We knew there was a storm coming. We’d been on the open sea for a week. Fog and heavy clouds surrounded us again. The convoy ships’ foghorns sounded endlessly. One night I thought of stuffing my ears with cotton to block out the sound but then realized I might miss the siren to run for the lifeboats. The ocean’s swells were deep and choppy waves smacked our hull, sending Mrs Smit to her bed with seasickness. Grace doled out peppermint candy and ginger, which she seemed to possess in endless supply, and Olive and I chewed ginger constantly to keep our stomachs settled. Reading was out of the question. We passed the days playing hearts and gin rummy with the Smit girls. Blanche taught us all how to play cribbage with a set she’d brought with her. We danced to records on the record player set up in the wardroom.
On the third morning I awoke to even rougher seas. I decided to take a sponge bath instead of submerging myself naked in the bathtub. I dressed quickly and joined the others in the mess line. The chalkboard menu announced that for the duration of the voyage fresh eggs would be rationed. One per person every other day. This was not an egg day. We had pancakes with margarine and table syrup.
We saw Sparky in the mess and asked him about the weather forecast, even though we knew he wasn’t supposed to tell us. And he didn’t, but his expression told us it wasn’t good. The master and Chief Popeye in the wardroom didn’t seem particularly worried, but they were sitting alone having an intense conversation.
Olive, Gil and Ronan went outside to smoke. I joined them for some fresh air.
Clearly the ship was in ‘all hands on deck’ mode. The deck crawled with seamen, including oilers and wipers from the engine room. All the cables holding down the vehicles were tested. The ‘deck chairs’ – the empty wooden cable spools – were tied to the railings. Loose equipment was stowed away. Gunners stationed at all the guns were securing them, under Tom’s direction. When I looked up at the bridge deck, I could see the master and four other people, all with their eyes on the sky.
When we went back to our quarters, we met Grace in the gangway. She confirmed what we already knew. ‘There’s a gale on the way,’ she said. ‘Dress in as many clothes as you can. Do not take off your life vest for any reason. Make sure all your gear is stowed away. You don’t want to be smacked in the head by a flying hairbrush or cologne bottle.’
Lunch was cold sandwiches, fruit and cookies. The seamen ate quickly, stuffing cookies and fruit into the pockets of their foul-weather gear before going back to their chores. Smit packed enough food for his wife and daughters into a bag to take back to their cabin. I ate little – half a sandwich, and that was only because I knew I needed something in my stomach. Olive left half of her sandwich, too.
‘If you’re not going to finish those, can I have them?’ Blanche asked.
The woman must have had a tapeworm. ‘Sure,’ I said, pushing my plate over to her.
‘You want mine, too?’ Olive asked.
Blanche took both our sandwich halves and the cookies donated by Ronan, wrapped them in her handkerchief and stuffed them in her pocketbook. ‘Just in case I want to eat dinner in my bunk,’ she said. ‘Walking around the ship could be pretty treacherous in a few hours.’
As if to warn us all, a huge swell hit the ship, tilting the floor of the wardroom sharply.
Ronan grabbed me by the arm or I would have fallen. Gil, who was on the downside of the tilt, blocked dishes and cutlery from crashing off the table. The ship righted itself and a couple of messmen scurried about clearing the tables and picking up what had fallen on the floor.
‘Anyone want to go outside and get a last breath of fresh air and a smoke with me?’ Gil asked.
‘I’ll come,’ Ronan said, feeling in his pocket for his pipe. ‘Just for a minute.’
‘I think the place for me is my bunk,’ I said. ‘Until this passes.’ Olive and Blanche agreed. So the three of us struggled back to our berths. We used both hands to fend off the bulkheads as we worked our way down our staircase to the passenger quarters. When Olive and I reached the bottom, we caught our breath, hanging on to the staircase rail. Blanche wasn’t behind us.
‘Where does that woman go?’ Olive said.
‘Perhaps she’s meeting Tom somewhere,’ I answered.
‘That can’t be it. All the officers are on duty. He’ll be on deck.’
Ronan clattered down the stairs, holding on to the rail with both hands. He was soaking wet. ‘It’s impossible outside,’ he said. ‘We stood inside the door to the deck and still couldn’t light up. Master passed by and ordered all of us to stay in our berths until the storm passes.’
‘Wants us out of the way, and I’m happy to oblige him,’ said Gil, who’d followed Ronan down the stairs.
Another huge wave struck the ship. The four of us were flung up against the interior bulkhead, grabbing at anything we could to keep our footing. Only Gil managed to stay upright; he’d gotten hold of one of the bars riveted to the bulkhead and clung on to it with both hands.
‘Holy Mother of God,’ Ronan said. ‘It’s times like this I hope welding holds as well as rivets.’
The ship shifted back to a level pitch, but who knew how long that would last. Ronan helped Olive and me to our feet. ‘I wish I had two life jackets,’ Olive said. ‘I’d wrap another one around my waist.’
‘Speaking of two life jackets,’ Ronan said, ‘did one of you take the second one out of my berth?’
‘What are you talking about?’ Gil said.
‘I had a second one in my berth because it’s a double bunk. I went to get it in case someone else needed it, but it was gone.’
‘One of the stewards took it, I’ll bet,’ I said. ‘They’d know you had two; they might want some extras on hand in a storm like this.’
We felt the ship begin to pitch again and all headed straight to our berths.
‘Time to batten down the hatches,’ Olive shouted, as she closed her door.
I slammed my door and climbed into my bunk, hanging on to the grab bar welded to the head of my bunk. I wondered where on earth Blanche was. What a strange woman! But wherever she was hunkered down, she was going to have to fend for herself; it was all the rest of us could do to take care of ourselves.