Where have all the flowers gone? - Part 1

Skipper Bruce, First Mate Glen and Cabin Boy Matt stood looking up the hill towards the town in the early morning sun. Steven Seagull circled above them, perhaps also keeping a look out. The Pride of Lamond should have left the harbour several hours before, but Deck Hand Chris was still nowhere to be seen.

"Are you still here?" asked Harbour Master Gamble, approaching the trio with clipboard in hand. "Well, I mean, I can see you're still here, at least, I think I can, it could, of course, be an illusion, or a vision or a dream, supposing, that is, that I'm still asleep, which I'm not, at least, I don't think I am, but I could be wrong, but it was just a figure of speech."

"Aye," answered Skipper Bruce.

"Deck Hand Chris still hasn't arrived," said First Mate Glen, hoping that it wasn't because he had eaten the lemon which Deck Hand Chris has been intending to use to clean the wheelhouse. That had, he knew, annoyed him somewhat.

The crew of the Pride of Lamond had taken the previous week away from the high seas for a period of relaxation. They had, after all, been working very hard. Skipper Bruce had gone skiing with Oak Hall, Cabin Boy Matt had gone on an "adrenaline bursting" tour of local authority museums and First Mate Glen had gone and got himself engaged, but nobody was sure what had happened to Deck Hand Chris. He had, so they thought, been intending to go to the Glastonbury festival, where he was due to give a live whistling performance on centre stage, but he had yet to return.

"So, you still haven't told us how you proposed," Cabin Boy Matt said to First Mate Glen.

"Haven't I?" asked First Mate Glen. "Well, er, I didn't exactly propose to her."

"What do you mean?" asked Cabin Boy Matt.

"Well, she sort of proposed to me," First Mate Glen chuckled nervously. "She got angry that I hadn't asked her yet and so I asked her and she said no because she'd forced me into it and didn't really want to and wouldn't have done if she hadn't said anything and got angry that I wasn't willing to risk upsetting her by not asking her there and then, then she proposed to me and I said yes and then she got angry that she was having to be the man in our relationship, so, er, yeah, I'm really happy."

Skipper Bruce and Cabin Boy Matt stood in silence for a few moments, unsure of what to say.

"So, er, how's the nounless Bible going?" asked First Mate Glen to cover the awkward silence.

"I'm stuck on chapter six of Exodus," replied Cabin Boy Matt.

"Ah, right, shame," replied First Mate Glen.

As the men idolly chatted they watched a lone male saunter slowly down the hill towards them. He had long, greasy hair, wore sandals on his grubby feet, carried a jute bag and wore a green tee shirt with a picture of a wind turbine on it.

"I'd recognise that whistle anywhere," said First Mate Glen.

"So would I," replied Cabin Boy Matt. "It's either Deck Hand Chris or the bloke who used to do next door's garden. It can't be the gardener because he's dead, but I don't reckon it's Deck Hand Chris neither looking like that."

At that moment, the lone figure looked up. His face was filthy and he needed a shave, but his lop-sided grin identified him immediately. It was Deck Hand Chris.

"By 'eck, you need a bloody 'air cut," exclaimed Cabin Boy Matt.

"What happened to you?" asked First Mate Glen, equally astounded.

Deck Hand Chris took a small jar of parsley from his pocket, tipped some into a strip of recycled paper, rolled it into a thin tube and put it between his lips before lighting it with a match.

"I've seen the light," he said, sucking on his herbal cigarette. "We can't continue to live the way we do. At Glastonbury I met some people who told me all about the damage we do to our planet. They knew someone who knew someone who knew someone who was once a lecturer at the University of East Anglia who used to have a colleague who said that evidence one of her undergrads had unearthed but who for data protection reasons couldn't reveal the source of the said evidence showed that human activity, especially our production of carbon through energy use, is causing all the ice in the world to melt and that as a result we're all going to die and, more importantly, all the animals will also die, throwing earth's delicate ecosystems off balance, which will cause all the flowers to die. We can't let that happen, can we?" He took the herbal cigarette from between his teeth and held it in the air between two fingers. "We need to stop using fossil fuels, for the sake of the flowers. Renewable energy is the only way. We should also become vegetarians, animals take up too much energy to prove sustainable."

"He's gone green," muttered First Mate Glen.

"He's making me bloody green with them cigarettes," Cabin Boy Matt complained.

"Never mind this," said Skipper Bruce, "let's go catch some fash!"

"No, you don't understand," said Deck Hand Chris. "I can't come with you, I need to save the world, for the flowers. Skipper, buy back my portion of the Pride of Lamond so that I can invest it in a new offshore wind farm."

"What?" asked Skipper Bruce, shocked. "I can't afford that!"

"I know you can't, but you don't have a choice, I don't want to be part of this consortium any more. You'll have to buy me out."

"But I can't," Skipper Bruce stammered, shaking, "you'll bankrupt me."

"You can, I've thought about it," said Deck Hand Chris. "If you happened to be washed overboard, you'd receive a massive payout from your life insurance which should cover my share and then some."

"You want to kill him?" asked First Mate Glen, flabbergasted.

Deck Hand Chris just shrugged. "It's not really my problem."

* * *

Early the next morning, before any other vessels had left the port, the Pride of Lamond's engine started with a belch of black smoke which made Deck Hand Chris shudder. Hours earlier, in the pitch darkness, the crew had loaded their trawler with supplies to last two months. The hold was full of Campo Largo beans, Irn Bru, Homepride Pasta Bake Sauce, coos coos and garlic bread. Skipper Bruce stared glumly forward as he guided the boat onto the open seas. Once St Andrews was out of sight, he hugged the coast, eyeing the shoreline carefully until he spotted a beach which was remote enough for him to live there unnoticed but with sufficient shelter for him to survive.

"That looks like a good spot,"said First Mate Glen, sullenly.

