Voyages of the Vicky Mary.

[oneighty]

Like all good stories this one will start on the next to last page. After that it will bounce about a bit as my mood shifts.

The crewmen came aboard the Vicky. We are tied to a commercial dock on the US east coast. The burly one with the scruffy beard and long hair plunks his thirty eight S&W killer special hand gun down next to the two burner gas stove. It is his habit to plunk the hand gun down there. He is sure it frightens me. I had leased my boat to these dangerous people.

I tell him and his mates to pack up their gear and get off of my boat. I have sold the boat and I am taking her to the new owner. There is great to do, hollering, yelling, threats, nevertheless they leave my boat. The dock owners protest my leaving as a five hundred fuel bill is owed against the boat. They threaten me with physical harm. It is not my bill ,it is the obligation of the man I was working for to pay the fuel bill. But I say ,I will get your money. This gives me a reason to leave the dock area, get to a telephone where I call the Coast Guard for assistance. Since my boat is a documented commercial fishing vessel they agree.

Back at the dock I pay the fuel bill, the coast guard arrives. They see to it the Vicky Mary is safely underway. My brother-in-law Don is working with me as he has for many years. Don and I hang blankets around the cabin area so that we can not be seen fearing we might be shot at. The Coast Guard put out a radio bulletin that we were not to be detained on our ninty mile journey down the inland waterway. Here and there on our way south we could see a police car parked up on the hill observing our progress,the policemen providing extra protection.

We proceed south, it is January and very cold. The Vicky Mary has no heat source save the two burner gas stove which is usless for heat in our open cabin.

To be continued..If any one is interested,
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[trof]

1. lay on

[JitterbugPerfume]

2. kick

for a good story

[oneighty]

4. Voyages of the Vicky Mary 2

The further south we travel the safer we feel. We stop at a marina. We and the Vicky Mary are welconme there. As we are buying a case of Millers High Life we are told every body is looking out for the rough looking fishing vessel, Vicky Mary. Of course Vicky is rough. Vicky Mary is a hard working powerful hydraulic clam dredge. The sun is setting, we are sipping on the Millers, we decide to continue our journey in the dark. We should reach home about midnight. Shure we will!

We meet the joining of the inland waterway and the Black river. We follow the Black River south under the route seventeen highway bridge past the brightly lighted city of Georgetown. Looks friendly over there.
It is very dark now as we approach Winyah Bay where we again pick up the inland waterway.

It is at South Island where the propeller shaft comes uncoupled from the Velvet Drive gear box. With the rising tide the helpless Vicky is pushed up into the salt marsh grass lining this section of the waterway. Don and I are exhausted, pretty drunk and freezing cold. We rest a bit, I am rolled up in a blanket laying on the hard deck wishing I had my wife to keep me warm. Don is crouched over the two burner gas stove.

After a while I realize I had best do something to get out of this mess. I climb down into the cramped engine room. The four seventy one detroit diesel fills most of the space. I explore the damage, there is none. The bolts holding the shaft in place had vibrated loose and the square shaft key is missing. Don hands me a bolt and a file. In an hour or so I fashion another shaft key, makeshift but it works. We fire up the diesel ease out of the marsh and at low speed continue our journey south into the North Santee River. I steer the Vicky up into the North river and through the seven mile cut into the South Santee river. Don is not familiar with these waters but after we get ready to leave the South River and back into the inland waterway he is ok. Don takes the wheel. Just as we are well into the waterway Don throws the gear into reverse and hollers "Oh Shit".

To be continued...Maybe.

[radwriter0555]

5. "oh SHIT!" is where you leave us hanging???? I don't think so pal, lay it

on!

[RebelOne]

3. This is getting interesting

Kick again.

[oneighty]

6. Voyages of the Vicky Mary 3

Don yells out "Oh Shit" just as the bow of the Vicky hits the telephone pole sized waterway navigation marker. Don is reversing rapidly, too late. We can feel and hear the marker bouncing along Vicky's bottom as she runs over the marker. I run around Vicky opening hatches searching with my flash light for damage. I cannot find any leaks. good if we sink here we are in a world of hurt. We seem to be unharmed and we continue South, past Alligator creek. There are no further adventures.

In the dark before dawn we tie my Vicky Mary up to the dock of the new owners. Don and I walk the mile home,in the cold and the rising sun. With every step I leave a good friend behind,a lover, a task master was my Vicky Mary.

At home where our marrige is floundering and things are not happy my wife still warms my freezing body. Poor Don must suffer alone. There is no one to warm his bed that night.

Don wakes me up. "Ed, Bill is here" Bill is the guy from up north. Bill had leased my boat. What does he want? Bill and I sit across from each other. I have my handgun in my lap. He does not know that. These are scary people I am involved with. He hands me five hundred dollars, payment for the fuel bill. "No hard feelings" he says. "None" I say. Bill and I meet several more times. He buys a clam dredge, hires me to repair it deliver it to him. The state drug people warn me to stay away from him. But I do not do that.

My Vicky Mary was destroyed by hurricane "Hugo" Don passed on.

To be continued in my book.

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