John O’maley had always had a fascination with water. Even though he couldn’t remember, his parents often told him that when he was young he would always want to be around water. However, when he was younger there wasn’t much opportunity to be around water  because he was born in Montana. That changed when he was 13. His dad got transferred to a branch of his company in Florida. John had hated leaving all of his friends and his old life, but he was excited to finally have a chance to be around water.

John’s family had been in Florida for 3 years and he was loving it. His family owned a beachside cottage, that was also near a shipping dock. John loved to sit on the beach and watch the boats come and go. He was an avid swimmer, and was trying to get aboard one of the boats captained by Fredric Friery.
Fredric Friery was a personal friend of his parents and lived only a few houses down, though he rarely set foot in his house. Most people thought he just used the house to store his belongings and to have mailing address. John and Frederic had become friends and were often seen together when Fredric wasn’t out on the seas. Fredric owned a small cargo company, and carried packages from islands and other countries to Florida, where they would be shipped or delivered. Even though Fredric was a skilfull captain he often ran into harsh seas, and once a year he would make a journey down to South America. There when he came close to Cape Horn he frequently risked capsizing due to the treacherous waters. In late June Fredric was preparing for one of these journey’s.

A sharp knocking startled John out of his slumber. He figured that he’d let his parents get it, it was probably someone looking for his dad anyway. Again the heard the staccato tapping. John let out a long low grumble as he slowly got to his feet, whoever this was wanted to talk to them badly and his parents obviously weren't there. He grabbed his iPhone and threw on a fresh pair of cloths, and headed for the door. When he got to the door there was another knock, this one seeming more impatient. John unlocked the door and opened it.
“Good morn’n te ye,” said the person who John couldn’t quite remember.
“Um… Hello?” asked John. As John's eyes adjusted he began to recognize the rustic and worn clothing of Fredric. John was surprised he didn’t recognize the man's thick Scottish accent, and the smell that always accompanied the man. It was a mix between the sea and the land, rich with earthy undertones and sharp with the smell of salt. John always loved that smell, and in the 2 years that he had known Fredric he had come to appreciate the smell and the man.
“Wher’ aer’ yer parren’s?” Fredric said in his gruff voice.
“I’m not sure, they must have left for work when I was asleep. What do you need them for?” John asked for this was a rare occasion that the sea captain asked to see his parents. The last time he could remember was when he started going out on small ventures with Fredric. When John had nothing to do, which was quite often, he and the captain would go and tour around Florida in the captain's boat. He was never out for more than 2 or 3 hours though, and each journey only made John with he could stay for longer.
“Well the’ ye better call them should’n ye, I ‘ave a question fer them.”
“Ok give me one second,” John replied, and he wasn’t surprised that the captain asked him to call his parents because as far as John knew he didn’t own a phone. John quickly dialed his parents phone numbers and waited for them to pick up. It wasn’t long before his mother answered the phone.
“How are you, and is everything alright?” his mother asked.
“I’m fine, I am just calling because Fredric wants to ask you something.” John said.
“Okay put him on, I have a minute time I can spare.”
John handed his phone over to the captain, and he promptly walked away. He was out of earshot for ten minutes before he walked back and handed John his phone. When the captain came back he had a smirk plastered on his face as if  he were excitedly trying to hide something.
“What was that about mom?” John asked a little confused.
“You should go upstairs and pack a bag full of clean cloths, enough for a few weeks, your toothbrush, phone charger, and a lot of snacks. Stop by here and your father’s work place before you leave. Have fun!” she said sounding excited and a little sad, “Oh and please call often.”
John then packed exactly what his mother had told him too, and still slightly confused got into his car and drove the captain and himself to his parents work. His parents came out looking sad, but they gave him a quick hug and started talking to the captain. John walked over to his dad who had finished talking to Fredric and was sitting on a bench.
“Hey dad, what’s going on?” Asked John.
His dad let out a small sigh before answering. “The captain and you are going to go on a shipping run. Your mother and I thought that you were ready for this, and the captain asked if he could take you.”
“So, where are we going on this trip?”
“You’ll find out soon enough, but make sure to take pictures,” his dad told him with a glint in his eye.
After one more round of hugs his parents said goodbye and he drove himself and the captain to the dock. They only had to do some short preparations before they were ready. Fredric told John that  men named George Smith and Jonathan Hatch would be accompanying them, because they always accompanied the captain on these journeys and were excellent when dealing with the dockmasters at the other port. Before long they were off, unbenounced to John they were heading for the southern tip of Chile, and it would be a long and treacherous journey before he even disembarked.

George Smith had always had a taste for the sea, there was something about it’s dangerous allure that he couldn’t stay away from. He had worked with Fredric for 15 years, and they had been friends before when the captain was in Scotland. When he found that his old friend had started a small shipping company he was more than happy to join him. For the most part they just hopped from island to island around Florida, but once every year they made the trip down to South America.
George had been a sailor ever since he had been out of high school, and had worked for more  captains than he could count on one hand, but none were as skilfull as Fredric. It was told among boatswains and deckhands that he had once been caught in 50 foot swells, and he road them when most captains would have hunkered down. This route was different though. When they were forced farther south to retrieve the inevitable 2nd object from the shipper 50 ft. swells were considered small. It was a graveyard of boats down in that region, and few captains dared go down there. Fredric wasn’t most captains though, and it showed in his crew. George knew very little about the man named Jonathan Hatch, but he was an excellent sailor and mostly kept to himself.

