Chapter 18

It was mid afternoon when the tugmaster returned with the barge owner. By that time McCock had pulled the barge out of the gates with the flivver. Denny and Cowboy had to cut off a twisted plate from the barge that was still embedded in the gates sealing edge. The barge itself was tethered off to the side at the outer wharf the yard had for the handling of any large deliveries. Denny had rigged warning beacons on either end as a hazard to shipping. That was rather overkill for a hulk tied up alongside but McCock was going to play this for everything he could.

"My man declared salvage on this to the Harbour Master when he was notified last night." McCock was mortified that Slow's comment to him hadn't registered. "So we will bring it inside as quickly as possible. The bow, is it the bow? Or whatever will need replacing back to the second bulkhead. The hatch is wrecked and it will have to be replaced as one piece. My inspection team tells me there is cargo in there. That is ours by salvage rights. I would be interested to know what it is. There are shipper's marks on it and I recognize them from Renmark."

"How is it you recognize Renmark marks?" The barge owner was quite intrigued, "There's not many who do."

"My family's ships occasionally run to Yarragh."

"Oh! Those are inertial compensators made on special order for the Gorgipest Sporting Yachts' yard. I know the GSY and they were enthusiastic about getting them. Seems Renmark has a good reputation for impellers and IC's."

"Well, have the insurers contact us with the invoices and shipping documents. We don't want to get off to a bad start here, so we can sort out who pays what. We have an interest in the longer term of building intra system lighters. We'd be interested in those IC specifications – of course, ( he smiled sneakily) we'll know the costs from the invoices. We aren't going to be a competitor for yachts but we might look at the odd one – off speed yacht. By the way where is the scrap yard? We'll have to dispose of that bow when we cut it off. If your insurers are interested in covering salvage we'll need the drawings for that air lock and an air lock itself."

"Well," said the barge owner amusedly, "that covered everything I wanted to say. What sort of money are you looking at?"

"Cost plus 10% to restore it to working order. I know we could get a lot, a large lot, more if we repaired and claimed the eighth salvage, but we are looking at a long term here. We want to establish a good reputation. This was fortuitous for us – a stroke of luck – it does give us an opportunity to demonstrate the quality of our work and that we play fair."

"The insurers will jump at that. Your feet will be welded to the deck plates so you can't get away. I will keep you in mind and, if your work is top quality, I'll pass the word."

McCock looked at the tugmaster,

"Your insurer is not going to like you. Those gates are going to have to be removed to a foundry for straightening and alignment of the inner sealing edges. Fortunately they can be opened so removing them should be simple. That cut in the gate will have to be molecular welded for integrity. We can deal with them over loss of potential income even with the barge inside. That is salvage and any profit on that will be discounted. We have to have an air lock there and with the outer gates gone we would be and are closed for business. We'll have a temporary coffer dam but that seals the place completely."