High Seas Series: The Wilson O'Toole

In minutes, both doctors and six Medics were fully engaged in an emergency. The girl crashed and they had to take the two babies right then, otherwise, all three of them would die! They began pushing blood into the girl, but it ran right through her like water and they could not stop the bleeding, no matter what they did. In minutes, the girl was gone and her Mother was weeping, collapsed on the deck.

It was touch and go for several days for the two babies, their small weight and size meant that they had to be fed small amounts every two hours around the clock. Both babies were boy children and their Grandmother was greatly saddened by the death of their Mother. The girl had been her only child and only she had known who the boy’s father was. Despite their pleas, no one stepped forward to claim the boys and it was obvious that the Grandmother could not care for them, she was so devastated over her daughter’s death that she required the care of her neighbors in order to keep on going.

The two doctors felt their souls being tugged every time they came into the room to check on the babies. The two brothers were only two years apart in age and both had married young. Unfortunately, both of their wives and their children disappeared during the revolution in their home country of Ecuador and they had never been able to find their bodies nor their graves. Within a week, Juan and Jose were both sure that the two babies had two “Uncles” who would care for them. Accordingly, Captain Juan contacted Pat back in Lihue and let him know the situation. A week later, the computer that was connected to the medical link spit out a completed form giving the two Doctor-Brothers custody of two baby boy children to be named at their Naming Ceremony when they were a month old in accordance with Fijian Customs.

Neither Raul nor Pablo were surprised, they had planned on asking Pat during their next radio conference, to do that very thing. The two brothers batted different names around for a week before they decided upon an American Custom. Both Doctors were in the process of applying for American Citizenship, so the boys were appropriately named John and Joseph O’Toole Ramirez, Junior! So it was that two little boys from Fiji came to be Johnny and Joe Ramirez, Jr. The boys were identical twins and, when they entered school in Lihue, they drove their teachers nearly to drink, each one pretending to be the other.

They continued their work in Fiji, among the many islands that made up that community. They ended up on Tuvutha, they had received a call for assistance from the Island’s Administrator that a teenaged boy had fallen from a tree and had broken both his legs. The boy was being cared for by his older brother as both their parents had been killed in a fishing accident.

The older brother was, himself, only sixteen years old, but their father had been Cousin to the King and the boys were considered minor princes. When Juan and Dr. Pablo went ashore, they found the small home occupied by the boys by trial and error as no villager would speak of the two boys. It was as if they were not even there.

They were to discover that the boys’ father had broken some taboo and the whole family was shunned. The Administrator played it very low key and asked that his name not be used, all he wanted to do is help the youngsters.

The older brother was a tall young man and spoke fairly good English. It was obvious that he had been well educated. He brought the two visitors to their small house and went in first to tell his younger brother that help had come. The two visitors noted the entire house was spotlessly clean and neat.

Juan could not help himself, the more he stared at the older brother, the more distressed he became. The older brother was fidgeting and, finally he walked up to this strange man who was the Captain of the ship down in the harbor. He stood in front of Juan and looked into Juan’s eyes, slowly, the young man began to smile as he whispered to Juan, “I would be yours if you truly love me.”

Juan could not contain himself, tears were flowing down his face as he reached out and embraced the teenager. He said quietly, “I had thought that I would live out my life alone, except for my own brother and that I would never find someone I could love. Will you be my mate and live with me forever?” So it was that a Lonely Ship Captain found his soul mate at last and a teenaged young man found escape from a society that had shunned him and his brother for something their Father had done. A something that neither brother would ever know, as it was a secret between their now deceased Father and the King.

Jose was neither surprised nor concerned about the sudden turn of events, he rushed up to the two and hugged them both, before he and Dr. Pablo went into the house to see about Tang’iri’s younger brother, N’domo.

