Stevenson's Reward

By Noel Bodenmiller

Stevenson's Reward completes the three part series A Diary of Treasures by Author Noel R. Bodenmiller

• Language: English
• Publisher: Noel Bodenmiller
• Release date: Apr 10, 2018
• ISBN: 9781370779451

Noel Bodenmiller

Presenting entertaining stories of the past, present and future. (No flora or fauna were intentionally harmed during the creative process.)

Book preview

Stevenson’s Reward

Series: A Diary of Treasures - Book III

Noel Raymond Bodenmiller

To all those I’ve met along the way

Copyright © 2018 Noel R. Bodenmiller

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Cover: Oregon Coast, near Coos Bay

© 2001 Noel R. Bodenmiller

Cielo McKinty met us on the dock in front of our new acquisition, the MisInformed Again, a sailing ketch of fine distinction. Forty-eight feet in length, she was quite a step-up from my previous MisInformed, a smaller craft, as you may remember, which nearly brought about my demise.

The last time we had met with Cielo and Michael and Cathy we sat down and made plans to recover another treasure that had been revealed both in Captain Stevenson’s diary and on his pet monkey’s collar. But fate had intervened to cause us to put our plan on hold for two years. Cathy had an emergency appendectomy and I had back surgery and in the interim, Cielo had to learn a measure of patience. While convalescing, we all came to the conclusion that although Mike and Cathy had updated their boat, we were going to need something larger and a bit more seaworthy.

My wife Anne had insisted that this time we were 'to go big or stay home'. I took kindly to her threat and bought as big as I dared with limited funds, but with safety in mind. The new ketch was a beauty and was designed in the previous century by Sparkman and Stephens. Built by Nautor, she was commonly known as a Swan 48 S&S. The boat was sold in the States as the Palmer Johnson 48/50, but we preferred the Swan heritage by name. The boats were delivered as either a masthead sloop or a ketch. Recently refurbished, we had only the customary review of her seaworthiness via a shakedown cruise and then to provision her for our adventure. I named her ‘MisInformed Again’ despite the crew’s objections.

We left Morro Bay for a sail up the coast in early May to get ourselves used to the talents and any deficiencies of the Swan. We became convinced that we had made a great decision in her purchase as she performed superbly in these limited test conditions, with light winds and heavy, she pointed up well both starboard and port. We were left with the impression that if there were a fault in the future performance of the MisInformed Again, it would lay at the feet of the crew, not the boat.

Mike and I, and the wives, encouraged Cielo, now sixteen, to boss us as his crew and to take charge as much as the young captain might under our combined tutelage. He came to know the limits and capabilities of the Swan faster than any of us could hope. He seemed to come to his seamanship through natural heritage, his father a naval pilot and his grandfather a saltwater captain. Still, we found we could offer suggestions for caution and the experience of knowing the difference between necessities and unneeded luxuries upon a treasure-hunting vessel.

As soon as we were back to anchorage we began to make lists of the provisions we would need to begin our sojourn. It wasn’t long before we took Cielo’s lead to give him a nickname other than his given. Cielo soon became known as Sky McKinty. The name Sky seemed to reflect kindly upon his open and truthful personality. You could tell he was pleased by the wide grin he would display, when addressed by his new moniker; ‘Captain Sky’.

Captain Sky was soon sent on endless errands to buy what probably seemed to him an enormous amount of canned food and other vacuumed-packed provisions. He would bring back large supplies of bottled water and we were all thankful for his youth, strength, exuberance, and especially for his patience, as we moved these things about the boat to give her a balanced load. It was also his task to keep a ledger with an accounting of where items were stored for when they were later needed. In this way, Sky became the authority of all supplies and their whereabouts on board.

This was to be a voyage of no short duration. The Hawaiian Islands would be our first stopover and account for less than half of the distance to our destination. After Hawaii we would still have another twenty-six hundred or so miles to go. Supplies for a sailing trip were sure to be more cheaply acquired on the mainland, but only if purchased a distance away from any seaport. We cut costs when we could by making trips inland from Morro Bay with a used van we had purchased for the purpose of provisioning the boat. When this task was accomplished we planned to sell the van cheaply to someone who needed such a conveyance. We wouldn’t be returning to Morro Bay or even to North America, if our plans came to fruition. After five days of shopping we ran out of things we needed for the first half of our trip. Our funds for the trip were depleted by a third, but our credit was still in good standing.

We began to look to good weather reports and paid attention to the general knowledge of others who had made the crossing. We also took along a goodly amount of cash and coin as it always comes in handy in an emergency. As it was my habit, we hid the money in several stashes throughout the MisInformed Again.

While Michael and Cathy refreshed their diving supplies, they also spent some time with a master dive instructor to review their own skills and safety procedures. They both had many hours of experience, and so used much of their time in the review to encourage young Cielo to learn as much as possible in the time allotted. Coordinating their underwater language