# Farewell, Samoa.



## Cpt Dick Brooks (May 13, 2013)

All during the last week, Dirty-Mike helped me load stores, as he had decided to sail with me on Debut. He used his pick-up truck to go to the various wholesalers to buy provisions on his trade ticket. We drove up to Clive's factory and bought cases of locally produced chilli sauce and coconut cream, especially for Mariana's Polynesian cooking. I bought drums of outboard fuel and kerosene, and between us we spent over 2,000 tala on beer and spirits from the duty-free bond store.
Dirty-Mike went to the tobacco factory and bought two cases of rolling tobacco. Mariana was really peeved, as he'd promised to buy her a case of tailor-made cigarettes, but he reckoned tobacco in packets was much cheaper. He had 2,000 packets of his favourite brand, and calculated it would keep him going for many years to come.
I started my rounds at the Harbour Office to pay my dues, then the Immigration Office to have our passports stamped, and finally the Customs Office to fill out the forms for my final clearance. Once everything was completed, I returned to the R.S.A. to drink and kick back with my friends.
Mariana cheered up no end once she'd got a few rum and Cokes inside her. There had been a very tearful goodbye scene between her and her mother at the bus stop by the market place.
While they'd cried in each other's arms, I had said my very private goodbye to Zyanya. She was staying behind with her grandmother, as every Samoan girl is expected to give her first baby to her mother... even though we were married. We could claim her back in a few years. Although we used no words between us, l I told her I had to sail away on my ship, and that I couldn't take her with me. I'd told her that I loved her very much, and had asked her to wait for me. I'd told her that when I came back for her, we would be together for always.
I'd kissed her, with tears running down my face and on to my pressed white uniform shirt, and had handed her over to Pauna so she could board the bus for her village, on the other side of the island. Spitting out dust and exhaust fumes as the bus pulled away, I'd returned once more to the R.S.A. to drink.
"I feel much better, now," Mariana told me. "I've cried myself out. I went to say goodbye to Aseta." She saw the look of alarm on my face. "Don't worry, sweetheart," she grinned. "I was careful not to say anything about Dirty-Mike."
I smiled at her. "Where is he now?"
"He's just getting his last things together... he said he'd be back soon." She finished her glass and shook her head. "It's so sad, leaving home... not knowing when I'll return! Can I have another drink, please, I feel like getting a little tiddly?"
"All right." I went across to the bar for her order.
"You do look smart, Dick!" Moana complemented me. "All dressed in white, with your shiny gold bars.
"I'm sailing tomorrow," I explained, looking behind the bar. "I see you have my ship's life-ring on the wall."
"I got one of the boys to put it up last night. We'll always remember Debut when we look at it." She smiled. "Grimsby... is that where you come from?"
"I'm from Ipswich... a little further south. Along with Hull, Grimsby is England's largest fishing port. Or was... most of the ships have been cut up for scrap, by now. It's all over... the fishing industry in the North Sea is finished."
"That is a shame!" she smiled. "There's your drinks, honey."
"Thanks, Moana, I'll see you later." I took the tray of drinks back to Mariana. "After today, someone else can have this table." I stroked the white-painted top. "It's been a good friend to me during the last year."
Mariana snickered. "Kept you from falling on your face, you mean!"
I laughed at her words, and she laughed along with me. "I must say that, over the last year, I've drunk a lot of these big brown bottles while propped against it."
"A whole year!" she pondered. "I wonder where we'll be this time next year."
"Who knows, sweetheart. As long as we're together, what does it matter." I took her hand and squeezed it. "Let's just take one day at a time, shall we?"
"What's all this... getting sexy already?" Dirty-Mike called out as he came in through the rear double doors. "All fixed up, Dad?"
"Everything is squared away. Now we only have to spend our last tala and hit the road."
Dirty-Mike laughed. "I bet that Chinese bastard at the Immigration Office was glad to see the back of you."
"He insisted on stamping our passports himself! Peter was really good... he kept his word. He only charged me 450 bucks for the year we were anchored in Apia." I clicked my tongue, thinking about it. "He's coming to have a goodbye drink with us in his launch hour."
"Good on him! I'll set them up."
"Here's your last pay," I told him. "Spend it now, or you can hang it on a piece of string in the toilet." I counted out his wages for working on the last buoy in the harbour and handed it over.
"Where's mine?" Mariana asked. She held out her hand and grinned. She smiled as I counter out the notes, then kissed me. "I'm going on the spend! I have to say goodbye to Sala and pay for my dresses, then I'm going to buy lots of lollies for when we're at sea." She drained her glass, then walked through the club and out of the front door.
"Here you go, Dad!" Dirty-Mike put a bottle of beer down in font of me. "She looks happy, considering."
"I'll have to keep an eye on her," I said. "She's pretty cut-up inside about leaving her family. She'll throw a real wobbly, a couple of weeks from now, when all the excitement's died down."
"I've packed the last of my gear in the bow of your launch. I've just cleared out my bank account, for what it's worth, and dug up my little nest-egg of foreign currency." Dirty-Mike had a big grin on his face as he tapped the pocket of his jeans.
"No problem with the old lady?" I enquired.
He shook his head and laughed. "She doesn't suspect a thing! When she hears you're leaving she might get worried."
"Mariana has already been around to say goodbye."
"Bloody hell!" He opened his eyes wide and looked at me. "What did she do that for?"
