MacMillan Wharf

MacMillan Wharf: Chapter Seventeen

MacMillan Wharf: Chapter Seventeen

by Richard Gifford

Annie arrived at the dock as Juicy was stowing the supply backpack and poles that are used to remove fishing gear from an entangled whale. She glanced over to the other side of MacMillan Wharf where the fishing boats tie up and noticed that the Lady J was not in her slip. Apparently, Shane had gone back out to finish his day’s work. She couldn’t blame him, but she was still upset about his cold treatment after the incident with Mary Ellen. Sometimes he would pout like a little boy when  things didn’t go exactly his way and she was getting tired of it.

“Annie, what happened to your knee?” Bruce Waters asked.

“Oh, it’s OK. I tripped over some tourist’s luggage and skinned it.”

“Juicy told me he ran into you. I’m glad you’re coming along. This isn’t a two-person job.”

Annie felt the sadness in his voice. Linda and Bruce were a dedicated team when it came to working directly with the whales. Annie had assisted them before on whale rescues and she could see that, even though Linda and Bruce were no longer married, they had almost a telepathic communication.

“I’m glad I can help. What do need me to do?”

“We’re just about ready. Juicy’s got the bow line ready. Why don’t you untie us from the stern.” “We’re just about ready. Juicy’s got the bow line ready. Why don’t you untie us from the stern.”

“OK.” Annie walked to the rear of the thirty-eight foot vessel. Originally used by the Coast Guard to chase drug runners in the Caribbean, it combined the light weight of an inflatable boat with a high performance Kevlar hull. With two 225 horsepower outboard motors, the rescue boat could easily top sixty miles per hour. Everything about this boat excited Annie. It was like riding in a fast sports car with the top down.

“Lines clear?” Bruce hollered.

“Bow clear,” Juicy replied.

“Stern clear,” Annie shouted.

Bruce moved the throttle from neutral to reverse, and eased the boat away from the floating dock that it shared with the Explorer which was out on a whale watch. Annie coiled the dock line and hung it on a cleat. She hadn’t had much experience around boats before this summer, but now she estimated that she had spent nearly 400 hours at sea since May.

“So, where are we headed?” Annie asked Bruce.

“About a mile off of the Golf Ball in Truro.” he replied, using the local nickname for the Federal Aviation Administration radar dome in North Truro. “A tuna boat reported a large finback with gear entangled around its mouth and fin. Apparently, there’s floats on it, and the whale’s having a tough time diving.”

“Do you think it’s lobster gear?”

“Probably. When they dive for food in these shallow waters, a lot of times the ropes connecting the lobster traps get caught in their jaws. Sometimes they just work themselves loose, but this one sounds pretty bad.”

“How long will it take to get out there?”

“Once we get out of the harbor, it’ll only take about half an hour.”

Annie’s heart was racing with excitement but, at the same time, it was full of sadness. Forty-eight hours ago, Linda would have been standing next to Bruce at the helm of the rescue boat. She would instinctively know what to do, which tools to use, and how to stay safe while working around an injured ninety foot animal. Before, Annie had only watched from the boat and helped to videotape the rescue.

She had never quite figured out the relationship between Bruce Waters and Linda Hanscomb. Annie knew that they had been married at one time, before Linda and Mary Ellen started seeing each other. When they argued about policies or budgets at the Whale Center, they certainly sounded like a married couple, but it was clear that each had a vital role in the organization that helped the entire place run efficiently. Bruce was a master salesman and fundraiser, Linda had a scientific mind, able to explain the most complex theories in a way that anyone could understand. Annie held both of them in the highest regard. She wondered to herself how Bruce was coping with Linda being gone.

Just as she was trying to find the words to ask him, Bruce shook his head and said, “I don’t know what I’m going to do without her. I’m numb Annie, just numb. Even though we haven’t been married for years now, she was still my best friend. I don’t know how I’ll get by, or the center for that matter. I’m just trying to deal with one thing at a time. I spent all morning making arrangements for a memorial service tomorrow afternoon.”

“Where’s that going to be?” Annie had been wondering what, if any, plans had been made.

“At the Unitarian Church on Commercial Street at one o’clock. She always liked that church.”

“Do you need any help?”

“No, thanks. It’s all set. I know the minister there, though I haven’t been to church in a long time. It’s just a time to get together and remember her.”

“Will there be a funeral?”

“No, she wanted to be cremated and her ashes scattered at sea, so that’s what we’ll do. That won’t be until sometime next week. We’ll take the Explorer, so there is room for everybody that wants to come.”

“I’m so sorry.” Annie gently placed her hand on top of Bruce’s for a moment.

“Thanks.” He pulled his hand away to wipe a tear from under his sunglasses.

For the next half hour, the three rescuers did not speak, partly because the boat was skipping over the waves at forty miles per hour, but mostly because nobody knew what else there was to say.

Annie kept her eye on the GPS map in the console of the boat. The whale’s last known coordinates were locked in and the graphic display showed their boat closing rapidly on that spot. Annie kept her eye on the GPS map in the console of the boat. The whale’s last known coordinates were locked in and the graphic display showed their boat closing rapidly on that spot. As the FAA radar dome in North Truro came into view, Bruce seemed to have composed himself. He spoke with an authoritative and professional demeanor.

“All right, keep your eyes open for spouts. We’re pretty close to where it was last seen.”

The three of them scanned the horizon for the telltale spray of a whale’s exhalation. Annie and Juicy looked through binoculars, while Bruce kept one hand on the wheel and eased the throttle back with the other.

“I see it!” Annie shouted. Ten hours a day of whale watching for the past two and a half months had made her eyes very sharp when it came to finding whales. “Looks like a finback.” She pointed in the direction of the spout and Bruce turned the boat to where she was pointing.