Pablo stabilized N’domo’s legs and they got the two young men out to the ship. They lay at anchor while Raul and Pablo performed surgery on N’domo’s two broken legs. The surgery took all day, they wanted to make sure the young man would have full use of both legs, without any lingering limp or pain.

Tang’iri moved into Juan’s cabin and Jose made it plain that he was brother to both Tang’iri AND N’domo in addition to his blood brother Juan!

Tuvutha was their last stop in the local area and Juan got on the SSB, he figured he would have to go to war with the Fiji Government to get exit visas for Tang’iri and N’domo. Just the opposite took place, the Ministry of State wired Washington, with copies to the ship, with Exit Visas for both Prince Tang’iri and Prince N’domo, along with transfer numbers for $250,000 for each of them, payable in American Dollars at the Bank of Hawaii!

It was a happy ending to one phase of their lives and the two Fijian Brothers were looking forward to the next chapter in their lives. Tang’iri had found his life partner and N’domo was anxiously waiting until he was a little older and he could go looking for a wife for himself.

They set off to the west and slightly south, headed for Noumea in New Caledonia. New Caledonia was a colonial possession of France and they had obtained a permit to visit the island under a cooperative health and humanitarian agreement. The capitol and largest city was Noumea and they were required by their permit to call at that city first and meet with the Colonial Health Officials. They had permission to dock at the Capitol City, near the International Cruise Terminal.

As they eased into Moselle Bay, they met the Pilot Boat and took on a Pilot, who guided them to a short pier in the port. The first thing Juan did was to make arrangement to take on fuel. It was his belief that a full tank was a “Happy Tank”! Their water tanks were still full as the Engineers had run the evaporators the whole time from when they departed Tuvutha.

The American Counsel came on board as soon as the harbor officials had departed, with new passports for Tang’iri and N’domo. He asked them a few questions, but made no mention of Tang’iri’s living arrangements with the Captain of the ship. He told both boys that, while they were now Americans, they were also members of Polynesian Royalty and to expect treatment as such from the people of Numea.

It was not long before two men came to the gangway asking for the two Princes from Tuvutha. Juan came down to the gangway and explained that one of the boys was recovering from surgery, but, they were welcome to come aboard and meet the two Fijian Princes. Juan was right up front, “Prince Tang’iri is my mate and Prince N’domo is quite young and is recovering from surgery.

The older of the two men bowed very low to Juan and said, “If you are the mate to a Polynesian Prince, then you also are a Prince. We welcome you to our land and would like to invite you and all your crew to a Festival of Welcome at Kuendu two days hence. If you have a motor launch, that would be the best method to transport the injured Prince. The Family and friends of the Princes are most welcome to attend. I realize that you must leave some crew members on your ship, but, please, as many of you as can come will be most welcome.”

Juan shook all their hands and told them they were very grateful of the invitation and as many of the ship’s crew would come as possible. The delegation took their leave and left.

After much consultation, it was agreed that N’domo would be allowed to go, IF he promised not to exert himself. Nelson Driggers, Assistant Bos’un was a huge black man and he offered to carry N’domo to and from the boat for the trip. They put all three launches in the water and tested the engines, each launch could carry twenty six people and Juan insisted that twelve men remain onboard The PATRICK just in case of fire or emergency.

Two days later, a convoy of boats started out for Kuendo Beach. The boys of The PATRICK were anxious to meet their counterparts of New Caledonia and those boys who were couples had already seen that they would not be discriminated against. It took them about an hour and a half to get to the beach. They spotted a crowd of Native People, flags and banners out on the beach and they saw young people setting up native instruments for music and dancing. There were teens like themselves, a few older folks and lots of young boys and girls all waiting for them to arrive. When they beached the boats, Nelson picked up N’domo and Juan and Tang’iri walked on either side of them as they approached the group. The local people burst out in cheers of welcome for the two Princes and their family while food was distributed to everyone. The most popular was meat on a stick, the American boys feared it might be dog, but Tang’iri assured them that it was pork and beef.

