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SUSTAINABLE
ENERGY
MANAGEMENT
Planning,
Implementation,
Control, and Security
Second Edition


MIRJANA RADOVANOVIC
Professor of Energy and Environment, Educons University,
Sremska Kamenica, Republic of Serbia
Academic Press is an imprint of Elsevier
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Acknowledgments

This book is part of the Jean Monnet Erasmus + project titled “The circular
economy: ‘the number one priority’ for the European Green Deal,” Refer-
ence Number: 619927-EPP-1-2020-1-BG-EPPJMO-PROJECT.
The book was translated by Mrs. Sanela Šipragic Ðokic.

vii
Contents

Acknowledgments vii

1. Introduction 1

2. Energy and sustainable development 9

Definition of sustainable development 10
Sustainable development principles 14
Energy sustainability as criteria for development 17
Dimensions of energy sustainability 20
Basic concept of energy sustainability 22
Basic problems of future energy development 26
Legislation 30
Case study 32
References 33

3. Strategies for sustainable energy management 35

Basic approaches to implementing strategy of sustainable energy
management 36
Traditional approach 37
System approach 41
Eco-management approach 50
Total quality management approach 63
Life cycle analysis 76
Gap analysis 83
Case study 92
References 92

4. Planning of energy management 95

Traditional concept of energy management 95
Sustainable approach to energy management 104
Strategic analysis of energy sector 114
Strategic objectives of sustainable energy management 117
Case study 120
References 120

v
vi Contents

5. Implementation of sustainable energy management 123

Development of strategy of sustainable management of energy 123
Traditional approaches to implementation of sustainable energy
management 130
Creation of organizational structure and corporate culture 134
Transformation of goals and allocation of resources 142
Managing the process of implementing sustainable energy
management 147
Control and audit of the strategy 153
Case study 161
References 161

6. Control of sustainable energy management

implementation 165
Elements of strategic control 165
Controlling financial effects of implementation 176
Controlling nonfinancial effects of implementation 178
Case study 179
References 179

7. Strategic priorities of sustainable energy development 181

First strategic objective: Exploitation of renewable energy sources 181
Second strategic objective: Energy efficiency 249
Third strategic objective: Risk management 261
Case study 270
References 271

8. Energy security 279

The concept of energy security 279
Energy security and energy risk 282
Energy security measurement methodologies 291
Energy Trilemma Index 295
Reliability assessment of the International Index of Energy Security Risk 297
Energy security and policy making 300
Case study 303
References 303

Index 305
CHAPTER 1

Introduction

Sustainable development is a comprehensive concept of development that

was adopted in order to preserve the planet’s resources to the extent that will
satisfy the needs of present generations without compromising the ability of
the next generation to meet the same needs. The concept is comprehensive,
multidimensional, and multidisciplinary, and it can be applied widely.
The study of sustainable development involves considering the whole
range of relevant issues, mechanisms, solutions, and critical attitudes. Cur-
rently, there is no single concept of sustainable development that can be uni-
versally applied in all areas of human activity throughout the world, and it is
necessary to examine it in some sectors that are of special interest for a certain
range of issues.
Since the creation of contemporary mankind, especially with the pro-
gressive development of human activities, there has been a need for the pro-
vision and consumption of certain types and amounts of energy. Every
activity is related to the pending charges of energy that are created, trans-
ferred, transformed, and consumed.
Energy production and consumption are a special problem in the mod-
ern world, and it needs to be understood on several grounds. First of all, with
a proportional increase in population, there is an increasing need for the pro-
vision of sufficient energy. Given the nature of population growth and
inability to stop this growing trend, the problem of providing energy for
all human needs becomes global and constant (Radovanovic, Dodic, &
Popov, 2013).
Energy needs are very different in different parts of the world. The high-
est energy consumption, since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in
the late 18th century, has been found in the most developed countries. Con-
sumption of large amounts of energy has brought these countries a signifi-
cant economic advantage and created the need to face a constant
requirement of providing sufficient energy for future economic and social
development (Arto, Capellán-Perez, Lago, Bueno, & Bermejo, 2016).
Energy consumption in the world can be defined and measured on sev-
eral grounds, but the most suitable is the energy consumption in the total

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2 Sustainable energy management

amount of time, in some regions, as well as energy consumption from par-

ticular sources.
The total energy consumption in the world undergoes complex moni-
toring and control, which has multiple objectives. First of all, monitoring of
energy-related indicators in the world is necessary because it provides insight
into the general situation of the energy sector, helps identify the differences
among particular regions, as well as understand the trends and predict future
tendencies. Tracking energy-related indicators requires extremely complex
measurements, so that accurate data can be obtained only after several years.
The framework overview of energy consumption in the world until 2010
with projections up to 2050 is shown in Fig. 1.1.
Energy consumption has been measured in an organized and precise way
since 1965. Power consumption in the world is characterized by three
periods. In the base year 1965, energy consumption in the world was less
than 5 TW. Out of the 5 TW, the largest portion was provided by exploi-
tation of traditional sources (oil and coal), almost in equal ratios. Half that
amounts of energy was obtained from gas, and the least amount was obtained
by exploitation of water energy. Even then, 1% of energy was obtained from
nuclear power plants (Paul, Michael, & Jim, 2015).

Fig. 1.1 Global energy demand. (Based on Global Energy & CO2 Status Report. (2019).
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 Introduction 3

In the second period, which started in 1970, the energy consumption of

petroleum was doubled and reached its maximum in 1980. Consumption of
coal was also growing, but it was much slower and more balanced. Energy
consumption increased steadily from gas, which can be partly explained by
population growth and technology. The huge increase in consumption of
petroleum can be understood only because of the increase in traffic. In this
period (from 1980 to 1990), the consumption of water resources remained at
the same levels, and the consumption of energy from nuclear sources grew
slowly but not significantly.
The third period began in 1990 and is characterized by the beginning of a
stable and balanced growth in energy consumption from traditional sources.
Consumption of oil and gas continued to grow almost evenly, while the
consumption of coal was stabilized and even slightly reduced by the end
of the period. Production of energy from water and nuclear sources reached
its peak in 1990, and there were no significant changes until 2000.
In the beginning of the new millennium, by a shift in the third distinct
period, energy consumption from oil and gas continued to grow at the same
pace, while the consumption of energy obtained from coal, after a decade of
stabilization, began to grow again. At the end of the third period, in 2019, for
which the precise data is available, the total world energy consumption was
less than 15 TW, three times more than what was recorded 40 years earlier
(World Energy Outlook Report, 2019).
The reasons for increased consumption and related predictions are
numerous and complex and include the increase in the number of people
in the world, improvement of the needs of industry and transport, inefficient
consumption, and poor energy efficiency indicators. Whatever the reasons,
this large consumption of energy, apart from the exhaustion of the world
energy resources, has led to significant environmental consequences. All
of which raises the need for a strategic redirecting in the field of energy man-
agement at all levels, with the knowledge that energy consumption is
uneven in some parts of the world, as shown in Fig. 1.2.
Along with the monitoring of the total consumption of energy in the
world, the monitoring of energy consumption in some regions of the world
is connected with a number of problems, so final estimates cannot be con-
sidered absolutely accurate, although they provide valuable information
about the approximate values of energy consumption.
The highest energy consumption can be seen in the United States, Can-
ada, Norway, and Saudi Arabia, which can be largely explained by the high
level of technological development and living standards, as well as the
Fig. 1.2 World Energy Consumption in 2021. (Based on World Energy Data. https://www.worldenergydata.org/world-final-energy/.)
 Introduction 5

intensity of traffic. Somewhat weaker consumption has been recorded in

Russia, Scandinavia, and Australia. Compared with the first group of coun-
tries, with the highest energy consumption (indicated above), the European
countries, Japan, South Africa, and Argentina spend half that energy, fol-
lowed by the Eastern European countries. Even lower power consumption
has been recorded in Brazil, and the lowest in Africa and the Far East.
Energy consumption in some regions depends on many factors, but it is
evident that it is related to the question of whether the region also produces
the energy. Countries with the largest energy reserves are also the biggest
consumers of energy, which cannot necessarily be considered justified.
The European countries are mainly well-developed countries, with higher
values of energy efficiency, which is mainly due to the great efforts for ratio-
nal management of energy (Fawcet, Rosenow, & Bertoldi, 2019).
Consumption of energy per sector also has its particularities.
From the beginning of the industrial revolution (technical and techno-
logical improvements and expansion of transport), energy from oil is mostly
used, and one-third of the world’s energy needs is provided in that way.
Apart from this, the trend of oil consumption is obvious. Over the years,
oil consumption has continued to grow and that trend is expected to con-
tinue. Somewhat less energy is obtained by exploitation of coal (25%), but
that trend has decreased, which can be explained by specific technological
processes and the use of automobiles that cannot use coal as fuel. About one-
fifth of world energy demand is obtained by the exploitation of gas (World
Energy Outlook Report, 2019).
The remaining quantities of energy are provided in the same proportion
of energy from the biomass (11%), nuclear (6.4%) energy, and water courses
(21%). Exploitation of nuclear energy is limited to countries where such
production is allowed. The least quantities of energy are obtained from alter-
native sources (2.2%). The average general values have been presented, but it
should be emphasized that there are significant differences in certain coun-
tries and regions (World Energy Balances, 2020).
Taking into account the energy dependence of developed countries and
the uneven distribution of energy resources, production and distribution of
energy have become a problem of particular international political and eco-
nomic importance. Energy in all its forms has become a subject of interna-
tional trade, numerous disputes, negotiations, and military conflicts. Since
the demand for energy on the planet is constantly growing, it will occupy
a more important place in global economic and political changes in the
future.
6 Sustainable energy management

