Continent of Smoke
by
Jeff Timbery, Alberta Hornsby, John & Clare MacDonald
Episode One
17th April 1770
TRANSPOSITION TO TASMAN SEA.
AN ANGRY OCEAN driven by days of continuous tempestuous weather. LOUD THUNDER AND LIGHTNING. FLYING SHOWERS OF HARD RAIN. SEA BIRDS (mutton birds) buffered by STRONG WIND fleeing for the safety of land. The sea racing out of the FOG, ravaging THE COAST. Sweeping across the ROCK SHELVES in wide foaming sheets of treacherous water. Flooding everything with dangerous violence.
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A MONSTROUS WAVE. Growing and lifting itself as it advances. Closer and closer…until it SWALLOWS US INTO IT JAWS.
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A ROCK SHELTER.
From the distance, the surrounding ROCKY ESCARPMENTS are streaked with white where the heavy rain cascades in NUMEROUS WATERFALLS. We close in on one of the waterfalls, passing through the CURTAIN OF WATER to arrive in the contrasting peace of the ROCK SHELTER behind. A SMALL FIRE flickers illuminating the subdued light of the cave. We discover SEVEN BIDWELL PEOPLE. They are nestled snugly together in a single mass and fast asleep. We gently examine the group, discovering A MIDDLE-AGED MAN, TWO WOMEN (one older than the other) and THREE CHILDREN of differing ages (the youngest only a baby). All are perfectly still. Only when one of the two young DINGO PUPS, who form part of the group, clambers across the entwined and naked bodies do we notice its presence.
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H M Bark Endeavour
TRANSPOSITION TO TASMAN SEA
6pm
EVENING. OPEN OCEAN. A HARD SOUTHERLY GALE, FLYING SHOWERS OF HARD RAIN and a GREAT SEA from the south.
A SHIP (H M. Bark Endeavour) heeled well over on her starboard side. Running under FORESAIL and MIZEN. The SOUND of the SHIP’S BELL and its two double chimes (6 PM) faint against the heavy weather.
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18th April 1770
6am
TASMAN SEA. THE SHIP.
Joseph Banks
On the quarter deck, the young JOSEPH BANKS (Gentleman scientist – 26 years) rides the reeling deck, his weathered face a picture of delight, as he marvels at TWO PORT EGMONT HENS circling effortlessly above the ship.
Brown Skua Catharacta skua antarctica
Lieutenant James Cook
Beside Banks on the quarter deck the rugged JAMES COOK (1st Lieutenant JAMES COOK – Yorkshire – 39 years) relishing the robust weather and the easy working of his ship, looks up at the birds.
Cook smiles as he watches his friend fixated on the birds skillfully maneuvering on the wind.
COOK (to Banks)
Port Egmont hens?
Banks nods in agreement.
COOK (Yorkshire accent)
A certain sign of the nearness of land…
Cook turns to the Ship’s Master nearby.
Robert Molineux – Ship’s Master
COOK (to Molineux)
It appears to be easing. You can give us some mainsail Mister Molineux, close reefed if you please.
MOLINEUX (22 years – Liverpool accent)
Very good Captain.
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TASMAN SEA.
3pm
The SEA more moderate. The SHIP running a little easier now, under MAINSAIL, FORE TOPSAIL and MAIN TOP SAIL.
Doctor Daniel Solander
BANKS and his close friend DOCTOR SOLANDER (Swedish naturalist – 37 years) steadying themselves against the taffrail admire the frolics of a LARGE POD OF DOLPHINS, many throwing their whole bodies several feet above the surface.
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19th April 1770
6am
FIRST DAYLIGHT. TASMAN SEA. OPEN OCEAN.
SOUND OF WIND AND SEA.
Broken fog and cloudy unsettled weather. A heavy swell rolls in from the south upon an EMPTY SEA.
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GRADUALLY INCREASING SOUND OF WIND AND SEA.
Making a ghostly appearance through a window in the torn fog, we catch a distant view of a SAILING SHIP. Perilously small, rising and falling at the mercy of a large southerly sea.
The SHIP approaches, rolling in the beam sea, showing more and more of herself as she comes…. her mainsail set and her topsails close reefed against the heavy weather. A bluff bowed three masted bark of the 18th Century (H M Bark Endeavour). Soon her timber bulk looms over us. As she passes, the faint sound of A HUMAN VOICE can just be heard against the noise of wind and sea.
VOICE
Laaand!
