asked, her plain, freckled face crinkling into a smile.

  “Yes. Up you go. I will follow,” Graham replied. Unable to help himself he smiled back and her soft brown eyes danced. She nodded and climbed up into the helicopter. As she did Graham noted her tubby bum and freckled legs. She is nice but she can’t compare with Thelma—or Cindy.

  As he stood waiting Graham again looked at Cindy. She is really very curvy for her age, he decided. Then Graham felt another spurt of jealous annoyance as Cindy shrilled with laughter at a joke the young sailor told her. Once again she very obviously flirted with him.

  Cindy suddenly looked towards Graham and their eyes met. A flush of guilty shame made Graham look away and he pretended he hadn’t been looking. To add to the appearance that he hadn’t been he climbed up to look in at where Margaret was sitting in the pilot’s seat. She was asking questions of a young man in a flying suit. Kylie sat in the other seat and was also flashing smiles at the young man and that also irritated Graham. She shouldn’t behave like that either, he told himself.