With the development of awareness and responsibility of individuals and

businesses and countries with the objective to respond to the growing num-
ber of environmental problems, the concept of sustainable development has
been defined to seek options for successful solutions to the environmental
problems, including energy exploitation and consumption, which are con-
nected with substantial negative environmental impact. The problem of
providing sufficient energy is one of the main challenges of sustainable
development and clearly breaks the trend of uncontrolled energy consump-
tion and implicitly imposes the need for changes in this field.
Sustainable development involves, among other things, the gradual
implementation of specific measures to drastically change the current
approach to energy production and consumption, because it implies devel-
oping new technologies, utilization of new energy sources, development
and implementation of comprehensive measures of saving, and the develop-
ment and implementation of numerous legal regulations, all with the aim of
raising levels of energy efficiency, i.e., to stop the trend of uncontrolled con-
sumption of energy that inevitably leads to the rapid and total depletion of
existing energy resources (Lindenmayer, 2017). These measures are binding
for all countries that accept the concept of sustainable development and are a
part of many international agreements and protocols that govern this area.
The energy problem, with the need for economic development on the
one hand and the need to keep energy resources and reduce pollution on the
other, requires definition of a special mechanism to manage this area, which
is essential to the process of planning at all levels, in companies, across regions
and countries, and in the international community as a whole (Romero,
Linares, & Lopez, 2018). Sustainable energy management, with all the ele-
ments of modern management science, along with the integration of
requirements that are set by implementing the concept of sustainable devel-
opment, is an effective mechanism that allows long-term planning of sus-
tainable development. Sustainable energy management is designed so that
its steps are clearly defined and measurable and its goals are specified and
measurable. Only this model of management, which is based on the impact
of the factors of sustainability, with clearly defined goals, provides quality
monitoring of the progress of the whole process of sustainable development.
However, in sustainable energy management, the impact that energy exploi-
tation and utilization of energy resources may have on other indicators of
development can be monitored, measured, and kept under control.
Sustainable development consists of four subsystems that are intercon-
nected although different in nature and intensity. The economic,
 Introduction 7

environmental, social, and institutional subsystems are a kind of sustainable

development unit, whose harmonious development represents the best pos-
sible option for long-term, stable development and survival of mankind.
Energy management is a key problem of sustainable development because
energy consumption reduces the values of the environmental subsystem
but has positive effects on the values of the economic subsystem.
Sustainable energy management enables the monitoring of economic
and ecological parameters of development because it includes the exact
methods for assessing the effectiveness of implementation, and the control
is based on a method for determining the degree of sustainable development
through measuring its indicators. Defined in this way, the sustainable energy
management model can provide real insight into the level of achieved sus-
tainable development as a whole, taking into account that determining the
balance between the economic and ecological development is particularly
important (Siraganyan, Perera, Scartezzini, & Mauree, 2019).
Sustainable energy management is designed to provide a management
model that can be accepted not only by individual companies but also by
countries or regions that create a geographical, natural, and economic unit.
The sustainable energy management model is based solely on determining
the most appropriate form of management of the system of future energy
production and consumption, indicating the most important objectives in
the field of sustainable energy development, pointing out how these goals
can be achieved, and controlling the complex process by applying the meth-
odology of assessment of the achieved degree of sustainable development.
Only in this way is it possible to plan, organize, monitor, and control the
complex and complicated process of energy management in the
modern world.

References
Arto, I., Capellán-Perez, I., Lago, R., Bueno, G., & Bermejo, R. (2016). The energy
requirements of a developed world. Energy for Sustainable Development, 33, 1–13.
Fawcet, T., Rosenow, J., & Bertoldi, P. (2019). Energy efficiency obligation schemes: Their
future in the EU. Energy Efficiency, 12, 57–71.
Lindenmayer, D. (2017). Halting natural resource depletion: Engaging with economic and
political power. The Economics and Labor Relations Review, 28(1), 41–56.
Paul, E., Michael, B., & Jim, W. (2015). Global energy: Issues, potentials, and policy implications.
Oxford University Press.
Radovanovic, M., Dodic, S., & Popov, S. (2013). Sustainable energy management (1st ed.).
Elsevier.
Romero, J. C., Linares, P., & Lopez, X. (2018). The policy implications of energy poverty
indicators. Energy Policy, 115, 98–108.
8 Sustainable energy management

Siraganyan, K., Perera, A. T. D., Scartezzini, J. L., & Mauree, D. (2019). Eco-Si A parametric
tool to evaluate the environmental and economic feasibility of decentralized energy sys-
tems. Energies, 12(5), 776.
World Energy Balances. (2020). International energy agency.
World Energy Outlook Report. (2019). International energy agency.
CHAPTER 2

Energy and sustainable

development

Contents
Definition of sustainable development 10
Sustainable development principles 14
Energy sustainability as criteria for development 17
Dimensions of energy sustainability 20
Basic concept of energy sustainability 22
Basic problems of future energy development 26
Legislation 30
Directive 2001/77/EC 31
Directive 2009/28/EC 31
Directive 2001/80/EC 31
Directive 1999/32/EC 32
Directive 96/61/EC 32
Case study 32
References 33

Sustainable development as a theory, concept, and idea is a comprehensive

framework for the development of humankind in the future, i.e., the
attempt to plan future development based on past experience and predicted
future needs. The concept of sustainable development implies the need for
reviewing and understanding its complex and multidisciplinary, multidi-
mensional, and heterogeneous structure, making it one of the most complex
concepts of development since the creation of humankind.
Any human activity can be observed from different points of view and
evaluated on several grounds. Sustainable development, however, being the
starting assumption and the basic criterion for the acceptance of the idea,
requires that the observed activity, event, or asset at any stage of its imple-
mentation, development, and consumption not have any detrimental effect
on the environment. Broadly, sustainable development is the need to
encourage and allow the performance of only those activities that do not
have a detrimental impact on the quality of life of future generations.

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10 Sustainable energy management

Taking into account the different types of human activities, diversity of

resources, and ways of their exploitation and consumption, it is necessary to
study certain aspects of sustainable development (economic, environmental,
and social) as a separate phenomenon, but also consider its relationship with
all other parameters of sustainability.

Definition of sustainable development

Sustainable development is a recently accepted concept of development that
has emerged as a result of the fact that the development of civilization has
exhausted natural resources to the extent that the earth has become unsus-
tainable, thus challenging the prospects of development and survival of
future generations. The awareness of the need for preservation and restora-
tion of natural resources has always existed, as indicated by written docu-
ments and oral traditions. In the early periods of human development,
people were much more aware that they depended on the earth and they
treated it with respect. With the increase in population, geographical discov-
eries, the exploitation of colonies, and the Industrial Revolution, people
suddenly stopped being interested in the preservation of the human connec-
tion with the earth, and its resources have been exhausted relentlessly in the
last two centuries. Only after World War II, especially after the Chernobyl
nuclear accident (Ukraine, 1986), was public awareness raised again about
existing and future environmental problems (Environmental consequences
of the Chernobyl accident and their remediation: Twenty years of experi-
ence, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, 2006).
The first public reaction prompted authorities to start to legally regulate
pollution, and in the 1980s, environmental issues were raised to a higher
level, and the emphasis shifted from sanctioning polluters to prevention
of the problem.
Laws and technology have prescribed and found a variety of solutions
that prevent environmental incidents or decrease their likelihood. The scope
of interest has also extended to the field of ecology, and the need for con-
servation, rational exploitation of natural resources, and replacement of non-
renewable resources have become imperatives of environmental protection.
Sporadic solutions and intentions of certain countries to make progress in
the field of ecology soon encountered the barriers that exist in the form of
borders, social organizations, and conflicting economic interests, but global
environmental problems have been increasing, and the international com-
munity is aware that it has to cooperate in this field. The need to define a
 Energy and sustainable development 11