The dancing began and local girls and boys pulled the visitors into the dance, while a light banana beer was served. It had very low alcohol content and only a few of the younger boys got slightly light headed, but everyone had a wonderful time.

When it came to open the Omo, the pit where the beef was cooking, the smells made all the boys, the local and the ship boys start to drool. A shy girl walked up to N’domo with a large piece of roasted beef and sat before him, offering it to him. N’ domo was lost in her eyes. Juan and Jose were watching and they looked at each other. Juan whispered, “Another visit to the American Embassy is going to be needed, brother! Will you go or shall I?” They both laughed and watched N’domo stutter and stammer as the beautiful young girl took over his care. Juan wondered how long it was going to be before he had to do the same for his own younger brother!

Their stay in Noumea lasted a week before they sailed for the small islands to the west, making landfall first at Mare. They pulled in to the harbor of Tadine and the staff of the local Health Clinic was waiting for them on the stone pier. They had an emergency case and needed the doctors help.

When the group explained the problem, Raul was shaking like a leaf in the wind. A young boy had fallen out of a tree and had suffered a brain injury. The boy was comatose and his limbs were shaking in tremors.

Both Doctors ran back on board and started gathering emergency supplies. Six of the Medics assembled and they headed back to the jetty. There were no motor vehicles on the island, so they ran up the town’s only street to the clinic.

They found the youngster as the clinic staff had described him, there was a deep purple bruise on his forehead and it was obvious there was pressure on his brain as his eyes were bulging out. Raul injected the boy with a pain killer and asked the Clinic Technician about the boy’s parents as the child needed surgery immediately to save his life. The Tech shook his head and replied, “They believe the boy to be dead already and have held his funeral yesterday. They believe he is a ghost now and will have nothing to do with the body.”

Despite a flash of anger, Raul and Pablo found an old army litter and all six of the Medics volunteered to carry the boy back to the ship. The Medics literally ran down the street, carrying the litter. They were old wartime Medics and had served on the front lines of the Middle East, they recognized the urgency. By the time they got back to the ship, all six Medics were winded.

Juan had seen the party returning at a dead gallop, so he cleared the passageways and alerted the Hospital Staff of an incoming casualty. The Medics who had remained on board were wound up as tight as an eight day clock from the moment they saw the child.

They began lowering the temperature in the operating room and warming up the tube in the x-ray machine. Jose was on the SSB back to Lihue and Doc Ben was standing by to receive any x-rays they could send to him. He had called in Dr. James Ragsdale in Honolulu and he was standing by his own computer to view the pictures. Dr. Ragsdale was the head of Neurosurgery at Queen’s Hospital in Honolulu.

In seconds, the Medics had the child stripped and on the table in the Surgery, with ice bags all around him to lower his body temperature. This was to slow his metabolism and reduced his brain’s need for oxygen.

The SSB circuit was filled by the Doctors as they discussed the case and x-ray pictures flew across the many miles of airspace that separated them. The Engineers had put all three generators on-line in parallel to guard against any chance of power failure and the remainder of the crew was standing by in the Mess Deck and Rec Room to run any errands or be blood donors. The boy turned out to be A- and there were six members of the crew who had that blood type, which was relatively rare.

After consulting with the Doctors back in Hawaii, a somewhat shaky Dr. Raul Ramirez began the operation by draining the pressure from the boy’s brain. The operation went on and on, both Jose and Juan were pacing the bridge, jumping every time the shipboard telephone rang. They could see heavy usage on the SSB circuit and the flashing lights on the radio, indicating heavy data flow from the x-ray machine.

The Doctors had begun the operation at 10:20 AM and a cook had brought sandwiches to the bridge for Juan and Jose at 1:30 in the afternoon. The activity on the SSB had not even slowed down!

