Chapter 9 - Journey In A Glass Bottom Boat

Journey In A Glass Bottom Boat

A novel

By Paul McCann

 

Chapter 9

 

Creatures Of Coral City

Harry and Maisie began to collect a number of stories on their voyage of discovery that were all part of the journey and the series in a glass bottom boat .

This tale was shared by Seaweed Jack  , an old man of the sea who in his young years  dived for underwater sponges and pearls .

Jack had his own sea vessel then and lived at home on the  sea . He was strong and boisterous with an adventurous spirit .

As he aged, he needed more time and extra help to carry on doing whatever best .

When he made the decision to quit diving, he asked some ship.

builders he knew to build him a large sailing ship for his retirement from diving and his new life cruising the oceans in a new relationship with the sea  .

When The Sea Poacher was ready to sail, he hired a small crew for on a voyage beyond the Gulf of Mariana  in the far East of Tonamow .

This was a place where the sea shelf fell for into an abyss of darkness known as Fathomless .

Many sailors had told him about a place there called , coral city where strange and unknown sea creatures had been seen .

Jack always had a wanting to go there and try to find coral city . 

So now as Captain of The Sea  Poacher with a crew and nothing better to do he decided to sail off into the horizon and on the breath of a salty wind to speed their ship they inched out from the blue through the green waters that covered the seventh sea towards the unknown mysteries around the east of  Tonamow .

With so many tall stories  told of what lay out there many seamen feared to journey any further than the Gulf of Mariana especially around Davy ‘s graveyard and the trench where a force called the Magnetic way sunk many ships and their crews to their fathomless grave never to be seen again .

This was the exact spot where Jack had been told he would find the Coral Way in a passage called the Dire Straits .

It was said hundreds of ships had strayed too close to the coral and were never able to leave and  remained there imprisoned and  anchored forever to the sharp edges of the coral reef . As Seaweed  Jack and his crew ventured through the coral passage, they  were lucky enough to make  it through .

After surviving that they came to

the feared magnetic way and once again were able to pass through where many  ships who ventured that way were drawn in and spun around into a perimeter of water that turned bright crimson in colour ad ships approached and it was just after that when ships with their crews vanished never to be seen again .

Three times lucky again and The Sea Poacher had escaped this area in deaths dark domain .  Onwards to unknown and uncharted waters in an attempt to find Coral City Seaweed Jack and his crew continued to explore . 

 

One night as the moonlight shimmered like liquid crystal an apparition of a castle on the ocean stood right in front of the ship . As they approached the castle, they saw that it stood upon  an island of coral and the  closer the ship came to the castle the darker the water became until it was too late and they knew the ship was stuck in a thick oil slick unable to move .  So,  there they were , half afloat and stranded on the surface with dozens of barrels of crude oil bobbing up and down , spewing out oil all around the surface of the water .

Seaweed Jack caught a glimpse of a strange creature in his telescope . It was sitting on the back of an exhausted dolphin trying hard to reach the shore of the coral island .

The creature was half the form of a fish with the shape of a woman shouldering long hair half way down back. On her head she wore a golden crown  .

Jack had always heard stories about Mermaids but never really believed them until now .  Seeing is believing  and now Jack couldn’t deny his own eyes  . 

The  poor mermaids body was also covered in thick black oil and she looked half alive and half dead .  All around the surface of the water , lots of  fish lay motionless ..

The Sea Poacher was unable to move but Jack still lowered the 

anchor down just in case  and he decided to try to dry to the island in a small lifeboat which was much lighter and manageable in the water  . 

With a handful of his crew  who rowed the boat they slowly were able to make it to the crystal castle on the shore . They upturned the boat on the sand and walked  over to where the  dolphin had dropped off the Mermaid on the sand   .

Jack and his crew stood there ashamed and angry at what they saw  . Not only was this beautiful mermaid covered in oil but there was the sharp end of a harpoon stuck in her side . In a state of shock , helpless to save the mermaid they just stood there . Suddenly these other creatures came to help the mermaid . Some from the castle , others from the sea . They started frantically working to save the mermaid .