new concept of growth and development of the planet is the imperative that
would determine further development of humankind (Andrews, 2020).
The concept of sustainable development was first officially used as a pos-
sible model of development in 1987 at the 42nd United Nations General
Assembly in the report of the Commission for Environment and Develop-
ment called “Our Common Future.” The Commission was established in
the 38th session of the General Assembly in 1983, and the report was widely
known as “The Report of the Brundtland Commission,” named after Gro
Harlem Brundtland, the Norwegian Prime Minister who chaired the his-
toric session. The most commonly cited definition of sustainable develop-
ment is the definition given in the Brundtland report: “Sustainable
Development should meet the needs of present generations without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.” If
development is defined as an increase in welfare, then sustainable develop-
ment can be understood as preservation of welfare over time, the Brundtland
commission report: Our common future (Oxford University Press) (1987).
The Brundtland Commission promoted the politically correct idea of
sustainable development, and its report is similar to the Club of Rome report
of 1972, which was published under the title “The Limits to Growth.”
(Meadows, 1974). In contrast to Brundtland’s report, “The Limits to
Growth” was sharply criticized, especially by economists, and did not have
a significant influence on international and national environmental policy.
This report was seen as highlighting the importance of redistribution, while
Brundtland’s report was interpreted as a desirable continuation of economic
growth. Brundtland’s report became notable due to four important obser-
vations, as follows (Report of the world commission on environment and
development: Our common future, presented to the UN general assembly
in 1987, 1987):
1. First, it proposed the concept of sustainable development, defining it as
meeting current needs without compromising the ability of future gen-
erations to meet their needs as well.
2. Second, it emphasized that international cooperation is essential but very
difficult to achieve. Brundtland’s report points out the problem suc-
cinctly: “The earth is one, but the world is not.” The policies of different
countries are often driven by local and regional interests that do not com-
ply with global environmental expectations.
3. Third, it recommended adoption of the United Nations program on sus-
tainable development and organization of the International Conference
on Environment and Development.
12 Sustainable energy management

4. Fourth, it suggested the strengthening of national environmental agen-

cies, institutions, and organizations.
Thus, the concept of sustainable development was widely adopted quickly.
During the United Nations Conference on Environment and Develop-
ment, popularly called the Earth Summit, held in June 1992 in Rio de
Janeiro, Agenda 21 was defined and ****adopted as a comprehensive plan
of action for achieving sustainable development in the 21st century. In 2003,
the World Summit on Sustainable Development was organized (Rio 10 +),
and the importance of sustainable development was reaffirmed by individual
countries and globally. It was also acknowledged that the implementation of
the idea of sustainable development had not advanced significantly, and
therefore, it was necessary to take concrete actions and measures to fight
poverty, change unsustainable models of production and consumption,
and protect rational provision of natural resources (Agenda 21, United
Nations conference on environment, & development Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,
3 to 14 June, 1992).
One of the first definitions of sustainable development was given by
Repetto, who said that the idea of sustainability is basically grounded in
the belief that decisions made today should not jeopardize the prospects
for the preservation or improvement of living standards in the future
(Repetto, 1988).
This definition implies that economic systems should be managed by
using dividends on available resources, where the resource base should be
kept and improved, so that next generations as well as the previous ones
can live. This view has many similarities with the ideal concept of income
considered by Hicks more than half a century ago. According to Hicks, the
calculation of income makes it possible to determine the maximum amount
that can be spent in the current period, while at the same time not dimin-
ishing the prospects for consumption in the future (Hicks & Simon, 1979).
More recently, Solow defined the concept of sustainability—concept of
elasticity. According to Solow, sustainability does not imply an obligation to
spend natural resources according to sustainable needs. It is necessary to sub-
stitute all nonrenewable natural resources with renewable alternatives. Also,
the pattern of production consumption should be reconsidered and rede-
fined in order to spend optimal quantity of resources and to produce less pos-
sible waste (Solow, 1993).
The principle of sustainability highlights the existence of freedom to use
resources that future generations will be deprived of as long as their living
conditions remain the same as the conditions provided for present
 Energy and sustainable development 13

generations. In other words, inability of future generations to use resources

would mean a departure from the criteria of sustainability, if that worsens the
living conditions of future generations as compared with the previous ones.
Although sustainable development may be understood and interpreted dif-
ferently, the problem occurs when it is necessary to formulate a model of
sustainable economy.
Ten years after the Brundtland’s report, determination of sustainable
development became globally recognized and the subject of discussion on
the highest level started together with its global challenge (Conference in
Rio de Janeiro in 1992). Therefore, sustainable development started to be
connected with the need for certain changes at all levels (local, regional,
and global), plus intensification of international cooperation, strongest com-
mitment, and awareness of responsibility for well-being of future
generations.
Although this concept was accepted in 1987, there is no proposal for its
operational implementation.
Only in recent debates on sustainable development has the idea of a long-
term preservation of nature been discussed. In the past, nature was seen as
something needed to meet current and future needs, and the idea of sustain-
ability was not environmental, but primarily economic.
As a whole, the concept of sustainable development emphasizes the
international aspect of economic activities and their impact on the environ-
ment and future resources. Therefore, the opportunity (direct and environ-
mental cost) of providing a certain future is in the center of the concept.
Sustainable development is connected with the concept of optimal growth.
It aims to establish a balance between economic growth and environmental
degradation. The costs of environmental pollution and utilization of
resources have an important role in making current economic decisions,
since they represent the cost of the damage inflicted on the environment
and natural resources that would be paid by future generations.
The concept of sustainable development includes, apart from economic
issues, social aspects such as poverty, social disorders, and other problems of
social and political stability. It also includes degradation, environmental pol-
lution, and depletion of natural resources. Therefore, sustainable economic
development could mean an increase in real GDP (Gross Domestic Prod-
uct), basic indicator of economic development per capita, which is not
the result of environmental degradation, exhaustion of resources, and social
disorders. In this interpretation, the environment and nature are designated
as a certain restriction on economic development. The concept of
14 Sustainable energy management

sustainable development seeks to prevent negative economic growth that

may increase future costs (Matthews, Allouche, & Sterling, 2015).
The normative content of economically sustainable development is
defined in the requirements to preserve the natural conditions and environ-
ment for future generations. The implicit requirements of the concept of
sustainability are the following (Sauve, Bernard, & Sloan, 2016):
• Sustainable intergenerational and economic wealth of people;
• Ensuring the survival of humankind as long as possible;
• Striving for flexibility in production and economic systems and/or sta-
bility of their characteristics (their ability to recover when exposed to
shocks);
• Maintenance of biodiversity;
• Ensuring sustainability of the community; and
• Stabilization of the biosphere.
The complexity of environmental issues, which are primarily a consequence
of the rapid development of Western industrialized countries, has influenced
the acceptance of the notion that traditional economies cannot resolve these
questions adequately. If the volume of economic output increases (being the
result of the increased consumption of energy and raw materials, as well as
the growing number of people), this would necessarily lead to greater use of
natural resources and environmental services.

Sustainable development principles

While some authors believe that the concept of sustainable development is a
new theory or doctrine of development, most believe this is a new concept
whose wider implementation would change patterns of production, con-
sumption, and everyday life, because it is partly based on the new generation
of normative ethical theories. This concept is a landmark (“asymptotical
ideal”), and the paradigm of sustainable development is never directly appli-
cable. In order to be realized, the sustainable development concept requires
undertaking of new activities as follows (Roche & Campagne, 2017):
• New legal and institutional arrangements;
• Adequate financial and economic arrangements;
• New technology and technical solutions;
• Promotion and education;
• New methods of public communication and interaction, with an
emphasis on openness, participation, and transparency; and
• New coalitions for sustainable development.
 Energy and sustainable development 15

However, these social, economic, political, ecological, spatial, and interge-

nerational principles and criteria are still general and therefore are not
directly applicable. They require operationalization, which has been under-
taken in most countries facing this problem. The specific strategy or policy of
sustainable development combines a number of general and specific princi-
ples and criteria. Depending on the number, content, and specific problem
they relate to, the following general principles and criteria of sustainability
are usually partly operationalized (Scoones et al., 2020):
• The principle of strict conservation and the principle of precaution. This
principle gives priority to environmental protection. This is especially
applicable in situations where scientific and other objective views do
not provide sufficient knowledge on potential consequences of the
anticipated economic activities, so the rigorous conservation of natural
resources should be exercised even at the cost of limiting economic
growth. However, applications of these principles should not prevent
the use of innovative procedures that can be easily predicted to have neg-
ative impacts on the environment.
• In the analysis of environmental impact and costs and benefits, the cen-
tral place should be given to the principle of alternative solutions, it being
one of general principles. When more intensive exploitation of natural
resources is inevitable, it should: (1) be minimized, (2) use nonrenewable
resources as little as possible and renewable resources as much as possible,
and (3) be applied with respect to high and rigorous ecological and spatial
standards. Intensive economic growth that would be accomplished at the
cost of significant exploitation and endangering of natural resources,
especially the nonrenewable ones, is not acceptable.
• The principle of rational use of raw materials and other resources and
inputs.
• The principle of risk reduction is applied when there is an estimate and
economic activity can be understood as an objective danger and risk to
the environment.
• Applying the principle of durability (of products and services) allows the
production of quality output, with reasonable costs, which are socially
and market acceptable.
• The principle of “polluter pays” and the principle of “user pays” are
applied in all cases where economic activities threaten the ecological
capacity and end thresholds.
• Depending on the type of activities and types of areas, the following
principles are applied individually or in combination: (1) planning
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‘It did, indeed,’ replied Captain Marion; ‘but not for a month
afterwards, and then so fiercely as to scatter death and destruction
throughout those narrow seas, grinding the island of Krakatoa itself
into cosmic dust—visible, according to scientists, nearly all over the
world.’