Skipper Bruce turned the wheel and the Pride of Lamond approached the beach. He got as close as he dare to the rocks before flinging the cases of food into the water.

"OK, lads," he said, sadness in his eyes. "Go out away from here. Wait for a storm and then radio that I've been lost overboard. Throw over my life jacket. Once the life insurance money comes in, Deck Hand Chris can take his share and go. The rest of you, keep on catching fash. I'll come back when it's all blown over and as though it were some sort of miraculous recovery."

With that Skipper Bruce scrambled over the side of the Pride of Lamond and lowered himself gingerly into the cold North Sea. First Mate Glen took the wheel and directed the vessel away from the beach as Cabin Boy Matt watched Skipper Bruce make his way to the shore. Deck Hand Chris, a smile on his face, descended to the kitchen to make a cup of lemon grass tea.

* * *

St Andrews greeted the death of Skipper Bruce with great sadness. The Free Church held a memorial service at which all the psalms were sung to Fat Boy Slim tunes and The Lady's Head offered two-for-one carb feasts in homage to the much loved Skipper. St Andrews Museum put on an exhibition of the Skipper's life, complete with plastic lobsters and a badly constructed and oddly sized model of the Pride of Lamond, which Cabin Boy Matt had made from hundreds of cereal boxes he had collected but not used during his student days. It was supposed to have been made to scale, but Cabin Boy Matt's numeracy was non-existent and, while the boat was supposed to have been on a 1:5 scale, the wheelhouse had ended up only half the size of the original.

The insurance company were unwilling, at first, to pay out given that, in the absence of a body, the Skipper's death could not be proven. During this time First Mate Glen and Cabin Boy Matt continued to fish while Deck Hand Chris stayed at home growing his hair, smoking thyme and decorating jute bags. After many months and a number of covert trips to replenish Skipper Bruce's stocks, the money from the insurance company arrived. Deck Hand Chris took his share and left St Andrews.

To be continued...

Photo of the Pride of Lamond's Crew

Steven Seagull swoops over (left to right) Cabin Boy Matt, First Mate Glen, Harbour Master Gamble, Skipper Bruce and Deck Hand Chris on board the Pride of Lamond.

Photo courtesy of Ewen Glen and Chris Arnott.

Life in Abundance

"Pull!" shouted First Mate Glen. "Pull!"

The nets were bursting with fat, juicy, north Atlantic cod as the crew of the Pride of Lamond used all their might to heave them out of the water and onto the deck. It was the hardest they had had to work in their whole fishing career, never before had the nets been so full. Cabin Boy Matt especially was struggling.

"Pull, Cabin Boy Matt, you big girl!" shouted First Mate Glen. The net was slipping from their grasp and every one of the crew needed to give their full effort. First Mate Glen could see that Cabin Boy Matt was at risk of losing the catch for them. "Retard!" he yelled at him in frustration as the net began to slip back into the water.

"I am pullin' reet 'ard!" shouted Cabin Boy Matt in return, leaning so far back as he pulled on the net that he was almost horizontal.

The sun was blazing, turning the arms of the men red as they slowly dragged the net and, more importantly, its valuable contents onto their vessel. As soon as it was safely on board the crew gave thanks to the Lord before tipping the fish into the stores below, into which First Mate Glen, Deck Hand Chris and Cabin Boy Matt immediately descended in order to gut and pack them ready for market.

The sea rose and fell beneath the Pride of Lamond as Skipper Bruce guided the vessel back to port. The sound of the the Wee Frees, First Mate Glen's favourite band, rose from the CD player on the deck below, where it jollied the men in their work. Skipper Bruce smiled. First Mate Glen had been dying to play their greatest hits album, entitled Now That's What I Call a Psalmody!, all week. The wind blew through the hair of Skipper Bruce, tugging at his double cowlick, as he leaned out of the wheelhouse window. He was happy. That week's fishing had been hugely successful and the rotting wooden hull of his vessel now groaned under the weight of the north Atlantic cod that it contained. He dreamed of all the ways he could spend the money he and his crew would gain from the haul and he allowed his mind to drift like a corpse in a river. He imagined himself in the Swiss Alps, skiing gleefully down virgin white slopes as the theme tune to Diagnosis Murder played as if by magic from the clouds. A week of that would indeed be heaven. Who knows, with this haul plus the money he was making from his DJing it may just be possible. He may even find himself a girl on his next Oak Hall trip.

He flicked open Your Two Breasts are Like Two Fawns, the book of Christian chat-up lines he had surreptitiously purchased from the top shelf at The Lady's Head. He had thought that one of them would gain him a nice young lady, but he was no longer sure. Telling a woman that he had been given the gift of tongues was not his style and he held Graham Kendrick in too high esteem to use the first line of any of his songs as a means of gaining a quick kiss. Nope. There was only one thing for it. He would have to learn how to do a rubix cube really quickly, that would impress the ladies.

His thoughts were soon brought back to reality as he saw a flare rise from the waters to his right. Following the line of smoke back down to earth he could clearly see, just a mile or so away, a stricken trawler. It had run aground on a rock and looked to be sinking quickly. Raising his binoculars to his eyes he could make out figures in the water. The situation was grave, which would be exactly where the stricken vessel's crew would be going if they did not receive help quickly.

Skipper Bruce rested his hands on the wheel of the Pride of Lamond. The grounded ship was close, but a rescue would take time. The massive haul of north Atlantic cod needed to be sold while still fresh and the catch the crew were working on at that moment needed to be prepared as soon as possible to prevent it from rotting. No. There was no way Skipper Bruce could help the crew of the sinking trawler. He turned the wheel of the Pride of Lamond to the left, towards the harbour, prosperity and rest.

