Jack dove into the water and Bridgid followed. He motioned for her to come up on the port side of the damaged keel while he moved larboard. The cables seemed to be intact and that meant one thing, the damage was probably on board and in the hydraulic system.

Bridgid surfaced first and Jack came up behind her. She shook her head.

"I don’t think we can fix this out here, Jack but we should be able to sail her under the headsail. It will be slow but better than sitting here waiting for the Australian Coast Guard. With all of that water in our fuel we’re not going too far under the engines."

Jack spit out a mouthful of sea water and rubbed his eyes before he answered her.

"I fear you are correct, Siren. We will however manage as you say. There are provisions on board for several days if need be. Once we determine our location we can ration as necessary."

"Do you think we are that far from a port?" she sighed

"I do not know yet. It is hard to tell without knowledge of how far the storm took us. We could be a great distance."

Pulling himself up the rope ladder to the deck, he turned to help her aboard.

"At the least, we are not taking on water." he said

"Yeah that’s a hell of a Godsend. All of the water we took on was wash over and not hull damage. This ketch was well built."

"..and still not named, Bridgid."

"Yeah, maybe we should consider calling her the Molly Brown…Unsinkable Molly Brown."

Seeing the look on Jack’s face she handed him a towel and grinned. "She was on the Titanic, Jack. She was a passenger who survived."

"Ah." he replied. "That monstrosity of a vessel that met its fate in the frigid North Atlantic, correct?"

"You got it."

He couldn’t see the logic to the name but he was sure she’d explain it to him later.

"Let me see your hands."

"Why?" she asked

He reached for and pulled her right hand up to look at. His eyes narrowed at the sight of the rope burns on her palms as they appeared to be more enflamed then before. Jack feared infection may set in.

She drew her hand back. "Don’t look at me that way. You’re the one who has a lump the size of a duck egg on your head which is a lot more serious than some little ole brush burns."

He’d forgotten about it. Touching the back of his head with his finger tips was a good reminder though.

Bridgid stepped in to hug him. "We’re both a couple of tough old sailors, Jack. No worries. We’ll get patched up when we’re home. Speaking of home, why don’t you try to get a fix on where we are and I’ll go down to the galley and see what we have to eat."

They embraced and kissed, taking a moment to try to alleviate the worry of their predicament before she departed to go below. She found a few cans of soup and some tins of sea ration crackers figuring that would be a fair meal for now. Things were in disarray from all of the tossing the ship suffered but she managed to find some bowls and spoons. The stove heated and she began to warm up the soup.

All was well until she heard Jack shout.

"Ship ho!"

This was good news indeed. A ship would be able to radio their location or at least help them get back to shore. She climbed up the steps from the galley onto the deck.

"Where away?"

"Starboard bow, two degrees." he replied.

Picking up the binoculars, Bridgid sighted the craft. It was not a ship, it was a lifeboat.

"We have to pick them up, Jack. It’s a raft. Some other ship must have been sunk in the storm. Can you maneuver toward it?"

He nodded and Bridgid went to fix the headsail. It only took a few moments for them to arrive close enough to the craft to call to its occupants.

"Ahoy, is anyone aboard?"

Bridgid’s call caught the attention of the one occupant on the craft. He stood and waved through the small window as he called.

"Just me, mates."

"Are you injured?"

"No." he replies. "Unless you want to count my pride. I was out fishing, lost my boat , damn it."

"Heave too, come aboard. We’re damaged but I think we’re safer than that bubble you are in. Be sure to pull the plug on it. so the Coast Guard doesn’t check it out. I’m sure they have enough on their hands right now."

"Will do." the man replied. He unsheathed a knife from his belt and cut a hole in the raft. This was required when abandoning a life raft so the Coast Guard didn’t waste their precious time on it.

Carrying a small pack with him, the man swam to the ladder on the ketch and Jack helped him aboard.

"I am Captain Jack Aubrey, sir and this is my first mate, Bridgid Morgan. State your name." Jack said in his official voice.

Bridgid kind of giggled at it as she extended a hand to the man. First mate and fiancée."

"Tua." the man replied. He was a big man in girth but a bit shorter than Jack. He was obviously and Islander, Maori maybe. "I was alone on my boat."

"Tua." Jack nodded. "Welcome aboard, sir. I will log you in as crew and you can assist us in refitting."

"Uh huh," Bridgid added. "... do you have any idea where we are, Tua? We lost our instruments in the storm. We’re sailing west toward the coast but we don’t know if we’ve drifted north or south during the storm. We put out from Coffs."

"I left from Sawtell two days ago. It would be a good guess to say you are well south of Coffs. Looks like you rode it out much better than I did.

"Great." Bridgid sighed. "Well, we can do it to it after lunch. I’ll go find another bowl. I hope you don’t mind canned vegetable soup and sea rations, Tua."

"It would be much appreciated, ma’am."

"Alrighty then, shall we go below?"

Jack didn’t quite care for modern day canned goods but at this point he was just as tired and hungry as his makeshift crew. He dipped his head and smiled at Bridgid.

"Madam, to the galley, there’s not a moment to lose."