War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 991 Re-boarding the Johnston

On the sea covered with stars, two hermit crabs, ah no, the two shipwrecks are still waving their arms tirelessly, pushing their bodies slowly towards the unknown destination in the cold sea water.

"Stop it! Victor!"

Hawkes yelled in a little panic to his companion who was also connected to the floating object with a rope, and struggled hard at the same time.

"What's wrong?!" Wei Ran immediately yelled in response, and he also clenched a 50-type engineer shovel in his hand hidden under the water. At the same time, he also watched vigilantly. Looking around, for fear of seeing the shark's triangular fins.

"Leg! My right leg is cramp!" Hawkes grinned and explained, "It's not a shark!"

Hearing this, Wei Ran immediately relaxed, put away his engineering shovel and quickly swam to the opponent's side.

"Stretch your legs straight, straighten them hard, and lift the soles of your feet upwards."

While talking, Wei Ran hooked the opponent's right ankle with one foot, and at the same time gently stepped on the opponent's knee with the other foot to increase his strength.

With his help, after almost 2 minutes, Hawkes breathed a long sigh of relief, and then said tremblingly, "Victor, I can't swim anymore, we, we Give up, maybe that plane has sunk."

"Okay." Wei Ran sighed secretly, "Take a rest first, do you still have Coke?"

"There is a little more." Hawkes took out the kettle that Wei Ran gave him as a meeting gift and shook it.

"Drink first, and then I'll pour you some."

Wei Ran said as he patted the thermos bucket that he had been carrying behind him all the time, "The sea here is relatively calm, and you can help me hold the thermos bucket later, so we can get some cocoa out of it."

"it is good!"

After Hawkes finished speaking, he drank the little Coke left in the kettle in one gulp, then tightened the lid of the kettle, took out the steel cup in the kettle sleeve and got ready.

After untiing the thermos that he had been carrying all day, Wei Ran deliberately touched his lower back as a cover, and took out the flashlight from the metal book.

"Why did you bring so many good things?" Hawkes exclaimed.

"They were all picked up from corpses I encountered in the sea. Hold them steady, and I'm going to open the lid."

While Wei Ran was explaining indiscriminately, he also hung the fish hanging on a wooden stick, together with the shoelaces, around the opponent's neck.

Seeing this, Hawks quickly put the thermos bucket on his chest, and at the same time grasped the floating objects next to him with his hands.

Carefully opened the lid of the thermos, when the beam of the flashlight shone in, Wei Ran and Hawkes couldn't help but look at each other.

It is true that there is cocoa that has been cooled long ago, but it is only a thin layer. Judging from the capacity, I am afraid that at most they can get half a pot for each of them.

It can't be because I stole that barrel.
Wei Ran grinned and threw aside this impossible and undeniable guess, took the steel cup handed over by the other party, carefully tilted the thermos bucket, scooped up the little cocoa left in it, and poured it all in. In the jug Hawkes handed over.

"It won't last long with only this point," Hawkes said, frowning.

"It's better than nothing"

While talking, Wei Ran unbuttoned the trouser legs that acted as floaters, took out the can of tobacco, the razors, toad mirrors, individual first-aid kits, and even his pants and shoes that he "picked up" earlier, and put them all in. All that was left outside were life jackets that act as buoyants and a mask bag with a basketball in it.

Seeing this, Hawks also threw the pilot survival kit he had been carrying and an individual first aid kit into the insulated bucket, then took off his pants and shoes and wrung them as dry as possible and threw them in.

"Wait!"

Wei Ran pointed to the survival bag that he just threw in, "If I remember correctly, there seems to be a signal flare in it!"

"Flare?" Hawkes was stunned, "I haven't opened it since I got it, and what's the use of firing the flare?"

"If we sent a flare, do you think those two lunatic pilots will come to find us?" Wei Ran asked, "If they are still alive."

"Then try it!"

There was a hint of indifference in Hawkes' tone, "If they can really come over, we might be able to get a lot of good things from them."

"Steady"

As Wei Ran said, he had handed over the flashlight to the other party for help, and he himself took out the waterproof survival bag from the bucket, opened it and said, "If I remember correctly, there are other things in it besides the signal flare." A lot of things, at least enough rations and drinking water for us to eat a full meal."

