The diesel engine of the recommissioned tugboat sputtered frantically as the captain struggled to make headway in what had become a boiling, seething mass of whitewater.The boat pitched and yawed wildly and passengers, cargo and crew were buffeted from side to side by the angry sea.
So focused was the captain, that he did no notice the stunning changes Robben Island itself was going through.
Water cascaded off the sides of the island like a veil as it rose higher and higher above the sea, more land birthing itself out of the ocean and increasing with size and speed at every second.
The passengers were half-mad with panic, the crew too focused on their tasks and the violence of the sea to notice what happened next.
First two, then six, then 8 smaller islands appeared around the main mass. They contracted, moving closer to the main island and then suddenly, with surprising grace, a gigantic Ghost Crab- the fabled and mythical beast of the deep in long-forgotten Bushman stories – rose above the water.
The water suddenly calmed and the captain turned around just in time for the shadow of the crab to block out the sun.
He turned back to the wheelhouse to escape but he needn’t have bothered. The Ghost Crab wasn’t after him or his ship. No, the Ghost Crab’s plans were much bigger. It turned and started walking towards Cape Town.
Revolutionary Throwback 