The Cargo Club — John Francis Kinsella

Pat Kennedy fell into a restless sleep as images of Magellan's voyage drifted in and out of his dreams. His 60 million dollar Falcon jet was a galaxy of light years away from the navigator's carrick, the Vittoria, the first ship to complete the circumnavigation of the globe. The 85 ton vessel, a mere 20 metres long compared to the 25 metres of the Falcon, with its three decks and stern castle rose nearly 10 metres above the waves. When the Portuguese explorer set out from Cadiz in Spain, his sailing ship made an average of 4 knots, carrying a 55 man crew for what was to be an epic transoceanic voyage, 50,000 kilometres across uncharted seas, fraught with hardships and dangers, a voyage into the unknown, in search of gold, fame and fortune.Pat unlike Magellan had all the wealth he desired, more than could be counted, though he was driven by the same desire for adventure, treasure and strange worlds.We stood behind Pat. Some people drift apart, we drifted together, forming what is now a tightly knit, if distantly scattered clan, bonded by loyalty, our Irish roots, and money.To an outsider it would seem incongruous, John with Ekaterina—his Russian wife, Pat with his Chinese wife, Tom with his Colombian wife, and Sergei who wasn’t even Irish though his wife was. Myself, I’m getting serious with—well I won’t tell you with whom as it will spoil the story, besides I haven’t introduced her to the others yet.Beyond our Irishness, we have one other thing that binds us together, our wealth, we are rich, very much richer than you, and a couple of us richer than mere words can describe.What do we do with our lives? What most of you can’t do, go wherever the labyrinth of life leads us, whenever or wherever adventure beckons, whatever the cost, dollars of course. This is the story of one our adventures, the strands of which are entwined in our different lives and loves, in lands where fortune has led us, drawn by the irresistible lure of more wealth in the form of gold and treasure, beckoned by fate.