Alex and the Submarine

By Keith McTaggart

Alex[13] is steering when Elixir sails for Apollo Bay with Granddad Morgan and sister Jess[11], on her first overnighter. As they leave Western Port, Alex and Granddad are surprised when a submarine surfaces nearby, but they sail by unnoticed in their yacht as Jess sleeps below. Once on course in Bass Strait, Granddad radios the sighting to water police, but expects to hear no more.
Granddad has the midnight watch. While the children sleep, drug smugglers from the hijacked submarine board, smash the radios and threaten Granddad. They deliberately circle the yacht in their RIB and kick up a huge wake. The boom swings wildly and hits Morgan. The thugs see Morgan slump and speed off.
Shocked Alex and Jess recover and make a plan to get safely into Apollo Bay harbour. They assume that as witnesses, they will be killed if caught.
The plan works and they escape to the hills, through the town, hunted by the thugs. In the forest, Alex meets Tam[12] and her dog Jill. Alex and Jess come to rely on Tam as a brave friend. She especially likes Alex.
Tam’s policeman dad suspects that the young pair are burglars, but Tam defends them. He later realises that there are drugs and criminals involved and that Tam’s new friends are innocent, but in serious danger.
Pursuit and betrayal combine to keep Alex and Jess hiding in the hills. Tam helps them and convinces her dad to rescue them. He requests a Federal Police squad to capture the submarine and its deadly cargo. Meanwhile, volunteers from the seaside community rescue the young heroes from their scary but ultimately successful adventure.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Keith McTaggart
• Release date: Jul 23, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463553091

Keith McTaggart

Keith taught science for a long time and wrote some science stuff. While writing Flushing Dunnies for Melbourne Water and Science Teachers Association of Victoria, he discovered from Chris Simpson and Paul Saddler that there had once been a shanty town on Collingwood Flat, full of refugees from the gold fields at Ballaarat. This happened in what is often called the most liveable city in the world these days. So it had to be rough, smelly, tracks rutted in summer, mud in winter, sewage emptied in streets and of course a hotbed of crime with some crims just a bit more powerful and controlling than others. It screamed of novel material and here it is - Collingwood Flat. Also available on Smashwords is a novel for [about] eleven year old boys and girls - a slightly old-fashioned adventure with sailing themes and brave kids.Sailing? Yes, Keith loves it and the profile photo shows a freezing old codger working in winter on his boat, Elixir, a 10 metre yacht of great age. Chris [not the one mentioned above] likes the sunny part of sailing and Rosie the cat thinks humans need to go sailing and leave her in the warmth with food, just returning home to let her chase rabbits for entertainment and the occasional chewy [disgusting] meal.

Book preview

Alex and the Submarine

By Keith McTaggart

Copyright 2018 Keith McTaggart

Smashwords Edition

Smashwords Licence Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Cover design - http://www.selfpubbookcovers.com/Daniela

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Sail Away

Chapter 2 A Surprise Encounter

Chapter 3 Radio Report

Chapter 4 Raid at Sea

Chapter 5 Recovery Sail

Chapter 6 The Harbour

Chapter 7 Race Through Town

Chapter 8 Alex in the Scrub

Chapter 9 Escape to Marriner’s Lookout

Chapter 10 Honest Cop

Chapter 11 Sailors Meet

Chapter 12 Silence Those Kids

Chapter 13 Hunt for the Burglars

Chapter 14 Reunion

Chapter 15 Tam and Jill save the day

Chapter 16 Tam’s Relief

Chapter 17 Tam Meets the Feds

Chapter 18 Evil Medoc Hunts the Fugitives

Chapter 19 Closing In

Chapter 20 All Safe

Acknowledgements

About Keith McTaggart

Chapter 1 Sail Away

‘D’ja want me to back straight round from the berth into the channel, Granddad?’ Alex was at the helm, nervous to be steering the yacht out of the marina for the first time. He felt pretty important, too. His younger sister Jess was on her first long trip with them. Alex sniffed. The idling diesel’s exhaust smelled strong in the cockpit.

‘Yeah! All crew watch for other boats moving, right?’ The crew members chorused agreement.