* * *

"No Heth... no... that's not the case... no... it's not pronounced 'Kamchaatka', it's 'Kamchatka'... Yes, you are wrong... Yes, I did just say you were wrong... No, that doesn't mean that I'm calling you an idiot... No, it doesn't... it doesn't... OK... OK, I'm sorry, Heth... Yes, I am sorry for calling you an idiot... I am... I would prove it to you by taking you out for dinner, but I'm still pretty full... No, I had a couple of spoonfuls of Deck Hand Chris' porridge this morning and phew! I'm still stuffed!... OK, Heth... I'll see you soon... Bye... Yes, of course I love you... I do... OK... OK... Bye Heth."

First Mate Glen sighed heavily, turned off his phone and entered The Lady's Head. He spotted Cabin Boy Matt sat at a table on the other side of the room bent over a sheet of paper.

"Hey, what are you up to?" he asked his colleague, placing his half-half-pint, which would be more than enough for him, on the table and sitting down opposite the Yorkshireman.

"Ey up, First Mate Glen," replied Cabin Boy Matt. "I'm translating the Bible."

"Oh," replied First Mate Glen in reply. "That's really good, it's great that you're doing something so useful. There are so many people groups in the world that don't have the Scriptures in their own language. Wonderful. What language are you translating it into?"

"I'm putting into noun-free English," answered Cabin Boy Matt, proudly.

"What?"

"English, but without nouns. I reckon there's a real need for it."

"Oh," said First Mate Glen, a little stunned. "Er... how far have you got?"

"I've only managed the first verse of Gensis so far. It's pretty tough going, harder than it looks."

First Mate Glen swivelled the piece of paper round so that he could read it:

Very, very early on, incredibly so, he who reigns majestically and omnipotently created that which is above where those who follow him will dwell after they die and he also created that which is below upon which we now dwell, though, of course, we did not there dwell when it was first created for we did not then exist.

"It's... er... quite a mouthful, isn't it?" stated First Mate Glen.

"Aye, that'll be one o' t' drawbacks when we eradicate nouns from English. Still, that's evolution."

"Evolution?"

"Aye, we'll become more efficient by getting rid of the parts of language we don't need, like nouns."

"But it's not really more efficient, is it? We're really just beating about the bush."

"No, it is more efficient, a lot more efficient because we don't really need nouns, as the fact that I can write part of Genesis without them shows, it's just that the beating about the bush is one of the drawbacks of getting rid of them. Still, efficiency needs sacrifice."

At that moment Deck Hand Chris and Skipper Bruce, along with Ali, photographer with the St Andrews Citizen, joined them at the table.

"Ali's just been telling us what happened to that ship we saw yesterday afternoon, the one that had run aground," Deck Hand Chris informed them.

"You saw them?" asked Ali in surprise.

"Aye," replied Skipper Bruce.

"But why didn't you help them?" she asked.

"Skipper decided we had to get the fish back to port before it began to rot. We all think he did the right thing," said Deck Hand Chris.

"And we prayed for them," put in First Mate Glen. "We prayed for their safety when we'd got back to port."

"I'll have to tell Sam that," replied Ali, taking out a notepad and jotting something down.

"I'm sorry, who's Sam?" asked Deck Hand Chris.

"Sam Aritan, he's writing the report on the matter for tomorrow's paper and it's already up on his Jerusalem to Jericho blog. He's the one who told me all about it," Ali answered.

"So what happened to the boat?" asked First Mate Glen.

"Well, a few minutes after you lot had passed Pastor Iain..."

"Oh, he's a lovely chap," said Cabin Boy Matt. "Always reet jolly."

"Yes, well, Pastor Iain passed in his Abundance," continued Ali.

"In his what?" asked Deck Hand Chris.

"The Abundance is the name of his yacht. He saw them, but decided that he urgently needed to get back because he hadn't finished preparing that night's sermon."

"I've got verse two!" shouted Cabin Boy Matt.

"Excuse me?" said Ali, questioningly.

"Verse two of my noun-free English version of the Bible. It reads 'Now that upon which we now dwell was formless and empty, that which is dark was over that which is on top of that which is profound, not philosophically so but physically so, and that which is spiritual of he who reigns majestically and omnipotently was hovering over those which are wet.'"

"It's a bit repetitive," said Deck Hand Chris.

"And 'that which is spiritual' doesn't really define the Spirit of God, for surely all of God is spiritual, though N.T. Wright might not fully agree," added First Mate Glen.

"But how else would you describe the Spirit of God?" asked Cabin Boy Matt.

"Erm... I'm not sure," replied First Mate Glen. "You could try..."

"But what about the boat?" asked Skipper Bruce, becoming increasingly exasperated. "What happened to the sinking boat?"

"Oh, right, yes," said Ali. "Well, The Grey Friar passed next."

"Those scumbags!" exclaimed First Mate Glen.

"Scoundrals!" interjected Deck Hand Chris. "I bet they left them to drown like rats!"

"Actually, they stopped and helped them out of the water," continued Ali. "They let down their lifeboats and went to pick them up. The waves were apparently quite high by then, it was a bit dangerous. But anyway, they got them on board and dried and fed them. A couple of them were badly injured, broken legs and such, God knows how they managed to stay alive in the water, and they were all suffering from acute hypothermia. First Mate Fraser bandaged them up as best she could and they took them to port and paid for them to stay in a Bupa hospital until they recover fully. Captain Campbell said he'd go back in a week to check on them and pay any extra costs."

The crew of the Pride of Lamond sat in silence as Ali finished telling them what had happened.

"So the town's scum helped them?" asked First Mate Glen.

"Looks like it," replied Ali. "And you didn't. Nor did Pastor Iain."

Skipper Bruce stood up, mumbling that he had to prepare that evening's set for the club at which he was playing, Deck Hand Chris suddenly remembered that he needed to clean the oven, First Mate Glen said that Heather needed his assistance in some matter and Cabin Boy Matt decided that he needed peace and quiet to work on verse three. All left quickly, though none of them accomplished the tasks they had set themselves for the evening, each taking to his bed early, where they thought deep into the night.