“Good morn’n te ye laddies, we ‘ave a beui’fl day here in Chile, John welc’m te the shipyard!” The captain's voice said over the intercom system just as it had everyday waking John up. In his weeks long venture he had visited several tropical countries, and swam in warm crystal clear waters. His parents called every evening, either on the ship-to-shore phone or on his cell. He’d taken so many pictures he had to put them on three 16 gigabyte flash drives. John was in heaven. He’d also become a fairly decent sailor, helping the others with their duties onboard the ship. He threw on a pair of cloths and walked out to the bow of the ship. On the foggy day he couldn’t see much, but he saw what he thought were the outlines of ships.
“See tha’ there John?” Asked the captain as he walked up beside him.
“Yeah, what is it?” John replied
“Tha’s the remains of an ol’ cargo ship,” the captain said as the object came into view.
It was old and rusted, but John could clearly see the captain was right. The ship was almost double the size of theirs and it was broken in two. As the sun began to penetrate the fog John began to notice that there were wrecks like these scattered all across the water. John now knew why the captain had called it the shipyard, it was a graveyard for those who died at sea. In the far distance he could also see a port, most likely where they would make landfall.
Jonathan casually strode up beside the other two. His eyes weren’t focused on the wrecks John noticed, something in the sky seemed to have the normally calm and collected man on alert. John only saw a couple of clouds, but something really had the man rattled.
“Captain, we should moore here for a while, those clouds have an air about them…” Jonathan said in his deep voice.
“Och now! Thos clouds loo’ jus’ like the ones we passed while bac’,” the captain remarked, although he to looked a little disturbed by them.
“Maybe I’m just a little ansoius to be on solid ground again. Should we continue on?” asked Jonathan.
“Ye’ well go forwar’ et 10 knots,” the captain responded.
John still didn’t know what was going on, but he was also slightly put off by these strange clouds. As he went about his normal duties onboard the ship the clouds grew darker, and were approaching them fast. He also noticed that the waves were getting higher and higher, almost cresting over 15 ft. wrecks. Rain and high winds had also started to assault the ship and he was just about to get a coat when the captain called for everyone to meet him in the helm.
“As ye all ca’ see thes storm has grow’n an now we canno’ moore. Our onl’ choice is to continu’ forewar’ an hope fer the bes’,” the captain said in a confident voice, however his eyes told the crew that he was worried.
“Captain should we get the deck tethers?” asked George.
“Yes ye shoul’ all grab un’ an attach yer’self te the centre’ post.” The captain replied.
“What are deck tethers?” asked John.
“They are harnesses that you attach to yourself in rough seas so that you don’t get thrown overboard, they have saved many men at sea,” answered Jonathan.
With that the crew disbanded, and each of them put on a deck tether, and a life preserver. While they were in the meeting the weather had deteriorated. The rain had turned to hail that pelted the boat in 150 mph winds. The boat crested over 75ft swells, and at times went nose first into the trough causing spray which iced the deck. Lightning crashed into the water around the boat, causing burnt metal off of the other wrecks to come flying into the faces of the deckhands.
As the small boat was cresting a particularly high wave a horrible screeching sound echoed through the hull, and a large split appeared in one of the hand rails. As the ship lurched forward Jonathan was thrown toward the split in the rail, and narrowly missed being impaled. As he tried to regain his balance the ship lurched again as it climbed the next wave. Jonathan was tossed out through the split over the side of the ship, and his tether caught on the sharp wood. John ran as quickly as he could to try and save the man, but he was to late. To his horror the rope snapped and Jonathan fell to his death as the icy cold ocean welcomed him with open arms.
Again the ship lurched as it crested another wave, but when it started to go back into the trough it struck something. To the morbid fascination of everyone on board they had struck another ship.
“Captain we have a breach in the hull!” Yelled George.
“We ‘ave bigger probl’ms than tha’ ladds, we ‘ave ‘nother swell com’n!” The captain yelled back.
As the next swell overtook the ship it battered it against the older wreck. The wave crested over the boat and crew dragging it down and forcing it into the other ship. When the the water cleared John's vision was a mix of sea metal and sky. George was attempting to stand, when another wave took the ship. It hit with so much force that George was slammed against the hard exterior of the wreck. Unconscious his body was hoisted by the oncoming water, without his tether, and slammed onto a jagged edge of the wreck that they were entangled with. The metal tore through his flesh and exposed bone before his mangled body slipped off the other side into the ocean.
John rushed into the helm of the ship, to find the captain frantically trying to disentangle the boat. As the captain glanced behind him so see who had entered, the boat struck the wreck again, forcing John off balance, and the oncoming wave swept him out into the deep dark of the ocean, for his tether had snapped long ago. The last thing John remembered was the cold liquid pouring into his chest, burning him and slowly suffocating him.
Fredric Friery having seen his entire crew die, left the controls, and stood out on the bow. He screamed at this storm, that had taken his friends and that would take his own life. As Fredric contemplated all of the events that led up to this point he realised that he knew why the storm looked frightening. He had taken his crew into one of of most dangerous parts of the ocean, then he had his crew sail into the middle of a hurricane. He knew he should have waited, but his client didn’t like to wait, he was responsible for his crew’s death. As he struggled with this realisation he spread his arms wide and screamed, “Take me ye wat’ry devil! Take me!”
Everything went still. There was no wind, no rain, and the waves had momentarily ceased their onslaught. The old sea captain glanced skyward as a ray of light came through the eye of the storm. He felt a great sense of peace, and thought of how he should have comforted John and should’ve moored the ship at the first sign of the storm. Then the captain felt a great sense of despair, they were all gone.  With water rising around his ankles he started to cry. He watched as his tears vanished in the sea.
“Me tears are bu’ drops in an ocean,” he repeated to himself, and with that he vanished into the abyss, leaving nothing but a small swirl.