South Seas

The two most important things about me are that I have a PhD in oceanography and that I have a totally gorgeous young wife. (On reflection, perhaps I should reverse that order). My name is Brian Burridge and my wife is called Kate. By the age of twenty-eight I was running my own small lab when Kate came to work there doing the work experience part of her science degree course. I noticed her the day she arrived, all the men did, but I stayed strictly away because in my position it would have been unethical to even give the appearance of chatting her up. She did date a couple of guys during her period with us but the grapevine had it that neither got anywhere serious.

Just over a year later with a degree in her pocket, she came back looking for a permanent job and I employed her like a shot. It was a good class degree but to be honest it wouldn't have mattered. Now there was nothing to stop me trying my luck, but slowly not in a brash or pushy way. By now I was just coming up to thirty but I wasn't going to let the eight years age difference deter me. Our regular workload was taking shoreline samples of sea water to check ongoing salinity and also ensuring that there was no sewage pollution near holiday beaches. We are one of the laboratories who award the blue flags indicating water quality to seaside resorts,

With her working full time, the male employees were like wasps round a jam pot but I used my position to run interference, mainly by allocating her to projects directly under my auspices. During the first six months it was hard watching her interrelate with other males for she has a very friendly outgoing nature but as far as I knew none of the guys working for me managed to get her into bed. At the end of that time, as soon as it was feasible to do so, I made Kate into my personal assistant and we worked together on everything. You will have gathered that I was seriously besotted by her from the first moment I saw her until today.

Kate is 5' 6", with very fair, slightly curly, short blonde hair. I would also say that she has the face of an angel but then I am undoubtedly biased. A purist might claim that her breasts are slightly too large for her frame but I'm certainly not grumbling. A decently narrow waist, good hips and a pert round bottom complete the picture except that strangely, her legs actually look better when she is barefoot than when wearing her heels.

I am 5' 11" tall with a slim but not athletic build and a slightly thinning hairline. My appearance is generally academic and strangers who know nothing of my qualifications still naturally assume that I am intelligent. As you can see, I don't present the most sexually appealing target but after a year of going on field trips with Kate, we naturally drifted into a relationship, greatly helped by an accommodation cock-up one night which meant us sharing a bed.

We were married after only six months, the haste due to the fact that to maintain appearances, we had to be discrete about sleeping together. Sex with Kate was everything that I had dreamed it might be and, despite my secret worries, she seemed quite happy with my average almost six inch endowment. She introduced me to oral sex and that gave a big boost to our bedtime activities. I was in heaven doing it to her and under her guidance, I do believe that I became rather good at it – I certainly gave her more orgasms that way than from straightforward intercourse. Inevitably, at one point in that short courtship, I asked Kate how many guys she had sex with before me. Instead of answering she gave me a long steady look and asked, "Do you really want to know?"

Immediately those six words conjured up the mental image of a bike shed with a long line of youths lined up outside and I answered rather too quickly, "No, not really."

Kate gave a laugh and said, "I won't tell you then," but seeing the expression on my face she grinned and added, "Just to set your mind at ease there weren't all that many."

Now I regretted turning down the knowledge. I certainly hadn't wanted to hear that she had ever been the local slut but I would have liked to learn some details about a limited number of predecessors. Unfortunately it was now too late. Interestingly Kate never enquired about my past but then she probably guessed that there was very little to tell.

For the next five happy years we worked hard until I was in a position to leave someone else in charge while we went off to do other things. Right on cue the dream contract turned up which gave us the chance to combine a well earned holiday with some interesting research, after which we had vague plans to start a family. There are interconnecting currents circulating the globe with the most well known being the Gulf Stream and the Humboldt Current. In the Pacific the southern oscillation causes a weather phenomenon called La Nina. Our task was primarily to monitor surface temperatures in the central pacific with a subsidiary interest in comparing wind driven surface currents with the underlying main flow. This latter had implication on how primitive man managed to inhabit the Pacific islands and Australia between 70 and 40 thousand years ago.