Under the curious gaze of Hawkes, the bulging survival bag was successfully opened, and Wei Ran found the Mark 3 signal transmitter in the small waterproof canvas bag, and six waterproof Wax-shelled flares.

Taking out a signal flare, tearing off the wax layer and stuffing it into the signal transmitter, Wei Ran glanced at Hawkes who was helping to hold the thermos and at the same time holding a flashlight to help illuminate.

"Try it!" Hawkes said indifferently.

Hearing this, Wei Ran nodded, opened the safety of the signal transmitter, aimed it at the night sky above his head, and then pulled the firing pin on the tail.

"Oh!"

As he released the firing pin, a flare with a dazzling red light flew straight up and down into the night sky at a height of 80 meters.

Looking up at the red signal flare for a moment, Wei Ran lowered his head and put away the signal transmitter, and then zipped up the survival bag with a waterproof zipper.

However, just as he was closing the lid of the thermos, Hawkes let out an exclamation, excitedly pointing to the distant sea and shouting, "Victor! Look over there! That There are also flares on the side! Look!"

Hearing this, Wei Ran immediately looked in the direction of the other's finger, and Hawks also turned off the flashlight.

Sure enough, at the line of water and sky in the distance, a signal flare of the same color really rose!
The two looked at each other, and Wei Ran immediately took out the small canvas bag containing the flares and hung it around his neck, then took the flashlight from Hawkes.

Refastening the lid of the thermos, the two who rekindled their hope immediately swam desperately towards the direction where the signal flare had just been lit.

Almost less than 5 minutes later, another red flare rose from the distant sea, and the distance was obviously much closer!

He took out a new flare from the bag hanging around his neck, and Wei Ran fired one in response.

When he put away the signal flare, he reminded Hawkes on the other side of the thermos, "Hawkes, put bullets on your gun. Besides, how many bullets do you have?"

"Four rounds or three rounds." Hox paused, and said with extra certainty, "That's right, four rounds. I still have four rounds."

"Wait, don't rush to shoot"

Wei Ran glanced at the signal flare above his head and said, "Your water quality is good. When we get close, you should keep a distance from me first. If I am in danger, I will rely on you."

"Leave it to me!" Hawkes promised confidently.

"Drink those cocoa, drink it all." Wei Ran said again, "This way you will have strength."

"There's food in that survival bag, right?" Hawkes had already unscrewed the lid of the pot and brought it to his mouth while speaking.

"Yes, there are many."

Before Wei Ran finished speaking, Hawks raised his neck and gurgled down more than half of the pot of cocoa that can quickly replenish energy.

Just as he tightened the lid of the kettle and loaded the pistol with bullets, there seemed to be a flickering light at the end of his eyes.

"The other party asked to reveal their identity." Wei Ran translated the Morse code sent by the other party using the light.

"Do you want to answer?" Hawkes handed over the decision to Wei Ran.

"Answer, how about the Hall?"

"No problem," Hawkes replied happily.

Hearing this, Wei Ran immediately held the flashlight high, and pressed the switch again and again to make an on and off signal, and also responded to the other party's inquiry with a clear code, and attached the same inquiry at the back.

"Here.is.DD-557 Johnston?!"

Wei Ran let out an exclamation, but the other party was still turning on the lights, "Who won the World Series?"

"St. Louis Cardinals!"

Almost at the same time Wei Ran translated the second question, Hawkes subconsciously gave the answer, "It's definitely ours! Those bastards who recruit nuclear weapons will never ask this question!"

"St. Louis Cardinals" Wei Ran decisively gave the answer in plain code.

"We'll be here right away!" While the other party was flashing a light signal, they were also closing the distance between the two parties.

Soon, Wei Ran and Hawkes heard the roar of the engine at the same time!

"It's the engine of the traffic boat!" Hawks' face showed joy, "There must be our warships nearby!"

"Hawks, Hawks!"

Wei Ran patted the thermos, and after attracting the other party's attention, he reminded, "I'm from the Johnston, our ship has sunk, and I... I was the last one to leave that ship."

Hearing this, Hawks' face paled significantly.

"You should hide first"

As Wei Ran said, he had already helped the other party remove the mop stick pinned to the back of his neck, and pierced the blown-up condoms tied on it with a knife.

