Coasts of Cape York Read Free

what was happening. Stick raised an eyebrow in query and Marjorie asked what was wrong but he just shook his head and went on.
    â€˜No time for explanations,’ Willy told himself. As he made his way forward Willy began to have severe doubts about whether he actually had seen a person. Memories of how hard it had been to identify the whales rose to make him uncertain. ‘They are huge,’ he thought, ‘much larger than a human being.’
    â€œBut we must check,” he muttered.
    He made his way along the narrow corridor past the crew’s sleeping accommodation, galley and radio room and then up the short set of steps to the flight deck. As he reached a position just behind and between the two pilot’s seats Willy paused. This was where he really wanted to be. His burning ambition was to be a pilot and for a few seconds his eyes ran over the controls and instruments, taking in the whole scene. Then his eyes met those of the pilot.
    Mr Southall was in his sixties, short grey hair and a firm, tanned face with bright blue eyes. He lifted one earphone free of his right ear and leaned back. “Tell me what you saw,” he said.
    Willy swallowed out of nervousness. “Sir, I thought I saw a man in the sea.”
    â€œAre you sure?”
    Willy wanted to say yes but shook his head. “No sir. It might not have been a man, but I thought I saw legs and arms.”
    For a few seconds Mr Southall looked thoughtful. “OK, that’s good enough for me. Take her back Frank.”
    Frank, Mr Lacey, the co-pilot, Willy remembered: middle-aged and black hair, nodded and at once set the aircraft into a descending turn. As the plane came round Willy felt even more relieved. But he was still scared, afraid they might not find the person in all that sea, and also anxious it might all be a wild goose chase.
    Mr Southall held up his chart. “Any idea where you saw him?”
    Willy nodded and moved closer, holding up his own chart on which his left thumb was firmly gripping the place. The navigator leaned over his right shoulder to look. Willy put his finger on the chart. “Just west of this un-named reef between Hedge Reef and Lytton Reef,” he said.
    Mr Southall nodded and met the navigator’s eyes. “Give us a fix George, and the magnetic reciprocal bearing,” he said. Next he turned to the co-pilot and said, “Take her down to a thousand feet Frank.” He then began to push buttons on an instrument.
    Willy thought this was a GPS but wasn’t sure. The navigator did a quick calculation using a pencil on his chart and said, “Reciprocal is one five three degrees magnetic.”
    â€œRoger, one five three degrees magnetic,” the co-pilot echoed.
    As the pilot’s hands moved the control column Willy watched. He knew which instrument was the compass and he could see the figures moving around as the plane turned. Having been an air cadet for over a year he could also identify some of the other gauges and instruments. As the plane settled on a reciprocal bearing he looked these over. Even with his limited experience he sensed that the instruments were a curious mix of old and new. It wasn’t one of the new computerized ‘glass cockpits’ but there were a few little gadgets with quartz crystal displays that looked very modern.
    Then he moved his gaze upwards and looked out through the front windows. At first he was disoriented and had to make a conscious effort to find things that he could identify on the chart. A couple of small islands helped. ‘That must be Fife Island,’ he decided. ‘And the one over to the south west of it is Hay Island.’ That got him looking in the right direction and he quickly made out the large brownish shape of Noddy Reef and then the even bigger Magpie Reef.
    Willy was appalled at how far they had traveled since he first thought he had seen the man. ‘More than thirty kilometers!’ he calculated.