The Barn

As soon as the Pride of Lamond entered port, the spirits of Skipper Bruce, First Mate Glen, Deck Hand Chris and Cabin Boy Matt fell. They had had a reasonably successful trip. It had been a long one, two weeks, and tiring also, but the catch had been immense. Baskets full of fat, juicy, pink prawns, cases upon cases of north Atlantic cod and pots of lobsters and crabs, all of which they were expecting to make a handsome profit at auction. The sea air was peppered with salt and the smell of vinegar, which Deck Hand Chris was using to clean the rails, whistling a merry tune to himself as he did. They were looking forward to a couple of pints in The Lady's Head and a slap-up meal. Well, Skipper Bruce, Deck Hand Chris and Cabin Boy Matt were looking forward to a slap-up meal, First Mate Glen was looking forward to a couple of mouthfuls of curry, which would do him for a month. Skipper Bruce was planning to spend the evening moonlighting as his alter-ego, DJ Vector, at a Dundee club, First Mate Glen was ready to enjoy a good argument with Heather, Deck Hand Chris had a game of Risk with Harbour Master Gamble in mind and Cabin Boy Matt was going to really splash out on Elaine and take her for two-for-one pizzas. Life was good.

Until the Pride of Lamond entered port and four pairs of eyes spotted something the crew had hoped not to see for a long while.

The Grey Friar towered above them, gleaming in the early morning sun, its radar twirling, its darkened windows threatening. All signs of damage from the previous autumn's fire had gone. It was as good as new and was giving out a grumble of high quality from its engine. When the four men had climbed onto the quay from their vessel they were met by the presence of something else unexpected. The old, grey block of flats which stood at the dockside had been gutted like a north Atlantic cod, painted an array of dazzling colours and fitted with a state-of-the-art refrigeration mechanism.

Captain Cambell was stood at the large door the size of an Eddie Stobart lorry supervising the fitting of a sign reading The Barn to the wall.

"Hey," he said, seeing them and smiling sympathetically. "How are you?"

"Alright," replied Skipper Bruce, but Captain Campbell hadn't waited for a reply.

"This is our new million pound storage facility," Captain Campbell said making a grand, sweeping gesture towards the building with his arm. "We estimate that we'll be bringing in around seventy thousand units a day now The Grey Friar's up and running again, so we'll be needing somewhere to store all that fish."

Skipper Bruce just nodded.

"We decided to make it fit in with the humble surroundings," Captain Campbell looked meaningfully at the Pride of Lamond, "so we've named it The Barn. A nice touch."

The Pride of Lamond's crew stared at the building. Deck Hand Chris let out a long, low, tuneful whistle.

"We're chuffin' screwed," said Cabin Boy Matt, optimistically. "I need a pint."

And so the four of them, along with Steven Seagull, headed up the hill towards The Lady's Head, where First Mate Glen purchased the full back catalogue of his favourite band, the highly acclaimed Wee Frees, called One Hundred and Forty-Nine Psalms.

* * *

After a few days of rest Skipper Bruce, First Mate Glen, Deck Hand Chris and Cabin Boy Matt returned to the Pride of Lamond, where they prepared for their next voyage. As they sat mending nets they watched as Jim the Navigator drove a yellow fork-lift piled high with cases of fresh fish into The Barn. First Mate Fraser bounced around, her curly hair rising and falling gaily, waving yellow table tennis bats to direct her colleague. Meanwhile, Louisa the Technician lifted the cases of fish from the fork-lift while Cabin Boy Henry tried to decide where they should be stored.

The Pride of Lamond's crew sat mending nets late into the afternoon and still Jim the Navigator drove back and forth between The Barn and The Grey Friar. With each trip the hearts of Skipper Bruce and his men sank a little further. Prices of fish would fall immensely now.

Eventually, First Mate Glen could take it no more.

"Come on," he said, "let's get out of here. I can't stand to watch them any longer."

Skipper Bruce nodded his agreement. "Aye," he said. "Let's go catch some fash."

But the crew could tell that their Skipper's usual enthusiasm was lacking.

* * *

The trip was another success, but the men didn't feel happy, for they new their catch could never match that of The Grey Friar. It played particularly heavily on the mind of Skipper Bruce. His DJing would keep him afloat. His tunes were reasonably popular amongst the middle aged at some of Dundee's less refined establishments, but he felt responsible for the others, who had nothing upon which to fall back. Cabin Boy Matt had suggested he and DJ Vector team up, but Skipper Bruce didn't think there was much call for a Yorkshire rapper in Fife and Tayside, or anywhere, for that matter. He flicked on the demo cassette with which Cabin Boy Matt had proudly presented him. The words filled the little hut from where Skipper Bruce steered the vessel.

All you Christian ladies know thee want to get wi' Matt,

'Cause thee knows 'at life wi' me would be reet phat,

Ah'm not sayin' that tha's big, nay tha spells it wi' "P.H.",

If tha wants to get wi' me tha can come an' be me... lady.

Ooh, aye, ooh, wotcha!

Skipper Bruce flicked the tape player off again with a shudder. No way could DJ Vector team up with the Yorkshire Rapper.

* * *

On returning to port, the crew of the Pride of Lamond were met with a guiltily pleasant surprise. Captain Campbell, Jim the Navigator, Louisa the Technician and Cabin Boy Henry were all sat forlornly on the lobster baskets looking incredibly sad. The only member of The Grey Friar's crew who didn't look sad was First Mate Fraser, who was jumping around with a big smile on her face as usual, though she assured Skipper Bruce that she was devastated.

