MORNING SERIAL
WHY now? As I looked at the urn he still seemed to disapprove, possibly because firstly he wanted me to find something else that was not in the shed. Perhaps in the house. Wait. In his other hand he gave me the books. The log and the poetry book, surely there had to be something in one of those…
CHAPTER 12
I WENT back to the log. Father’s final typed note had become my bookmark positioned at the last recorded page of Grandfather’s log, but there were a few more pages left before the end of the book. The next page was blank followed by a rough chart of Carmarthen Bay with what looked like navigational sketches. I recognised Caldey Island and the coastline. Three straight lines with compass directions were drawn on the chart stretching into the middle of the bay. One from Caldey lighthouse, the next from St. Mary’s church spire in Tenby and the last from Monkstone Point near Saundersfoot. The three lines intersected in a place on the chart and were marked by some form of an abbreviation or code. H7F for W HT. This had to be what Father wanted me to find. H7F for W followed by HT; what did it mean? It had to be something simple. There was no grid on the rough chart so it couldn’t be anything to do with latitude and longitude. Grandfather was a fisherman. This might be where he fished for herrings. H for HERRINGS and W for his name. Herrings for WINSTON. The boat outside was named WINSTON, his name, but it was built after Grandfather was no longer around. Father must have named it after him. Not significant though to this search.
But 7F, what could that mean? I remembered Father telling me when I first met him that Grandfather set his nets in seven fathoms of water where the herrings spawned. This must be the place.