Aloft in the reeling foretop lookout, 2nd lieutenant ZACHARY HICKES (East End Londoner 29 years) bellows his sighting to the deck below.
On the quarterdeck a group of OFFICERS AND CIVILIANS, including COOK and MOLINEUX are assembled. TUPIA, (45 years) the Polynesian High Priest taken on board at Tahiti, and his boy servant TAHETO are among the onlookers.
Taheto
All eyes turn aloft. HICKES points in the direction the ship is heading (W by N). Up come their glasses (telescopes).
COOK
…..or cloud?…..What says the leadsman?
THREE CREW (Leadsmen), each carrying coils of a single rope climb quickly through the mast shrouds onto the platform of the starboard chains (“Chains” – platform upon which crew stands to heave the lead). The FORWARD LEADSMAN begins to whirl the heavy leaden PLUMMET with his outboard arm. On the third circle he releases his grip and the lead flies out ahead of the ship and vanishes into the sea.
FORWARD LEADSMAN
Watch there watch!
The ROPE passes fast through his hands, and the attached FATHOM MARKERS flash past as the lead heads for the bottom……. two strips of leather…… three strips…… white duck…… blue serge at fifteen fathoms…. red bunting…. a knot at twenty fathoms…… where the coil ends, and the task continues to the hands of the SECOND LEADSMAN.
The silent attention of the OFFICERS AND OTHERS hangs on the business.
SECOND LEADSMAN
Watch there watch!
His line speeds out and the coil empties…… and the task transfers to the hands of the THIRD LEADSMAN………. where finally the lead bottoms, and the line slackens to hang perpendicular into the water below.
THIRD LEADSMAN
By the mark eighty!
MOLINEUX (to Cook)
We have our ground Captain.
The PLUMMET having been retrieved, the THIRD LEADSMAN, reading the tallow plug at the end of the lead, calls out his verdict.
THIRD LEADSMAN
Fine sandy bottom!
Charles Clerke – Master’s Mate
The amiable Masters Mate CHARLES CLERKE (Essex – 27 years) directs a good humoured round of applause to LIEUTENANT HICKES as he descends from the lookout aloft.
The two delighted civilians, JOSEPH BANKS and DR DANIEL SOLANDER add to his applause. A cue for some cheering from others of the CREW in another part of the ship.
Making his way down the ratlines LIEUTENANT HICKES pauses for a steady space in the ship’s rolling motion. His breathing is laboured, and a look of pain distorts his features. He composes himself, and looks over his shoulder at the crowd below, receiving their compliment with a seriousness that exposes his vanity on the subject of his own sure sightedness.
HICKES reaches the deck and crosses to the quarterdeck to join the others.
COOK (to Hickes)
Congratulations Lieutenant!
HICKES (London accent)
Good morning, Captain.
COOK
Taking the air aloft this morning?
HICKES
As well to stretch my legs there as on deck Sir.
General laughter.
COOK
Well, the land is surely there Mister Hickes, and a part of it shall bear your name.
Friendly applause from the close onlookers.
HICKES
Thank you Captain.
COOK (to Molineux)
Out all reefs and make sail. Courses northeast. Bare away along shore. Keep the people in the chains…and find us a harbour if you please Mister Molineux, our wood and water is very low.
MOLINEUX (Liverpool accent)
Very good Sir!
From the FORETOP LOOKOUT, through patchy fog beneath an overcast sky, and diminished by a distance of 4 or 5 leagues, (13 or 17 miles) ‘THE LAND’ appears hardly to exist.
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10am
THE SHIP.
LAND ADJACENT PRESENT DAY POINT HICKES.
Cloudy unsettled weather. Through his TELESCOPE, BANKS slowly inspects a sweep of the coast; still at a distance but now off the larboard side (portside).
BANKS (Journal entry)
“At 10 it was pretty plainly to be observed; it made in sloping hills, covered in part with trees or bushes but interspersed with large tracts of sand.”
(Point Hickes – Tolywiarar – Bidwell and Gunaikurnai country)
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1pm
THE SHIP ADJACENT RAM HEAD.
A SHOUT from the lookout alerts Cook’s attention aloft. The LOOKOUT points.
LOOKOUT
Off the larboard quarter!
COOK (His face studies the sea. To his servant, WILLIAM HOWSON, Londoner, 16 years) Fetch Mister Banks, he’ll want to see this!
A couple of quick steps and HOWSON drops out of sight down the MAIN HATCH.
LOOKOUT
There again! …….. and there!