Apparently The Barn had suffered a number of disasters. Firstly, cats had crept under the door and eaten a large proportion of the north Atlantic cod which had been stored there. Then a notorious gang of thieves, the Prawn Again Fellowship, had broken in and stolen the entire catch of molluscs that had been stored within. Finally, the warehouse's refrigeration unit had failed and the fish that had been left in the barn had become as rotten as Fife Council.

Skipper Bruce, First Mate Glen, Deck Hand Chris and Cabin Boy Matt stifled their smiles and offered their commiserations before deciding to celebrate their now valuable catch with an evening watching BBC Alba.

The Man with the Arabic Dictionary

Cabin Boy Matt was fed up. The Pride of Lamond had been at sea for two days heading towards the Norwegian coast in search of much prized North Atlantic Cod and food supplies were already running low. The Yorkshireman had no idea where the multiple tins of beans he had stocked in the cupboards before leaving port might have gone. Having scoured the small boat's kitchenette he began looking in the bedroom and began chuntering in Spanish when he failed to find anything.

"What's Cabin Boy Matt giving off about now?" asked First Mate Glen as the familiar sound of Castilian expletives drifted on the sea air from below deck.

Skipper Bruce sighed and shook his head. "Go and see what's wrong," he said.

First Mate Glen descended the steps into the bedroom where Cabin Boy Matt was on his hands and knees looking in one of the lockers beside his bunk.

"What are you doing?" asked First Mate Glen.

"Lookin' for t' beans 'at 'ave gone missin'," replied Cabin Boy Matt in frustration. "Ah must o' bought forty tins o' t' chuffin' things, but none on 'em a' 'ere."

"They can't have gone far," answered First Mate Glen.

"Well they're not 'ere, are they?" snapped Cabin Boy Matt.

"It's so dark, though, you're never going to find them. Where's your torch?"

"Under t' bed," said Cabin Boy Matt, gesturing towards Deck Hand Chris' bunk.

"Under the bed?" asked First Mate Glen, getting on his knees and peering under. "Where?"

"It's under t' bowl, o' course," Cabin Boy Matt said as though this were obvious.

First Mate Glen lifted a large orange plastic bowl to find a Maglite switched on beneath it.

"Why on earth is it under there?" asked First Mate Glen.

Cabin Boy Matt just tutted in response to such a ridiculous question and First Mate Glen decided to leave him to his search.

As soon as he returned to the deck First Mate Glen realised something was wrong. A game of Risk had been abandoned mid-turn, the dice motionless in the middle of Kamchatka among the little blue men that had been scattered before it, and a can of Pledge rolled across the wooden floor having been abandoned by Deck Hand Chris before the dust had been properly shifted from the rail. A sudden change in engine tone and the way the vessel lurched towards the starboard side brought First Mate Glen's attention to the wheelhouse, where three people appeared to be stood. Two of them were quite clearly Skipper Bruce and Deck Hand Chris, but the other was unrecognisable.

The sailor crept around towards the wheelhouse's entrance, from where he could get a better view of the situation. Facing the doorway was a middle-aged man wearing trainers, jeans and a green hoodie on which the words Andrew Melville had been embroidered below the crest of some unknown provincial university. In his hands he was holding a huge Arabic dictionary with which he appeared to be threatening Skipper Bruce and Deck Hand Chris, who were stood at the controls with their backs to the entrance as they directed the boat under his command. The situation was grave; one blow with the tome in the newcomer's hands would undoubtedly have any one of them on the floor. First Mate Glen would be in full view of the hijacker as soon as he emerged from his hiding place, but he reckoned that he had the element of surprise and that with a quick attack he could knock the dictionary from the stranger's hands, thus disarming him and freeing his companions. At that moment, however, the theme from Star Trek trilled from the mobile in his pocket, forcing him to emerge sheepishly and stand before the newcomer, who merely asked him why he wasn't answering his phone.

First Mate Glen obediently held it to his ear and listened to the caller.

"I'm sorry, Heth," he said into the receiver. "No, I couldn't... Because I was hiding... What do you mean from who? ...From an attacker... Yes, on the boat... He's holding Deck Hand Chris and the Skipper hostage... With an Arabic dictionary... Yes, I was going to help them... I was... I was going to surprise him, but then you rang and gave me away... No, Heth, I'm not blaming you... I'm not... No, I didn't say it was your fault, I said you rang and then... No, that's not saying it's your fault... It's not... What? ...No... OK... OK... I'm sorry... Yes... I love you too... Bye, Heth... Yes, bye."

"What on earth were you talking about?" asked Deck Hand Chris. "We're not being held hostage, we're helping Special Agent Warwick get to another ship."

"Another ship? Why?" asked First Mate Glen.

"Special Agent Warwick works for MI6 and needs access to it, so we're helping him get there."

"So why the dictionary?"

"I was just explaining verb lengthening patterns using Arabic to provide examples of morphological and lexographical change over a prescribed period of time," Special Agent Warwick replied.

Skipper Bruce and Deck Hand Chris just shrugged at First Mate Glen, who asked if Warwick was his real name.

"Of course not," replied the secret agent. "All operatives are named after universities. It was actually Anglia Ruskin who was supposed to be doing this job, but he resigned out of embarrassment, though we're not sure whether that was due to him being linked to a naf establishment or because, being dyslexic, he objected to being given a girl's name."

"So it must be you that's been eating all Cabin Boy Matt's beans?" asked First Mate Glen.

"Ah, yes, that would have been me, I needed to eat something while hiding on here," replied Special Agent Warwick.

"He's pretty annoyed," chuckled First Mate Glen.

"Yes, I can tell, I can basically speak Spanish, which is why I've been sent on this mission. I need to take a coded dossier from a Spanish transport vessel passing through these waters detailing plans for a military attack on Gibraltar. I'm going to replace it with information on the red squirrel, which should keep Spanish agents entertained and perhaps more than a little confused. Speaking of which, I think that vessel over there might be the one."