At 5:30 in the afternoon, Juan and Jose heard a great shout from down below. They could hear the medics screaming and clapping and they prayed that it was good news. Dennis Hicks, one of the Medics, stuck his head through the door to the bridge, waving his clenched fist and screaming, “They are done, they have relieved the pressure on the boy’s brain, and he is responding to stimulus. He will remain under until tomorrow morning!”

Both Doctors Ramirez were wiped out and dropped into their bunks fully clothed. They were sleeping like the dead! Tang’iri and N’domo stayed outside their door and guarded them against any but the Medics, who wisely left them alone. Life on The PATRICK went into suspended animation, waiting for the child to wake up.

There was little sleep aboard The PATRICK that night and, finally Juan and Jose gave up the effort and headed to the galley for a cup of coffee. There, they found the rest of the crew, nobody had been able to sleep, they all were worried about the little boy!

Jose was trying to analyze his feelings about the child who he had never met. He had seen the boy briefly when he was brought on board and he wondered why his heart jumped in his chest whenever he thought about him. He had always thought he was attracted to girls, but his arms ached to hold this boy, whose name he did not even know, in his arms. Juan watched his brother struggle, he had been there himself and suspected what was bothering Jose.

Finally, Dr. Raul announced the boy was awake and was talking! Someone ran up to the bridge and the ship’s air horn began to blow until the air tank was empty! Juan hustled Jose down to the Hospital and asked if they could see the boy.

Juan and Jose entered the Ward where the boy was resting and Juan hung back as Jose went to quietly stand beside the boy’s bed. The small boy turned his head and stared at Jose before he said, “I dreamed that my Papa was coming to see me, are you my Papa?”

Jose was lost, with tears rolling down his face, he replied, “If you will let me, I will be your Papa forever and ever!”

The boy, who said his name was Francis, grinned and said just one word, “PAPA!”

Dr. Pablo came over and whispered to Jose, “That’s enough excitement now, Francis needs to rest. He has been through a lot and is very weak. Come back this afternoon after he has slept and you get some sleep, also!” When Jose looked again at Francis, the child was fast asleep and he looked like a sleeping angel to him.

The two brothers, Juan and Jose, headed for their own cabins, they were exhausted themselves. Before he lay down, Juan got a message off to Pat in Lihue advising him to get busy on adoption papers and a passport for Francis, last name unknown, to be the son of Chief Mate José Domingo Ramirez!

Without any announcement, the story of Jose and Francis spread all over the ship and someone had penciled a name tag and taped it to the foot of Francis’ bed, “FRANCIS JOSE RAMIREZ! Patrick had been busy back in Lihui, by the next afternoon there was a radio message with an American Passport Number and the name, Francis Jose Ramirez, age 4 years. Jose could hardly wait until Francis woke up to show him the document.

Man and boy, both were wearing ear-to-ear grins and, by the end of the week, Francis had moved into his Papa’s stateroom. The carpenter built a small bed that sat right next to Jose’s bunk and the small boy went to sleep each night, holding his new Papa’s hand. As soon as he began to feel better, Francis was up and around like any boy his age. Although he was still a little shaky, Francis would come up to the bridge anytime his Papa was on duty and working.

There had been no rest for the Doctors and the medics. They finished out treating those in need on the island and the ship made the circuit through the Koro Basin before they headed for Taveuni Island. They had hit two dozen small islands in three weeks and everyone was getting weary. Dr. Raul had been in radio contact with an old German Doctor who lived at Kanacea. Snakes were rare on those islands, but some kind of serpent had bitten a teenage boy and there was nothing that Doctor Riker could do for the boy, he was near death.

From their conversations, Raul suspected that there was an emotional connection between Dr. Riker and the boy, so he asked Juan to “goose the engines” and get them to Kanacea as fast as possible. Raul read up on the snakes of the area and found that most were of the Cobra Family. Fortunately, they had plenty of anti-venom for a cobra bite.

