I Survived the Sea

Today as I was going through papers and our mountains of stuff trying to figure out what to pack and what to keep, I stumbled upon an old story that I wrote back in college of one of my experiences  while commercial fishing near Kodiak Alaska, two summers before.  It happened just a little over a month before my 18^th birthday.

I hope you enjoy the story

 

August 10, 1988 dawned dark and foreboding on the rocky windblown shore of the pacific.  I woke from a restless night the wind beating the ramshackle plywood and canvas tent. Making it pop like a flag in the gale. 

I stumbled from my soggy sleeping bag and donned soggy salt encrusted cloths from the previous night on the water.  Looking out the tent door my gaze was met by the black green of an angry sea whipped into a fury by the gale.

Excitement and fear surged through me as I stood there transfixed at the door in the cold salty wind.  Slowly the realization dawned, through my sleep fogged mind, I would be out there in a small storm tossed skiff fighting those angry waves soon.  As my mind grappled with this realization there was another reality forcing itself upon me.  I had not eaten much since the start of my night shift picking nets the afternoon before.  I would have to get some grub before I braved that storm.

Pulling my coat tight around me I struggled into the full fury of the 80 mile an hour gusts.  Thirty feet away was my boss’s weather beaten cabin and food.

Opening the door the wind nearly blew me down as I stumbled into the cabin quickly shutting the door against the wind.  A meager breakfast of oatmeal mush, hot chocolate and dry bread were all that was to sustain me for the coming fight.

Nearly half starved from the long night of work and few hours of sleep I inhaled the meal and sat watching the angry sea. I sat spell bound as towering wave after towering wave exploded over the rock outcropping to which our fishing net was attached.

As I sat watching, out of the sheets of rain appeared our two other crewmen and my boss in the small wallowing skiff, struggling under the heavy load of the previous nights fish, that I had pulled from the nets. 

Watching the men and the boat fighting the mountainous sea and wind, I realized that they were running through the water were the net had been.  I watched as they probed the water with a pole searching for the net. Back and forth they fought through the waves searching for the net, torn loose from the rocks.

I watched as they found the end of the net and hauled the rope into the skiff.  They fastened it and turned the skiff around.

It was almost too much to ask of that poor little skiff so heavily loaded with fish now to drag a thousand feet of fish laden net through the storm.  But, there was no choice the net must be saved or our whole season could be lost if the net was ruined.  True to the nature of that little boat she fought her way valiantly against the tide.

 

I watched, nearly choking on my food, just as they reached the rock, a giant wave hurled them forward and dropped the fiercely on the jagged rocks. Struggling against the impact my boss grabbed the rope tied to the net and jumped for the rocks. In midair another wave engulfed the rocks and lifted the battered skiff back out to the relative safety of the sea.

Jolted into action I bolted for the door pulling on my slickers and boots as I went. I went through the door a piece of toast in one hand and pulling the second boot on with the other.  Blocked now from my view my boss was struggling amid water and waves cascading over the rocks.   Sprinting wildly across two hundred and fifty yards of windswept beach to the aid of my struggling boss I was soon scrambling over the seaweed encrusted rocks to the place where my boss was trying to secure the net. 

Thundering waves broke all around us it was hard to discern where sky ended and sea began.  Communicating audibly was impossible. The sound of your voice was whipped away by the wind and drowned by the thunder of the sea the instant it left your mouth.  I knew what had to be done. Grabbing the rope with both hands I pulled for all I was worth bringing enough slack to get the rope secured around the rocks well above the crashing surf.

Barely catching our breath we turned to see the rocks below us go bare for nearly twenty feet and a huge wall of water standing up behind the bare rock. It then exploded down upon the rock with a violent crash that was felt as much as heard, sending a cascade of water into the sky and completely drenching us. 

We sat there captivated by the awesomeness of the scene several waves came crashing in as we sat in wonder.  Then we realized that the net was tangled in the rocks below.  Without a second thought I scrambled down the rock, to the tangled rope.

Looking up I saw a giant wall of water standing above me.  I only had time to duck behind the rock and wildly grasp for the rope. 

The last thing I saw was a solid mass of green water come rushing around the rock.  There was no escape from the cold crushing grasp of the sea. 

For just an instant, through the wind, I heard the faint human voice of my boss as he yelled “NO! “ Then all was lost in the green, salty, rushing turmoil in which I was caught. There was no way out!

My head exploded to the surface I found myself being tossed with terrifying speed toward the rocks from which I had just been torn.   Again my boss screamed. “NO!” as I hit the rocks.  I clawed with every ounce of my strength to get a hand hold.  The waves tore me lose again, into the sea, to be tossed like a tiny rag doll. 

Once again the cruel waves pummeled me into the jagged rocks ripping my raingear and my hands to ribbons.   With bloody fingers I clawed more desperately for a hand hold not sure if I could last another wave.  Once more the waves engulfed me and I was in the grasp of the sea.  Again the rocks loomed up and I was battered by rocks and waves. This time I was able to dig my mangled fingers into the cracks in the rocks and drag myself through the surging tide. 

Two eager hands reached down I reached out and grabbed my bosses hands and we struggled up above the reach of the waves.  We collapsed onto the rocks sheltered from the wind two hundred feet from where I was washed from the rocks.