"If you need my help, put out the flashlight."

As Hawkes said, he put on the gas mask again, untied the belt between him and the thermos bucket, slowly sank to the bottom of the water with his gun, and hid directly under the thermos bucket.

And Wei Ran held the bellows connected to the opponent's gas mask and hid it between his body and the thermos. His other hand also pressed the switch of the flashlight, ready to turn it off at any time.

While he was waiting, the roar of the engine became louder and louder. Soon, a traffic boat appeared right in front of his field of vision. At the front of the traffic boat stood a figure holding a flashlight.

However, because the other party was hiding behind the flashlight, he couldn't see the other party's appearance at all.

However, when the traffic boat stopped beside him, and the other party's flashlight shone on Wei Ran's face, he heard a somewhat familiar and somewhat unfamiliar person say in surprise, "Victor?! Are you Victor?"

Before he could respond, the beam that was originally hitting his face was finally moved away, and the beam of the flashlight in Wei Ran's hand subconsciously hit the boat.

"It's you?!" Wei Ran stared blankly.

At this time, the one standing at the front holding a flashlight on this traffic boat was precisely Captain Evans of the USS Johnston destroyer!Even, not only was he wearing a steel helmet, but he also had the Indian pipe ax and a silver revolver pinned to his waist!

And behind him, there was even a sailor moose!Beside him is a white sailor bag!It's just that the condition of the moose doesn't seem to be very good at this time. It can only be seen that his face and legs are wrapped in gauze!

Looking back, the person in charge of operating the engine at the stern turned out to be the deputy captain, Captain Sterling!His head was also wrapped in gauze, and the gauze had even been soaked in a large area by blood.

"Soldier, if you have seen enough, hurry up!"

Captain Evans smiled and said, "You are welcome to board my Johnston again, um. She is a little smaller now, but she is indeed the Johnston! Also thank you for the beer you gave the moose, thanks Get that jug of beer, or we're going to starve."

"Yes! Mr. Captain!"

While responding loudly, Wei Ran saluted the other party in the water with an American military salute, then pointed to the bucket beside him and said, "I have a friend hiding under the water, can I let him come up?"

"Of course!" Captain Evans responded loudly.

"Hawks! Come up quickly! It's our own!" Wei Ran tore off the socks on the bellows and said loudly.

"Whoa!"

With a sound, Hawks, holding a gun in his hand, also emerged from the water, hurriedly tore off his gas mask and asked in surprise, "I heard it all just now! Chief, I'm Hawkes, Hall Hawks on the ship, I'm an Indian too! Ojibwa Indian!"

"Near the Great Lakes? I am a Cherokee Indian. Of course, you must know that I am only three-quarters of the Cherokee blood."

Captain Evans shook his gauze-wrapped left hand while Wei Ran climbed onto the traffic boat with the help of the deputy captain, Captain Sterling, and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, my hand was injured. , there is no way to drag you up."

"It's okay, I can go up by myself!"

Hawkes hadn't finished speaking, and he had already dragged the thermos bucket to the side of the traffic boat, and after Wei Ran got up, he flipped up neatly by himself.

It wasn't until his legs left the water that Wei Ran noticed that the eight-meter-long boat seemed to be leaking, and the leak was right next to where the sailor moose was sitting.

"Hi! Victor, I didn't expect us to meet again."

Chao Weiran, who was weak from the moose, said hello, and then scooped up seawater from the cabin with the helmet in his hand and poured it outside.

Follow the light of the flashlight to look at the place where the water leaked. Under the thin layer of sea water, there is actually a shell casing of a 127mm shell!But even so, sea water was still bubbling from the edge of the shell case.

"This is."

"It was made by a cannonball," the moose explained, stepping on the cannonball casing with its foot, "thanks to this cannonball casing, otherwise I don't know what to use to plug such a big hole."

"Thanks to that cannon shell"

The deputy captain at the stern pointed to the wound on his head, "It would be better if it didn't just hit my head when it fell."

"Victor, come and help."

Hawks, who climbed onto the boat, urged without waiting for Wei Ran's response, "Let's quickly lift the thermos up."

"Correct!"