Juan had hardly ordered the anchor dropped and the MWB lowered when the Doctors Ramirez and four Medics began climbing down the ladder to be taken ashore. The old Doctor told them that he would meet them at a small, sandy beach on the north side of town and lead them to his house a short distance away.

Bos’un Mate Nelson Driggers was pushing the small boat as hard as the little engine could handle, towards the beach. They all could see and old man in a white suit and hat that matched his beard, standing on the sand, waving at them. The old man’s English was guttural, but he shouted, “Yous Kom, yesss?” Nelson was carrying two Medic Kits and the other Medics had their own kits as well as towels, sheets and bags of dry cloths.

The old man led them up a path at a surprising rate to a large white house with a red sheet metal roof. There were two local teen boys waiting on the porch and they led the party into a bedroom where a boy, who looked to be about thirteen, was gasping, fighting for every breath.

Pablo began getting a blood sample so they could type the boy’s blood type and Raul took a chance, the boy was near death. He saw that the fang marks were quite large, indicating that it had been a large snake. He broke open two vials of Cobra Anti-venom and pushed them into the boy as fast as the boy’s veins could accept it. There was no response, so he pushed two more vials into the boy.

Finally, on the sixth vial, the boy started to react. Raul pushed his last two vials and hollered at Nelson to get on the handheld radio and have them send ten more vials to him as fast as they can, they were on the right track!

It must have been a huge snake, by the time it was over, they had pushed twenty vials of anti-venom into the boy! His pulse rate began to come down and his color improved slightly. The old Doctor was sitting in a corner as tears were flowing down his face like Niagara Falls!

While Raul worked on the boy, Pablo walked over to the old man and said, gently, “He is your son, isn’t he?”

The old man looked up and stammered, “yyyyyesss, I truly married his mother and we had but one child, Gunther. My family would have never accepted a half native boy, but his Mama und I luffed him dearly. Maria died last year und der boy iss all I haff left.”

The old Doctor looked up at Pablo and pleaded, “Pliss, safe him, he iss all I liff for.” Pablo gently helped the old man up and walked him over to the boy’s bed. Already his color was better and his breathing had returned to almost normal. It was plain to see that the youngster had fallen into an easy sleep!

The old man clung to Pablo and pleaded, “Pliss take mine boy away wit youse, take him to a place where he can learn und haff a liff normal!” Pablo looked up and saw his brother, Raul, standing there. Raul nodded and Pablo said gently, “Would you like to come with him? When we finally go home, there is a place for the both of you with us, back in Hawaii, in America. We can send Gunther to school, if he wants, even to Medical School if he wants to be a doctor, just like his father.”

The old man could not reply, his eyes were flooded with tears, so he just nodded in a yes. They remained there, holding clinic for the several villages at that end of the island. By the time they were ready to sail around the island to the next anchorage at Waiyevo, the boy was up and around and was curious about where he and his Papa were going to go.

They worked their way around the island before departing for Quamea Island, which was mostly a huge resort. They treated a few minor injuries on the island and its neighbor, Luthala Island. They were glad for the peace and quiet, they had all grown weary of emergencies.

Gunther Gleise and his father had settled in quite well. The old Doctor had served for many years on the islands nearby and spoke the native language very well. Gunther had been slow to recover, but, in a few weeks, his head of bright blond and slightly dark skin stood out among the boys as they played volleyball on the fan tail of the PATRICK. Gunther was a happy boy and made friends easily. He was fascinated with the operation of the PATRICK and could frequently be found up on the bridge, watching Juan or Jose pilot the ship around the small islands. Juan was forming an idea, but he would wait until they returned home to speak to Patrick about it.

They set sail from Luathala, headed for the tiny, windswept island of Nanuku. There was only one small, isolated village there, but they all felt that, as long as they were there, they ought to check on them. It was a lonely place, hardly more than the top of an old volcano sticking up out of the water.

