The Powerful

By Connor Eyre | Posted: Tuesday July 28, 2020

He reeled up the massive nets. Hundreds of fish helplessly writhed and shook, faces expressionless as they were dumped onto the wooden floor of the trawler.

For the 4th time that week Captain James had exceeded his limit of blue-fin tuna. He checked the radar. It displayed nothing but deep blue as far as the eye could see in every direction. He ruled the seas in his world. He was Poseidon and no one could stop him on his rampage of greedily fishing every corner of the South Pacific.

The orange sun began to hang low on the horizon and slowly stars unveiled and emerged in the sky. He rested his arms on the side of his ship and let out a sigh of relief as another day was done. With that, he decided to call it a day and headed below deck for the night.

BANG! James was suddenly awoken by a loud thump. He immediately arose to check the culprit of the blast. After scanning the boat he saw it, a gaping hole at the bow of the ship. A shiver went down the back of his spine. In the glistening moonlight he could see teeth marks carved into the ship’s wound. It was just high enough so that water could not flow in, but any more weight or stress on the boat and it would begin to sink. James had no tools to fix the damage so reluctantly he returned to bed.

Morning came and the water was still as glass. James arose and instantaneously remembered the hole in the boat. Still haunted and puzzled by what had caused it, he decided to begin the journey back to repair his beloved ship.

Halfway back to the coast James confidently decided to cast out one last net; his arrogance was to be his downfall. As always he cranked the lever, bringing his catch back onto his boat and, as the net smacked the ground, he heard a sound that he never wanted to hear. Especially when he was hundreds of kilometers offshore. A sound to send shivers down the spine of even the toughest seafarers. It was water pouring into the boat from the wretched hole. James cursed himself for foolishly forgetting that no more weight could be added to the boat.

Desperately he rushed to his signal radar and dialled into the coast guard. Nothing, no signal. He slammed the radio down in frustration and ran out to the deck. In the distance, he saw the colossal storm clouds rolling in and a light rain began to sprinkle down onto his head. He felt helpless and utterly afraid. There was nothing he could do. James collapsed to his knees in desperate prayer while the sound of water entering the boat got louder, and thunder roared closer at hand. But the gods were silent.

The ocean around him whipped up and waves crashed onto the ship. The fish, still squirming in their net, began to shake out of their imprisonment returning to their natural home as they fell into the sea. Captain James was quick to realise his prayers were of no use. Mother Nature was overpowering him in every way possible.

He clambered his way onto the highest point of his vessel, which was a useless attempt. It slowly sank down for the sea to swallow it, and for Mother Nature to claim as her own. He cursed the heavens as the sea roared and thunder clapped from above. In the midst of horror and fear James felt inferior for once. He had been stupid to think he was stronger than Mother Nature and, in fact, he was not the ruler of these seas as his narrow mind had once thought. James felt so powerless now but in reality he had been powerless the whole time. Feeling insignificant and pitiful James lay down on his boat, allowing himself to submerge into the dark murky waters.

Not only was Mother Nature powerful, but she was also certainly not forgiving.