The project was fully funded and included the hire of a thirty foot motor yacht for the three month duration of our intended schedule. As expected we had all our equipment stowed aboard on time and set out the 200 nautical miles to the first planned GPS location. There were three other individuals on the vessel besides us, Ken the Australian owner and his two crewmen. Ken was aged around fifty and a couple of inches taller than myself. He had a hard face with a very weather-beaten complexion and wore an old naval captains hat permanently perched on the back of his head, with a long ponytail of dirty yellow hair hanging down his back. His worn, white plain cotton shirt might have been service issue at one time but rather bizarrely, below the waist he wore trousers which only reached down to the knee, with bare feet completing the picture.

One of the crew, Bakti was either Indonesian or Malaysian and although possibly in his early twenties, his slim build and handsome boyish face made him seem far younger. In contrast, Hua was huge, at least 6' 4" and very heavily built, (think New Zealand All black). Always naked above the waist, his lower quarters were covered by a kind of wrap round sarong and he always had a large vicious looking machete strapped to his bare thigh. I guess he was somewhere in his thirties. Ken was fluent in the languages of both men and they managed to communicate with each other in some kind of pidgin dialect but neither knew many words of English.

Right from the start of the voyage, Kate made sure that she was always dressed respectably without too much skin on show but once the yacht was stationary that wasn't so easy. While underway the breeze had kept temperatures down, until we halted to take our readings when it soon became oppressively hot. Both Bakti and Hua took every opportunity to leap in the ocean and cool down but Ken never did. Kate was shy about exposing herself in front of the natives in her rather revealing tiny bikini so a crude shower was rigged up for her aft, fed by seawater hauled in buckets over the side. I would have loved to plunge into that tempting blue sea but instead showed solidarity with my wife by first standing guard then making use of the same facility as her.

I could not really understand my wife's reticence because we had previously been on nude beaches without her appearing at all inhibited and, although all three males aboard certainly kept casting appreciative glances her way, none had given any overtly lecherous looks. To be more exact, Ken seemed the consummate professional only interested in the job in hand and he ran such a tight ship that I guessed neither of his crew dared step out of line.

We were two weeks into our schedule and had moved location twice when Ken said to me, "Don't get too involved in anything because I've just heard that there is a cyclone building in this area and we might need to move away fast. On its current track it should miss us but that might easily change."

An hour later he returned from another trip to the radio with a serious expression on his face to announce that the cyclone had in fact veered and was now heading our way fast but that there was no need to panic. He had hardly spoken those words when lightning flashed out of a clear sky to unerringly strike the radio aerial. "Shit," he swore, "That's probably knackered the GPS tracker as well so it's lucky we have another in the life boat."

The really bad news turned out to be that the electrical charge had also burned out all spark plugs in the engine. With calm efficiency the captain ordered his men to put out some sail to set us moving out of the danger area while he tried to repair the damage. When the first onslaught of the storm hit us half an hour later, Ken had replaced the number of plugs necessary for achieving sufficient steering to prevent us going broadside to the wind and tide but not enough power to get us away from danger.

Knowing that we were in for a hard time, Ken dug some life jackets out of the locker and carried a couple over to the two crewmen. Bakti accepted one but when Hua declined, the younger man had a change of mind and handed his back. When the captain returned, to hand a couple to me I asked, "What was that about?"

"It's an old seafaring superstition. Many old salts won't wear life jackets, they prefer the thought of drowning quickly to bobbing about on the surface for days, slowly dying from thirst and exposure."

"But you're wearing one," I pointed out.

Ken gave a self conscious laugh. "The truth is that I can't swim a stroke and I'm haunted by the thought of going under only yards from safety."

The sails were quickly taken down before the ferocity of the wind tore them from the mast and from then on we were at the mercy of the storm. There was a critical moment when the supports at one end of the life boat snapped leaving it gangling from one davit and flapping wildly in the wind. There was grave ganger that it would seriously damage the yacht but in this moment of crisis Hua demonstrated the use of his vicious weapon. Showing surprising agility he leapt up and with one slash cut through the retaining rope, allowing the danger to fall harmlessly into the churning water.

