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The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/Applied_logistics on 2024-12-23 01:18:33+00:00.

There is no way to pace this story. Because my recollection of the event is like any other truly violent one, chaotic and instantaneous. None of lives tragic moments are long buildups to skilfully told releases, they are disorientatingly fleeting, only properly understood with hindsight. But I think the retelling is important. If only to remember what happened.

 

I am an electrician with a engineering degree. My father had a passion for boats and so naturally I spent some time in the navy. Although I learned much it is only important in so far as telling you that I was very qualified for my job. I worked on a cargo ship. That work was a very lonely existence. Hard to keep onto people when you are off shore for long stretches of time, especially women. I had a highschool sweetheart, and I spent time dating after we broke up. But no one could stomach my proffession, and having me in exile so consistently. So I make due with my own company. Sure when you are at sea you make friends for life, no way you can’t under those circumstanses. The thing is just that most of these friends for life, you won’t ever see again. Everyone takes jobs when they can, and that means spending a lot of time on the same ship with different men. The men with families plan their scheduals around those families, staying true to whats important to them. And therefore often fly home when we port. It is different when you are a single man. Work can become an escape from your life. It can keep your mind off the things you really need, keep you from improving, from finding solutions, making changes. It can ocupy your mind even if that mind hungers desperately for change, seeking anything but that horrible doomed loneliness at sea. Still the work makes you stay, it takes away the energy you need to wonder, and find better things.

 

The work that consumed my time on the waters was relativly simple. I did maintenance. Specifically for the stuff that had to work. Lights, sensors, engine control and so on. Anything where you would think an electrical signal resultet in the mechanical change of a system, I was the man you talked to. That made days simple, I had one tool that was always with me, a voltmeter. Wondering if current is passing through this wire? Simple as connecting to it and you will know. Making my rounds around the ship this way checking this and that, I was constantly running into the entire crew. We all knew each other well after no time at all, but from the perspective of others I get why I was always greeted with surprise. I knew where they where stationed, but they knew little of my rounds, or didn’t care to.

 

“Hey Jim! Finding it hard to stay away from me?”

 

It was Mark. Basically the only part of the crew I knew from earlier. He was such a lovely man. Kind hearted, helpful, understanding and full of playfull humor.

 

“Of cause, you’re magnetic.” I held up my voltmeter like it was dragging me to him.

 

He gave out a small snicker.

 

“What’s wrong with our ship today?” No one liked Justin. Not sure why. Maybe it was because he forced himself into stuff people weren’t interested in sharing with him. Or maybe it was just me, and I despised the fact he didn’t understand I wasn’t interested in having mine and Marks friendly jester bouts interposed with generic small talk. I had a fleeting thought occur to me then, of replying “you are the problem with our ship” but kept it to my self.

 

“As usual it’s just lose signals that are being tightened up. But you should be glad I’m not letting anyone in on how shitty our sonar is!”

 

All ships have a sonar that helps measure the depth to the seafloor. It isn’t really useful when your at the middle of the ocean, like we where at this time. But it can be extraordinarily important when close to shore. And if you are like most normal people you probably havn’t thought about how a sound based system knows what is underneath you and what is at the sides of you. After all it is a wave that just propagates out to all sides, so how would you know what the echo was bounced of off?

 

The reason why it works is answered by how it sounds. Multiple wavelengths of sound are emitted at once. The waves flow over each other creating interference. The image is then created by how these waves have changed when they come back. The waves spread out in 3d, and when the sound is bounced of an object all of the components, with different wavelenghts, are shifted in relation to each other. Where there once was negativ interferance there is now positive, and maybe, vice versa. Allowing you with some math to know what direction the return signal is coming from. Interferance like this is crazy complecated.

When interference is between two waves in head on collision it is relatively easy to understand. But when waves can spread between each other in 3d, or even 2d surfaces like an ocean, it immediately becomes very hard to grasp how they interact. But this complicated interaction is why sonar works, and simultaneously why ours wasn’t always able too.

Because in some cases different wavelengths interact in such an unfortunate manner as to create spots of hyper enlarged magnitudes. Basically a single spot can be placed in a location where all waves peak together, right at that same intersection spot. Creating a wave of such intensity that it can fry the system, simply by being literal hundreds of times bigger than the equipment was ever designed to withstand. A rogue wave, as it is called. And it just so happens that our sonar has a tendency to create such waves much more frequently than you would expect.

 

“Let me guess, it’s so bad as to basically be like going in blind?” I din’t answer Justin this time. Just looked at Mark as I went by them onto the next task.

 

“Don’t have to much fun without me now” I didn’t pity Mark having to stay with Justin.

 

That evening we were all called in to eat together, which was a rare event. The captain chose to give us some bad news, in a nice setting. Not that the room was nice, just that company was. Imagine a ship and you will know what it looked like. Cramped, iron walls spray-painted with a thick layer of white-ish paint, fluorescent lights, tables mounted to the floor the feeling was like you had chosen to live with 15 other men in a floating prison. What a brutal proffesion.

 

“okay, so. SO WE are about a couple of days. A day or two out from really bad winds.” We all knew what that meant, even if his look hadn’t been so stern. Our captain was a man with many many years of expertise. That he even called a meeting meant this was critical information. And getting a wind warning out on sea, didn’t mean strong winds. It meant waves.

 

“and of cause that means dangerous waters” The weight of his words draped over us like a duvet. Just like any slumber party anything outside of it became a distant reality.

 

I broke the silence

 

“How tall are we expecting them?” The captain turned his eyes to meet mine.

 

“The important thing is that we prepare for it, that’s the only focus at this point. Everybody on board with that assessment?” He turned his gaze towards the room. He didn’t know the answer, which was frightening.

 

“sounds good cap” A few of the men said uncoordinatedly. Allowing his desperate plea to let his ignorance slip under the rug.

 

That night I dreamt terrible things. I dreamt that all of us was in the lifeboat. The ship slowly taking on water, we had managed to make an escape. But the lifeboat wouldn’t unlatch. With such a technical fault, I dreamt of the men arguing, to some degree violently. They where choosing a crew-member to unlatch it from the outside. Staying back with the cargo on the doomed vessel. And logically, at least to my dreaming mind, they chose me. I was the only one that knew how to operate the latching mechanism. And being forced to step out from the security of the life boat I watched Mark fight back against the group consensus. Landing backwards on the though metal of the cargo ship, I watched the men that threw me give way to an enourmous version of Marks head. Marks head filling the entire doorway with his big teary eyes. As the ship started listing I got to my feet, a new directive being installed into my being. Survival was no longer an option. Only the ability to save my tribe remained. Saving Mark. Dreams are weird conglamerations of ideas. And I don’t know if we hugged but we deffinitly exchanged a deepfelt goodbye. And I grabed the small pin keeping me from ridding the boats of shackles. Pushing it of the ship I watched as I was ripped from exsistence by my own heroism.

 

“You slept okay Jim?” Mark handed me a much needed coffee. Even if I had slept well I wouldn’t have been able to make coffee in this sea. Contrary to common belief a ship doesn’t sway every which way. The ship is most well equipped going straight onto the waves. The captain going in head on to the waves meant you could be pretty sure what ways you would be thrown. Although the sea wasn’t bad enough to throw us yet. But you could feel the winds the captain had promised, had worse in store for us when we reached them. I accepted the coffee graciously.

 

“thank you” a small smile towards him was unwillingly given off my lips.

“well I actually slept quite poorly.” I directed my following inquiry to the entire room.

“does anyone here know how to keep the lifeboat clamps engaged?” The question was va...

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