There were creatures with suckers and snorkels , some had paws others had claws , some with hair and some with fur , They all started cleaning the oil of the mermaid , putting pressure  on areas of her body , removing the harpoon , stitching the cuts , treating the wounds , massaging and treating her with different solutions and before too long the mermaid began to respond .  All of the creatures started rejoicing .

From the castle  came some machines with floating rafts with suction pipes that began cleaning the oil slick and barrels from the sea . Then foam was sprayed  over the area  seal-like creatures with white hair all over their bodies approached Seaweed Jack . They surrounded the crew who felt threatened .

The mermaid was placed back into the water . She waved to everyone and disappeared beneath the surface .

 A sound of trumpets was heard and then a figure dressed like an astronaut appeared from the castle , His helmet had a crown and, on his feet, he wore web like flippers . The bodysuit had sharp fins and jagged edges and he made strange breathing sounds when he walked .

All of the seals broke the circle formation and sat in lines gaming each other , making room for the King of Coral Castle to make his way to Jack and the crew .

A high pitched shrill came from his mouth  before he gently spoke .

“Welcome to Coral  city “

“Thank you “

Seaweed Jack said ,

The King waved his arms in the air and seabirds swooped down and began squawking and making shrills .  

 

“We love to get visitors here .“ 

The King  said 

Jack nodded and continued ,

“Sorry about what happened with

the oil and the harpoon . Some people have a lot to learn . They are destructive and dangerous .”

The King took off his helmet revealing a birdlike appearance.

 

,”I am King Bismuth . Welcome to my kingdom . Please allow me to extend you a friendly greeting and a safe passage back to your  works through the barriers around our world . I’m amazed that you were able to make your way here over the ocean with so many of my protective barriers in place .“

Jack nodded again and said .

“ Thank you, noble King of the Coral City . The mermaid is ok then ?”

He told them he and she were King and Queen of the Corel Kingdom then explained how very recently an aeroplane had dropped some of its leaking cargo into the waters around Coral City  and mentioned some hunters who arrived  and tried to capture one of the creatures and if hadn’t been for the oil slick then the hunters might have got away with it however the timely intervention resulted in the hunters ship being left stranded and overturned by a some of the creatures from Coral  City .

Underneath the Kings castle was an underwater world with many known and unknown sea creatures .

All of them were able to access Corel City via different levels  and channels in a maze of underwater  tunnels and channel’s around the fathomless trench .

There were hump back whales and eels ,  white pointer sharks ,

mermaids and creatures with Florissant colours and others with transparent bodies , some amphibious and  others not .

Seaweed Jack had to stop and think briefly but before his thought was finished, he had to overcome the though  ,

‘No, you’re not going crazy . Its ok  Jack , you’ve got this “

 

At that very moment Jack felt something he had never done before like an acceptance of the unknown mysteries he had hoped to find and did .

Then the King said ,

“The ocean is my domain .You cannot live there without me or live here  with me but let me guide you on your journey back through all the currents that know me well . You must return to your world and move on with your lives but always remember your visit to Coral City  here where the secrets of this world will always be .a mystery “

Jack smiled fondly and then

continued ,

“ We will go now “

As they all  made their way to their lifeboat the mermaid resurfaced and leapt high from the water into the air .

Her crown glistened in the sunlight and her long hair clung to her shoulders .

Some dolphins joined her and they raced together back and forward through the waves .

The mermaid stood up on her tail and pointed in the direction of a light that appeared form the sky .  Suddenly a shimmering passage opened up on the surface of the water . What no man had ever seen escorted The Sea Poacher  away from Coral City  .

Instantly the ship glided across the water until it came to the gulf of Mariana then Jack and the crew knew they were back in safe waters again .

All they could go was look at each other  with a blank expression as if to say was that real or did  we dream all that .

Jack and all the crew looked at each other and they all now looked very old so they wondered just  how long their voyage had taken them . That was the last voyage Seaweed Jack  made and he left The Sea  Poacher in a dry dock where the winds were kept at bay .

 

 End of chapter 9 

Link to chapter 10

https://www.abctales.com/story/mcscraic/chapter-10-journey-glass-bottom-...

 

Journey In A Glass Bottom Boat

A novel

By Paul McCann