2 A ships forgotten tale

I came finally close enough to see the base of the reef. It is aggressively colourful and filled with many small things moving around, swimming, crawling and burrowing.

And with stark contrast perched on top, the ship. Long forgotten, mostly destroyed by the time, the sea and whatever shot that huge hole in its side.

I start jumping and waving my hand around. But it only makes me moonjump a few inches high. For some reason, I thought that would bring me up there. Strange...Well then lets climb.

I drag myself up slow and steady. My fingertip working almost like bony hooks makes it much easier.Time passes and I climb. Ten feet, then twenty, thirty...

forty...

fifty...

sixty...

sixty-one... sixty-two... sixty-three.... and got it. I drag myself over the edge of this plateau. In front of me the large ship. A galleon I think. Barnacles growing on its hull and corals growing around it, it already fits in, returned to nature in the most beautiful way.

The ship itself mesmerizing, even in its death. Its bow and port visible, I see its figurehead, a long winding snake along its keel with its maw stretched open like it wants to devour everything, even when it's so peacefully resting. On its side, I see the remains of its name, almost entirely scrubbed off by the water and sand. "Jor****g**dr", were the only letters still barely readable.

After gazing at it for some time I walk closer and around it. Fascinated by every bit and piece I can see. It was a large ship. One full cannon deck with at least twelve cannons. And like a scar going right across its centre line caused by the hole in its side was a long crack with the top part even split apart entirely.

I take my time to inspect its outside with care, before climbing inside through the hole. As I take a look around I see, the shattered remains of three different decks, smashed around by the impact. It seems like the centre part of the ship were the crew quarters and two decks of storage. Most of it overgrown by seaweed it resembles more a cave filled with green than a shipwreck.

I walk and climb from deck to deck, the waters around me turn dark and light a few times while I sate my curiosity. Starting from the bottom I explore. Finding a deck barely a two feet tall at the very bottom, filled with some kind of dark metal. Next three decks of cargo, most of it are now empty barrels and crates, I suppose food. But also a separate area with barrels of greyish dark goop, I suppose gunpowder. After finding that area I give it some space, I feel somewhat nervous around it. Next on the list are the crew quarters. Scavenging around, I find a few pieces of rust, impossible to discern what they once were. Going up I climb into the cannon deck which make me feel excited, even though it's as silent and abandoned as everything else here.

Even though I feel like Christmas morning I don't find anything particularly useful or of note. Just a dozen cannons and a few piles of cannonballs. I then walked up the stairs that extend from the rear of this deck upwards. On the next deck, I find a small hallway with two doors leading bow-wise and one double door opposite of them. I first take a look through one of the two single doors and find myself on the upperdeck, with the vast blue above me. At that point I wonder, why would the heavy cannons be the first deck? For some reason that feels wrong, but I wasn't able to put my finger on it. I ponder for some time but as I don't seem to be able to get to a solution I start exploring again.

Wandering around the deck I find the remains of the three masts but otherwise nothing noteworthy. Walking back inside I get excited again since I have the feeling that the double-door has to lead to something important. But there I hit my first ever obstacle. The doors are seemingly immovable. I don't know nor care if they were locked or just aged, but they are most certainly fixed in place.

Frustrated I search the entire ship again for some way to enter. After my eighth time searching the ship I find something interesting. Below a wooden board, I find a small box hidden away. Its lock corroded away entirely. It houses a mechanical contraption, mostly intact, probably cause it was made from rare metals. The device has stopped its function long ago but it is still intriguing and exciting. I am somewhat confused since it isn't large enough to be a clock nor small enough to be a watch, and I seem to know what it actually is, though I can't remember it. Taking this new thing with me I climb back up onto the upper deck.

My frustration blown away entirely, I roam around the deck watching the great blue sky and the kelp forest around me. As I look down from the stern of the ship I suddenly get the urge to slap me in the face.

How could I have been so stupid.

Below me, I see the broken pieces of a window that leads into the very part of the ship I was trying so hard to get into. And it's, not even that hard to get into. I put the box in my pelvis and climb down slow and steady.