Almost immediately, a hurrying BANKS appears up the hatch…. followed hard by BRISCO (Banks’ servant), DR SOLANDER, HERMAN SPÖRING (Swedish – assistant naturalist – 44 years), and SYDNEY PARKINSON (Scottish – Natural history artist – 25 years).
Sydney Parkinson
They cross to the larboard rail and look out across the sea towards the COAST.
Playing on the surface of the waves THREE WATERSPOUTS hang from the low dark ceiling of the cloud cover.
One is closer than the rest….very close!
BANKS (to Brisco)
Brisco!
BRISCO
Right away sir.
Brisco hurries away and disappears down the companionway.
The column of water, about the thickness of a mast, and perfectly transparent like glass, undulates and contracts in an incredible spectacle. Excitement and explanations issue from the gathering audience as they watch.
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BEACH BELOW RAM HEAD.
The TWO BIDWELL WOMEN AND THEIR CHILDREN, are collecting MUTTON BIRDS destroyed by the recent storm.
(Here and throughout the story all Indigenous dialogue is written in language and subtitled in English. Work in progress.)
YOUNG BOY (shouts)
Look!
THE WOMEN look up from their gathering and see the ANCESTRAL SPIRITS (waterspouts).
They hastily gather into a group and hurry to the safety of the dense seaside scrub. They watch the Ancestral Spirits undulating and twisting above the sea.
YOUNG BOY
What are they doing?
YOUNG WOMAN
They’re feeding on the sea creatures.
OLDER WOMAN
There’re things to come.
YOUNG BOY
What things?
OLDER WOMAN
Bad things.
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BRISCO is back and handing Banks his TELESCOPE.
Now Banks has A TELESCOPIC VIEW of the waterspouts executing their wild and unpredictable antics.
YOUNG NICK (12 years old, addressing Clerke)
Could cannon fire destroy a waterspout Mister Clerke?
CLERKE (Essex accent, addressing Young Nick)
During the battle of Quiberon Bay the people report that the cannon fire was such that the wind from their ordnance caused the sea to abate.
YOUNG NICK
Is that true Mister Clerke?
CLERKE
Of course it is!
COOK (cautioning Clerke)
Thank you Mister Clerke.
BANKS
Can we come a little nearer Captain?
SOLANDER (Swedish accent)
What!… would you have us capture the beast Joseph?……. for transport to Old England with the rest of our specimens!
BANKS
We might learn something of its rotation….
CLERKE
…. and afterwards set it up Grosvenor Square!
Laughter.
BANKS
Captain…?
COOK
We’ll be content where we are Mister Banks.
PAUSE
GUNNER FORWOOD (to Cook)
Captain sir, might the gun crew not try their skill? We have a target?
COOK
Could your gun reach it Mister Forwood?
GUNNER FORWOOD gages the distance.
FORWOOD
I should think so yes sir.
COOK
You may try a shot if you be nimble enough.
FORWOOD (shouts)
Is larboard gun crew there?
A series of ‘Yes Sirs’ and affirming hand signals from different crew gathered on deck among the watches.
FORWOOD
Then look lively lads! A charge for a larboard gun and stand-by!
ARMOURER ROBERT TAYLOR, GUNNER’S SERVANT DANIEL ROBERTS and GUN CREW hasten to their station to roll out a CANNON.
The cannon crew are eager for practise and keen to show off their skill. They go through their routine.
FORWOOD
Hurry lads the lady won’t thank you for dallying!
The gun crew assembled and ready in their positions around the cannon.
A moment of stillness as Forwood aims the cannon.
MAN WITH THE SLOW MATCH
Fire in the hole!
FORWOOD
Fire!
There is a thunderous explosion and a cloud of blue smoke envelopes the crew.
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THE SCRUB behind RAM HEAD BEACH.
The ‘BOOM’ OF THE CANNON reaches the ears of the BIDWELL GROUP. A moment of shock, then they flee screaming and disappear into the bush.
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A moment later A SMALL SPLASH on the water indicates the ball on its way towards the SPOUT. It skips two or three times along the surface of the water and sinks just short of the spout.
Appreciative noises from the group of watchers
FORWOOD
Be that swift enough for you Captain sir?
COOK
Quite fast enough…but a little short. Thank you, Mr Forwood.
SMALLER RIBBONS OF WATER, the thickness of rope, dance in association with THE WIDER SPOUT. ONE RIBBON elongates to a size larger than the wider spout, touches the WIDER SPOUT and instantly combines, then the whole gradually contracts into the cloud and disappears.
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(To be continued in Episode Two)