Episode IV. Onyx Draws Anchor Duty
From Tales of Onyx the Cruising Kitty

by Onyx Blackwell
Chief Editor and Cruising Kitty

Onyx on anchor duty...

It was a lovely summer evening as I slept in the warm sun, stretching my body to the max to catch every sunbeam I could. After a frisky passage across the Sound, sheple and heple had once again dropped their anchor into the water which let us stay out in the lovely bay with a gentle swinging motion that always made me so sleepy.

I loved this part of the day. The sun was warm, the motion was gentle, and the colors of everything glowed around me. Even my coat took on a pretty sable tone – black with a shimmer of copper and rich earth tones. It made me feel beautiful…and sleepy.

The next thing I knew, it was chilly. When I opened my eyes, heple’s and sheple’s voices drifted up from down below and I was staring into the eyes of the man in the moon. "Hello, moon man," I cried up to him in my special moony voice.

Sheple heard me and came out to see. “Oh, Onyx, I am glad you are awake”, sheple said, “and that you had a nice nap. Since you are rested and we are tired, would you mind taking anchor watch? If anything seems suspicious at all, please come wake us up. Okay?” I said, “Sure.” I thought that if I was going to be prowling the deck all night, I might as well keep a watch and let my people sleep.

I took my watch very seriously. I walked back and forth every hour. In between I sat up on the boom so I could have a good view of the harbor and the bow of the boat.

At first, everything was fine. The gentle breeze kept us pointing in the right direction and we were not drifting at all. But half way through the night, the wind started blowing stronger and changed direction. I watched the shore and the anchor seemed okay. But when the waves started getting bigger, I thought I felt a funny motion. I looked along the shore and saw that we seemed to be moving backwards very slowly.

Onyx keeping an eye out...

Uh, oh. I knew at that instant that something was not right. I ran right below and jumped right on top of sheple and started punching her with my hands. “Wake up, sheple, wake up heple,” I cried. Sheple and heple jumped right out of bed and said, “Oh my something feels not quite right. We’d better check it out.”

When they got out on deck, they saw the anchor was dragging just as the anchor alarm sounded. They quickly sprang into action, starting the engine, pulling up the anchor and resetting it in a more protected spot. It did not take very long but it surely was stressful.

When it was all over, heple picked me up and cuddled me, and sheple cooed and scratched my nose just the way I like it. “Onyx,” she said, “you are a great cruising kitty. You saved us from a possible disaster tonight. You did exactly the right things. You watched carefully. You woke us up. You saved us Onyx. Even before the anchor alarm. Thank you, Onyx. We love you so much and are so proud of you. You'll be the smartest cruising kitty when we take our world cruise.”

I was proud, too. And so sleepy I just couldn’t keep my eyes open.

I’m Onyx Blackwell, the black sea cat, The Cruising Kitty. I’m going to see the world. But first I need to take a nap.

Tales of Onyx the Cruising Kitty

Episode IV. Onyx Draws Anchor Duty From Tales of Onyx the Cruising Kitty

Episode IV. Onyx Draws Anchor Duty
From Tales of Onyx the Cruising Kitty