Scenario 11 The Old Fort

[NorthernRaider]

Scenario 11
The Old Fort

Roger and Chris crested the hill and stopped for a rest, five weeks after sailing from Whitby and creeping ever so slowly never letting the coast out of their sight they visited dozens of likely locations before finally dropped anchor in Cawsand Bay.

They snuck ashore at dusk and rested overnight in a campsite near Millbrook. They had previously spent months travelling across the UK seeking out families and groups of preppers whose details they had collected from the Prepper forums before the collapse. They were the accepted experts on joining up the dots, or more accurately identifying useable and tradable assets that the various groups and factions of widely dispersed survivalists had to offer for barter.

This particular venture came about because the group living in Stainsacre Hall near Whitby had with the help of the folks along the Esk valley managed to get the old Whitby to Darlington Railway line up and running again, they had 6 small steam locos but were currently running a small diesel railcar. It was fuelled by a mix of salvaged diesel from other locos, fuel from Thornaby Marshalling Yard, blended with a whopping great tank of Seed Rape oil they found on a farm. They estimated if they ran one train a day between Whitby up to possible as far as Shildon they had enough fuel to last just over 2 ½ years and this would open up access to a great deal of coal, timber, hill farms and abandoned lowland communities.

When the Whitby group had ventured down to Northallerton to salvage a replacement injector pump from a Pacer Railcar they knew to be stored there. Whilst there they came across a small group from Wensleydale who said if they could get a reliable supply of milk they could start making cheese and yogurt again in largish quantities. Essential nutrition with a good shelf life that is easy transportable was very desirable and the cheese plant they had control of could produce various types of cheese not just the local Wensleydale variety, but it needed milk and lots of it.

Roger and Chris had heard a whisper than some place along the south coast another group of survivalists had survived and had a healthy collection of small animals including apparently a lot of goats. The duo knew dairy cattle would be preferential but so long after the collapse they doubted that there were any cattle left alive in England, so goats would have to do providing they could find them. So over five weeks previously they had set sail in a 31ft Yacht called ENTERPRISE they had found in Whitby harbour. With the help of the Whitby group they got the boat something close to seaworthy and chose to use it to recce the coast for other communities. Chris had roughly painted the letters NCC1701 underneath the boats name in homage to the famous spaceship which earned him the nickname of Scottie of Roger. They had supplemented their meagre supplies with produce they found growing wild along the south coast and from line caught fish caught as they cruised down the coast. For water they used a reverse osmosis Katadyn filter to convert Salt water into fresh water, and they played safe by passing the water through a British Berkfeld filter unit. Four small jerry rigged solar panels bolted to the cabin roof coupled to a small and very noisy micro turbine provided them with power for running a radio, fridge and small sonar unit.

The following day the duo set off west along the coast in the hope of finding a place high enough to give them a panoramic view of the area. Pretty soon they reached the top of one of the cliffside paths, as they paused Roger said “That doesn’t look right” whilst pointing at something in the distance. He got his mini binoculars from his DPM smock and dropped his Eagle Becker Patrol pack to the ground, but kept his BSA Ultra Carbine over his shoulder and focused his attention on a slope about 2 miles away. “Watcha make of that?” Roger said to Chris whilst passing his binoculars to his partner.

Chris peered through the glasses and scanned the area thoroughly then without lowering the glasses said “It’s one of the old Napoleonic era coastal forts I think, yes it must be the old Tregantle Fort that’s listed in the guide book we have been using to seek our places where preppers could be living”

Then Chris froze and turned to look at Roger and said “and if I’m not mistaken that is very closely cropped grass all around the outside of the fort, I can’t see anyone having enough time to be mowing grass any more can you?”

Two hours later they were being introduced to Neil who originated in Exeter who was a long term prepper as well as a noted chef. After a meal and washing up Neil and his people gave the duo a tour of the fort, Neil’s group had managed to get parts of the old accommodation block, offices, workshops and old cookhouse block operational mainly using wood burning stoves they salvaged from B& Q and Machine Mart after the collapse. The forts old well had been uncapped and a wind driven lift pump brought water up for both the humans and animals to use. The animals were numerous and plentiful and housed in great comfort within the forts walls and gun enclosures. The neatly mown exterior of the fort leading down towards the ranges was through the actions of the goats being allowed out to forage during the daytime.

On top of the central redoubt they found solar panels working next to boards with jerky being sun dried on, shortages of sea salt for also preserving meat were not a problem here by the sea.

Next day they all got down to discussing trade, Yes the Tregantle community were more than happy to trade goats, goat meat, goat milk and goat skins with anyone. In return they had a desperate need for stuff like bitumen to repair roofs with, fishing nets (Whitby was awash with new unused nets) medicines vetinarian and human, a working vehicle, a DIY small scale bio diesel plant, new footwear. More livestock were wanted to prevent inbreeding among their current stock. The skills of a Blacksmith and Leathermaker for at least twice a year visits. And especially hay and dried grasses for winter feed.

If they could get enough food for the animals they were willing to make the risky journey over to the Channel Islands to trade the islanders for a few of their cattle to start a breeding program again on the mainland.

Neil knew that there were still quite a few ponies alive on Dartmoor and back eastwards in the New Forest and he had been told by a traveller called Gavin that wild boar were flourishing in the forest. Neil offered some very generous rewards for anyone who could bring him some young wild boars he could start his own herd with.
Neil was hoping that if he could he would catch some ponies before winter to break and train to pull small wagons from the beach up to the fort and to provide mounts for foraging patrols.

Neil’s people also raised the issue about fuel for the stoves and boilers, finding timber was becoming harder and harder as the months went by, They asked Chris and Roger to see if the people in the north east could arrange to ship coal that was very abundant across the north east all the way down to Tregantle. A stock of coal built up bit by bit over the spring and summer would massively improve the quality of life of the Tregantle community and reduce their workload in the long winter.

So the beginnings of new commercial links that would ensure the continuity and security of the preppers communities may be assured providing Chris and Roger returned safely to Whitby.