"Don't worry, mate, she handled it well. Told your missus we'd miss you both."
"Beauty! I've got to hand it to her, she's got her head screwed on straight." He sucked on his roly and took a pull from his glass. "Peewee! This time tomorrow, I'll be free. Bloody hell, Dick, you don't know how much I appreciate what you're doing for me. If I stay here, I'll spend the next ten years in jail. And that's just to start with! If that silly little tart opens her mouth about being up the duff, it will be another three on top of that, again."
"No worries," I told him. "This time tomorrow, we'll be on the high seas."
Dirty-Mike slapped my shoulder. "Good on you, Dad! Drink up, I'll get in another shout... this Mickey Mouse money will be no good to me once we leave here."
"Get one in for Peter, his car has just pulled up outside. I owe him a few drinks after what he's done for me today."
Dirty-Mike went to the counter for his order, and I finished off my glass as I watched the harbour master get out of his car and come into the rear double doors of the bar.
"I might have known I'd find you pair in here!" he exclaimed. "I thought you'd be out on your ship, getting her ready to leave."
"You know better than that, Peter! My ship is always ready to sail at a half hours notice. Everything is squared away, so all I have to do now is kick back until dawn tomorrow morning."
"Sailing at dawn, aye?" He laughed knowingly at me. "I suppose you're going to have one of those wild parties on your ship tonight. I've been hearing all about the orgies you have out there. Why didn't you ever invite me to join in?"
"Just a few friends are coming on board for drinks and a barbie." I grinned at him. "Would you like to join us?"
"I'm not messing around out there in the middle of the night!" Peter retorted.
"I'm just outside the fishing harbour, on Buoy No3." I reasoned with him. "Mike will be using his Alia to run people on board, so you shouldn't even get your feet wet."
Dirty-Mike came back with three large bottles of beer and handed them out. "Get outside of this, Peter! There you go, Dad." He smacked his hands together and rubbed them. "What a booze-up I'm gonna have tonight! I've got myself a bottle of rum to see old Dick on his way." He looked at Peter. "What about you... are you coming on board?"
"Not out in that black, dirty harbour in the middle of the night, I'm not!" He shook his head adamantly and turned towards me. "You put your ship on the main wharf and I'll come along."
"How can we?" I asked him. "The wharf is full. There are three ships taking up the whole berth."
"If I get them moved, will you go on the wharf so I can come to your leaving party?"
I looked at him and laughed. "Yea, of course! But move ships out of the way for me?"
"Yes or no... give it to me straight?"
"Yes, but you only need to move one of them."
"Sod it, I'll move the lot! I don't want other ships on my wharf if I'm going to a party." He walked towards the bar to use the phone.
I laughed and shook my head. "This is crazy! Fancy clearing the wharf so we can have a party." I took a pull from my glass while I thought about it.
Peter came back to the table and picked up his glass. "By five o'clock this afternoon, the wharf main will be cleared... on my orders."
"You're kidding, Peter! This is something else!"
"Kidding!" He drained his glass and filled it again from his bottle. "You should have heard that chief pilot... useless bugger! Make him do some work, the lazy sod! Make him get off his fat, lazy backside! I want your ship right in the middle of my main wharf by six o'clock tonight... you've got a party on your hands, mister!"
"Great, Peter! You've never been on my ship before, have you?"
"You've never had her on my wharf before, have you! I told you, I don't mess around out there in that filthy harbour... I leave it for the likes of you and Dirty-Mike, here." He grinned at me. "I hope you're going to have plenty of booze and eats, after what I've done for you... your harbour dues should have been over five grand, for the time you've sent in Apia."
"Most appreciated!" I raised my glass to him.
Peter looked at Dirty-Mike and studied him for a moment. "And what are you going to do with your fishing-boat when you bugger off with Dick?" he asked him. "I hope you're not just gonna leave it cluttering up my harbour."
Dirty-Mike spluttered into his beer. "What do you mean?" He stared back at him, aghast, wiping the froth from his face. "I'm only helping him get ready... I'm not going with him!"
Peter looked him straight in the eye. "It's no concern of mine... just keep me out of it... but a little birdie tells me you are." He grinned at him, knowingly. "What does Dick want with two cases of rolling tobacco, when he doesn't even smoke? And all the booze he loaded on his ship from the bond store... that you helped him load! I know you're going with him, mate! Don't try and give me that bull-dirt."
Dirty-Mike pulled in his head and looked about him. "Are you gonna shop me?" he asked Peter.
"I don't know anything, Mike, but you'd better be a bit more careful in the future. Dick's Chinese friend at the Immigration Office sent a message to my office today, requesting that we keep a good eye on you to see you didn't leave on Debut. It was official, but I don't know anything about just telling you, if you get my meaning."
Dirty Mike emptied his glass in one gulp, spilling half of it down his bar chest showing through his open shirt. "Thanks, mate, let me get some more bottles. I owe you one for that."
Peter looked at his glass and downed it. "I don't mind if I do. It will get me in the mood for tonight." He looked back at me. "Do you mind if I bring my secretary along with me? And I might need the use of one of your cabins for an hour or so... just to relax in for a while, that is. Just to get in the party mood."
"Sure, Peter, there's a nice double cabin down in the crew's quarters you might like to use. It's right out of the way, so you won't be disturbed by anyone."
He smiled conspiratorially at me. "Cheers, I've been wanting to give her one for along time."