. . . . . . . . . .

Here ends the story proper as compiled from the notes taken by one
of the passengers and jotted down in his cabin of a night as the
Captain finished each section of his narrative.

Lower
264 down on the last pages of these notes is gummed, however, a
printed paragraph, cut from a Sydney daily newspaper, which runs
as follows:—

Marion—Hillier.—On the 29th ultimo, at St James’s Church of England, Sydney, by the Rev.
R. Garnsey, George Wreford Marion, master in the British Mercantile Marine, to Amy
Margaret, daughter of the late John Hillier, Esq., of Pevensey, Miller’s Point, Sydney, and
Eurella and Whydah stations, Riverina, N.S.W.
 ‘ D OT ’ S C LA I M .’
265

It was evening in the German Arms at Schwartzdorf. Great fires

blazed in all the rooms of that old-fashioned hostelry, welcome
enough on entering from the chill, wild weather ruling over the
mountainland outside.

Tired with a heavy day’s work at inspecting the mining claims, which
were beginning to attract notice to this secluded spot, it was with a
feeling of satisfaction that, after tea, I drew a chair up to the fire, lit
my pipe, and made myself comfortable.

Presently there was a knock at the door and, in response to my

‘Come in,’ there entered the man who told me this story.

In his hand he carried a canvas bag, whose contents he emptied on

the table with the remark, ‘I thought perhaps you might like to see
these.’

Very beautiful they were, without doubt—quartz, ironstone and gold,

mingled in the most fantastic manner; grotesque attempts by
Nature’s untrained fingers at crosses, hearts, stars, and other shapes
defying name.

‘We
266 got these the last shot knocking off to-night,’ said the owner of

the pretty things as I asked him to sit down. ‘You might remember
me tellin’ you as I didn’t think we was very far from the main reef. I
believe we got it now in good earnest. Same lead as is in “Dot’s
Claim.” Same sort o’ country. Reef runnin’ with the same dip. An’ you
knows yourself, sir, as they took forty-five pound weight o’
specimens richer than them out o’ “Dot’s” this mornin’.’

‘I beg your pardon,’ I said after a hasty glance at my note-book, ‘but

I don’t remember any such name. I thought, too, that I had seen all
the most important claims.’

‘Why, of course,’ he replied, ‘I forgot! It’s only a few of us old hands

as knows the story as calls it Dot’s now. When the big company took
it from Fairleigh they names it the “El Dorado.” I reckon t’other was
too short—didn’t sound high enough for ’em. But if it hasn’t the best
right to the old name I’d like to know the reason why.’

‘El Dorado,’ I remarked; ‘why that’s the original prospector’s claim.’

My visitor nodded, saying, ‘An’ I’m No. 2 South.’

‘Ward and party?’ I inquired, referring again to my memos.

‘That’s it. I’m Ward.’

‘Well, then, Mr Ward, I want to hear that story you hinted at just
now. Kindly touch that bell at your elbow. Thanks.’

It may have been only fancy, but I thought that between blooming
Gretchen
267 journeying to and fro with hot water, tumblers, sugar, etc.,
etc., and my lucky reefer glances passed betokening a more than
casual acquaintance.

‘Yes, Gretchen, you may as well leave the kettle.’

I am trying to air my German, but fail lamentably, judging from the

expression on the girl’s full, fresh-coloured features as she struggles
to avoid laughing. Even my visitor smiles. Everything is German here
—bar, luckily, the beds. Outside the wind howled and beat against
the curtained windows, and the rain fell dully on the shingled roof,
and the roar of the Broken River came to our ears between the
storm gusts.

Inside, the fire flickered and fell, sending deep shadows over the
pine-panelled walls and the grave handsome face of my companion,
the first fruits of whose labour shone sullenly under the shaded
lamplight. From a distant room rose and died away faintly the chorus
of some song of the Fatherland.

‘Now,’ said I, as Gretchen finally closed the door, ‘now for the story.’

‘Well,’ commenced Ward, after getting his pipe into good going
order, ‘it’s over eight years ago since I came here from the West
Coast—Hokitika. I’d been diggin’ there. But my luck was clean out,
so I chucked it up, an’, after a lot of knockin’ about, settles down
here—would you believe it?—farmin’!

‘Now I know’d as much about farmin’ as a cow does o’ reefin’.

Cert’nly my mate—for there was a pair of us—had been scarin’
crows for a farmer in the Old Country when he was a boy. That
wasn’t
268 much. Still, on the strength o’ that experience, he used to
give himself airs.

‘I think it was two years afore we got a crop o’ anythin’. Then it was
potaters. When we tried to sell ’em we couldn’t get an offer.
Everybody had potaters. So we just turned to an’ lived on ’em.
They’re fillin’, doubtless. But potaters and fish, an’ fish an’ potaters
for a change, all the year round, gets tiresome in the long run.

‘I often wonder now what could have possessed me an’ Bill to go in

for such a thing as farmin’. But there, when a chap’s luck’s out
diggin’, he’s glad to tackle anythin’ for a change!

‘Presently one or two more, men with fam’lies, settles close to us

and tries to make a livin’. It didn’t amount to much. Then up comes
a string o’ Germans, trampin’ along from the coast, carryin’ furniture
an’ tools, beds—ay, even their old women—on their backs. An’ they
settles, an’ starts the same game—clearin’, an’ ploughin’, an’ sowin’.
But I couldn’t see as any of ’em was makin’ a pile. They worked like
bullocks, women an’ all, late an’ early. The harder they worked, the
poorer they seemed to get. Bill an’ me had a pound or two saved up
for a rainy day. But they had nothin’; an’ how they lived was a
mystery. So, you see, takin’ things all round, it was high time
somethin’ turned up. An’ somethin’ did. The next farm to us
belonged to a married couple. He was a runaway sailor. She’d been a
passenger
269 on board. They had one child, just turned four year old,
an’ they was both fair wrapped up in that kid.

‘If Dot’s—Dot was his pet name—finger only ached, the work might
go to Jericho.

‘An’ indeed he were a most loveable little chap. With regards to him,
we was all of us ’most as bad as the father an’ mother, the way we
played with him an’ petted him. There was no denyin’ Dot of anythin’
once he looked at you out o’ those big blue eyes o’ his. And the
knowledgeableness of him! No wonder Jim Fairleigh an’ his missis
thought the sun rose every mornin’ out o’ the back o’ their boy’s
neck.’

Here Ward paused and queried,—

‘Married man, sir?’

‘No,’ I replied.

‘No more ’m I,’ he continued, ‘or I don’t s’pose I’d be here yarning a
night like this.’

‘It’s a wonder,’ I said, ‘that none of these jolly-looking Fräuleins

about here have been able to take your fancy.’
‘Well, to tell the truth,’ he replied, with, however, a rather conscious
expression on his face, ‘I think what those poor Fairleighs went
through rather scared me of marryin’.

‘But, as I was sayin’, farmin’ didn’t seem to agree with my mate, Bill
—that’s him you seen at the claim to-day—spite o’ his past
experience, any more’n it did with me. He done the business, by-
the-bye,
270 quite lately with a bouncin’ gal—Lieschen Hertzog—an’ now
stays at home o’ nights.

‘We had a note or two left. We had also a crop o’ potaters an’ some
punkins. But no one wanted ’em—wouldn’t buy ’em at any price. In
fact, you couldn’t give ’em away in those times.

‘The Fairleighs an’, I think, all of us, were pretty much in the same
box. As I said before, it was time somethin’ turned up.

‘It was a wild night. Bill an’ me was lyin’ in our stretchers readin’.
About ten o’clock, open flies the door, an’ in bolts Fairleigh drippin’
wet, no hat on, an’ pale as a ghost, an’ stands there like a statue,
starin’ at us, without a word.

‘“In God’s name what’s the matter?” I says at last. With that he flaps
his hands about, so-fashion, an’ sings out, “Dot’s lost in the ranges!”

‘You may bet that shook us up a bit! You’ve seen the Broken Ranges
for yourself, an’ can judge what chance a delicate little kiddy like
Dot’d have among them rocks an’ scrub on a worse night than this
is.

‘That fool of a sailor-man, if you’ll believe me, an’ his wife had been
out sence dark searchin’ for the child, ’stead o’ rousin’ the
settlement. Presently, to make matters worse, it appears that he’d
lost the woman too—got separated in the scrub, an’ couldn’t find her
again. Just by a fluke, while on the Black Hill yonder, he’d caught the
glimper o’ sparks from our chimney. He was covered with cuts and
bruises an’ goin’ cranky fast when he got to the hut.
‘Bill
271 had gone to tell the news; an’ in a very few minutes a whole

crowd o’ Fritzes, an’ Hanses, an’ Hermans, an Gottliebs was turned

out an’ ready for a start.

