The Black Freighter

The Black Freighter

A Poem by David Lewis Paget

I’d met Helga at the Seaman’s Rest

Where I said that I’d be her mate,

Sailing her ancient Freighter for her

Down to the River Plate.

But then, I’d never set eyes on it

I was more concerned with her lips,

This Helga, who had bought the wreck

From the old graveyard of ships.

 

Then down at the dock, I saw it then

Coal fired, and full of rust,

And wondered if it could make it there

But she turned, and said, ‘It must!’

She’d spent the coin from a bad divorce

From the head of a shipping line,

‘I helped him to build that business up,

In truth, it ought to be mine!’

 

It was then that I saw the hatred there

Set deep in her flashing eyes,

‘My husband said he was going broke,

It was just a pack of lies.

He’s bought another great tanker since

That he calls Madrid Maru,

And sails it under a foreign flag

So there’s nothing that I can do.’

 

We threw some paint on the freighter then

And piled the coal in a stack,

Painted the name as Helga Jane

But the only paint was black.

She hired some Lascars, stoking coal,

An engineer for the crew,

And loaded the hold with tractor tyres

And aircraft engines, too.

 

We left the port with a head of steam

And nosed our way from the dock,

The pistons rumbled beneath the deck

In their first reprieve, in shock.

‘It’s been a while, it will settle down,’

Said the engineer, old Sam,

So slowly, out to the open sea

We sailed from Amsterdam.

 

The stars were bright on that first full night

With Helga stood at the wheel,

Heading into the darkness there

As if she could see and feel.

The Freighter seemed to respond to her

At the slightest touch of her hand,

And I took over the wheel once we

Were out of sight of the land.

 

I’d thought she might have been lonely

Once we had been some days at sea,

And hoped she’d open her cabin door

But her door stayed closed to me.

She seemed to brood, in an evil mood

When she joined me at the wheel,

‘I gave him years of my life,’ she said,

‘Then all that he does is steal!’

 

And even the freighter seemed to feel

The sense of her own despair,

It rose and fell with the ocean swell

And groaned as if steel could care.

In black of night, with a single light

There were sounds deep in its bowels,

The hull would shake as I lay awake,

And moan, like a demon’s howls.

 

A storm blew up on the seventh day

And it tossed our craft about,

We turned it into the crashing waves

As we tried to ride it out,

But the rudder snapped from the rudder post

So we couldn’t turn or steer,

And all this little black freighter gave

The crew was a sense of fear.

 

Then out of the mist of the driving rain

Came a hull she thought she knew,

And Helga screamed, and the freighter seemed

To know it, Madrid Maru,

The pistons started to race below

And the bow rose out of the swell,

Racing towards the starboard now

Like an arrow released from hell.

 

Though Helga clung to the useless wheel

To try to steer it away,

All the hatred she’d ever felt

Reposed in the ship that day.

We threw the lifeboat over the side

And the engineer jumped free,

I called to Helga, and she replied,

‘It’s fate! It’s coming for me!’

 

One of the Lascars made the boat,

The others were down below,

We watched as the Freighter raced ahead

While the tanker was long, and slow.

It punched a hole in the tanker’s side

And was rushed by the water in,

With Helga fighting the useless wheel,

I never saw her again.

 

It took an hour for the ships to sink

Still lodged together with force,

Even while drowning in the depths

They couldn’t get a divorce.

I’ll never forget that Freighter though,

It took on a woman’s pain,

They lie as one, now their day is done

Since we christened her Helga Jane.

 

David Lewis Paget

© 2015 David Lewis Paget


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alf
Hi David, oh Master of the Epic!!! Loved this!!! I love a sea story at any time but this was one of the best. this raised tension, expectation and let it crash, the you took us there all over again!!! Great idea, great write, great story and great poem!!! Sir, your humble apprentice, alf

Posted 9 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.




Reviews

A jaw dropping tale so riveting you drew the reader in...well written David.

Posted 9 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

Brilliant tale, David! You drew me in till I could almost hear the groaning of the ship and lash of the wind and waves, then the crushing screams of metal and human wailing as the freighter tore into the side of the tanker.

Posted 9 Years Ago


I like the story in this poem. I can imagine the scene at sea. It's very intriguing. :D

Posted 9 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

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B
Waw David
That is a story in a poem
Absolutely wonderful
A crash of love

Great !!!

Posted 9 Years Ago


One question, was her ex husband on the Madrid when it sank? So the ships are joined for all eternity, did the old man walk off with insurance money to get another ship? Boy, guess I want him to get his just desserts. Great tale David. Valentine

Posted 9 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

wonderful rhyme of the sea David, so Helga got some revenge but it cost her, your creativity has prduced a masterpiece here and one that should stand a very long time :)

Posted 9 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

David: Pulled me in with the first stanza and Helga, her lips...Great title too..and groaned as if steel could care: great line...Oh my goodness David, I love it. And I'm still laughing, visualizing the Freighters stuck together, and Bravo to you for writing such a wonderful poem. Now I'm a divorced woman and could only imagine myself in Helga (remarried) but wow, what a way to show a greedy guy. The content and language is fabulous, your language is always rich and descriptive, the images are amazing. I love every single line. What a great way to end the night. Thank you so very much David. You are so talented! Dale

Posted 9 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

[send message][befriend] Subscribe
alf
Hi David, oh Master of the Epic!!! Loved this!!! I love a sea story at any time but this was one of the best. this raised tension, expectation and let it crash, the you took us there all over again!!! Great idea, great write, great story and great poem!!! Sir, your humble apprentice, alf

Posted 9 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

You know David. I have a confession mate. I doubted you for a moment.I was getting ready to say that you had gave the game away too soon because I thought when I read this part -
"‘I gave him years of my life,’ she said,
‘Then all that he does is steal!’" - I thought, damn! she's gonna ram the hubbies new boat, DLP has given the game away very early in the poem.

I

Then I read the storm part and the damage to the rudder of the black freighter and i said to myself - 'Never right in your life, Anto' - how can a steerless ship be manouvered to ram another??
I was totally at sea by this stage !!

I

Then the new tanker comes out of the mist - YOU Mr Paget ! YOU did it again!

'Even while drowning in the depths
They couldn’t get a divorce." - A bloody brilliant tale this one. And I'm sorry for doubting you my friend.
-

Posted 9 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

I have only admiragion for Helga. She was determined to get her own back, even if it meant dying.

Upi sjould never cheat a woman, especially one who probably has Viking blood in her veins.

Posted 9 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.


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Added on May 11, 2015
Last Updated on May 11, 2015
Tags: rust, tanker, hatred, lascars

Author

David Lewis Paget
David Lewis Paget

Moonta, South Australia, Australia



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