Deep Sea Chapter 13

13.

The Surface

Admiral Yi Sun Sin improved on the design of the Turtle Ship during the Joseon Dynasty. It was an enclosed ship with eleven cannons on each side with two each at the stern and bow. The ship’s figurehead was in the shape of a dragon and held four more cannons. The ship has three decks with its upper deck covered with wood and inlaid with spikes. The ship has two masts with the large sails but the steering of the ship was by its rowers beneath the decks. 

“Have you read on the Turtle Ship?” General Gale was by herself on the table at the Library when she was asked. It was her private hour where she put aside the crisis and current events to indulge in her private reading. She was not particular of her seating but it was to be the only herself on the table. She disliked anyone joining in and most of all inquisitive questions. Normally, any person coming near her table will have been stopped by her guards but that one slipped the guards.

General Gale looked up from her book. She saw the person was dressed in a tight green dress that reached below her knees with the braided design of the eastern dragon.  The lady had her hair braided too at the back and she was holding another book.

“Lady Jan I presume.” General Gale makes the assumption. “I am having my …”

“Afternoon reading.” Lady Jan replied. “I know of your habit, General Gale. You also disliked company but I could not resist stepping over. It’s not every day you see someone reading the works of Admiral Yi Sun Sin.”

General Gale marked the page she was reading before placing it down on the table. The other lady had taken the liberty to sit down. She then placed the book she was reading on.

“I was catching up on my interest in your sea hero, Admiral Nelson Horatio.” Lady Jan avails herself of the conversation with the General. “I am not a strategist like him.”

“I could …not see that very clearly, Lady Jan. You have just moved in on my private hour and acted as if I did not care.” General Gale displayed her emotions there. “I would have concurred that a lady of your standing knew of that. We…”

“We are ladies first and in the current times, we are still placed sideline for many things. I have very need to be polite and pretty behind the man when I could take the lead.” Lady Jan displayed her fangs. “You are the new commanding officer of the Army. I respect that.”

“I see your point, Dragon Lady.” General Gale replied. “Since we are of the same gender, I doubt we will fuck like rabbits. Lady Jan, I have studied your personal files. You are a strategist in your own land climbing up the rank in the military circle and later also in the trading lines. Your reputation as the Dragon Lady precedes your name.”

“The nickname was given to me by the petty old men who use their wealth to move the people but not me. I used my people to excel in using the available wealth and building it.” Lady Jan hit back. “Just like yours, the name Iron Lady came from your military peers.”

“Enough of the grand name bashing. If you are asking me to allow your vessels to the port, my reply stands the same. I will not tolerate any other fleet inside my waters unless they are here for war. In which the later I am ….”

“Unable to be matched, General Gale. Your last war had depleted the resources to fight on land and left your once esteemed fleet of ships virtually useless.” Lady Jan snapped on the nerve point of the General. “I am not here for war. I am here to assist you…”

“In taking control of our seas. No, thank you, Lady Jan. We were masters of the Seas and will reclaim our honor there. It may take time but we will make it.” General Gale replied. She knew that the once-famous fleet was reduced to a few old ships and those were already on escort duties of the fishing convoy. “Perhaps you want to read more on Admiral Nelson and his victories at sea.”

“You may have read of the battle of Myeongnyang in 1597.” Lady Jan mocked at the General. “The Admiral had used the elements and terrain to fight his battle. It was stealth and deceit which won him the battle.”

“Stealth and deceit is some of the strategies of war. Only a fool will rush into battle without a strategy.” General Gale replied. “Your strategy had failed. Your assumption that two ladies may listen to each other rather than argue. I am still the General when in uniform. My ladylike only surfaced when I am at home with my family or fucking with my husband.”

“I was not rushing to the bonding of ladies with you. I was merely studying my opponent’s features. You are tough and decisive but those are only the hardness in the character. For one to be complete, you need to have the softness of the likes in stealth and deceit.” Lady Jan smiled. “Read on General. You might learn more of us to improve yourself.”

General Gale watched the lady leave before she picked up her book. It was all about crochet. Gale’s mother once told her that the most important thing in life is to remain calm in a storm. If you can’t do that, then learn crocheting. It was calming and above all, you are matching the strings to form the bigger picture you want.

Her personal aide soon arrived with the report she was eager to read. It was written on it the details of the fleet that was off the boundary of the island. It was the pirate fleet. There were sighted four large cruiser class and three destroyer class, and ten supporting ships. The ships were moored in a circular manner which prevented them from seeing what was in the middle.

‘Did they send the dirigibles too?” General Gale asked. The aide shook her head. She then passed on the list of names she had scribbled on. n

“They are your allies, General. The others are either on the fence or in favor of General Clarke.” It was only one-third of the officers who supported her. None of them were from the Air Division. She has an uphill battle ahead.

“We shall fight with the ones we have.” General Gale replied. “Send a personal message to Lord Henry. Tell him I will be delighted with the tea party he had planned.”

The Depth

Incoming light gets reflected when it reaches the ocean surface. How it will be reflected depends on the state of the water. If it’s calm and smooth, less light will be reflected. If it’s turbulent, more light will be reflected. The light that penetrates the surface is refracted for light travels faster in water than in air. Once it is within the water, the light gets scattered or absorbed by solid particles. The light will be absorbed with depth.

Stacy saw the lights came up on the hull. It was a deep yellow light from the foot-long tungsten filament bulbs which were powered by the water current dynamo generator the provide electricity. The bulbs were encased in a watertight glass covered compartment that was filled with an inert gas. Its light was reflected off the shiny material coating on the inside of the casing. It could shine up to a hundred feet in the shallow depths and only twenty at the deeper darker areas. For the darker depths, there was the space out larger half-moon casing that measured two feet in radius. That light could reach over from a hundred to four hundred feet depending on the depths. It was used in emergencies or in the hunt.

