Two years previously, Viktre and Ayyen, his lifelong friend, had finally saved up between the two of them enough to buy the ship that they had both been hired to work on for many years. What had been a surprise was Viktre’s father going ahead to send him his inheritance to assist in their plan. With that they had also bought another deep ocean fishing ship of a similar style. This also made Viktre the main investor in their new company. Ayyen was the more experienced captain, but Viktre had been learning a lot as they worked together over the years. Ayyen was the better navigator and manager, but Viktre had the knack of finding the right places to put out the nets for the best catches. Viktre was also better at making contacts.

The ships were not huge, but would allow them to spend a few days out in the deep to fill them up before coming back in to sell the catch. This new situation allowed them to work over the next phase of their dream of owning their own fleet. They spent the next two years saving up to also head down to England to set up a home base to run their fleet.

Thanks to friends they had some contacts in that area that would help get them started in getting some contracts immediately once they arrived in a port town called Whitby. They headed that direction in early May and by the end of May, they were within a day of their destination when they put down anchors and began tossing out the nets, and using the poles (designed for the huge fish that was their goal) were set up for the other side of the ship while they waited for it was time to pull up the nets. They wanted big-game fish such as swordfish, marlin, sailfish, bluefin, yellowfin, bigeye, and sharks. That was where the big money came from and at good prices for inland and even there on the coastland area if they were lucky.

They were not looking to push out the locals as they would stay closer to the shore with their fishing. Viktre and Ayyen would go out to the deeper waters and get the kinds that the smaller boats couldn’t handle. Though they both knew that at first the locals likely would not see to it that way. Well, that and that they were foreigners. But they were eager to give it a go.

Each had over the last two years, working with the crew they currently had. Over those years, some had been hired only to leave or be fired for various reasons. These eight men though worked smoothly together and respected their captains highly. There was a friendly rivalry between the two crews. In fact, they had an ongoing bet with each take, the crew that brought in the biggest catch had to buy the other crew’s a round at the local pub or tavern once they got their wages. They also cheered for their appropriate captain with the other ongoing bet, of which Captain brought in the biggest fish. The loser would buy the other captain a large steak dinner.

[All conversations would be in Russian...]

Captain Ayyan stood in the forecastle looking out over the sea with a spyglass near at hand, just waiting for the call of land-ho. Contemplating his bet with Victre, and already savoring the steak in his mind. We will make landfall soon… and I will be right on point… Doubting my navigation..! indeed!

Taking the looking glass with him, the captain heads up to the main deck to oversee the work. These are good men…. looking at them manage the sails.

We’ve a good tail wind to run with. No time at all till we get to Whitby.

Looking up the mainmast, Ayyan sees his spotter, Archangel, and remarks to himself, he definitely improved from the youngster who was afraid of heights to the able climber of today. The masthead became his second home.

Ayyan sees the rest of his crew at work, easy confidence in their motions. Maksim, Maks to his friends. Anatoly, or Tolka when he gets to know you. And Yegor, the ships cook, who can make hard tack flavorful. A treasured skill indeed.

Ayyan nods at them with a “carry on”, as he passes them on the gangway. His anticipation vivid on his face as he makes his way to the wheelhouse.

Looking down on the main deck, he spots the chimney. Ah… old smokey, she has gotten us out of bad spots many of time. Spent many an hour in that boiler room, stoking the fire.

At this point, Archangel cries out, “Land, ahoy!”. Ayyan pulls up the looking glass to see ahead. There it is! Right on point! This brings a grin to his face… The steak dinner is mine!

“Trim the sails! Bring us to a stop!” Addressing Tolya, “Signal the Blue Ocean that we have arrived! And on point!”

They come to a stop. “Drop anchor!” cries out the captain.

The Blue Ocean comes along side. The crew furls the sails and lowers a ladder in preparation for the other captain to climb up.

Watching, they see a dinghy be deployed and their captain cross over. In moments, the head of Captain Viktre breaches the edge of the gunwale as he climbs aboard.

Viktre nodded as he got up on the Blue Sky.  He was already hearing the other crew teasingly telling him that they would be enjoying the drink his crew bought them the next night.  Viktre challenged that back, "No, my men will be tossing up the vodka thanks to you and I will be having an amazing steak dinner thanks to Ayyen."  He teased back.

He saw his friend smiling at the conversations.  "Hey there, good job as usual on finding the location.  I guess I owe you a drink for that one."  He reached over to grab his friend's wrist in the firm shake of greeting.  "So, before you go buy my steak diner, let's make sure we have a plan on how to do this."

