River Odyssey (19 page)

I waited for a few seconds to see what he would do. He started off in the direction of the sub. Yikes! I went after him, walking briskly, hoping he wouldn’t see me. But he did, and he started to run. No! I broke into my fastest run. I had to catch him before he found the sub.

He wasn’t running very fast because of his leg but he had too much of a head start for me to catch him. By the time I reached the centre, he was near the end of the yard, where the wall was. I watched him go over it. He had found the sub.

I ran so hard my lungs burned and my legs ached. I had to catch him before he climbed inside. Hollie and Seaweed were inside. What if he opened the hatch and flooded it? What if he climbed in and threw some switches? Any number of things could happen. All of them were bad.

I was too late. When I scrambled over the wall, all I saw were bubbles. Bubbles were coming up where the sub had been moored but they weren’t moving forward, which told me that, so far, the sub had only gone straight down. Bim couldn’t start the engine unless he was on the surface, but he probably didn’t know that. He likely flipped the dive switch because it was the first one on the panel board. The sub would hit bottom pretty hard unless he pumped air into the tanks first, which I doubted he would.

My mind raced through the possibilities. The river was sixty feet deep at this spot. The sub would strike bottom hard but probably not hard enough to suffer damage, unless there was a sharp object jutting up from the bottom that might strike the observation window. It was unlikely anything would puncture the glass because it was so thick, but a sharp blow might jar it loose, causing a leak. The greater danger was that sooner or later Bim would figure out how to engage the batteries and put the sub in gear. Then he’d be on the move. He would enter the river, not be able to steer, nor judge his depth and would strike something—a pier, a riverbank, another vessel. There was a good chance the sub would get damaged or destroyed and he, Hollie and Seaweed killed.

How could I have let this happen? Why hadn’t I moved the sub to a safer location? I felt sick to my stomach as I took a deep breath and jumped into the river.

The sub had gone straight down. I figured it would come straight back up before he did anything else. The simplest thing to do in the sub was to go up and down because those two switches were right in front of you on the panel board. They just released a steady stream of air, or water, into the tanks unless you adjusted the valves manually, which he wouldn’t know how to do. So, I expected him to go down and come right back up, picking up speed in both directions as he went. On the other hand, if the sub were sitting on the bottom, I had to dive only fifty feet to reach it. But I couldn’t see, and might run into it on its way up.

I went down as carefully as possible, with my hands in front of my face. At about twenty feet the hull of the sub hit me hard and knocked me out of the way. I tried desperately to reach a handle on the portal but never had a chance. Within seconds I heard the sub surface above me. I went after it, but before I could break the surface and grab a breath of air, it had started down again. I had to let it go. I couldn’t follow it down without more air in my lungs.

I had no idea if Bim was having a good time or not. Maybe he was terrified. I grabbed a breath of air and went down again. I couldn’t wait for him to surface; he might figure out the controls and sail away.

The sub was sitting on the bottom when I reached it this time. As soon as I took hold of a handle we started to rise. We started slowly but would pick up speed, and, unless he let water into the tanks, we would break the surface dramatically.

That’s exactly what happened. I found it painful in my chest coming up because I didn’t have enough air. I was far from relaxed and never had a chance to breathe properly before diving. My lungs were bursting when we rose out of the river like a whale snorting. Likely we were drawing attention from someone somewhere but there wasn’t anything I could do about that. I grabbed as much air as I could this time because I figured we would go right back down again. And we did.

The best thing would be if I could open the hatch on the surface, jump inside and shut it before we submerged again. Then, I would have to deal with Bim. I wasn’t looking forward to that. But there was another possibility. I could open the hatch underwater, climb in and shut it.

The sub would flood if I did that of course. But Ziegfried had designed the sub to deal with just such an emergency. And we had tested it. Even with the hatch closing immediately, the river would rush in and fill the sub at least half full and it would plunge to the bottom. After fifteen minutes or so the sump pumps would remove enough water to make the sub buoyant again. But it was extremely frightening to be inside when this was happening.

I held on to the handle with two hands as the sub pulled me under. We went down quickly and I knew we were going to hit hard. I placed my feet against the hull and bent my knees to absorb the blow. I didn’t want to lose my grip. Someone else was in my sub with my crew. This was never supposed to happen.

We hit with a crashing sound, which was probably some kind of debris on the bottom. I hoped that’s what it was. Within seconds we were rising again. He was flipping the same two switches. Was he having fun or was he panicking? Was he trying to destroy my submarine? Surely he didn’t want to drown?

On the way up I tried to prepare for opening the hatch. If he kept doing what he had been doing, I would have maybe ten seconds to open the hatch, climb in and shut it. That was enough time if I were ready. But halfway up I heard the sound that I didn’t want to hear—the whir of the propeller. He had engaged the batteries and put the sub in gear. We were staring to move. We were no longer rising.

This was the toughest decision I ever had to make. What should I do: open the hatch and bring the river inside the sub, fight with Bim and rescue my crew; or, let go and let him ride the sub until he crashed it, for surely he would crash? There was no time to think it over. If I had had more time, would I have chosen differently? Maybe. Maybe not. I would never know. With half a minute of air left in my lungs at most, I spun the wheel on the hatch and pulled it open.

I HEARD SCREAMING
inside as water flooded the sub. If Bim had been having fun, he wasn’t anymore. My first concern was for Hollie and Seaweed, although both were excellent swimmers and the sub was their home. They had often seen water rush in through the portal, though never like this. I was more afraid that he might injure them in his panic, and I knew he was going to panic.

