SPLASH! The water of the raging storm splashed against the wooden hull of Sir Trevor Huxley’s boat, The Amazonite. He was on a mission to travel to a remote island in the Pacific Ocean to study rare animals and plants that were native to the area.
On the way, there was a terrible storm. Sir Trevor sat in his room, a handful of people that volunteered to accompany him sitting on the floor, on his bed and at his desk. The men and women were very frightened of the raging torrent that once guided them along with many voyages. They had encountered plenty of storms, but none like this. Raindrops that were as big as conkers fired across the windows and the deck.
Trevor looked out the wet window. He could see big rocks and after that, a beach dotted with palm trees.
“LAND HOOOOOO!!!” he cried.
Suddenly, there was a flash of lightning and a boom of thunder. Then, came the smell of burning smoke. For one split second, it was as if time had stopped. Everyone froze, then they looked at each other.
“Ladies and gentlemen, do you smell the smoke?” Sir Trevor asked.
The men and women murmured and nodded in agreement. Suddenly, the people who were sitting on the floor shot up in pain, running out the door. The rest of them realized the boat didn’t move.
The lightning must’ve hit the ship’s engine room! Sir Trevor thought.
Sir Trevor rushed down to the engine room. He saw that lightning had indeed struck the engine room and the sailors down in the engine room had just been shovelling coal into the furnace when it struck, leaving them fried on the spot.
“EVERYONE!” he yelled. “GET INTO THE WATER! THE SHIP IS ON FIRE!”
“No!” Trevor recognized the voice, it was his wife. “We should try and put out the fire first!”
Trevor nodded in agreement and bellowed, “EVERYONE, GET A PAIL AND TRY TO PUT OUT THE FIRE!”
The crew heard the shout and immediately got pails and put the pails in the sea. They quickly ran down to the engine room and extinguished the flames, mourning the ones they had lost.
Trevor realized that they landed a stone’s throw away from the island’s sharp rocks. He tied the ship to a rock using a rope and the crew slept in the cabin once again.
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The next morning, Sir Trevor announced, “ I will explore these rocks and see if there is land ahead.”
He climbed the rocks, looking out towards the horizon. There it was, the sandy beach ahead, the trees that drooped over the steaming hot sand, and finally, the green-brown slope of a tall hill. Excitement overcame all of Sir Trevor’s worry, grief and anger from the storm last night.
“Hey everybody!” he called over his shoulder. “We hit land!”
Within a minute, everyone rushed up the rocks to look at the glorious land they sought after months at sea. It looked like paradise. The beaches were scuttled with white shells that seemed to gleam in the sunlight. Sunlight skimmed over the shiny fish scales in the ocean. Palm trees dotted the beaches, monkeys snatching the coconuts right off the tree. This was an ecosystem the crew had never feasted their eyes on. They were stunned into silence. Suddenly, it was broken by the sound of scuttling crabs on the beach beneath their feet. The crabs poked and clawed at them, drawing blood. The crew quickly got out of the way, careful not to step on a crab.
“Right,” Sir Trevor announced. “Since we are stranded here on a remote island, we should try and build a distress signal to call for help. After that, we can collect materials from the ship.”
The crew began to build a distress signal out of seashells, palm leaves and other things they could find on the beach.
They reached the ship with ease. The crew searched the wreck of the ship. When they all were back on dry land, they had guns, gunpowder, bullets, a toolbox, a few axes, a barrel of meat in salt, a barrel of butter, a barrel of bread, a harpoon, a fishing line, a net and a bow, plus a quiver of arrows. They had also found some animals. There were a few pigs, some goats, chickens, a donkey and two dogs.
Sir Trevor and the men decided to cut down a few trees to make a shelter for the night, while the women were on their hands and knees to find some berries and other fruits. The men also got some coconuts. They also had some crab meat, a bit of the meat from the ship (no one could figure out what kind of meat it was) and some berries the women found to be safe to eat.
It was late twilight when the men gathered stones and sticks so they could make a campfire. They roasted the crab meat and they ate the soft, flaky meat. The berries were sweet and everyone loved them. The men and women decided to divide the labour between building the hut and keeping guard over the others.
Finally, the hut was complete and the crew was very pleased to see that there wasn’t a trace of it collapsing and that when they lay down on the leaves, it was very comfortable. Sir Trevor shut the door and they all slept peacefully without being so rudely interrupted.