Thursday, February 16th.
This morning I awoke violently to the most dreadful sound I have ever heard. An ear-splitting screech, echoed through the hull of my boat, and the vessel came to an abrupt stop.
Quickly, I crawled out of bed and tried to gather my bearings. As I exited the bedroom, my feet were greeted by a cold splash. I looked down to see the entire floorboard covered in an inch-deep carpet of seawater.
Flurries of thoughts raced through my mind, and I began to fear the worst. As I wondered whether or not I had struck a reef, my eyes caught a glimpse of something sharp and rusty, poking out of the wall, on the starboard side of the saloon.
It was some kind of metal spike, roughly three inches in diameter. It was about chest height and had obviously impaled the hull. Water flooded in from the small openings between the spike and the hull in rhythm with the waves, as they crashed into the boat. The pulsating water was reminiscent of gushing blood erupting from a severed artery.
I rushed over to my utility closet, splashing through the water as I scuffled across the cabin. There, I began frantically rummaging through the unorganized mess of the various tools and supplies I had gathered over the years.
As I searched, I could feel the water level slowly rising. I imagined the boat as an hourglass and the water as sand. Each grain of sand that poured in through the hull, only led me closer and closer to an untimely burial at sea.
When I had finally located what I was looking for, I hurried over to the spike. There, I began sealing the cracks with waterproof tape, reinforced with some kind of fast-drying putty.
Due to the sheer size of the spike, I wasn’t able to remove it completely. Though, I wouldn’t, if I could either. The spike served as a blockade, and without it, the cabin would have been flooded in mere seconds.
I’m sure you have heard that you should never pull out a knife from a stab wound. This is because the knife aids, in sealing up the wound, preventing even more blood from pouring out.
Well, the same concept applies here.
Thankfully, stopping the leakage proved to be no challenge. But now that things have quieted down, I am beginning to realize that my problems aren’t over just yet.
I am in the middle of the Atlantic. weeks away from the nearest continent, and I am stuck here for the foreseeable future.
I went up to the deck immediately after sealing up the leak, and I discovered that the spike is actually attached to a greater structure, that runs deep beneath the ocean surface.
It almost seems to be some kind of large metal spire. It’s covered in rust and barnacles, and a great portion of it rises several feet above the water. It has four sharp spikes protruding from each side, one of which is the one that has pierced my hull.
I will investigate further tomorrow.