“The Storm Prophet” by Hector Macdonald

In the time I knew the boy called Moses, he made three terrible predictions. The first was his own death; the last was something personal to me. But the prediction everyone still talks about is the Sydney Hobart storm.

So much garbage has been written: that he named the boats, the casualties, that he gave the precise meteorological conditions and wave patterns. This from a boy who’d never been to sea. But I was the only person present when Moses made his storm prediction, the night Kirsten launched Sentinel. I was the only witness to his actual words. And I was sure, right from the start, that Moses couldn’t see the future.

It’s about eight o’clock when I leave my office at Spring Cove and head up to the showers. Through the broad windows behind my desk, I’ve been watching the last Inshore crews docking. There’s a new captain in Melina, and it’s great to see how well he’s doing.