‘They didn’t want no coaxing. All they says was ‘Ach Gott!’ an’ they
was fit for anythin’. By no manner o’ means a bad lot,’ here
commented Ward, ‘when you comes to get in with ’em an’ know ’em
like. Honest as the light, an’ as hard-workin’ as a bullock. Slow,
maybe, but very sure. Full o’ pluck as a soger-ant. Clannish as the
Scotties, an’ as savin’. I’ve got some real good friends among ’em
now. An’ their women-folks, too, is amazin’ handy—make you up a
square feed out o’ a head o’ cabbage an’ a bit o’ greenhide, I do
believe, if they was put to it.

‘Cert’nly their lingo ’s the dead finish at first, till you gets used to it. I
can Deutsch gesprechen, myself, now, more’n a little.

‘However, that’s neither here nor there.

‘Bill, my mate, as I told you, as much as me, havin’ got full o’

farmin’, we used to take a prospectin’ trip now and then among the
ranges. But we never rose the colour. Never found a thing, ’cept
scrub turkeys’ eggs. Anyhow, we knew the country better’n the
Germans, an’ took the lead.

‘Pitch dark it were, with heavy squalls, an’ the river roarin’ along half
a banker.

‘Fairleigh, after a stiff nip o’ rum, began to find his senses again
sufficient to give us the right course.

‘Such scramblin’, an’ coo-eein’, an’ slippin’, an’ tearin’ about the Bush
in272the dark never, I should think, happened before. But we managed
to keep in some sort o’ line an’ cover a goodish track o’ country.

‘We must ha’ gone fully five miles into the ranges, an’ Bill an’ me
was gettin’ to the end of our tether in that direction, when we found
Mrs Fairleigh. Karl Itzig nearly falls over her, lyin’ stretched out on a
big flat rock.

‘We thought she was dead; but, after a while, she comes to, light-
headed, though, and not able to tell us anythin’. So we sends her
home with a couple o’ the chaps carryin’ her.

‘Well, we searched till daylight—rainin’ cats an’ dogs all the time.
And we searched all the next day without any luck. That evenin’ it
cleared-up bright at sundown. Then Fairleigh gives in complete, an’
has to be carried home to his wife.

‘After a camp an’ a snack the moon rose, an’ we at it afresh. But we
’bouted ship now; for I was sure we’d overrun ourselves. There was
full fifty of us, an’ we circled, takin’ in all the country we could. You
see, we was hopin’ for fresh tracks, an’ we went with our noses on
the groun’ like a lot of dogs on the scent of an old man kangaroo,
only a sight slower.

‘’Bout midnight I sees somethin’ shinin’. It was the steel buckle on

the front o’ poor Dot’s shoe. Only one of ’em, an’ all soaked through
with rain. No tracks; so we reckoned he’d been here last night in the
heaviest of it.

‘That little bit o’ leather put us in better heart. But it wasn’t to be.
The
273 sun was just risin’, when, pretty near done up, me an’ Bill an’

Wilhelm Reinhardt comes out o’ the scrub on to a small bald knob,

an’ there, on a bare patch, lies Dot, stone dead, with his blue eyes
wide open, starin’ at the sky, an’ the long curly hair, as his mother
used to be so proud of, all matted with sand and rain.

‘Four crows was sittin’ overright him on the limb of a tree. I don’t
believe the poor little fellow ’d been dead very long—in the chill o’
the early hours o’ that mornin’ likely. In one hand he had a bit o’
stick. With the other he held his pinny, gathered up tight, same as
you’ve seen kiddies do when they’re carryin’ somethin’.
‘A real pitiful sight it were. It was as much as Bill an’ me could stand.
As for Wilhelm, he just sits down aside the body an’ fair blubbers
out.

‘Well, with our coo-ees, the rest comes up in twos an’ threes. Most
of the Germans started to keep Wilhelm company. Foreigners, I
think, must be either softer-hearted than us, or ain’t ashamed o’
showin’ what they feel. Anyhow, there wasn’t a dry eye among them
Germans when they gathered round little Dot.

‘Presently we starts to rig a sort o’ stretcher with coats and a couple

o’ saplin’s.

‘Then Bill lifts the body up, an’ as he does out from the pinny drops
four o’ the beautifullest specimens you’d ever wish to see—them on
the table ain’t a patch on ’em.

‘I twigs them at once. So did three or four more old digger chaps.

‘Then
274 we takes a squint around, an’ there, right against our noses,
as one might say, ran the reef, with bits o’ gold stickin’ out o’ the
surface-stone an’ glimperin’ in the sun.

‘I don’t believe the Germans tumbled for a while. You see they was
all new chums. Most likely none of ’em hadn’t ever seen a natural bit
o’ gold afore.

‘But the others did, quick. An’, presently, a rather hot sort o’
argument begins to rise.

‘For a short time me an’ Bill stands and listens to the wranglin’. Then
I looks at Bill, and he nods his head, and I shoves my spoke in.

‘“Look here, chaps!” I says, “this may be only a surface leader, as

some of you appears to think, or it may be a pile. I don’t care a
damn which it is! It’s Fairleigh’s first say. His kid, as lies there dead,
found it! An’, by the Lord, his father’s goin’ to be first served! I’m
goin’ now to peg out what I considers a fair prospectin’ claim for
him. That’ll be seen to after. When that’s done you can strike in as
you likes. If you objects to that you ain’t men. Bill, here, ’ll back me
up, an’, if you don’t like it, we’ll do it in spite o’ you. We’re all poor
enough, God knows! But none of us ain’t just lost an only child, an’
self an’ wife gone half mad with the sorrow of it.”

‘Well, sir, the Germans, who was beginning to drop to how the thing
lay, set up a big shout o’ “Hoch! Hoch!” meanin’ in their lingo,
“Hooray.” An’ the rest, what was right enough at bottom, an’ only
wanted
275 showin’ like what was the fair an’ square thing to do, quick
agreed. All ’cept, that is, one flash sort of a joker from the Barossa.
But, while I steps the groun’, Bill put such a head on him in half-a-
dozen rounds that his own mother wouldn’t know him again.

‘It were only a couple o’ miles in a straight line from the settlement,
through the ranges, to that bit of a bald hill.

‘Exactly, almost, where you stood to-day, lookin’ at the windin’ plant
o’ the El Dorado, was where we found Dot.

‘When the field was proclaimed the Warden didn’t have much
alteration to make in the p.c. I’d marked off for Fairleigh.

‘You see it was only one man’s groun’ then. An’ it turned out rich
from the jump. An’ it’s gettin’ better every foot. None o’ the others,
as the Company’s bought an’ ’malgamated with it, although joinin’,
can touch “Dot’s.”

‘But Fairleigh’s never to say held up his head sence that night.

‘A week after we buried the child we carried the mother to rest

beside him.

‘Fairleigh must be a rich man now. Everythin’ he touches, as the

sayin’ is, seems to turn to gold. He can’t go wrong. But he seldom
comes a-nigh the place. One of the first things he done when “Dot’s”
turned up such trumps, was to put five thousand pounds to mine
and Bill’s credit in the A—— bank. But we never touched it. Ever
sence that night our luck’s been right in. First we sells out No. 1
North
276 to the Company at a pretty stiff figure. Then we buys out
No. 2 South an’ seemingly we’ve struck it again, an’ rich.’

‘And, now,’ I remark as my friend, his yarn finished, sits gazing

meditatively at the glowing logs,—‘and, now, all you want is a wife.
Follow your mate’s example, and make a home where you’re making
your money.’

Ward shook his head, smiling doubtfully, and, knocking the ashes
out of his pipe, rose to go.

Just then Gretchen, buxom, and smiling also, appeared bearing a

huge back-log in her arms. And when I saw the way my companion
sprang up and rushed to meet and relieve her of the burden, and
heard the guttural whispering that took place before the lump of
timber reached its destination, I thought that, ere very long, all
doubts would be dissipated, and that, even then, I sat within
measurable distance of the future Mrs Ward.
 A C A P E H O R N C H R I S T M AS.
277

All hands in Yamba hut had turned in, except a couple at the end of
the long rough table.

These late birds were playing euchre by the flickering light of an evil-
smelling slush lamp. The cook had banked up the fire for the night,
but the myall ashes still glowed redly and cast heat around. On the
stone hearth stewed a bucket of tea. But for the snores of the men
in the double tier of bunks ranged ship-fashion along both sides of
the big hut, the frizzling of the grease in the lamp, and the muttered
exclamations of the players, everything was very quiet.

‘Pass me!’

‘Make it!’

‘Hearts!’

And both men dropped their hands and sprang up in affright as a

wild scream rang out from the bunk just above them.

As they gazed, a white face, wet with the sweat of fear, poked out
and stared down upon them with eyes in which the late terror still
lived.
‘What
278 the dickens is up?’ asked one, recovering from his surprise,
whilst the grumbles of awakened sleepers travelled around the hut.

‘My God! what a dream! what a dream!’ exclaimed the man

addressed, sticking out a pair of naked legs, and softly alighting on
the earthen floor, and standing there trembling.

