Last Boat Standing

Captain Trevor Jackson

We are the last boat standing. By virtue of our schedule, we are still at sea, anchored 50 miles off the coast. Because of the virus, the entire Cairns fleet is tied up as of a few days ago….Some of my crew are gathered here in the wheelhouse, they’re all young and spirited….but they’re looking forlorn, they’re looking at me for some of my, ‘skippers words of wisdom’ …..I don’t want to go down the path of stating the obvious, everyone is already doing that. When we get into port this Thursday, we are all out of a job… I want to tell them it’s all going to be alright, and tell them the future has hope in it… So here goes…

“This virus… it’s just a storm… A very bad one. And what to do in a storm? We tie gear down and square our gear away. We consolidate our tanks and tidy up the decks…And then wind and rain whips insanely through the wires, the bows dig in and the ship shudders and moans… then we wait for the sun to reappear… and then it does… When we come out of the other side of this, there will be work to do. There will be rust stains across the decks, carpets to air out, ice to chip, painting and polishing… Things may never seem the same again, but we will be better than ever, not worse. Stronger than ever, not weaker. Bolder than ever, not meeker. I’ve never seen a storm that didn’t end,  and this one is no different. So let’s get up from here now, and do what we have to do… ride this out. It might take 6 months, it might take a year, or even longer. But when it does end…we will be ready to continue”

Everyone got up from the floor and marched out, Chief Engineer Vinnie was last to leave and he caught my eye as he left..”Good talk skipper, and I think you’re right”…”I am right Vinnie, mark my words… its a long river ahead of us, but eventually, this storm will end.”