The final visit was complete, and it was time to head for home! Elsa, along with the Captains and crews were all in a great mood as they swung north for their trip back to Arendelle! They may even arrive early! They had nine days to return, and only needed seven.
Then one morning, about four days from Arendelle, the three-ship flotilla was greeted by a red sky. Captain Bjorkland and the other Captains were on high alert. They were well aware of the sailor maxim, "Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning; red sky at night, sailor's delight."
As the day moved to mid morning, Captain Bjorkland could see a major storm on the horizon that spanned as far as the eye could see. He also could not locate any landmass to head for, where they could weather the storm. He gave the order for all ships to secure all cargo and to batten down the hatches. He also gave the "All hands on deck!" command. This looked like it was going to be rough.
Elsa asked, "How bad does it look, Captain?"
"Your Majesty, it could be the trailing edge of a hurricane! I've only been through one in my entire career!"
The Captain gave the order for all ships to save themselves as time approached mid afternoon, releasing the North Mountain and the Icy Fjord from the flotilla.
The waves were crashing on and around the ships, ranging from ten to twenty feet in height; some doubled those heights. With the seas this swirling and heavy, the three ships lost contact with one another. The wind was howling at around 60 knots, from east to west.
The storm wouldn't subside! The rear mast snapped as did the main mast. Only the fore mast was still intact on the Pride of Arendelle II.
Around late evening the storm started to abate. By 6 PM, they had ridden out the storm, but were way off course. Captain Bjorkland searched for an island with a sheltered cove and trees that could be used for mast wood, so that the ship could lie up for repairs.
Finally around 9 PM, he spotted an island to the west. He set his heading straight for it, and its sheltered harbor.
But being nighttime, even on a three-quarter moon night, visibility under water was poor, so that as the ship got within 200 yards of the cove shore, they hit a coral reef, and started to take on water. The crew was in a panic trying to stop the flow, when Elsa came below deck, and used her winter power to insert a freeze plug in the hole!
The Captain decided to have everyone spend the night on board for safety sake.
Tomorrow they would explore their haven.