The contents of an old diary dating from 1965 recounts one person’s memories of a fateful sailing holiday. A sailing holiday that will never be forgotten.
We set sail today from Dover to enjoy our planned holiday of sailing to the Carribean. I don’t know why we didn’t think of doing this sooner - and after some years without a decent holiday it really is a welcome break! There are five of us on board – myself, Sam, Ed, Jo and Rob. All of us are looking forward to this trip and we’ve supplies to last us a month in the hold. It should be fun.
The sea breeze is wonderful and bracing, the sun is warm and bright. Rob and Ed are having a heated debate about the latest football scores. Jo is sunbathing and Sam is reading up on Edgar Allen Poe. I myself am enjoying watching the world go by and the fish swimming past as our boat just sidles along. It’s great out here – we should do this more often…
Terrible storm last night. Boat destroyed and sank. Rob, Ed and I managed to scramble to safety on a large piece of driftwood. We’ve ended up stuck on some god-forsaken island in the middle of nowhere. There’s no sign of Jo or Sam. Using our survival skills we’ve set up camp and lit a fire in the hope that someone will see it and rescue us.
Using an improvised fishing rod and net we went fishing today. Ed and I caught a good many fish and Rob used his culinary skills to provide us with a decent cooked meal from our catch. We’ve plenty to drink as there is a fresh water stream nearby and some edible fruits in the trees. I think of Jo and Sam……I wonder if either of them made it to safety.
We went to investigate the signs of smoke coming from the other side of the island today and got quite a surprise. We bumped into Jo – she made it here too! Sadly, Jo told us of how Sam got swept away and has since presumably drowned. We had a good old reunion party and joined Jo in eating a meal she had prepared earlier, made from a dead wild boar which she had found on the shore.
Jo is acting very strangely. Keeps crying to herself and reciting prayers all the time when she thinks no-one is looking. She has undergone a really strange transformation since we found her. She is no longer the happy-go-lucky character we all once knew and has become depressed beyond imagination. She keeps sobbing, praying and muttering “I’m sorry, so sorry” to herself a lot. Still no sign of any rescue in sight.
For some sad and unknown reason Jo committed suicide last night, cutting her throat with her own penknife. I don’t understand it. Possibly the strain of being shipwrecked and losing our good friend Sam was all too much for her to bear? We buried her on her side of the island and wandered back to our original campsite on the other side of the island, as a mark of respect.
Not entered anything in here for a few days as nothing much has happened. Myself, Rob and Ed have managed to keep ourselves quite well fed on our diet of fish and fruits. I caught two lizards as well which was fantastic as I was getting sick and tired of fish at this stage. They tasted interesting – sort of like a very rich chicken-like texture but more liver-like in flavour than actual chicken.
At last – rescued! We were sighted by a passing ship as we stood and waved, yelling for help near our campfire. They sent a lifeboat to pick us up and we’re now safe and snug onboard. Rob and Ed are talking to the crewmen and asking them about the latest football and rugby league scores and asking who’s been relegated and stuff like that. I’m grateful for the rescue but still feel a twinge of sadness that neither Sam or Jo made it this far. I still can’t believe that Jo did away with herself…it still doesn’t make any sense. Why did she do it..?
Something terrible has just happened – and it explains entirely the reasons behind Jo’s actions! Myself, Rob and Ed have just returned from the ship’s sickbay after being treated for shock and trauma. Prior to that we’d been in the crew’s eating quarters where we were served with a warm meal. We all agreed that we’d NEVER really tasted anything quite like this dish before and asked the crew what it was. They laughed and then told us it was wild boar.
At this point we all stopped and swapped glances with each other and just stared awkwardly at the meal. Ed put his head in his hands and began sobbing, Rob quickly ducked under the table and was immediately sick all over the floor. I just sat there dumbstruck as it dawned on me…
“Oh God…” I whispered, “…so that’s where Sam got to! Jo, you sick little…”
Then I ducked under the table and noisily joined in Rob’s now flagging efforts of being violently sick.
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