It was autumn. Jean and Dominic were out walking. They had ambled past Dartmouth Castle and were on the coastal path at Warren Point just past the coastguards look out. They paused for a moment and looked back up the estuary and then out to sea.

"What a sight it would be!" he said.

By the end of the walk Jean had glimpsed his vision too, as she got to hear the full story bit by bit. She again realised Dominic needed a god more than most. But was he to find it here?

"So you're still making your god out of a steamboat. Fancy a paddle-steamer, taking it out to sea, setting it on fire and sinking it. I'm not quite sure !"

In his contorted mythological world it was the beginning of the end, the doom of the gods, the end of the cosmos, the time when the earth shuddered and the sea reared up. It was when the serpent emerged and the resulting waves set free the ship Nagflar with the giant Hymir in command.
"The horn will sound calling the sons of Odin, and all will ride to the huge plain of Vigrid where the last battle will be fought. The world has lost its faith. There is nothing to believe in any more. Siegfried is dead. Flames will burn high on a huge funeral pyre by the side of the river. Brunhilde will mount her horse and ride into the flames."

"Sounds exciting dear, shall we have our picnic here?"

"These egg sandwiches are superb. You make the most delicious egg sandwiches. So Compton Castle will be set free and I the captain will take her out to sea. I shall have to have a record player on board. Wouldn't be right with no music. Of course there is only one piece of music to sink to, Wagner. The Funeral march. What a sight it will be. All the coastal paths full of people watching that final journey.”

He saw this final voyage; he saw his Ark; he heard Siegfried's Funeral March; he saw the funeral pyre on her decks built of coal from her boiler. He saw himself lighting the flames. Then he saw himself sinking slowly with the boat, but sinking equated to drowing and heroics more suited to a bygone age. So finally he saw himself changing the ending; still near to where Totnes Castle went down in 1967, but perhaps a bit closer to the shore, and by a dinghy his minds eye has seen conveniently moored nearby; an option should he get tired while swimming to shore

" Any more sandwiches love?”

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During the walk Jean had had also conceived an idea; what to do for Dominic's birthday. Why not a small party aboard Compton Castle, probably the last they would have. She had heard there had been talk of selling the boat . It would be 'The Captain's Party'. After all there had been a resurrection. Food? The starter had to be fish fingers.

"No Harry, for this occasion salad cream will not do. Mayonnaise please "

They had celebrated their first wedding anniversary in a local restaurant.

"We must go there again."

"Well how about you taking me there on my birthday?"

"I have other plans."

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Saturday 12th October 1974

Jean put down the newspaper.

"Poor old Thorpe," she said.

"He was living in a dream world if you ask me," responded Dominic.

"You're a fine one to talk of dream worlds, what with planning burials at sea."

"Don't go on, I know it was daft."

"I had a feeling it may have dawned on you."

"How?"

"When I saw you yesterday dusting down the parrot. There was an old sparkle about you, a glint in your eyes again."

"It will be fun being back onboard Compton again."

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"He don't look bad for 60," said a friend to Jean.

The party was going well. Dominic manage to catch a few moments chat with Harry, just the two of them.

"Thanks for the use of the boat Harry. It's great to have another Compton do. It's been fun."

"Been? Still is. I'm right glad you're having your 60th here. Do you realise that you and her are the same age, well to within a few months.

"And if it wasn't for you Harry she'd have been dead long ago."

"Yes, she's given us some good times. And you have too Dom, that Captain act of yours and the parrot. I've had some laughs out of that.”

Dominic detected a note of sadness in Harry's voice. Harry continued.

"She's getting a bit much for us nowadays. I don't seem to have the energy any more. We was absolutely worn out the other day, after all the teas and tidying up we had to do. And I was non too keen at what folks might have thought. I felt like putting up a sign 'You can have my boat, but not my vote'. "

Harry explained further. Dominic was thrilled to hear about the speeches made from the paddle steamer a couple of days ago.

"She's even more of a celebrity now.”

"Aye maybe that's true.” Harry paused momentarily, then continued, " This may be the last party we shall have together. By the by what are you up to these days, any new projects?"

"I found time to invent a new religion."

"Oh ah, and where will that take us?"

"Just off Burgh Island, well me at any rate."

Harry was lost, but before he could inquire about the significance to a new religion of a tiny island nearby Dominic was once more in full flow.

"Actually that's not true. I should say I had invented a new religion. I found it didn't work, so I scrapped it. Instead I came to the conclusion that if there is no God I'm not going to be able to create one, and if one exists that doesn't suit me I'm not going to be able to change it. And, at any rate, my capacity to visualise such an entity is so beyond me I decided I shall just marvel at the world I see, and leave it at that. Imagining one god behind it all seems to me to diminish the concept of creation.”

A thankful pause gave Harry the opportunity for a word, as a large man joined them.

"Right, so there we will leave it then," said Harry, and turning to the newcomer, "Arthur, meet Dominic. This is the man I said may pop in to see me."

" I hope you don't mind. I'll not take up too much of Harry's time, but I needed a moment with him. I'm on my way back to Looe."

"Looe, with that accent," laughed Dominic.

" I used to live in Yorkshire, but now I run a pub, amongst other things, in Looe."

"Yes," said Harry, "a fellow Yorkshireman. So watch it Dominic, you're outnumbered. Arthur Clayton is thinking of buying Compton."

"Aye, that's a fact, and if I do she'll need a captain just like you. I plan to get her back in service again."

"Really, how interesting," said Captain Dominic Robb.

Harry returned to the party a few moments later. He shook his head.

"Won't be him, typical Yorkshireman, wanted it for a song. I've had a better offer from a local farmer, and I think I'm going to accept it. "

"Why so sudden?

" Dominic, my friend, we're all getting older, including Compton. She needs a lot of money and time spent on her. I can't just ignore it, besides which, since that new harbour master Jim Blazeby came on the scene a few years ago, he's started to implement the rules and regulations more. He's already cast an eye over us. Up to now there's been bigger problems than Compton's condition to contend with, but as he sorts those things out we''ll soon be in his sights."

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So Harry Wood had finally found the exitement of owning a paddle steamer calm to indifference, and eventually become burdensome. His dream had been fulfilled, but could no longer be sustained. A few days after Dominic's 60th birthday, Harry shook hands on a deal and then returned home in melancholy mood.

"Love, I've done it, I've let 'er go. She's given us some good times though, and I'll be sorry to part with her .”

Indeed she had, but they also had done her proud. They sold her with sad hearts.

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