He stook there in the wind as they talked.  His face was red from the exposure to the ocean air and wind.  "I have the name and location to go for the ships customs warrant for clearing goods.  I'll go out first then, and then you behind me and wait with the crews and our 'ladies'." (the ships)

"I go into the port and pay the fees and get the paperwork done.  The buyer we set up before we started included the address of his office and warehouse.  I'll let him know we are here and ready to deliver our goods.  Once I have him ready to meet us with his staff to unload our holds and weigh everything, I'll come back to the ships to have you meet him and we get this going."  He paused.  "Sound about right?"

The crew tskes… and Tolya speaks up, “Ah your fish are like your prick, they don’t measure up…” Other similar comments came from the crew.

Once the two captains start talking, Ayyen corrects Viktre, “You seem to have misremembered the bet…. It is not for a drink… it was for a steak dinner! I led us in right on point. As for the biggest fish… I have to see it for myself.”

After listening to Viktre, “Your plan sounds good. I’ll leave the paperwork to you. It has been a long journey, a soft bed in a warm room with a good vodka would be very welcome. It will give me time to survey the ladies to see what would be needed.”

Viktre then heads back towards the dinghy, enduring the cheerful ribbing along the way.

Viktre grinned being corrected on the details on the navigation bet, then opened his arms indicating the huge size of their biggest marlin.

The men were in good moods as Viktre got into the dinghy and had his crewman row him back to the Blue Ocean.  There was continued ribbing of each other until they were out of range for understanding each other.  Laughingly shaking his head, Viktre waved at the other men and focused on getting back to his own ship.  There he followed up with the plans they had made.

Blue Ocean led the way into Whitby's waters and put down anchor.  There Moody, one of his crewmen, rowed the dinghy and his captain up to the dock and waited.  Viktre looked at the addresses his friend back home had given him.  Inside he gave the port executive the proper paperwork for both the Blue Ocean and the Blue Sky and the other man gave directions to where both ships could pull in and dock.  Viktre sent Moody back to the Blue Sky to let him give Ayyen directions to where to bring in his ship by the dock and then Moody would go back to the Blue Ocean to navigate it to the appropriate location as well.  There they would get ready to get the fish weighed in and transfered once Viktre had it set in place.

Viktre then went looking for the company that had arranged via telegraph and letters to purchase their goods when they arrived from back home.  It was the beginning of the season, and they were excited to get a good supply to be able to offer it to their own clients for the start of the summer.  It took a bit for Viktre to find the correct location, but he finally found it and made his initial meeting in person with the owner of the warehouse in his office.  The older man was quite friendly and was glad they had made the trip safely and was eager to see what they had brought him.

Viktre came with the older man and his crew with the equipment to weigh in and transfer the fish.

Upon seeing Viktre’s gesture, Ayyen shakes his head. “Really? If that is so…” with a measure of doubt, “ then we owe each other steak dinners.”

Ayyen watches as Viktre disappears over the gunwhale. The captain follows Viktre’s movements using the looking glass. Musing, It won’t be a good omen if he goes overboard this early.

When their captain climbs aboard the Blue Ocean, Ayyen shouts, “Raise the anchor and prepare to follow the Blue Ocean into the harbor.”

The captain steers along behind the other ship. When it signals to stop, he commands, “Trim the sails and drop anchor. We’re almost there…”

Ayyen watches as Captain Viktre is rowed to shore by Moody. When Moody returns with docking instructions, issues orders to take the Blue Sky into dock.

Addressing the crew, “Time for house cleaning boys. You know what to do… If you don’t… come an see me for a talk.” showing sarcasm in his voice. Musing, It will be tidy before they get to see their shore leave…

The captain returns to his own quarters, seeing to his own mess. Thinking, Everything has its place and a place for everything… Straitening up his quarters doesn’t take long.

Then he pauses to write the recent events in the ships log. This ensures that a record is kept and also gives his crew time to clean. Then he grabs up a clip board to take the tally and heads out to the main deck. He sees that his crew are already taking up their assigned cleaning duties.

Maks and Tolya, who were swabbing the main deck, seeing the captain approach, quickly stand up with a ready “Captain?”

Ayyen looks at them, “I will be inspecting the other ship. Tolya, you’re in charge in my absence.”

The captain goes ashore to cross over to the Blue Ocean.

Ayyen sees the crew already cleaning and decides to make a tally of the supplies to give them time to clean. After a while, he comes out of the hold to conduct his inspection. From stem to stern, everything is looked at for damage and wear. The nets would be inspected and repaired after the crews came back from shore leave.

Later, Ayyen returns to his own ship. When he arrives on the main deck, the crew is ready for him. “Tolya, ready?”

“Aye, captain.” Tolya replies, gesturing to indicate that he would follow.

He stops by the crew quarters first. Seeing that, as expected, it was nice and tidy. No clothing strung out for drying.