‘Righto, cast off!’ Alex yelled louder than necessary and selected reverse. Granddad Morgan and Jess both tossed their lines onto the pontoon as the boat eased gently back and then around the end of the finger as Alex spun the wheel to bring it around. He lent down and gave the engine a burst of power in reverse which swung the bow around more quickly. His cheeks glowed with pleasure at remembering this trick and at the overall joy of being at the helm and heading off on a trip. He edged the boat to the right side of the channel and through the marina’s opening into Hastings Bight.

‘Fenders in, please.’

‘Alright, boss, I do remember,’ Morgan said as he worked his way around the lifelines, hauling in fenders and dropping them into the cockpit. Jess was watching and copied him, collecting fenders from the port side.

‘Are you comfortable Alex? Keeping a good lookout?’

‘Yes Granddad.’ Alex sounded annoyed.

‘Don’t get shirty, lad. I’m the skipper and it’s my job to check. I’d sooner annoy you than sleep on a mud bank again.’

‘Yeah, right, Granddad.’

‘Jess, since Alex is doing well here, I’ll pass the fenders down to you and you can stow ’em in the aft cabin.’

A flurry of activity followed, but with no noticeable result. Jess was still attached to a strong point by her harness. She grunted as breath blasted from her lungs. She remembered this time to slip the carabiner from the cockpit strongpoint.

‘Oy, droopy drawers, you only unhook from the safety points when you’re standing on the ladder, not while you’re still in the cockpit.’

‘Shut up, Alex!’ Jess was already at the bottom of the ladder and headed through the crawl way towards the aft cabin.

‘Alex, name calling,’ said Morgan.

Granddad Morgan grinned as the head popped up from a hatch.

‘But he is right Jess. It could save your life, you know that don’t you? Now catch these fenders.’

Alex stood proudly at the wheel, solid and filling out more, already as tall as his mother. He was fair skinned and an unruly shock of light brown hair escaped the confines of his cap. He remembered the confusing first dogleg to port in the Hastings Channel and smirked triumphantly at his Grandfather, who chose to ignore him.

Morgan left Alex at the wheel with Jess on watch and boiled the kettle, below - instant coffee for him and hot chocolate for the crew. While the kettle boiled, he called the coastguard on VHF radio to check in and notify them of the destination.

‘Coastguard Hastings, Coastguard Hastings, Coastguard Hastings, this is Elixir, Elixir, Elixir. Over.’ Morgan went on through the drawn out radio protocol until the coastguard requested his business.

‘Just reporting in, thanks. Elixir, ten metre sloop out of Western Port Marina, sailing overnight to Apollo Bay with three pax, current position in Hastings Channel, over.’

‘Thanks for that, Elixir. It should be a lovely sail. Out.’

By three thirty the weak autumn sun had dried the dew from the deck but now that the action was slowing, the cold could seep in quickly to young skinny legs and old legs, too. The hot drinks should help with that and he stayed below to finish his coffee, after passing up the hot chocolate in capped mugs. He wanted the crew to know that he had confidence in them - confidence that they could motor down the channel and confidence that they would call him if there were any worries.

‘Granddad, there’s a big cruiser overtaking. Watch out for a bumpy wake in a minute. The idiot is not slowing down as he passes.’

‘Thanks Alex and don’t be insulting.’

‘You say it!’

‘There’s a different rule for old farts!’

Morgan leaned back from the stove in time to see the siblings high five. His response had obviously been the expected one. He held on as the yacht rolled violently and pitched. The heavy keel damped the motion quickly but Alex’s description of the skipper of the huge passing motor boat had been accurate.

Alex made the port turn into the last leg leading out into Western Port. He loved the low tide here where the channel followed the old creek bed in between exposed mud banks. Black Swans, pelicans, spoonbills and egrets were all visible as were dozens of silver and Pacific gulls. The fresh sea breeze dulled the smell of the mud. Morgan called up the ladder.

‘Jess you can take the wheel after an hour. We’ll take it in shifts. That’ll mean you get the first full shift under sail.’ Jess looked sad, an hour of waiting is a long time for an eleven year old. Thirteen, Alex’s age, was far more mature of course.

Alex watched as he’d been taught, all around in every direction. He watched for channel markers, other boats, threatening clouds and disturbances on the water surface.

‘Jess, keep an eye out for other boats and see if you can see any seals or dolphins, especially as we head out into the bay. Anything you see you