Rescue service

ROSE!!! It was Marshmallow who was shouting down the companionway. Rose had just found a corner of her bunk to lay in. The Red Sunrise was stuck in a storm. They had all sails secured, and the engines running. Just about managing to stay in position while the sea and wind raged around round them.

When Rose emerged from the hatch, her hair was whipped around her head with such a force that it hurt. The rain instantly soaked her face. "THERE!" Marsh shouted to be heard, while pointing to the starboard of them. Just above the horizon, as far as it was possible to distinguish a horizon in this weather, a bright red parachute flare hung in the sky.

"ANYTHING ON THE RADIO?" Rose asked. Marsh shook his head. Rose grabbed the receiver and set down on the deck in the cockpit to get out of the wind, and took a deep breath. "MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY"

Two minutes later, the telephones and pagers started screaming into the night for a selected group of people in the harbour town. They jumped out of bed, put on some clothes while hearing that same storm rage outside their houses, and then went running towards the harbour. No-one in their right mind would head out to sea in such weather, but these people would. They were the volunteers of the town's rescue boat. Their service was only called upon by those in dire need at sea.

Eight minutes later, the engines of the lifeboat roared to life, and the boat sprinted out of the harbour, hitting their top speed of thirty-five knots in between the breakwaters. Once out, they slammed into the first wave, but the six crew pushed on and managed to maintain a good speed towards their target. The radio operator told them a large sailing ship had called in a flair. And the local lighthouse had a small RADAR echo in that location, so that's where they were heading.

It took the rescue boat the better part of an hour to battle into the waves towards the reported position. There, they turned on their searchlight to the brightest setting and slowly swung it around. And luck was with them that in a response a hand flare was lit. And they found the coaster, half loaded with containers, deck line continuously flooded by waves, and the bow at a completely different angle than the rest of the ship. She had broken her back.

The rescueboat managed to take all the crew safely on board, and when they turned back to the harbour they spotted the sailingship. The rescue boat crew looked in amazement how the ship slammed trough the waves, shooting up seawater spray as high as the yards. They had a few sails set even! The skipper of the rescueboat pointed the sailing ship out to the captian of the crew they just resqued. "They called your parachute flare in."