Hearing this, Wei Ran quickly turned around, helped the other party, and dragged the thermos bucket still floating on the sea to the boat.

When everyone was seated, Wei Ran took the helmet from the sailor moose and handed it to Hawkes. While scooping up the sea water, he rummaged through the first-aid kit in the thermos and asked, "How did you survive?" of? I clearly see"

"The Moose Saved Us"

The deputy captain, Captain Sterling, turned off the engine and said while helping to bail out the water, "He found the chief's ax and my sailor bag and shotgun from the lounge."

"Thanks to that shotgun"

Captain Evans also came over, holding a flashlight and said, "He used that shotgun to break the hook of the traffic boat that the three of us used to get rid of the Johnston. Devour before sinking."

"Why did you appear here?"

As Wei Ran said, he had already untied the gauze on the moose, and with the help of the lighting provided by Captain Evans with a flashlight, he was dealing with the burns on the sailor moose.

"There are some problems with the engine of this traffic boat"

The moose grinned and explained, "The engine stopped after taking us out of the vortex, and while we were busy plugging the hole, the waves also pushed us away from the other life rafts."

"We didn't fix the engine until after it cleared"

Captain Evans continued, "Then we noticed a nuclear falcon flying by at low altitude, but we couldn't find that plane after searching for a long time."

"On top of that, we're running low on fuel."

Vice-captain Sterling helplessly pointed to a wooden stick plugged into the corner of the engine fuel tank, "Our fuel can only support us to run for another half an hour at most, if we can find that plane, maybe we can get it Get the fuel on, or we'll just have to take out the engine and swim back slowly with those oars."

"We're looking for that plane too"

Hawkes said while scooping up water nimbly, "Victor said that there are two lunatics up there, and that they must know where we are now, and we just fired the signal flare to attract their attention. But I think, Those two lunatics must have sunk into the ocean with their plane."

"We're now at least 50 nautical miles from land or more"

Captain Evans said, "This season's ocean currents will push us to land, but the sea breeze may push us further afield."

"We will definitely find land"

Wei Ran confidently made a promise while helping the sailor moose bandage the wound that had been smeared with scald ointment.

"Tomorrow we are going to use my hammock to make a sail," Captain Sterling said, leaning over under Wei Ran's gesture, allowing him to undo the gauze that was wrapped around his head.

"Your injury is a bit serious, I need to stitch it up for you."

After finishing speaking, Wei Ran took out a tube of morphine, and while carefully injecting a small amount around the scalp that was still oozing blood, he asked another question, "Why did the moose take out your sailor bag?"

"That's his most precious thing," said the moose, helping Hawkes scoop water, "like the warchief's axe."

"That sailor bag was given to me by an English friend of mine, and I've been keeping it as a decoration in the lounge, by the way, ss—!"

"I'm sorry, I'm going to be gentle, you continue to talk." Wei Ran, who had already started debridement, urged without sincerity.

"By the way, there are some things hidden in it, such as the wine I secretly brought on board."

Captain Sterling pointed to the wine bottle lying in the water by his feet, "Unfortunately, you are late, we have already drank that bottle of wine."

"Don't move now, I'm going to stitch you up." Wei Ran reminded while cleaning the hair around the wound with a razor.

"Victor, why don't I remember you as a medical soldier on our ship?" The chief who helped hold the flashlight asked suspiciously, "But I seem to have seen you in the kitchen."

"You remember correctly"

Wei Ran showed a smile that made the other party tremble, "I work in the kitchen, but before the ship sank, the Johnston obviously needed a medical soldier rather than a cook."

"Were you a doctor before?" the moose asked curiously.

"Of course!" Wei Ran gave an answer confidently.

"It seems that we let an excellent medical soldier waste his time in the kitchen." Captain Evans said apologetically.

"It's not your fault"

Hawkes, who has been busy bailing water, said, "If Victor was white, he would not be in the kitchen. If the chief was white, the bull in heat (Halsey) would definitely be sent Go into the kitchen and chop radishes."

"Bull's Run after 83," the vice-captain muttered sarcastically.

Although he couldn't understand the allusion the other party was talking about, it didn't prevent Wei Ran from helping him to sew up the nearly five centimeter long wound on his scalp in the fastest and most brutal way.