Special Agent Warwick took a pair of binoculars from his pocket and lifted them to eyes. He nodded as he squinted into the distance. "That's the one," he said. "Don't go any closer, I'll swim from here."

With that, the agent leapt from the bow into the sea and swam with awe inspiring speed into the distance.

"Well," said Skipper Bruce, putting on his sunglasses and turning up the volume so that the trance music pumping through the attached earphones caused his heart rate to increase, "this spot is as good as any I suppose. Do you want to catch some fash?"

Before either First Mate Glen or Deck Hand Chris could respond the attention of all three was caught by a slopping sound coming from the boat's stern. Cabin Boy Matt could be seen emptying tins of beans into the sea.

"What are you doing?" whistled Deck Hand Chris.

"Gettin' rid o' these chuffin' beans 'at Ah've managed to fahd, which i'n't all on 'em," replied Cabin Boy Matt. "Campo Largo issued a statement sayin' they've been contaminated with a chemical which causes seizures, which is probably a bit dangerous if we're w'rkin', so Ah'm tryin' ter get rid on 'em all."

"Seizures?" asked First Mate Glen, stunned.

"Aye," replied Cabin Boy Matt.

"How long have you known about this?"

"A couple o' days, that's why Ah'm so keen ter find the missin' beans, so that none o' you eat 'em."

"But why didn't you just tell us? Special Agent Warwick... You not telling us might have killed him!"

As Cabin Boy Matt tried to work out who on earth Special Agent Warwick was, Skipper Bruce, without saying a word, pushed the throttle forward and the Pride of Lamond surged in the direction of the distant ship. The rickety lilac tub bumped over the waves as the crew scoured the surface for signs of a struggling figure. Steven Seagull circled overhead ready to swoop in the direction of any sign of life. Eventually Deck Hand Chris spotted thrashing in the water and dived in to rescue the ailing spy, pulling him towards the vessel. First Mate Glen and Cabin Boy Matt lowered one of the nets, which Deck Hand Chris wrapped around Special Agent Warwick, allowing him to be pulled aboard the boat, where he coughed and spluttered for a few tense moments before beginning to mutter something about direct objects, allowing the crew to assume that he was safe from immediate danger.

Skipper Bruce turned the Pride of Lamond towards home so that Special Agent Warwick could be given professional medical treatment, but when the boat reached port the secret agent was nowhere to be seen, though a number of Happy Shopper yogurts had been removed and replaced with a note on the use of split infinitives.

It thus seemed that Special Agent Warwick had returned to his mission safely, though Cabin Boy Matt's failure to share the knowledge he had had almost cost him his life.

The Grey Friar - Part 2

On return from their unfortunate trip the crew of the Pride of Lamond had visited their favourite café only to discover that, during their absence, the recently installed and rather more liberal minister at the church which owned and ran the establishment had converted The Ladyhead into The Lady's Head, a sportsbar serving cheap larger and hamburgers in order to reach out to the town's youth. Each took their seats below a plasma screen showing cringe-worthy Christian hard rock music videos while tentatively sipping from pint glasses of what tasted like ice cold fizzy urine. The glum looks upon the faces of Skipper Bruce, First Mate Glen, Deck Hand Chris and Cabin Boy Matt perfectly illustrated their situation.

"Those scoundrels!" raged First Mate Glen. "They wreck our ship, nearly kill us, ignore our maydays and then undercut us at market!"

"I just got the figures through," said Skipper Bruce unhappily. "Our catch made less than a quarter of what it would usually fetch. The Grey Friar caught so much fash that it sold at rock bottom prices."

"Can we even cover the repairs to the boat?" asked Deck Hand Chris.

"No, we can't even do that," answered Skipper Bruce angrily. "I don't what we're going to do."

The crew sat in silence as they slowly drank from their tall glasses, each one of which had a cross and the words from John 3:16 etched onto the side, and listened to the heavy metal version of There is a Place of Quiet Rest which was being pumped through the loud speakers.

"Phew!" exclaimed First Mate Glen after a few minutes, putting his almost full glass onto the table. "I'd better not drink any more, I can feel myself getting a bit tipsy."

"Your face is quite red," Deck Hand Chris warned him.

"No, no, that's just from the sulphates," replied First Mate Glen.

"But there are no sulphates in... well, I don't really went to call this beer," answered Deck Hand Chris.

"Yes, there are," said First Mate Glen. "Aren't there? There are, I'm sure of it. Heth says so."

"What's 'appened to 'er anyway?" asked Cabin Boy Matt. "You 'aven't been on t' phone to 'er for ages. What's up?"

"Oh, she lost her phone," replied First Mate Glen. "In fact, I'd better check to make sure she hasn't left me a message on facebook." And with that he quickly took his own mobile from his pocket and began walking around the room with it held above his head in an attempt to find a wireless connection.

"Never mind all this," said Skipper Bruce. "What are we going to do about our livelihoods?"

"I guess we'll just have to keep fishing and hope for the best," answered Deck Hand Chris. "If we pray about it it should be OK. I'm sometimes surprised how God answers prayers about even the most mundane of things."

Ethel, The Lady's Head's grey-haired chief waitress, who, wearing her pinny on which a yellow smiley-face was framed with the words JESUS LOVES YOU, happened to hobble past at that moment as she carried a precarious tray of sambucas towards a table of roudy students having a pre-exam party, smiled at the young trawlerman's wisdom and decided that her vicar's slightly unorthodox methods might be having an effect after all.