I had barely pulled the hatch shut when Bim came scrambling up the ladder beneath me. Everything was happening so fast but I could tell that he was panicking. The flooding water had risen to his chest and was knocking him around. I had to kick him off the ladder to prevent him from interfering with sealing the hatch. I kicked him down, he scrambled up and I kicked him down again. We were sinking fast. Any moment we would strike bottom. He was wailing his head off like someone who had stepped into a hornets’ nest.

He was just starting for the ladder again when the sub hit. I lost my grip and fell on top of him. I knocked him right under the water, though I didn’t mean to. He was still panicking, even though no more water was coming inside, and the sump pumps were pumping out the water that had come in. He couldn’t know that. Once a person starts to panic, it takes a long time for them to settle down.

He raised his head above water and I realized he was choking. He had swallowed water. Like a crazy person he pushed past me and went for the ladder again. This time I held on to his legs to keep him from reaching the hatch. He didn’t even seem to understand that we were on the bottom of the river. He just wanted to get out.

“It’s okay!” I yelled. “It’s okay now!”

He didn’t hear me. I pulled on his leg with all my weight. I had to keep him from reaching the hatch. Bending my head, I peeked into the bow and saw Seaweed floating around, and beside him, Hollie, his little head just above water as he swam around in circles. I realized now that Bim had not been having a good time in the sub at all. He had probably been panicking even before I came in. Maybe he couldn’t swim.

“Calm down!” I yelled. “It’s going to be okay!”

He couldn’t hear me and I was getting tired trying to hold him. I had to think of something else. I let go of him for a second and he rushed up to the hatch. I rushed up beside him. Then, by pushing back against him in the tight space, I was able to pin him against the ladder. He couldn’t move his arms freely enough to open the hatch. Now, it was just a matter of time. When the sump pumps removed enough water to make the sub buoyant again, it would lift off the bottom and surface automatically. That was how Ziegfried had designed it, and I had perfect confidence in Ziegfried.

But it seemed to take forever. And it was exhausting pinning Bim against the ladder. In the fright of his panic he started to cry. When he couldn’t move, his crying gradually turned into weeping. It was very sad and I felt sorry for him. At the same time, I couldn’t let him go.

“It’s going to be okay,” I said. “I promise you.”

After what felt like hours, but was probably less than ten minutes, the sub gently lifted off the river floor. It was heavy still. The rising would be slow. When we broke the surface, I would have to act quickly. I had no idea what was waiting for us up there.

I knew when we surfaced because the sub bobbed from side to side. It had picked up speed on the way up, with water being pumped out all the way. I let Bim open the hatch, which he did with desperation, and climb out into the darkness. But there were lights, and there were voices.

It was the river police. They were coming over quickly. I heard a voice over a megaphone. First it came in French; then in English.

“This is the police! Surrender your vessel! I repeat! This is the police! Surrender your vessel!”

I still didn’t know if Bim could swim or not. Two police boats were drawing near.

“Bim! Can you swim?”

He looked at me pathetically.

“Do you know how to swim?” I asked.

He didn’t answer. He was frightened to death. I grabbed a lifebuoy as quickly as I could. “Here! Put this on!”

I raised his arms and pulled it down over him. He was too frightened to resist.

“Hold on here!” I said, and took hold of his wrists and pulled his hands over to a handle on the side of the portal. He grabbed hold. I knew he wouldn’t let go. The boats were almost upon us anyway.

“Surrender your vessel, NOW!” yelled the man with the megaphone.

If I surrendered I would be arrested. They would take the sub for sure. They would take Hollie and Seaweed too. Our sailing days would be over. I would never get the sub back.

If Bim’s life had been in danger, I would have acted differently. I would never have left him on the hull that way. But the police were only seconds away. They were going to rescue him.

I climbed back inside and pulled the hatch down, careful not to catch Bim’s clothing with it. When I was sure he was clear of the hatch, I sealed it, jumped down and rushed to the controls. The instant I felt them jump onto the hull I hit the dive switch. We started to dive. I raced to the periscope and spun it around to see if they were attaching a cable. No. Two officers were holding on to Bim and helping him to their boat. They were already up to their chests in water. They must have been furious at me.

We went down fifty feet and I checked the crew. Hollie was excited but okay. Seaweed wasn’t the least bit disturbed, or didn’t show it. Everything was soaking wet, including my bed, but I could dry it all by raising the temperature and taking stuff outside eventually. First, we had to get away from there.

The easiest thing to do was to sail downstream with the current. But that’s probably what the police would expect me to do, and so that’s what I knew I shouldn’t do. Better to do the unpredictable thing if you didn’t want to get caught. Did I ever not want to get caught! What would they think of me now, almost drowning somebody and running away from the police? I had refused to surrender my vessel when they had ordered me to. I was definitely a criminal now. They would put me in jail if they caught me, or in a correctional centre, just as Bim had been.

I headed upstream under full battery power with my eyes glued to the sonar screen. I needed to find a good place to hide, a place where no one would find us and we could lie low for a while.

Hollie jumped onto my lap. He was still frightened. I could see it in his eyes. I stroked his ears and spoke softly to him to calm his excitement. “That was a close one, hey, buddy? I think maybe we need to find better places to hide, don’t you?”

I was making so many mistakes. I had made three big mistakes on this voyage: throwing the anchor without thinking, losing the sub in the river and leaving it where someone could find it. The spot I had chosen in Montreal was only safe for a brief mooring, not a whole week, and I knew that when I moored it there. But I had grown comfortable with it and didn’t want to bother moving. The truth was the sub was too much temptation, especially for someone like Bim. Would I have opened the hatch and climbed inside if I were him and had discovered it? Yes, I would have. I knew that I would have. And if he had drowned, and Hollie and Seaweed had drowned, would that have been my fault? I shuddered to admit it, but yes, it would have. It was my responsibility to keep the sub hidden from people who might try to take it. And I
was
trying. But sometimes it was so hard.