Tolya points out a few spots in need of attention and Ayyen jots them down with his pencil after closely inspecting them for the severity and what it would take to effect repairs.

The Blue Sky is inspected from stem to stern. The inventories tallied. Everything is noted.

As Viktre had not yet arrived with the fish offloading crew, he gives the crews a break. When the time comes, they will be expected to work long hours in the cold holds, packing the fish.

Ayyen watches as Viktre approaches the Blue Sky with an old man and his crew with the equipment. Waking up both crews, “Look alive lads, its time to earn your keep. Open the hatches and prepare to unload the fish.”

The captain muses, life aboard a ship was hard rewarding work. Excellent pay if you survived the voyage. Looking at the clean deck, thinking of the comfort knowing the ship would be ready soon to face whatever the sea throws at them.

Viktre introduced Ayyen to the client and once they got his staff and the crates and scales set up alongside each of the ships, the work began.  The crew of each ship hauling up the fish from within the holds and transferred it down to the men that would scale the larger ones independently and the bigger baskets of the smaller more common fish would be weighed in bulk.  There was a man there at each scale making records of the weights. 

There were some cheers every so often as a new winning big weighted fish was called out.  First from Sky and then from Ocean.  All the men worked though.  Each captain was there to witness and verify the recording of the weights.  Once it was done the payday would indeed be quite impressive for all men.  Viktre showed Ayyen his copy of the recorded weights and waited to be shown the report from the Sky.

"Looks like the Ocean crew gets to buy the drinks, tomorrow boys."  He called to his own crew with a sound of regret.  "However, Captain Ayyen gets to buy my steak dinner."  He grins around cheers. 

He looked to Ayyen to verify that information between the two reports.

As the client’s crew sets up their equipment, Ayyen inspects it. “May I,” he asks the one setting up the scales. The captain is poised to pick up two equal looking weights. The man looks skeptical…. Ayyen further comments in his best English, “I want to compare. Is it problem?”

The man, a clerk, holds up a hand to stop Ayyen… “ Let me… The customer is not to touch the weights. No offense meant.” He proves the weights are equal by placing them on the scale himself. “We don’t cheat our customers. We’d be out of business and run out of town in no time.”

Ayyen smiles a friendly smile. “Good to hear.”, in his broken English. “Keep on.” indicating to carry on.

The captains watched as the salted fish was unloaded and crated. They are conversing in Russian. “Vitkre, where is your prized fish?” slapping him on the back. “Mine is coming out soon. So far, you would owe me two steak dinners,” Ayyen grins with delight.

It was evening once it was done, Vitktre shows Ayyen the copy of the recorded weights. Ayyen holds his up and they compare them side by side. “Vitktre, We did well. The crews will be pleased.”

When Viktre speaks up and tells his crew the results, Ayyen speaks up as well. “Viktre, did you forget the other bet?” scoffing. “Pity, we owe each other a steak dinner! Imagine that.”

Ayyen turns to stay at the ships and oversee the cleanup of the holds. Viktre addresses Ayyen, “Your presence is needed at the bank. We both need to sign.”

Ayyen nods in reply, “Very well. I will need a moment.”

He finds Tolya, “Tolya, I will be going into town. You will be in charge in my absence. Be sure to dump the old salt and conduct a deep clean. It will be a few days before the new salt arrives.”

Tolya responds with “Aye captain. You’ll be able to fillet a fish on it.. not that you’d want to.” This earns him a laugh from Ayyen.

Both captains leave for the bank.

Viktre joked around with Ayyen as they headed to the bank that he had the address from his telegraph.  It was in Russian of course, but the men were obviously in good moods and great friends.  They arrived at the bank about an hour before they would close, luckily.  Inside, Viktre spoke to the clerk and showed the telegraph with the information that had been set up for them before they had even left Russia.  Money had been transferred while they traveled over the ocean on their way there. 

Now though it would be with their signatures and the fleet would be more official.  Viktre signed down his name and waited for Ayyen to do the same.  He looked at the clerk as his friend was doing his part of the paperwork.  "Where is good place to look for rental?"  He asked the clerk.

The clerk replied.  "There is a realtor across the street, but they are closed for the day by now."

Viktre looked at Ayyen speaking in Russian.  "Once we do the ledger tonight and sort out the wages for the men, tomorrow morning I can do the supply shopping and ordering the things we need.  Food for the few days we will be on board, and the things we will need before we go back out?  You pay the crews and release them tomorrow likely mid-morning?  I can come back take the evening shift on Ocean so Moody can get his personal time too."  He suggested figuring.  "You and I can go the next day while they are doing the mendings while we look for an office and some apartments."