‘Shoo!’ said the station wit, as he turned for a fresh start; ‘it’s only
Jack the Sailor had the night-horse.’

But the man, crouching close to the players, and wiping his pallid
face with his loose shirt sleeve, still exclaimed,—

‘What a dream! My God! What a dream!’

‘Tell us what it were all about, Jack,’ asked one of the others,
handing him a pannikin of tea. ‘It oughter been bad, judgin’ by the
dashed skreek as you give.’

‘It was,’ said the other—a grizzled, tanned, elderly man—as he

warmed his legs, and looked rather ashamed of himself. ‘But hardly
enough to make such a row over as you chaps reckons I did. I was
dreamin’,’ he continued, speaking slowly, ‘as I was at sea again. It
was on Christmas Day, an’ the ship was close to Cape Horn. How I
knowed that, I can’t tell. But the land was in sight quite plain. Me an’
another feller—I can see his ugly face yet, and sha’n’t never forget it
—was makin’ fast one of the jibs. Presen’ly we seemed to ’ave some
words
279 out there, hot an’ sharp. Then I done a thing, the like o’
which ud never come into my mind when awake—not if I lived to the
age of Methyuseler—I puts my sheath-knife into him right up to the
handle.

‘The weather were heavy, an’ the ship a-pitchin’ bowsprit under into
a head sea. Well, I was just watchin’ his face turn sorter slate colour,
an’ him clingin’ on to a gasket an’ starin’ hard, when she gives a dive
fathoms deep.
‘When I comes up again I was in the water, an’ there was the ship
half-a-mile away.

‘Swimmin’ an’ lookin’ round, I spies the other feller alongside me on

top of a big comber, with the white spume all red about him.

‘Nex’ minute, down he comes, an’ I feels his two hands a-grippin’ me
tight by the throat. I expect’s it was then I sung out an’ woke
myself,’ and the man shivered as he gazed intently into the heart of
the glowing myall ashes.

‘Well, Jack Ashby,’ said one of his hearers, gathering up the scattered
cards, ‘it wasn’t a nice dream. If I was you I should take it as a
warnin’ never to go a-sailorin’ no more. Never was at the game
myself, and don’t want to be. There can’t be much in it, though,
when just the very thoughts o’ what’s never ’appened, an’ what’s
never a-goin’ to ’appen, is able to give a chap such a start as you
got.’

‘Ugh!’ exclaimed the sailor, getting up and shaking himself as he

climbed into his bunk. ‘No, I’ll never go back to sea again!’

But,
280 in course of time, Jack Ashby became tired of station life—
became tired of the everlasting drudgery of the rouseabout, the
burr-cutting, lamb-catching, and all the rest of it.

He had no more dreams of the kind. But when o’ nights the wind
whistled around and shook the crazy old hut, he would turn
restlessly in his bunk and listen for the hollow thud of the rope-coils
on the deck above, the call of ‘All hands,’ the wild racket of the gale,
and the hiss of stormy waters.

So his thoughts irresistibly wandered back again to the tall ships and
the old shipmates, and all the magic and mystery of the great deep
on whose bosom he had passed his life. He knew that he was
infinitely better off where he was—better paid, better fed, better off
in every respect than he could ever possibly hope to be at sea.
Battling with his longing, he contrasted the weevilly biscuits and salt
junk of the fo’k’stle with the wholesome damper and fresh mutton
and beef of the hut.

He thought of the ‘all night in’ of undisturbed rest, contrasting it with

the ‘Watch ahoy! Now then, you sleepers, turn out!’ of each
successive four hours.

He thought, too, of tyrannous masters and mates; of drenched

decks and leaking fo’k’stles, of frozen rigging, of dark wild nights of
storm, and of swaying foot-ropes and thundrous canvas slatting like
iron plates about his ears; of hunger, wet, and misery.

Long and carefully he thought of all these things, and weighed the
balance
281 for and against. Then, one morning, rolling up his swag
hurriedly, he went straight back to them.

Even the thought of his dream had no power to stay him.

But he made a reservation to himself. Said he,—

‘No more deep water! I’ll try the coast. I’ve heard it’s good. No more
deep water; and, above all, no Cape Horn!’

He shipped on board a coaster, and went trips to Circular Head for

potatoes; got bar-bound for weeks in eastern rivers looking for
maize and fruit; sailed coal-laden, with pumps going clanketty-clank
all down the land, and finally, after some months of this sort of
work, found himself in Port Adelaide, penniless, and fresh from a
gorgeous spree. Here he fell in with an old deep-water shipmate
belonging to one of the vessels in harbour.

‘Come home with us, Jack,’ said his friend. ‘She ain’t so bad for a
limejuicer—patent reefs, watch an’ watch, an’ no stun’s’ls for’ard.
The mate’s a Horse. But the ole man’s right enough; an’ he wants a
couple o’ A.B.’s.’
‘No,’ said Jack Ashby, firmly, ‘I’ll never go deep water again. The
coast’s the ticket for this child. I’ve got reasons, Bill.’

And then he told his friend of the dream.

The latter did not appear at all surprised. Nor did he laugh. Sailors
attach more importance to such things than do landsmen. All he said
was,—
282 Dido’s a fine big ship. She’s a-goin’ home by Good Hope. Was it
‘The
a ship or a barque, now, as you was on in that dream?’

‘Can’t say for certain,’ replied Ashby, reflectively; ‘but, by the size o’
her spars, I should reckon she’d be full-rigged. Howsomever, if ever I
clap eyes on his ugly mug again—which the Lord forbid—you may
bet your bottom dollar, Bill Baker, as I’ll swear to that, with its big
red beard, an’ the tip o’ the nose sliced clean off.’

‘A-a-a-h!’ said the other, staring for a minute, and then hastily
finishing his pint of ‘sheoak.’ And he pressed Ashby no more to go to
England in the Dido.

But the latter found it just then anything but easy to get another
berth in a coaster. Also he was in debt to his boarding-house; and,
altogether, it seemed as if presently he would have to take the very
first thing that offered, or be ‘chucked out.’

‘Two A.B.’s wanted for the Dido,’ roared the shipping master into a
knot of seamen at his office door one day shortly after Jack and his
old shipmate had foregathered at the ‘Lass o’ Gowrie.’ And the
former, feeling very uncomfortable, and as a man between the Devil
and the Deep Sea, signed articles.

His one solitary consolation was that the Dido was not bound round
Cape Horn. He cared for none other of the world’s promontories.
Also, as he cheered up a little, it came into his mind that it would be
rather pleasant than otherwise once more to have a run down
Ratcliffe Highway, a lark with the girls in Tiger Bay, and a look-in at
the
283 old penny gaff in Whitechapel. But the main point was that there

was no Cape Horn. Had not Bill Baker told him so? ‘Falmouth and
the United Kingdom,’ said the Articles. Certainly there was no
particular route mentioned. But who should know if Bill Baker did
not?

But all too surely had the thing that men call Fate laid fast hold on
the Dreamer. And the boarding-house-keeper cashed his advance
note—returning nothing—and carted him to the Dido, and left him
stretched out on the fo’k’stle floor, not knowing or caring where he
was, or who he was, or where he was going, and oblivious of all
things under the sun.

Nor did he show on deck again until, in the grey of next morning, a
man with a great red beard and a flat nose looked into his bunk and
called him obscene names, and bade him jump aloft and loose the
fore-topsail, or he would let him know what shirking meant on board
of the Dido.

‘This is a bad beginning,’ thought Jack Ashby, as, with trembling

body and splitting head, he unsteadily climbed the rigging, listening
as one but yet half awake to the clank of the windlass pawls and the
roaring chorus of the men at the brakes. ‘That’s the feller, sure
enough!’ he gasped, as, winded, he dragged himself into the fore-
top. ‘I’d swear to him anywhere. Thank the Lord we ain’t goin’ round
the Horn! I wonder if he knowed me? He’s the mate. An’ Bill was
right; he is a Horse. Damn deep water!’

‘Now then, fore-top, there, shift your pins or I’ll haze you,’ came up
in284a bellow from the deck, making poor Jack jump again as he stared
ruefully down at the fierce upturned face, its red beard forking out
like a new swab.

‘Thank the Lord, we ain’t goin’ round the Horn!’ said Jack Ashby, as,
with tremulous fingers, he loosened the gaskets and let the stiff
folds of canvas fall, and sang out to sheet home.

Down the Gulf with a fair wind rattled the Dido, through Investigator
Straits and out into the Southern Ocean, whilst Jack cast a regretful
look at the lessening line of distant blue, and exclaimed once
more,—

‘Damn deep water!’

That evening the officers spin a coin, and proceed to pick their
respective watches.

To his disgust, Jack is the very first man chosen by the fierce chief
mate, who has won the toss, and who at once says,—

‘Go below the port watch!’—his own.

It is blowing a fresh breeze when he comes on deck again at eight

bells. It is his wheel. He finds his friend Bill Baker there.

‘East by sowthe,’ says Bill emphatically, giving him a pitying look, and
walking for’ard.

