by Marie Hall
“Pirates sir, but they aren’t looking our way,” she whispered so only he could hear. “Go, go now.” She pushed at him then lifted the glass again, trying to keep her eye on the dark ship waiting to strike.
She’d heard of this bunch, but hadn’t had contact, directly or indirectly. They preyed on passenger ships, stealing everything from those onboard, raping the women if any were had. Murdering off men they found no worth in, then ransoming everyone left. They’d struck several times near Bombay and Madras in the last three years. And always with the same tactic. The capturing of a small ship, a pleasure yacht or even a medical ship, they’d set it ablaze in hopes to lure in a larger ship carrying something worth taking. Ships were honor bound to render aid. The true target would sail alongside, drop anchor, and haul in the sheets so they could search the waters, or the craft if any of it was left, for crew and passengers. They’d sit alongside all night knowing the best chance to spot people or bodies was in the daylight. This meant the pirates could take their time assessing who they were about to engage. And as Mia watched that was exactly what she saw taking place. Even as it approached, the would-be rescue ship was pulling in its sails, slowing to a stop.
“Mia,” Devin said coming up beside her. “What is going on?”
She handed him the glass pointed where it was taking place and told him the dark facts. “Pirates. Real pirates.” He hesitated only a moment then turned and raised the glass.
“Do you know them?” he asked then perhaps realized what he said. “I mean—”
“This group. I know of them,” she said and winced as the sound of the crew coming on deck grew loud. “Please, Captain, silence them. Sound carries and we haven’t yet been found out.”
“Mr. Asher, Mr. Brinks, settle them. No sounds.” Devin ordered in a harsh whisper as anyone might use. The noise died off quickly. As if to prove her point, the sound from the rescue ship started to carry to them. Shouts, bells, whistles. And the smell of smoke. “It’s a galleon sitting off their bow, isn’t it?”
“Aye, three times the size of this ship, but I reckon the crew to be not much more. I haven’t heard tales of them swarming the deck when they take someone. They don’t take the ship itself often,” Mia said, a little less restrained in her volume knowing the clattering from the other ship would disguise sound from this one.
“What else can you tell us, Mia?” Devin asked, searching the darkness. They shouldn’t be encountering pirates here. These waters had been practically free of privateers for several years. Better booty lay east.
“I can tell you a lot, but not here.” She stepped back from the rail.
“Then come below,” Devin said and signaled his officer to follow.
“Do we run or go at her?” Mr. Quiggly asked, as they stepped into the cabin Mia and Devin shared. Already men worked to cover the windows and prevent light for getting out before candles were lit and the room was turned from private quarters to a ready room.
“I think if we can keep surprise on our side we go at her, don’t you?” he asked and Mia knew the thrill of excitement in his voice.
“Captain she’s bigger, better armed,” Mr. Asher said.
“Completely focused on her target,” Mia told him. “If you turn the ship north, ride past her before coming about from the east, behind her, you’ll have the wind and the sun. She’ll not see you coming and if they stay true most of the crew will board to take what they’re after. Few will be manning guns if any and their cannon should be facing their target.” Mia lifted her hands and made a show of what she meant. “Come up so they are pinned between this ship and that.”
“How do you know?” Mr. Wilshire asked. “I mean how can you be sure that’s what they will do?”
“It’s what they do. They’ve been hitting ships out of the Bay of Bengal for a good while. Private ships mostly. I’ve stayed out of the Arabian Sea because of them. Cargo out of East Asia is more expensive and the best qualities often go first to the East Indies Company, but it’s not worth the risk.” Mia said as she slipped out of Jonah’s coat and handed it back to him before picking up a blanket and wrapping up in it.
“How much detail can you give me, Mia? Crew size? Cannon? Anything more?” Devin asked
“I can’t say anything with certainty. There are always survivors, civilians, passengers mostly. The ship’s crew isn’t usually left. What they say is useless and inconsistent from moment to moment. If I’d had to estimate, I’d say sixty, maybe seventy crew. Forty guns all carried on a single deck.”
“That makes sense,” Mr. Wilshire told her. “If they aren’t taking on any armed vessels then putting all the guns where they can be best viewed and scare people. They’d get compliance right quick from the ship they take.”
“Oh yes,” Mia said. “I have no idea if it’s true of this ship, but it was Captain Mains who was saying it. Seems when they went after the Sea Dove a year back, but they didn’t realize the captain was old Spanish Navy. When they boarded his ship, he sent a squad over to drop grenades through the stern castle. They rolled forward quite a bit before they went off. Mains swears the ship has a cracked cross pillar.”
