“Yes, the silly man. Looking for pearls. He had one of those horrible canvas diving suits with the huge lead boots and that great big copper helmet. I was so scared when he told me, but he just laughed. I was so sure he would get caught in a giant clam or the air hose would be cut or something but he said it was really interesting and not nearly as dangerous as I imagined. But there were horrible accidents.”
“What sort of accidents Gran?” Carmen asked.
“Oh, divers getting dropped by accident too quickly into water that was too deep and getting all squashed up inside their helmets by the water pressure, that sort of thing,” Gran replied.
Carmen looked horrified. “Oh Gran! That is ghastly,” she said. Andrew could only feel anxious as he tried to imagine what it must have been like in an old-fashioned diving suit.
Gran went on, “I was ever so glad when he got a job as mate on a big coastal steamship.”
The next photo was of Bert in naval uniform, as a Sub Lieutenant RANVR and was dated 1940. It was followed by several on a big ship, “A British transport named the Islander,” Gran explained.
There followed the first one of Bert in a diving suit. “Because he had done some diving the navy sent him on a special diving course. He told me he volunteered for it, the silly man! Then he was sent on a salvage vessel named the Ringarooma or something to Darwin. That was in 1942, to help clear the harbour of wrecks after the big Japanese air raids.”
Andrew had at least read about that and could nod and appear intelligent. He was even more interested to see a photo of a big ship lying on its side with a low coastline of coconut palms across the water. ‘Anshun at Gili Gili, Milne Bay’ read the caption.
“I’ve heard of Milne Bay,” he said. “There was a battle there wasn’t there?”
At that Gran shook her head sadly and snorted. “Huh! You young people! You don’t know anything. Battle alright! It was the one that saved Australia from the Japs. It was the first big land battle in which the Japanese army was ever defeated, and it was us Aussies who did it.”
“And Grandad was there?” Carmen asked.
“No, he arrived just after it. But he was in action helping salvage ships damaged by enemy aircraft further north. He got a decoration for bravery. I’ve got the medal and citation at home somewhere.”
That was news to Andrew and he badly wanted to see those. He asked if he could and Gran nodded, “If I can find them dearie. They’ve been packed away for a very long time.”
Next was a photo taken at Lae in 1944, with landing barges. One was a group photo of some divers and their assistants and on seeing it Andrew pointed and bent closer. “That is the one we saw the other day. That man there is Old Mr Murchison.”
At that Gran snorted angrily. “Oh him! Humpf!”
Sensing he was a sensitive subject Andrew did not mention he had just met Old Mr Murchison. Instead he turned the page of the album. This revealed a large wedding photo. “Our wedding day,” Gran said, smiling. Andrew’s mother beamed and Carmen cried with delight
“Oh Gran! You were a beautiful bride!”
“And so will you be dearie,” Gran replied, again patting Carmen’s hand lovingly.
“When was that Gran?” Andrew asked.
“Nineteen forty seven, just after Bert returned from the navy,” Gran answered.
“You waited ten years!” Carmen cried in dismay.
Gran nodded. “Yes. That’s how things were then. We did think of getting married during the war but decided it was not fair to any children we might have, so we waited till it was over.”
The next photo was of a small coaster called the M V Bloomfield. “Carrying timber from Bloomfield and Daintree down to Johnston’s Sawmill at Stratford,” Gran explained. “Bert was the skipper. He liked that run but I think he spent too much time in the hotels in Cooktown.”
She tapped another photo showing two men in 1950’s tropical business clothes: Panama hats, long-sleeved shirts with ties, long trousers, polished leather shoes. “That is Johnston, and the man with him is Bert,” she said.
Andrew wasn’t interested in the business details but was amused to see his own father’s baby photo. He knew his father’s full name was Cuthbert and that he was secretly ashamed of it, thinking it was silly sort of name. Like his father before him he was usually called Bert. There were other baby photos. Gran named them and provided dates. “This is your Aunty Bev,” she said.
“We know Gran,” Carmen said. “We stayed with her and Uncle Mel in January.”
“Of course you did dearie. How silly of me to forget. And this one is Evaline. She married an American so I never see her.”
Both Andrew and Carmen bent closer to look. Carmen shook her head and said, “She is really beautiful Gran.” Andrew could only agree. Gran snorted and said, with a twinkle in her eye, “Your good looks come from your mother’s side of the family.”
“Oh, they do not!” Andrew’s father cried indignantly. “You were the beauty Mum.”
At that Gran smiled and patted his arm. She then looked back to the album and turned the next page. The next picture was a pearling lugger. “The Pearl Reef,” Gran said. “That’s when he and Murchison went off trying to make their fortunes. Nearly sent us broke that boat.”
Two pictures side by side showed the crew of the lugger and the two divers. To Andrew’s surprise the crew of the lugger were all black men- Torres Strait Islanders. ‘Francis Sailboat’ said a pencilled note on the back.
The next photo was the one Andrew had seen at Old Mr Murchison’s. It was also on the Pearl Reef but showed all five men at once. As he remembered how Old Mr Murchison had reacted Andrew looked up and met Carmen’s eyes, but all he said was, “That is the photo we saw the other day.”
An excellent full length photo of Bert in his diver’s suit and holding the big brass helmet was next. Gran looked at it and shook her head. “Oh silly man! I don’t know how he could do that, going down in that ocean among all those octopusses and giant clams and whatall.”
Carmen laughed. “Oh Gran, it’s not that bad! We went diving the other day and it was fun.”
Andrew didn’t agree but remained silent. In his mind he agreed with Gran, particularly about the ‘whatall’. ‘I wish I hadn’t allowed myself to be talked into it!’ he thought.
There was then another picture of the tug Wallaman Falls, this time executing a sharp turn in Trinity Inlet. Two more photos followed, showing some sort of barge being towed. Another picture was of a large cargo ship apparently stuck on a sandbar. “Their first salvage job,” Gran explained. There were a dozen small photos of rope and anchor arrangements for towing or hauling, then one taken on a wharf in Smiths Creek. In the foreground were Bert and another man looking at a large cylindrical object. In the background were two Torres Strait Islanders standing on the deck of a small ship, ready to hoist the object up with a derrick.
That was the last photo. After that there were just blank black pages. Gran bit her lip and looked at them, then closed the album. “That was the last one ever taken. That is him and Murchison about to head off to look for the Merinda.”
There was silence. Andrew saw that Gran’s lower lip was quivering and he regretted asking her to explain the photos. Then a tear trickled down Gran’s cheek and Andrew bit his lip. Carmen leaned forward and hugged her.
CHAPTER 5
HOPES AND FEARS
That night Andrew had another diving nightmare. This time he dreamt he was down on the bottom of the sea in an old-fashioned diving suit. Something was wrong but he did not know what