There was a barrier reef around most of the island, but they could reach the small village on the north end. It was comprised of a dozen houses and everyone was obviously fishermen. They treated the usual small injuries common to that trade and were in time to deliver one baby. Pablo had a red face when the parents insisted on naming their baby girl after him, she became Pablita Suishun!

Their next stop took them to Elizabeth Bay on Koronitabu, where again there was a small fishing village. It was difficult getting over the ledge of lava rock to reach the village, they had to leave the PATRICK anchored out in the bay and use the MWB to get there.

They found little that required their services, so they continued on around the coast, stopping at each small village. It was not until they reached Tabiang that they found a village of any size. They set up shop in the Rabi High School and held clinic for two days. It was while they were holding clinic that they heard the word they feared and hated most, “PIRATES”!

Pablo was on the handheld like a flash, speaking to Captain Juan! If there was any group to be hated by those from Lihue, pirates were right at the top of their list. The PATRICK was officially, a Hospital Ship, but the O’Tooles and their folk had long experience with pirates and slavers. The moment the word was out, Nelson Driggers was down in the hold unwrapping machine guns and rocket launchers!

Juan advised the ashore crew to come back to the ship as soon as they finished holding clinic and to bring any small children that could convince their parents to release them. Jose returned with thirty children from toddlers to young teens.

By the time the ashore party had returned, there were machine guns and rocket launchers mounted on the ship’s railings and the top of the wheel house. The older teens were carrying handheld 40 mm machine guns and the 50’s were solidly mounted on the railings. There were boxes of ammunition laid out in the passageways and Jose had laid his hands on some of Dr. Pedro’s Special Pirate Presents, explosive 50 mm bullets! All the rockets were loaded with explosive shells and Juan was pretty sure all the boys carrying those 50’s knew exactly how to use them!

They did!

The alarm came at 3:30 AM, the older boys had only been dozing at their firing positions and both Juan and Jose were on the bridge. The pirate ships looked more like WW2 PT Boats, so they surmised they were of wooden construction. The older boys had all been there before and they rubbed their hands in glee. Captain Juan was watching the approaching boats in the night glass. All lighting had been turned off, so the PATRICK was just another black blob on the surface of the ocean.

As he looked through the night glasses, there was no question the men on those ships were pirates, the closer they got, he could even pick out individual features, they all looked like Orientals, most likely Malay Pirates. He had never fought them before, himself, but they could not be any worse than those in South America that he and his brother had escaped from.

As soon as they were close enough, Juan ordered the spotlight turned on them and he shouted, “Fire at will”! Those were the words the teens were waiting for, in seconds, the approaching boats were in flames and men were screaming. Their words were NOT the patois nor were they the official French of The New Caledonia Islands!

After it was over, the sun was just breaking over the morning mist, there were broken ship parts and sharks swimming around, they managed to snag a couple of frightened crewmen and there was no doubt, they were Malay. Juan got on the SSB and told the New Caledonia Authorities what they had found, he made no mention that they had shot up the pirate boats, only that they had found a few swimming sailors among the feasting sharks.

They told Juan to standby, there would be a French Destroyer in their area in a few hours. The medics did slightly patch up the wounded pirates, but that was mostly to keep them from bleeding on The PATRICK’S decks! By the time the destroyer arrived, all signs of machine guns and rocket launchers were carefully stowed away in the hold and the young French Ensign, that boarded the PATRICK, just snickered and thanked them for picking up the pirates so they could hang the lot of them!

As a battle went, it was by far, the smallest they had been in, they had not expended even one full case on any of the ammunition sizes they had on board. But, to the people of the nearby island, the men and boys of the PATRICK were heroes and the islanders insisted they come back to be thanked. The berthing compartment that night was filled with men and boys groaning off the load of food that had been “forced” on them by the islanders!

PERHAPS IT IS TIME TO CHECK UP ON THE OTHER HOSPITAL SHIP, THE WILSON O’TOOLE, AND DISCOVER WHAT THAT SHIP IS INTO.