Helping the other party wrap the wound with clean gauze, Wei Ran did not relax.Compared with the wound on the sailor moose, the wound on Sterling's head is actually much heavier, especially in this environment. If he can't go ashore as soon as possible, it may be unknown whether the other party will survive.

"Mr. Captain, it's your turn." Wei Ran took out a pack of clean gauze wrapped in plastic from the first aid kit as he spoke.

Hearing this, Captain Evans immediately stretched out his left hand, allowing Wei Ran to help remove the already wet gauze, revealing the severed fingers and slightly pale wounds.

Silently piercing the remaining morphine into the palm of his hand, Wei Ran waited for a while, first removed some dead flesh and half of the broken finger bones, and then carefully sewed up the two fingers.

"If it hurts, inject yourself with morphine"

Wei Ran stuffed a morphine injection into the opponent's coat pocket, and reminded at the same time, "But in the next 24 hours, you only have that one morphine."

"I'll save it." Captain Evans let Wei Ran use a condom to cover his entire left hand, and at the same time praised with a smile, "Victor, your craftsmanship is good."

"God bears witness, you are the first navy soldier to say that I have good craftsmanship." Wei Ran said sincerely while throwing the replaced gauze into the thermos bucket.

"I'm honored that you say that," Evans said with a laugh.

"Gentlemen, it's time for my performance."

While Hawks was speaking, he had already taken out the basketball from the thermos, and at the same time stretched out his hand towards Evans, "Chief, can you lend me your tomahawk? I can fix this Boat."

Hearing this, Captain Evans pulled out the ax from his waist and handed it to Hawks without thinking.

After taking the axe, Hawkes asked for the dagger that he had given to Wei Ran before.And the flashlight Evans was holding was also focused on him like a beam of spotlights.

While the crowd watched, Hawks first pierced the basketball with a dagger and cut it into two large pieces. Then, after obtaining everyone's consent, he used an ax to paddle a boat. After splitting, a 20cm long wooden stick and two wooden pieces slightly larger than a palm were obtained, and two small holes about five centimeters apart were drilled from the middle of the wooden piece.

Looking around, Hawks cut a cowhide belt vertically, passed one of them through the two small holes in the first piece of wood, and then passed it through a piece of basketball leather folded in half.

"Pull it out"

Before Hawkes finished speaking, the sailor moose pulled out the shell casing. At the same time, Hawkes turned over and entered the water, and passed the self-made patch through the damage from the outside of the ship.

Without teaching at all, Wei Ran passed the two cowhide belts through the other half of the basketball leather and wooden boards that were prepared in advance.

At the same time that he pressed the wooden board from the inside and put on the other two belts, the sailor moose immediately hit a knot, and then used the wooden stick like a string to start twisting the cowhide belt.

At the same time, both Wei Ran and the two captains were desperately trying to scoop out water with what they found.

Fortunately, when Hawkes emerged from the water, the water in the boat was almost dry, and there was obviously no tendency to continue to leak.

"Kang Dang"

Wei Ran threw the shell casings in his hands to scoop water aside, and the two captains also threw their helmets at their feet.

When Hawkes climbed onto the boat again from the water, the sailor moose also firmly tied the deadly wooden stick with the other two belts provided by Wei Ran.

Finally, a steel helmet was buckled up for protection, and everyone on board breathed a sigh of relief.

At this moment, a glaring lightning flashed across the distant horizon, connecting the sky and the earth, and immediately after, everyone heard the rumble of thunder.

"It is going to rain"

As Sterling said, he had pulled out the hammock from the sailor bag, and expertly tied one end to the engine at the stern, and tied the other end to the sharp corner of the bow.And Captain Evans was also exceptionally proficient in propping up the middle of the hammock with the remaining half of the oar and the mop pole that belonged to Hawkes.

It's not over yet, even Wei Ran took out a raincoat and a bundle of ropes from the pilot's survival bag in the insulated barrel, and with the help of Hawks, he increased the area of ​​shelter from wind and rain as much as possible for this sea shelter.

"Crack!"

Accompanied by a thunder that exploded a lot closer, under the dazzling lightning, at the end of the line of sight that no one on board noticed, a red and white life raft also flashed across the calm sea.

(End of this chapter)