"See you, Mike! Don't go and fall asleep out there. I can't go around all the fishing-boats looking for you... all those Alias look the same to me, anyway."
"You'll see me, Dad... I'll be right on the leads... five miles out. I'll fire off the flare you gave me when you get close. Somewhere between eight and nine?"
"Don't use up all your fuel... save enough to come alongside. I can't manoeuvre Debut as easily as you can your Alia." 
I cast him off, and he disappeared into the blackness of the harbour. The crescent moon had set several hours earlier.

Wasko dropped the bow-line over the edge of the wharf, and I pulled it on board. I slackened the bow-spring, and Wasko took it off the bollard and walked it over to me as I pulled in the heavy mooring rope.
"See you, Dick! I don't know if I'll still be here when you come back, but I'd like to work for you again. It's been great fun, and I've learned a lot. You helped me earn enough money to have a good time while I've been in Apia with the Peace Corps. I bought a new motor cycle out of it, and got a really nice girlfriend. Thanks, mate."
I climbed the companion-ladder to the wheel-house and looked out of the window. "See you, Wasko, it was nice knowing you." I waved to him and rang down for Slow Ahead, then gave her full starboard helm.
Debut made her turn in one long sweep around the harbour, and I straightened her up for the entrance. I rang the call bell to the engine room, and soon Mariana joined me in the wheel-house. 
"We made it, darling," she said to me. "Here we go." She looked into my eyes and pulled a worried face.
"Next stop Wallis Island. After that, who knows?" I held her in my arms as we both watched Apia Harbour slipping by. All the best, Cpt Dick Brooks.


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## tsell (Apr 29, 2008)

Thanks Dick. As always a bloody great read, posted by a true adventurer!

Taff


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## Cpt Dick Brooks (May 13, 2013)

Thanks for your encouragement, tsell, it's always good to hear from you. All the best, Cpt Dick Brooks.


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