More Under The Sea

Now, if you’ve been wondering where the second part of my Under the Sea special was, I’ve got news for you. Roamin’ Rambler had to do a lot of research. If you remember, I spent a turbulent day of scuba diving down at Shipwreck Reef. Here’s what really happened down there.

Captain Ironhook asked me to hunt for his ship that wrecked on Shipwreck Reef, called the Thundarr. The Thundarr was his ship before he built the Plundarr. I was very excited to dive and see the wreck, except there was a huge problem when I got down to the bottom of the ocean at Shipwreck Reef.

I haven’t told anybody this until just this moment: I didn’t see the Thundarr. There was nothing down there but coral.

“Yarr, so did you find me Thundarr down tharr at Shipwreck Reef?” Captain Ironhook asked when he hauled me up to his skiff. I took my scuba mask off and nodded. It made me feel crummy to lie, but I had the feeling that Captain Ironhook wasn’t being totally honest himself. Before I admitted anything, I wanted to do my research.

Well, you wouldn’t believe what I found out!

It turns out that Captain Ironhook actually wrecked the Thundarr on the shores of Cathattan Beach, right on the sand. He didn’t hit Shipwreck Reef at all! That would explain why I didn’t find a single splinter down there on my dive, let alone a galley stove or plank from the ruined ship.

The only reason I can finally post this story is that I talked to Captain Ironhook and came clean.

“I didn’t find the Thundarr down there, Captain,” I said. “Are you sure you wrecked it there?”

For a second, I thought I was getting Captain’s Ironhook right to the face. He clenched his remaining fist and screwed up his eyebrows. If you’ve never seen a pirate angry, I wouldn’t recommend getting him that way. “Yarr,” he told me, “what are you sayin’? Are you callin’ Captain Ironhook a liarrrr?”

“No, not that, of course not,” I said, grabbing my notepad and preparing to make a quick exit. “It’s just that I’m wondering if perhaps you might… uh… not have been… uh… totally… honest.”

Captain Ironhook hung his head. “Yarr. Well, ya found me out, Ramblarrrr. I didn’t wreck the Thundarr at Shipwreck Reef.”

Whew! I wasn’t about to get clobbered by the Captain. “Where did you wreck it, then?”

“Yarr, I drove that galleon right outta the watarrr. Right onto tha beach. It was a foggy night out at the harbarrr and…”

“That’s okay, Captain Ironhook, I understand,” I told him. And I did. He was just embarrassed. He’d been a pirate his whole life and one mistake, one foggy night, could’ve ruined his entire reputation. Well, now that his secret is out, I bet he’s feeling a whole lot better about the whole thing. When I visited him at the Plundarr for breakfast, he was all smiles and gold teeth.

“Yarr, it was time to put that old secret to rest. Thanks, Ramblarrr.”

I’m just doing my job. I thought I was responsible for traveling and bringing back good stories, but it turns out I’m also a pirate detective. Go figure!