* * *

The Pride of Lamond left port a few days later with an optimistic crew. The sun glinted off the tops of the waves as Skipper Bruce guided his vessel to what he knew to be an area with abundant stocks of North Atlantic Cod. He knew that however much they caught The Grey Friar's infinitely larger catches would always undercut them, but he had to share in the hope of Deck Hand Chris. The Lord had provided for Steven Seagull, who was currently eating from Cabin Boy Matt's hand despite not having sown or reaped, thus he would care for his crew, who were much more valuable than Steven, who, though much loved, was nevertheless a mere bird.

"'Ere, Skipper," called Cabin Boy Matt, standing up and pointing into the distance. "What's that ovver theare?"

First Mate Glen took a pair of binoculars and looked towards the horizon. "It's smoke," he said.

"It must be a ship," said Deck Hand Chris. "It's in the middle of the ocean."

"We've got to go and help," said Skipper Bruce.

Skipper Bruce returned to the wheelhouse and directed his vessel at full speed towards the column of thick, black smoke which rose before them. As they got closer the gravity of the situation revealed itself to them. The Grey Friar had become an inferno. Her crew stood on the deck waving as the Pride of Lamond approached her bows.

"A loose connection in our computer equipment caught fire," shouted Louisa.

"Quick, throw across some fire extinguishers so we can put it out," called Captain Campbell.

First Mate Glen grabbed one of the two extinguishers aboard the Pride of Lamond and threw it across, but it fell short, landing with a splash in the water below.

"Come closer," shouted Captain Campbell.

Skipper Bruce maneuvered his vessel as close to The Grey Friar as he dare, but the flames from the huge ship leapt across and charred the wooden hull of the Pride of Lamond.

"If we go any closer we'll be a goner," he advised his crew.

"There's nothing we can do, then," replied Deck Hand Chris solemnly.

"Throw us another fire extinguisher!" cried Captain Campbell.

"We can't," Deck Hand Chris shouted back. "There's a great chasm between our two boats, it'll just fall into the sea."

Captain Campbell just nodded sadly and watched as the Pride of Lamond pulled away, leaving The Grey Friar's crew to their fate.

As the flames disappeared into the distance the radio in the wheelhouse crackled and Captain Campbell's voice could be heard.

"Please, Skipper, warn our families," it said. "We took up all the room we had with computer equipment and didn't bother with fire extinguishers. Warn our families to think of their futures and the consequences of their actions."

But before Skipper Bruce could answer, The Grey Friar's radio failed.

* * *

"Good morning, boys," Harbour Master Gamble's voice floated on the early morning air towards the crew of the Pride of Lamond as they approached their vessel. "How are you today?"

"Alright," answered Skipper Bruce.

"Here, Harbour Master, have you any news on The Grey Friar?" asked First Mate Glen.

"Oh, yes, as a matter of fact I heard from the coastguard this morning," answered Harbour Master Gamble. "Yes, they're all alright, a little bit shocked, as you would expect, well, I would expect that you would expect them to be a little bit shocked, after all, they nearly died, and dying's not a particularly pleasant experience, not that I've ever had the experience, that is, I've heard that it isn't very nice, well, I've not heard that it isn't very nice, obviously, but, well, I just expected that it's not. Well, you do, don't you?"

"Err... Yeah," replied First Mate Glen.

"Anyway, they're been checked over and seem to be alright, but that marvellous vessel's had to be taken to Toronto of all places to be fixed, so she'll be out of action for a good wee while."

"So they won't be undercutting our prices," asked Deck Hand Chris, hopefully.

"No, I wouldn't expect so," said Harbour Master Gamble. "Still, that fire, all that smoke going into the environment, terribly bad for the ozone layer, they'll have to do some offsetting to remedy that..."

Luke 16:19-31

* * *

A NOTE ON THE GREY FRIAR'S CREW

The crew of The Grey Friar are not particularly nice people. However, Captain Campbell, First Mate Fraser, Jim, Louisa and Cabin Boy Henry do have real life counter parts. The characterization of The Grey Friar's crew is not intended as a true representation of them, nor is it meant with any malice or hate. Indeed, in real life they are wonderful people, true beacons for the Lord for whom I have a great deal of time, respect and appreciation.

Kirk

The Grey Friar

Skipper Bruce, First Mate Glen, Deck Hand Chris, Cabin Boy Matt and Steven Seagull stood, open-mouthed, or, in one case, open-beaked, at the sight that met them as they approached the quay early that morning. The cheerful chatter regarding the previous day's edition of Doctors ceased as one by one each noted the scene before them. The Pride of Lamond creaked in the breeze, her lilac paint looking grubby as usual in the dawn light. Nothing different there. The amazement was caused by her new neighbour, for beside the creaking, second-hand trawler which belonged to the four men floated a towering ship with gleaming windows, tall gantries from which nets of undoubtable quality hung and spotless bows which reflected the shimmering water. On the roof of the bridge, for the vessel, indeed, had a bridge, a far cry from the small wooden hut which served as the Pride of Lamond's wheelhouse, whirled a radar, while radio masts of varying heights sprung up from the deck itself. On the bow was painted, in thick, black letters The Grey Friar.

"We're doomed, lads," moaned Skipper Bruce. "There's no way we can compete with that. She'll catch four times as much as us, undercut our prices at market, drive us into disrepair."

"We can't, how can I provide Heth with her material needs if we can't sell fash?" worried First Mate Glen.

"Pah, Ah bet they drink chuffin' loose leaf tea an' all, bloomin' posh beggars!" exclaimed Cabin Boy Matt. "What's wrong wi' Yorkshire Tea, eh? Tell me! Nowt, tha's what!"

Deck Hand Chris just let out a long, low, though tuneful, whistle of amazement.

Skipper Bruce saw Harbour Master Gamble strolling along the quay and beckoned him to join the group.

"Good morning, boys," Harbour Master Gamble greeted them. "How are you today?"

"What's this?" asked Skipper Bruce.

"What's what?" replied Harbour Master Gamble.

"This ship," answered Skipper Bruce, gesturing towards The Grey Friar.