We seemed to run endlessly before the cyclone as the hours of daylight faded into hours of night. Kate and I could do nothing and might have been a hindrance had we tried, so we kept going to the galley and making endless flasks of coffee for the men on deck, to help then stave off exhaustion. On our last trip below decks, Kate undid the front of here life jacket and started massaging her tender breasts saying, "These things must have been made for women with smaller busts, my tits are going to be like fried eggs if this carries on much longer."

Almost at the same moment there was a flash of lightning so bright that the illumination reached below decks and from immediately above our heads in the wheel house, Ken gave a strangled cry, "Oh Christ, there's something ahead."

Kate and I ran for the steps and had almost reached the deck when there was a terrible ripping noise as the vessel came to a shuddering halt. I was sent crashing into a rail and was aware of my wife sliding past me along the deck. Something must have punctured the fuel tank because for a few seconds a spout of diesel shot up, showering everywhere until another surge of water lifted the yacht clear of the reef and carried it forward into calmer waters, where it rapidly sank below our feet.

My left arm wouldn't work and I couldn't feel my fingers but was relieved when another flash of light revealed Kate splashing quite near me, unfortunately lacking her life jacket. She managed to close the intervening distance and clung to me but her additional weight dragged us both down and as my head dipped below the surface I feared that we would both still perish. Suddenly Hua appeared by our side, peeled Kate from my grip, then swimming powerfully on his back, struck out for the shore pulling my wife behind him, his arms under hers and his big hands firmly gripping her breasts.

I managed to head after them swimming clumsily sideways using a combination of leg action and splashing motions with my good arm. I eventually felt solid ground below my feet when I was able to stagger up the beach where I collapsed and I think passed out. It must have been some hours later when I awoke to the sun shining on a calm blue sea. All five of us had survived and were scattered about the beach with my wife lying near to Hua. My arm still hurt but a tentative examination showed it not to be broken only badly bruised.

Almost as if to a signal everybody stood and we clustered together to assess the situation. Oil damage was the most noticeable snag with Kate having suffered the worst for both her blouse and skirt were coated with the stuff. I was almost as bad and Bakti's baggy Hawaiian shorts were rendered unpalatable because the foul oil was already going stiff and starting to smell. Ken had been protected by the wheelhouse and although Hua's sarong had escaped the oil it was badly ripped. I stripped down to my Y-fronts, Kate was reduced to bra and panties and Bakti removed his shorts to reveal equally gaudily coloured boxers underneath.

I suggested that the oil soaked fabric should be retained and could be used to make torches for use in an emergency. Ken seemed impressed by my foresight and gave instruction to his crew.

We turned out to have very little to aid survival between us but starvation was not an immediate problem because there were many coconuts and other fruits in evidence. Fortuitously we also soon found a spring of fresh water 200 yards along the beach but the only survival aids that we possessed were a couple of partly full gas lighters and the large man's machete or parang.

When it came to skills, Hua's great strength was an obvious asset and Bakti soon proved that he was very adept and both swimming and climbing trees. He also had knowledge of native cooking methods. Ken could offer little except authority and the ability to give the pessimistic estimate that we were at least 500 miles from where rescuers would be looking for us.

Kate had studied botany as a backup subject and could identify what was edible and which plants were either medicinal or culinary. My hobby was reading about hunter gatherer societies so knew a lot about knapping flints, I'd even once tried my hand at a demonstration. I also remembered how they plaited strands of grass to make both ropes and containers and I knew an ancient way of fishing. This involved building a V shape wall of rocks with the point towards the sea. At high tide the structure is completely submerged but when the waters recede it leaves fish trapped within it.