‘East by sowthe it is,’ replies Jack, mechanically.

Then, as he somewhat nervously, after the long absence, eyes the

white bobbing disc in the binnacle, and squints aloft at the dark piles
of canvas, it suddenly bursts upon him. Whilst he has been asleep
the wind has shifted into the west. It blows now as if it meant to
stay there. They are bound round Cape Horn after all.

‘Mind
285 your hellum, you booby,’ roars the mate, just come on deck.
‘Where are you going to with the ship—back to Adelaide? I’ll keep an
eye on you, my lad,’ lurching aft, and glancing first at Jack’s face and
then at the compass.
Truth to tell, the latter had been so flustered that he had let the Dido
come up two or three points off her course. But he soon got her
nose straight again, with, for the first time, a feeling of hot
satisfaction at his heart that, upon a day not far distant, he and the
man with the red beard, and tip off his nose might, if there was any
truth in dreams, be quits. Be sure that, by this Jack’s story was well
known for’ard of the foremast. Bill Baker’s tongue had not been idle,
and, although a few scoffed, more believed, and waited expectantly.

‘There’s more in dreams than most people thinks for,’ remarked an

old sailor in the starboard watch, shaking his head sagely. ‘The first
part o’ Jack’s has comed true. If I was Mister Horse I’d go a bit easy,
an’ not haze the chap about the way he’s a-doing of.’

But the chief officer seemed to have taken an unaccountable dislike

to Ashby from the moment he had first seen him. And this dislike he
showed in every conceivable way until he nearly drove the poor chap
frantic.

At sea an evil-minded man in authority can do things of this sort

with impunity. The process is called ‘hazing.’ The sufferer gets all the
dirtiest and most disagreeable of the many such jobs to be found on
shipboard. He is singled out from his fellows of the watch and sent
aloft
286 with tarry wads to hang on to a stay by his eyelashes. Or he is
set to scraping masts, or greasing down, or slung outboard on a
stage scrubbing paintwork, where every roll submerges him neck
high, whilst his more fortunate companions are loafing about the
decks.

If the hazed one openly rebels, and gives his persecutor a good
thrashing, he is promptly ‘logged,’ perhaps ironed, and at the end of
the passage loses his pay, holding himself lucky not to have got six
months in gaol for ‘mutiny on the high seas.’ There is another thing
that may and does happen; and every day the crew of the Dido
watched placidly for the heavy iron-clad block, or marlingspike,
sharp-pointed and massive, that by pure accident should descend
from some lofty nook and brain or transfix their first officer—the
Horse, as unmindful of the qualities of that noble animal, they had
named him. But Jack Ashby never thought of such a thing. Nor did
he take any notice of friendly hints from his mates—also sufferers,
but in a less degree—that the best of spike lanyards would wear out
by constant use, and that the best-fitted block-strops would at times
fail to hold.

Jack’s mind was far too much occupied by the approaching test to
which his dream was to be subjected to bother about compassing a
lesser revenge that might only end in maiming.

He, by this, fully believed things were going to turn out exactly as he
had seen them that night in Yamba men’s hut in the far-away
Australian Bush. Therefore he looked upon himself and his tyrant as
lost men.

At
287times, even, he caught himself regarding the first officer with an

emotion of curious pity, as one whose doom was so near and yet so
unexpected. And, by degrees, the men, recognising this attitude of
his, and sympathising heartily with it in different fashions, and
different degrees of credulity, forbore further advice, and waited with
what patience they might.

It was getting well on towards Christmas.

. . . . . . . . . .

I no more wished to go to London viâ Cape Horn than did John

Ashby. But my reasons were altogether different.

When I had engaged a saloon passage on the Dido it was an

understood thing that she would take the other Cape for it. But a
short four hours’ fight against a westerly wind so sickened the
captain that he put his helm up, and squared his yards, and shaped
a course that would bring him closer to Staten Island than to
Simon’s Bay.
It was some time before I had any conception of how things stood
for’ard, with respect at least to the subject of this story.

I saw, of course, that the chief officer was a bully, and that he was
heartily disliked by the men. But of Jack Ashby and his dream I knew
nothing. Nor, until my attention was especially drawn to it, did I
perceive that he was undergoing the hazing process.

As the only passenger, and one who had paid his footing liberally, I
was often on the fo’k’stle and in other parts of the ship supposed to
belong peculiarly to the men.

Thus,
288 one night, happening to be having a smoke on the top-gallant
fo’k’stle, underneath which lay the quarters of the crew, I sat down
on the anchor stock, and watched the cold-looking seas rolling up
from the Antarctic Circle, and exchanging at intervals a word with
the look-out man as he stumped across from rail to rail.

Close beside me was a small scuttle, with the sliding-lid of it pushed

back.

I had scarcely lit my pipe when up through this, making me nearly

drop it from my mouth, came a long, sharp scream as one in dire
agony.

‘What’s the matter down there?’ shouted my companion, falling on

his knees and craning his head over the coamings of the hatch.

Without waiting for an answer, we both bolted on to the main deck

and into the fo’k’stle, where could be heard broken murmurs and
growlings from the sleepy watch who filled the double tier of open
bunks running with the sheer of the ship right into the eyes of her.

And on one of these, as I struck a match and lit the swinging slush
lamp, and glanced around me, I saw a man sitting, his bare legs
dangling over the side. Down his pale face ran great drops of sweat,
and his eyes were staring, glassy, and fixed. One or two of his mates
tumbled out; others poked their heads over the bunk-boards and
swore that it couldn’t be eight bells already. But the man still gazed
over and beyond us with that horrible stare in his dilated eyes, and
when
289 I laid my hand on him he was rigid. Then one who, in place of
drinking his ‘tot’ of rum that night, had treasured it up for another
time, produced it; and, laying the man back, and forcing open the
clenched teeth, we got some of it down his throat; and presently he
came to himself and sat up.

His first words were,—

‘I’ve had it again! Just the same—the mate an’ me!’ Then, with a
look around, ‘I’m sorry to have roused ye up, mates. I’m all right
now.’ Then, to myself, ‘How long afore we’re off the Horn, sir?’

‘About a week if the wind holds. Why?’

‘Because,’ replied he, lying back and rolling over in his blankets, ‘I’ve
got a week longer to live.’

‘That was Jack Ashby, an’ he’s had his dream again,’ said the lookout
man in an awed voice as we hurried on deck, fearful of wandering
bergs.

Then (his name was Baker) he told me the whole story, and, in spite
of my utter incredulity, I became interested, and, having little to do,
watched closely the progress of the expected drama.

Also, after that night, I had many a talk with Ashby. I found him a
man rather above the average run of his class, and one open to
reason and argument; nor, on the whole, very superstitious. But on
the subject of his vision he was immovable.

‘You saw the land in your dreams, did you not?’ I once asked.

‘Yes,
290 sir,’ replied he. ‘Big cliffs, not more ’n a mile away,’ and he
described its appearance, and the position of the vessel.
‘Well, then,’ I said, ‘it may interest you to know that the skipper
intends to keep well to the south’ard, and that we’re more likely to
sight the Shetlands than the Horn.’

But he only shook his head and smiled faintly as he replied,—

‘He was goin’ home by Good Hope, sir. But he didn’t. What the
skipper means to do, an’ what the Lord wills is two very different
things. My time’s gettin’ short; but we’ll both go together—him an’
me. I don’t reckon as there ’ll be any hazin’ to speak of in the next
world. P’r’aps it’s best as it is. If I wasn’t sure an’ certain o’ what’s
comin’, I’d have killed him long ago. But,’ he concluded, ‘I’m ready.
I’ve been showed how it’s ordained to happen; an’, so long as I’ve
the company I want, I don’t care.’

During these days, impressed, somehow, by the feeling of intense

expectation that pervaded all hands for’ard, I took more notice of
Mr Harris, the mate, than I had hitherto done.

‘He was no favourite of mine, and, beyond passing the time of day,
we had found very little to say to each other.

And now, although scouting the idea of anything being about to

happen to the man, I watched him and listened to him with curiosity.

Certainly he was an ill-favoured customer. Besides being plentifully

pitted
291 with smallpox over what of his face was visible through the
red tangle of hair and beard, the fleshy tip of his nose had been
sliced clean off, leaving a nasty-looking, flat, red scar.

This, he said, was the work of a Malay kreese, whilst ashore at

Samarang on a drunken spree. But the captain once told me
confidentially that common report around Limehouse and the Docks
attributed the mishap to Mrs Harris and a carving-knife.

Be this as it may, he was a bad-tempered, overbearing brute,

although, I believe, a good seaman.
At meal times he rarely spoke, but, gulping his food down, left the
table as quickly as possible.

The captain, who occupied the whole of his time in making models
of a new style of condenser, for which he had taken out a patent,
but by no means could get to work properly, never interfered with
his first officer, but left the ship entirely in his charge.

No thought of approaching evil appeared to trouble Mr Harris, and

he became, if possible, more tyrannical in his behaviour towards the
crew, Ashby in particular. Truly wonderful is it how much hazing
Mercantile Jack will stand before having recourse to the limited
amount of comparatively safe reprisal that a heavy object and a high
altitude endows him with!