Stacy was awed by the fishes that she had normally seen on the decks but beneath the waves, it was a different view. There you are watching the school of fishes passed the glass windows like a swarm of bees. They were so swift in the water, and within a blink of an eye, they were gone. It was at the depth of a hundred feet depths that the Sea King was maintained. Even at that level, she was greeted by the sharks; not a single predator but a school of them ranging for the twenty footers to the young ones of five feet. They were swimming among the other fishes with posing no danger to the smaller fishes. There were also the small squids and jellyfishes that rise up from below like soaring birds to the surface. It was made more spectacular when she saw the colorful shades of the fishes were also met by the multitude of shades among the sea plants and weeds. Even the rocks themselves were in differing shades.

“Steer two degrees south.” Captain Arthur called out. Stacy held the wheel and moved the Sea King to the direction. They have been sailing for two hours then with the breathable air pumped out by the equipment that converts the exhale air into oxygen again. Well, it was not all that pleasant at times. There was the scent of oil and what’s was in the air.

“Wow!” Stacy gripped the wheel when she saw the sea serpent at over a hundred and fifty feet in length crossing the ship’s path. It was not attacking the Sea King but moving on its own course. She wanted to halt the ship but the Captain told her to hold her action.

“Take it easy, First Officer. She is not our predator.” Captain Arthur told her. “Keep her steady. We should reach port in a short time. Prepare to surface.”

Stacy felt the lurch in the ship when her ballast was slowly emptied of the load. The ship was breaking for the surface. She looked at the depth gauge and noted the rising needle from the hundred fifty to eighty feet.

“Keep her steady, First Officer. We will balance off at eighty and then maintain course with an elevation of five degrees.” Captain Arthur called out. Unknown to Stacy, the ship was climbing up to avoid the corrals on the sea bed. It was rare to see the corrals here in the cold barren sea unlike the warm tropical climate sea, but at the turn of the century, when sea serpents were seen at the shallow sea beds, the corrals appeared. They were the hybrid of the deepwater species found mostly at below nine hundred feet. The corrals have adapted to the near-surface conditions and thrive on the rocky outcrops in abundance. They formed a food bank for the smaller fishes and themselves for the larger predators.

When they reached eighty feet they are able to sail across the top of the rocky mounds with the sharp edges. The corrals' growth was hardly seen at this level. At the last stretch, the crew was all given the general alerts to man their posts.

“Crews, we will soon be a feast for the dirigibles if they are still above us.” At eighty feet depth, the sea still shadowed the ship but once it reaches above that, it can be seen from the decks of the low flying dirigible.

“Prepare the main periscope.” Captain Arthur called out. The ship has seven periscope layout on the ship's length. Two were on the aft at the sides, while two were on the lower rear compartment with at the bottom. The other two were on the side to view the bottom. Only the main and the two at the aft were for looking from the top.

The periscope contraption was lowered from the top of the deck that resembled a semi-circular metal ring with two handles on the side. The Captain placed his sight inside the metal ring and then flashed the signal to go up. The periscope was only twenty feet in height from the outer hull surface. The Sea King had to level up another thirty feet for it the periscope top to be above the waves. 

“First Officer, take her up by twenty feet at an angle of five degrees.” Captain Arthur called out. Soon he was given the view of the sea surface through the periscope viewer. His view was the breaking waves and then the coastline of the island.

“My Lord, we made it.” Captain Arthur spoke up from the periscope.  “Jaws’ ahead.”

The crews cheered on the news that they were coming back to port. It was then Captain Arthur told Stacy to hand over the wheel to Boatswain I.

“You have not sailed here. Let her have it.” Stacy handed the wheel to the other.

“Prepare to dive on my command.” Boatswain I Conlay gave out her command.  The Sea King ballast began to fill in with the seawater and they went down to a depth of fifty feet. They sailed on for a short distance before the Boatswain I called for the ship to halt. She then checked the view before she gave the order to dive deep. There were some obstacles in the form of sharp ridges. The Sea King slowly lumbered on its engine and then the ship tilts downwards to eighty once more. She was not crashing onto the ridges but actually diving in between it. It was a continental shelf that extended beyond the island to the mainland with the sharp ridges seen by the Sea King’s crews. On that shelf was a series of deep-sea canyons that reached the shallow levels of the sea. The ship went forward with its aft tilting into the tight break in the shelf. It was entering the narrow canyon it had targeted and was making its way in the bay of the island named Small Jaws.

Stacy looked with awe at the steep walls of the canyon. Its walls were smoothened not by the wind as seen in the acrid desert lands but by the sea currents. Here and there were the living corrals that lived there as a feeding ground for the fishes. Boatswain, I Conlay held the wheel with her focus on the canyon walls. A slight wrong angle will cause them to crash into the walls.

Stacy then questioned the Captain.

“You never told me that you sailed on this ship….”

“Presumption my dear Stacy. I have not sailed on her to sea. This is not my first sail inside the ship and under the waters. I did, however, sail in similar ships in the war. It was soon after I rescued the General. We have sailed in those cramped ships of his for over a year before they ended the war.”  Captain Arthur.

“During the war, we all take risky tasks if it means victory to us. The ship I was on then had leaks and our visibility was our keen eyesight. Lord Henry then had the pleasure of my services but it was he who found this canyon.”

“Pray fix your focus on the window. Soon we will come into the bay and then into the underground bunker of the Sea King. There we will berth and re-supply.” Captain Arthur told his First Officer.