We quickly established a fire and as a priority Ken had Hua dig a latrine some distance from camp using a conch shell. Over the first few days Bakti proved invaluable securing food, he could shin up the tallest palms and on the second day he emerged triumphant from the sea carrying a large fish which he had caught with his hands, a feat which he replicated on other occasions. Other protein was derived from plump overly trusting seabirds. Finally we worked together as a group cutting bamboo type poles which were used in the erection of rudimentary shelters spaced round the fire.

The first few days we all worked hard establishing our means of survival but when that work was done we started exploring the island, armed with pointed sticks as a basic weapon. When it was known to be safe Kate and I went out alone and one day we found a small cave on the higher ground towards the centre. It was quite deep but the main chamber was quite large with deep soft sand on the floor. The entrance was narrow and easily defensible and I could easily see what a good refuge it would make if danger threatened.

Life became relaxed and it was then I first noticed that the eyes of the two crewmen followed my wife everywhere. She was certainly worth looking at because her underwear hid little and whenever she emerged from the sea after bathing she appeared to be totally naked. I could see the lust on their faces and it gave me a kick to know how badly they craved that which was mine alone.

Bakti seemed continually aroused and seemed to have a permanently tented front to his boxers. I guessed roughly that his appendage was slightly longer than mine. Ken was a mystery but from one incident I got the impression that Hua was quite spectacularly endowed. We were all cooperating on the same task and, to get full benefit of his strength and bulk, the big man had raised one leg to brace against the trunk of a palm. In my position I was left gazing straight under his sarong at a great mass hanging between his heavy thighs, enclosed in some basic kind of thong.

I had found some obsidian, a kind of volcanic glass which is as good as flint for the creation of cutting edges. After some practice, my first success was created some microliths. With the aid of tree resin I glued to a stick to make a clumsy sickle which was to make the cutting of grass far easier. While I was busy with my new hobby, my wife wandered out alone searching for useful flora. I was just happy that she was out of sight of the other men, as long as I knew where both of them were.

One night in our shelter, Kate took off her bra and tossed it to me, "Make use of that if you can because I'm not going to wear it any more."

"You can't flaunt your breasts like that," I protested, "I've been seeing the way that Hua and Bakti look at you and that will only inflame them more."

"I've been aware of them watching as well, leering from a distance and then coming up close, pretending to be nice, but just to look down my cleavage. I'm starting to feel a bit threatened and I think this might take some heat out of the situation."

"How do you work that out?" I asked genuinely puzzled.

"Its pure psychology," my wife explained. "Take a stripper, she does a big build up to removing her bra with lots of teasing but once she takes it off, the male attention switches elsewhere and her tits just become part of the scenery. And what about the big foreign shows with the stage full of showgirls with lots of feathers but naked from the waist up, for the first few minutes all male eyes are fixed on the girls breasts but soon they start watching the act not ogling the bare tits."

I was nodding to indicate understanding but I must have had a certain expression on my face because Kate giggled and leaned forward to poke my chest saying, "I know, you're the exception that proves the rule." We both laughed but then Kate said, "Seriously, I'm hoping that going topless will soon take the sexuality out of my boobs."

It was a viable theory but it didn't work. In the early morning two days later, Ken wandered up to talk to me. Kate had gone to the well, Bakti was swimming and I think Hua was visiting the latrine. "If you want my advice you should take your wife and set up a separate camp for the pair of you somewhere else on the island," Ken said seriously, "Do it immediately because if you don't I'm very afraid that she is going to be raped tonight. Both Hua and Bakti are both young hot blooded men and the way that Kate is flaunting herself is driving then crazy."

"Can't you stop them?"

Ken shook his head. "My authority went down with the boat. I like to think I still have some influence but it's not enough in this situation and I'm certainly don't plan to risk myself trying to prevent it."

When Kate returned I passed on Ken's warning, expecting her to panic, grab a few things and then head out straight away. Instead she got angry saying, "After all the work we've put in here I certainly don't intend to start all over again with nothing. For a start, if we hope to survive we need one of the lighters at least and enough food to last for several days."