But the Jacks of the Dido were waiting, with more or less of faith,
the fulfilment of their shipmate’s dream.

It was on the 23d of December—which, by the way, was also the

extra day we gained—that the strong westerlies, after serving us so
well, began to haul to the south’ard.

‘You’ll
292 see the Horn after all,’ remarked the captain to me that
morning. ‘Two years ago I was becalmed close to it. But I scarcely
think that such a thing will happen this time,’ and off he went to his
condenser.

It was bitterly cold, and the sharp wind from the ice-fields cut like a
knife. The water was like green glass for the colour and clearness of
it, the sky speckless, and as bitter looking as the water. Gradually
freshening, and hauling still to the south, the wind at length made it
necessary to shorten some of the plain sail the Dido had carried
right across. On the 24th land was sighted, and the captain, coming
on deck with his pockets full of tools and little tin things, told us that
it was Cape Horn.
The fo’k’stle-head was crowded with men, one minute all gazing at
the land, the next staring aft.

‘What the deuce are those fellows garping at?’ growled the mate,
walking for’ard.

Whereupon the watchers scattered.

Looking behind me, I saw that Jack Ashby was at the wheel.

He smiled as his eye caught mine, and pointed one mittened hand at
the chief officer’s back. I looked at the land, and began for the first
time, to feel doubtful.

Coming on deck that Christmas morning, I rubbed my eyes before

being able to take in the desolation of the scene, and make sure that
I was indeed on board the Dido.

The
293 ship looked as if she had been storm-driven across the whole

Southern Ocean, and then mopped all over with a heavy rain-squall.

The wet decks, the naked spars, the two top-sails tucked up to a
treble reef, and seeming mere strips of canvas, grey with damp, the
raffle of gear lying about, with here and there a man over his knees
in water slowly coiling it up, hanging on meanwhile by one hand,
combined, with the lowering sky and leaden sea, to make up a
gloomy picture indeed. The ship was nearly close-hauled, and a big
lump of a head-sea on, with which she was doing her level, or
rather, most unlevel, best to fill her decks fore and aft.

Broad on the port bow loomed the land—great cliffs, stern and
ragged—at whose base, through the thin mist that was softly
drizzling, could be seen a broad white belt of broken water.

‘Cape Horn weather!’ quoth the captain at my elbow.

He was swathed in oilskins, and squinting rather anxiously at the
sky.

‘The glass is falling,’ he continued; ‘but there’s more southing in the

wind. Might give us a slant presently through the Straits of Le Maire.’

And with that, pulling out a bit of the condenser, and looking lovingly
at it, he went below. The mate was standing near, staring hard at
the land. It might have been the shadow of the sou’-wester on his
face, but I thought he appeared even more surly and forbidding than
ever.

Of
294 course it was a holiday. During the last four hours both watches

had been on deck shortening sail. After clearing up the washing

raffle of ropes, and leaving a man at the wheel and another on the
lookout, they were free to go into the fo’k’stle, and smoke or sleep,
as they pleased.

Dinner—a curious acrobatic feat that Christmas day in the Dido’s

cabin—over, I donned waterproofs and sea-boots, and, putting four
bottles of rum in a handbag, which I slung over my shoulder, I
stepped across the washboards and made for the fo’k’stle.

Creeping from hold to hold along the weather bulwarks, at times up

to my waist in water, I wondered how any ship could pitch as the
Dido was doing and yet live.

One moment, looking aft, you would imagine that the man at the
wheel was about to fall on your head; the next that the jibbooms
were a fourth mast; whilst incessantly poured such foaming torrents
over her fo’k’stle that, as I slowly approached, I seriously doubted of
getting in safely with my precious freight. Luckily, the men were
watching me, and a couple, running out, caught hold of my hands,
roaring in my ear,—

‘Run, sir, when she lifts again!’

And, making a dash for it, we got through the doorless entrance just
in time to escape another avalanche.

I found the fo’k’stle awash, chests and bags lashed into lower bunks,
and the greater part of both watches sitting on the upper ones,
smoking,
295 and eyeing the cold sparking water as it rushed to and fro
their habitation.

My arrival, or rather, perhaps, my cargo, was hailed with

acclamation.

The captain certainly had sent them a couple of dozen of porter. But,
as one explained,—

‘What’s the good of sich rubbishin’ swankey as that when a feller

wants somethin’ as ’ll warm ’is innards this weather?’

‘Where’s Ashby?’ I asked, hoisting on to a bunk amongst the crowd.

‘Here I am, sir,’ replied a voice close to in the dimness.

‘Well,’ I said, cheerily, ‘what did I tell you? Here’s Christmas Day well
on for through, everything snug—if damp—and nothing happening.
Give him a stiff nip, one of you, and let us drink to better times, and
no more nonsense. Once we’re round the corner, yonder, this trip will
soon be over.’

‘Thank you kindly, sir,’ replied Ashby, as he emptied the pannikin,

which was being so carefully passed around by the one appointed,
who, holding on like grim death, after every poured-out portion, held
the bottle up to the light to see how the contents were faring.
‘Thank you kindly, sir,’ said he. ‘But Christmas Day isn’t done yet.’

Even as he spoke, a form clad in glistening oilskins came through

the water-curtain that was roaring over the break of the fo’k’stle,
and, leaning upon the windlass, sang out,—
‘You
296 there, Ashby?’

‘Ay, ay, sir,’ replied the seaman.

‘Lie out, then,’ continued the mate, for he it was, ‘and put another
gasket around that inner jib! It’s coming adrift! Bear a hand, now!’

The ship for a minute seemed to stand quite still, as if waiting to

hear the answer, and each man turned to look at his neighbour.

Then Ashby, jumping down, with a curious set expression on his

face, walked up to the mate and said very loud,—

‘Don’t send a man where you’d be frightened to go yourself.’

‘You infernal soger!’ shouted the other, enraged beyond measure at

this first sign of rebellion in his victim. ‘Come out here and I’ll show
you all about that! Come out and crawl after me, and I’ll learn you
how to do your work!’

He disappeared, and Ashby followed him like a flash. In a trice every

soul was outside—some clinging to the running gear around the
foremast, others on the galley, others in the fore rigging.

I could see no sign of any of the head sails being adrift. All, except
the set fore-topmast stay-sail, lay on their booms, masses of sodden
canvas, off which poured green cataracts as the Dido lifted her nose
from a mighty plunge.

For a minute or two, so dense was the smother for’ard of the

windlass bits, that nothing was visible but foam. But, presently, as
297 Dido paused, weaving her head backwards and forwards as if
the
choosing a good spot for her next dive, we saw, clear of everything,
and high in air fronting us, the two men.

One was on the boom, the other on the foot-rope. The topmost man
seemed to be hitting rapidly at the one below him, who strove with
uplifted arm to shield himself.

Perhaps for half a minute this lasted. Then the ship gave her
headlong plunge, the crest of a great wave met the descending
bows, and when the bitter spray cleared out of our eyes again the
lower figure was missing.

From the other, overhanging us, a black streak against the sullen
sky, came what sounded like a faint cheer. There was a rapid
throwing motion of the arm released from the supporting stay,
followed by a clink of steel on the roof of the galley. Then came once
more the roaring plunge, and slow upheaval as of a creature
mortally wounded.

But, this time, the booms were vacant, and a man beside me was
curiously examining a sheath-knife, bloody from point of blade to tip
of wooden handle.

Louder shrieked the gale through the strained rigging, and more
heavily beat the thundrous seas against the Dido’s sides, as,
breathless, drenched and horrified, I staggered into the captain’s
state-room.

‘I think I’ve got it now,’ said he, smiling, and holding up a thing like a
tin saucepan.

the end.
Transcriber’s Note
The text contains a lot of dialect spelling, which has been left as
printed. Punctuation has been amended where required to
clarify the sense of the text. A small number of errors that
appear to be typographical rather than authorial have been
corrected; otherwise inconsistent spelling and hyphenation
(agoin’/a-goin’, anigh/a-nigh, apiece/a-piece, ashen grey/ashen-
grey, befel/befell, black fellow/black-fellow, bulkhead/bulk-head,
close hauled/close-hauled, dark blue/dark-blue, doorposts/door-
posts, enquiries/inquiries, far inland/far-inland, fo’c’sle/fo’c’stle,
greenhide/green-hide, half way/half-way, head sea/head-sea,
highly connected/highly-connected, lifelike/life-like,
lookout/look-out, main deck/main-deck, middle age/middle-age,
mopoke/mo-poke, native born/native-born, new chum/new-
chum, newcomer/new-comer, out an’ out/out-an’-out,
p’raps/p’r’aps, rain water/rain-water, remarkable
looking/remarkable-looking, rope coils/rope-coils,
saddlestraps/saddle-straps, soger/sojur, sojur ants/sojur-ants,
such like/such-like, thundrous/thunderous, topsail/top-sail,
upturned/up-turned, viâ/via) have been retained as printed.