Chapter 24 - Crossing the Pacific

The weather is calm; El Niño is behaving himself as this is not a particular strong El Niño year. The weather system is in the middle of a seven year cycle when the impact on the southern Pacific Ocean is minimal.

The below deck crew are still talking about the successful Equator event. The conversation turns to the eve of the event and the mythical figure of the Klabautermann. Looking him up in an old encyclopaedia, they come across a drawing which is incredible akin to their own stowaway Gammelnok.

Nearly all sailors are somewhat superstitious, the Spanish below deck crew being no exception.

Some examples:

1: Losing a hat overboard was an omen that the trip would be a long one. 2: Whistling or singing into the wind was forbidden as it would "whistle up a storm". 3: Stirring coffee with a knife or fork would invite bad luck. 4: Like flat-footed people or red-heads were believed to bring bad luck to a ship. 5: No bananas on board. They were believed to be so unlucky that they would cause the ship to be lost. Whole cargoes of bananas were especially frightening for sailors. 

Luckily this ship carried no bananas, no hats had as yet been lost overboard and there were no red-heads on board. As to flat-foots, who knows?

But the fact that Gammelnok resembled the Klabautermann did raise some concern among the crew members. The fact that the Klabautermann in general was considered a benevolent being, dwelling upon ships and looking after them and the crew aboard was momentarily forgotten. The crew turned to the boatswain for guidance. 

The boatswain, having been at sea for decades and having sailed on older ships, using sails as opposed to engines had heard many stories regarding mythical ships creatures. 

Klabautermann, he explained, is small in stature and tends to hide out in little areas of ships until nightfall. It is said that while the crew is in his good graces, he will wander about the ship at night and fix things that had been broken throughout the day. He replaces items that have been lost, mends bits of rigging and equipment, and prepares things for the sailors. His presence on board a ship brings the vessel and its crew good fortune. He is a very helpful little creature and he is well respected and appreciated among sailors. 

So you can see, Gammelnok might look like the Klabautermann, but he is far too lazy to fix anything aboard this ship. He is a stowaway we took on board when he needed us. We look after him as a fellow being and hopefully when we reach England he will stay there, find his garden pond and live happily ever after.

This seems to put the minds of the crew to rest. Having heard the story though they still think Gammelnok could do more to pay his way. Free board and lodging is one thing, but him not contributing to the daily needs of the below deck crew does bring some resentment.

Gammelnok having overheard this exchange from his curtained off alcove behind the stairs is well aware he is not pulling his weight. His new friends are all very courteous and polite, but on the whole he has the impression he is just tolerated and not actually respected.

He knows he has no practical skills and that over the many years of his existence, has relied on his wit and mental capacity plus his mother's gift of the Haversack to get him through life. He cannot help out with cooking or cleaning as he cannot reach the work tops. The Spanish crew are all proficient at what they do and his help above deck is not needed, apart from the fact that he has to stay out of the sight of the ship's officers, he feels somewhat useless.

So, what can he do to help?

He suddenly remembers the old wood carver he met in the Christmas Cave back in Holland.

One of the things that stick in his mind is the story of Andalusian music. Especially the primitive everyday objects used to make rhythmic sounds whenever the village people gathered for a singsong. The wood carver had shown him a picture of a Zambomba. An earthenware or terracotta pot covered with pig's skin stretched tight and pierced with a bamboo stick. To play it, the bamboo stick had to be rubbed or moved up and down with a wet hand through the tightly stretched membrane. This created a rumbling sound amplified by the empty terracotta pot. Very primitive and very repetitive but also very haunting.

Gammelnok had not seen or heard this instrument being used while attending the Spaniard's music evenings.

Could he make one?

Searching the cupboards in the mess room, he came across an old earthenware tulip shaped pot. It would do for a base. Now he needed a pig's skin, a cord for tying the skin tight over the top and a stick to be stuck through the middle for rubbing purposes.

Searching all cupboards for anything remotely useful without any luck, he finally decided to look in his Haversack to see if his mother had been watching or listening to his frantic search.

To his delight, two bamboo sticks fell out, one a lot thicker than the other but damaged. It was split down the middle, about three quarter way, so as it was of no use to him, he put it on top of the mess table. 

The other thing that fell out was a square piece of cloth with a hole in the middle. It also had cords attached to its four corners.

Gammelnok set to work, sitting on the floor with the pot between his legs. Sweating with the effort, he tied the cloth tight over the pot and stuck the thinner piece of bamboo through the hole. It made a funny sound. He tried pulling it up and down but it was not until he wiped the sweat of his forehead and tried again, now with wet hands that it suddenly made a real sound. Delighted, he continued rubbing the stick against the hole in the cloth until his head hurt from the repetitive sound.

Finally he lifted the finished product onto the mess table next to the broken bamboo stick. Tired from the effort he crawled onto his cot behind the curtain below the stairs and fell asleep.