Out to sea alone
It wasn’t supposed to happen
We were testing motors
I am still an apprentice, dreaming of being selected to be crew, dreaming of flying.
The ship hadn’t even flown
She was tethered, anchored
out of the hanger for the first time.
Seeing her out of the hanger is always impressive.
Anyways, I was with Frank, the senior mechanic at Maybach, and my boss.
We were scheduled to give engines 3 and 4 an eight hour run.
Logging hourly temps/oil pressure/fuel consumption/vibrations
I have only been on the ship three other times, but never before while she is floating.
I never did get used to being on the ship, the excitement was the same on my last flight.
It was blustery that day, not really windy, but gusts blew through, all day.
Rain, heavy at times, washing down the road, had turned our commute into a drive up a shallow river. A muddy wet rutted trail. An hour late with wet feet.
I wasn’t very confident that they were going to let us aboard.
It was decided that we would be safe, and we may as well become used.
Bad Weather: we were going to see it in the future, we may as well get some experience, become used. banged about
The motors are running smooth, dark at 4:30, four hours to go.
We were going to be almost alone onboard. The ship is never without crew. That evening we shared her with only two other crew. A guard in the control room, and another walking throughout the ship. Of course there is always ground crew.
We had felt the ship move a few times during the day, nothing really.
Being our first time on board while the ship was afloat, we were very aware of the movement.
Suddenly I was thrown back against the wall of the power car.
Frank went quiet
I started to crawl towards Frank, but the floor was pushing
slowing me down
my ears popped
I was able to drag Frank back off the motor onto the deck he is breathing but unconscious. If he was conscious he would be talking. I can smell burnt flesh, I know it’s bad.
Motors running, no other sound now
I realize we have been hit by a strong gust, a rogue wave from the east
the wind had been from the North all day, but this one spun us on the mast
blew us out to the west climbing we are light drifting west
motors running, I can see the whitecaps on the sea below
the mast dragging the bow down