"Oh, that? That's The Grey Friar," said Harbour Master Gamble, without a hint of irony.

"Aye, I know that, but what's it doing here?"

"It's moored, by the look of things, though it's possible that I may be wrong, perhaps it's merely floating close to the dock and those ropes which appear to be tethering it are actually just laid coincidentally around the mooring rigs."

"Aye, I know that, but where did it come from?" asked Skipper Bruce in exasperation.

"Well, I'm not sure I can tell you that, you know, confidentiality and the like, don't misunderstand me, I mean, it's not because I don't like you, that is, I don't intend to insult you, it's just that, you're my friends and all, but, well, you know, procedure and data protection and CRB forms mean that I can't, tell you, that is, I mean, tell you where it comes from or who the crew are, in fact I'm not even sure I'm allowed to tell you it has a crew, but, oh! Look! Here comes the crew now, isn't that a coincidence? Or perhaps it's not, perhaps it was preordained from the very beginning."

Sure enough, a group of five, three men and two women, were moving down the quay towards them. At their head swaggered a broad-shouldered chap wearing jeans that looked just a little bit too tight. He marched right up to the crew of the Pride of Lamond and held out his hand to each of them, gripping each in turn tightly and smiling sympathetically.

"Morning," he said, "I'm Captain Campbell and this is my crew."

Each of the crew stepped forward in turn.

"First Mate Fraser." A ridiculously cheery girl with ridiculously curly hair and a ridiculously large smile held out her hand.

A slightly round figure with bright red cheeks was next to offer his palm. "Jim, just call me Jim, navigator."

A cheery girl, a little less cheery than First Mate Fraser though nevertheless still way too happy for the likes of the Pride of Lamond's crew, stepped forward. "Louisa," she said, curtsying, "technician."

Finally a tall, gangly lad with glasses nervously stepped forward. "Cabin Boy Henry," he said. "I was supposed to be technician, but spent too long deciding if I really wanted the job and ended up doing this. But it's alright, I guess, means I don't have to make any decisions."

"Aye," said Skipper Bruce, not bothering to introduce his crew to the upper class comers-in.

"Can I ask, why do you need a technician?" asked First Mate Glen in attempt to form friendly relations with them.

"We have five-hundred thousand pounds-worth of computer equipment on board," answered Captain Campbell, "which helps us to locate the best and most valuable fish. We need someone to monitor it and make sure it works to the standard we expect."

The Pride of Lamond's crew looked at each other in horror. There was no way that they could compete with this.

"Where's your vessel by the way?" asked Captain Campbell.

Skipper Bruce merely nodded towards the Pride of Lamond.

First Mate Fraser giggled, Louisa mouthed an embarrassed "Oh!", Cabin Boy Henry proudly stated that it wasn't a particularly nice vessel and Jim told them not to feel bad about having such a meagre ship because "from those who have been given much, much will be expected."

Cabin Boy Matt was on the verge of punching each of the crew squarely in the jaw, though he was later reminded that the only one he could have hurt in doing so was himself, when Ali, photographer for the St Andrews Citizen, introduced herself to Captain Campbell and asked if his crew could arrange themselves in front of The Grey Friar for a photograph which would, she assured them, make the front page of the local newspaper. The Grey Friar, after all, was expected to revive the local economy by bringing in more fish than the small town's other fishing vessels combined.

"Alright for them, it'll put us out of business," muttered First Mate Glen, indignantly, his earlier willingness to be friendly evaporated.

Having arranged Captain Campbell, First Mate Fraser, Louisa, Jim and Cabin Boy Henry as she liked, Ali positioned her camera and tripod, stooped to look through the viewfinder and then stood straight shaking her head and gesturing unhappily at the Pride of Lamond.

"What's that?" she exclaimed. "We can't have that in the photograph, it'll make our town's fishing fleet look decrepit. Somebody move it, please!"

Skipper Bruce gestured to his crew to board the ship.

"Let's go catch some fash," he said, dejectedly, "before that gets them all."

Having prayed, as usual, that they would bring glory to God on their voyage, the crew started the vessel's engines and the Pride of Lamond chugged from the small harbour out into the calm seas in search of prized, and very valuable, North Atlantic Cod.

The trip went well. The rickety old tub sailed happily, Steven Seagull limped around the deck squarking as he was fed titbits from the very reasonable catch they had made during the four day voyage and the crew had turned for home when they heard a loud roar in the distance. Skipper Bruce, First Mate Glen, Deck Hand Chris and Cabin Boy Matt assembled at the vessel's stern and saw, in the distance, The Grey Friar speeding towards them.

"She's coming straight for us!" cried Deck Hand Chris.

"They'll kill us!" shouted First Mate Glen. "And then Heth'll kill me for not getting home safely!"

The Grey Friar got closer and closer until, within no time at all, it was upon them. The gigantic ship passed within an inch of the Pride of Lamond at great speed. Waves from its wake towered above the trawler, knocking it sideways, almost causing it to capsize.

"All hands on deck!" cried Skipper Bruce. "We're being swamped."

First Mate Glen and Deck Hand Chris grabbed buckets and tried to throw the water that had landed on deck back into the sea from which it had come while Cabin Boy Matt hurried down below to make tea with which to refresh the crew in their toils. Skipper Bruce grappled with the wheel in an attempt to bring his boat under control but knew that he had failed when a deafening crash was heard.

Deck Hand Chris ran to the side and saw, in horror, a large rock emerge from the waves below them upon which the Pride of Lamond had become impaled.

"Skipper! Skipper!" he shouted, running to the wheelhouse. "We've run aground, Skipper, we're going down!"

Skipper Bruce grabbed the radio.

"Mayday! Mayday!" he bellowed sternly. "Any ships in the vicinity! Mayday! Mayday!"

But no reply came.

To be continued...