“How far out?” Bruce asked.

“About two miles.”

“Hang on.”

Annie and Juicy immediately grabbed hold of something secure as Bruce pushed the throttle all the way forward. Bruce loved the speed of this boat, and he wasn’t afraid to use it. The boat quickly accelerated. He flipped a switch on the dash that dropped the trim tabs lower into the water which made the bow drop down so that it was parallel with the horizon. They closed the gap between their location and the sighted whale in less than three minutes.

Bruce dropped the boat into idle when they came within one hundred feet of the whale so they could survey the animal.

“It’s a finback all right. Big one, too. About seventy-five feet, eh Bruce?” Juicy observed.

“I’d say so, Juice.”

“Looks like the ropes are around the mouth and head,” Annie said while looking through her binoculars. “Those lines have been there for a while. Look how the area around the blowhole is all infected and raw. This is a very sick animal.”

“All right, here’s what we’ll do,” Bruce announced. “We’ll come around behind the whale and try to secure some buoys to the gear she’s dragging. That’ll slow her down and might help pull some of the gear off. If that doesn’t work, we’ll use a Zodiac to get real close and try to cut the lines off by hand. Each of you grab a boat hook and try to find a piece of line that we can tie the buoy to.”

Bruce maneuvered the boat close to the enormous mammal’s tail. The twin 4-stroke outboard motors were nearly silent at slow speeds. Experience had taught him that so long as they moved slowly the whale would sense that they were not a threat.

Annie couldn’t help but think about yesterday when she and Juicy were standing side by side with boat hooks in their hands, just like they were now. Could that have only been yesterday? It seemed like a lifetime ago. The image of Linda’s body lying on the deck of the Explorer was forever burned into her memory.

Juicy’s voice snapped Annie back to the task at hand.

“C’mon, Annie, grab it!”

Annie stretched out her boat hook and snagged one of the pieces of rope that was trailing behind the whale’s fluke.

“Got it!”

“All right,” Bruce shouted, “get the telemetry buoy on it, quick!”

Annie held the rope while Juicy clamped a buoy equipped with a GPS transmitter, strobe light, and a radar reflector.

“Hurry up, Juice, I feel like I’m taking a forty-ton dog for a walk here.”

“Almost done, Annie. OK, that’s it, let it go.”

Annie dropped the line back into the water, relieved to be let loose from the powerful creature. “Now what?” she asked.

“Well, now that we’ve got the telemetry buoy on, we’ll shorten the lines she’s dragging. Then, we’ll try to attach some larger floating buoys to slow her down and try to drag some of those lines off.”

“We need to get those ropes off of her head, they’re definitely blocking the blowhole,” yelled Annie.

“I know, we will,” Bruce replied confidently.

The three rescuers worked silently. Each one snagged whatever dangling ropes they could with a boat hook and cut off as much as possible. Then, they attached a large, bright orange buoy to slow the whale down.

Bruce looked dismayed after an hour of working. “It’s not enough drag to pull the ropes off. They’re only getting tighter. We need to attach a parachute. Juicy, get the Zodiac ready.”

“OK, Bruce.” Juicy went to the bow and started to untie the twelve foot inflatable boat.

“Parachute?” Annie asked.

“It’s a small parachute that will slow her down so that we can cut those lines. They don’t like it much and sometimes they get a little itchy.”

“Itchy?” Annie was not comforted by the idea of being next to a forty-ton animal with a bad attitude.

“These creatures are used to doing what they want without much interference,” Bruce explained calmly. “When they feel all the floats and parachutes pulling against them they can panic. Kind of like the first time a horse gets saddled. They can’t swim away, they can’t dive, so they’re likely to thrash their tails or breech right out the water to try to shake it all loose. It can get a little hairy. So, do you want to cut or drive?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, do you want to help cut the lines or drive the boat? It’s your call, but we’re short-handed and we need two in the Zodiac and one to drive.”

Annie thought it over for a second. This is what she had always wanted to do since hearing about the Whale Center’s work in college.

“I want to help cut lines.”

“I was hoping you’d say that. You’ll need a life vest and a helmet. There should be some your size in the locker.” Bruce pointed to a box built into the floor of the boat.

“Everything’s ready!” Juicy called out.

“Good. I need you to drive, Juice, Annie and I are going in the Zodiac.”

“OK, Mon.”

Annie opened the hatch and saw four lacrosse helmets with wire mesh facemasks. She picked up the first and tried it on, but it was far too big. On the next one, she noticed a name written on the inside in black marker, L. Hanscom.

“Oh my god, Bruce, this was Linda’s, and it fits just right.”

“Really? Well, wear it then. She was the best there was at this.”

Annie put the helmet on and buckled the chin strap. She felt proud to be able to take Linda’s place on a rescue, but was nervous about the task ahead. As she zipped up her flotation vest, she heard her grandmother’s voice in her head saying “You can to do this.” She whispered the words to herself. “You can do this, you can do this.”

Her whisper must have been louder than she realized because Bruce laid his hand gently on her shoulder and said, “I know you can. I wouldn’t have asked you if I didn’t think you were up to the job. Are you ready?”

“I guess so. Just tell me what to do.”

“No problem. Let’s go.”

Bruce swung his legs over the side of the boat and lowered himself into the Zodiac. He reached up and took Annie’s hand to help her. Once they were both in, Bruce primed the gas on the outboard motor and pulled the starting cord. After the second pull, it whirred to life.

“Be careful, you two,” Juicy yelled from the deck of the rescue boat.

“Thanks, Juice. All set, Annie?”

Annie’s fear had been replaced by excitement. “All set, let’s do this one for Linda.”

With that, Bruce twisted the throttle on the motor, and they buzzed around the struggling whale with nothing to protect them but an inflatable boat and a pair of lacrosse helmets.

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