“Making their stern even more vulnerable,” Coventon said and now his voice too held the edge of excitement.
“Oh, I don’t know that it’s important,” Mia started not knowing if it mattered. “Not once has anyone said they’ve been fired on. Everyone says they’re armed but the ship set on fire is the only ship damaged.”
“Not a single shot?” Devin asked with doubt.
“Not cannon, captain,” Mia confirmed. “Again, they’ve only hit private ships. What need to fire if you can make them surrender whole?”
“It’s a point to remember,” Devin said.
“This is all well and good, but how are we supposed to come round north, with the wind blowing due west and without being heard until we’re on them.” Mr. Brinks asked.
“We row and tow,” Mr. Wilshire said and everyone around him groaned before their faces broke out with the wickedest grins.
“Get the crew ready,” Devin stated. “Tell them what the plan is and make sure they are quiet as can be. I’ll be on deck in a minute.”
“Aye, Captain,” they all said and tossed up a salute.
“Damn me if she didn’t do it again,” Mia heard Mr. Brinks say as he climbed topside.
Mia dropped her head to hide the smile until she heard Devin clear his throat and looked up to see him glaring at her. “What?” she asked.
“It’s the middle of the night, it’s a hundred miles out, how in God’s name did you come by this?”
“Well it’s not the middle of the night, everyone went to bed early. Remember?” she said. “And it’s perhaps sixty miles.”
“Mia,” he warned.
“Something woke me. I didn’t know what, so I got up to see. I think now with how the ship was still burning it might have been the sound of an explosion,” Mia said, knowing that made sense. The unusual sound would’ve woken her as she slept easily enough to the common sounds of the ship and sea.
Devin scrubbed at his brow with his finger, “Well, I’m a little lost as to what to do.”
“Why?”
“Because I can’t leave them go, but I don’t want to take the ship into battle with you on board.”
Mia’s eyes went wide and she drew in a sharp breath. “What do you think? You can just set me adrift?”
“Mia, we did bring back your raft, and if it’s better supplied you can make it to Haiti.”
“No. No! Are you mad? If you go up against them and lose, who knows which way they’ll turn. I could end up directly in their heading with nothing save my drawers to fend them off. No Captain, I’ll take my chances with the crew and with you, thank you very much,” Mia said and barely remembered not to stomp her foot.
“All right, Mia,” Devin said stepping over to pull her into his arms. “All right. I must weigh it all out and you’re right.” His arms tightened around her. “Wh
atever odds we have here they should be yours, too. But,” he said kissing the top of her head before stepping back, “if we do lose, you’ll have not much but your drawers to fend them off. So perhaps you should put some on.” Mia snorted then giggled. “And perhaps you’ll be so kind as to put something else on along with them before you meet me at the helm.”
“Aye, captain,” she said and smiled as he walked out the door.
He turned back a moment then with a shake of his head said, “Damn I’m a lucky man.” He walked away.
Mia joined him at the helm thirty minutes later and while he scowled at her pants and shirt he said nothing until she tucked most of her hair under the hat.
“They’ll never take you for a boy, but at least you’ll not stand out. Take the wheel,” he told her, stepping away and heading for the bow where the lines stretched forward from the ship to the row boats. Mia listened again. This time to the sound of the oars pulling through the waters. The crew were good. It came off as one easy noise which blended with the natural sounds of the waves. Mia worked the wheel and rudder to give them the best advantage. Once they had the wind and could raise sails, they’d make a full twenty knots or better, but it was going on midnight and the sun would start to rise in five hours. Time wasn’t on their side if they wanted the full advantage of surprise. All they could do was give it their all and hope for the best.
Chapter 26
Devin worked the wheel, making sure if the ship they closed in on turned about he could match the action. The sun came up almost four hours ago, right about the time they came around enough to raise sails and catch the wind. At the moment, they were full speed heading due west and coming up hard behind her. The sun over his right shoulder, starboard side, shone brightly on the galleon. The shadow of the Iron Rose was small and alerted no one they were coming.
“She was right, Captain,” Mr. Quiggly said, handing him a spyglass. “All guns are off their starboard and not a single man has looked back this way.”
Devin raised the glass long enough to confirm the quartermaster’s assessment. And reconfirm the black flag on the ship’s post. Pirates and bragging about it. “An hour ahead?”
“Aye, I think maybe less. Think they’ll be done before we get there?” Mr. Quiggly asked. Like Devin, he was probably thinking they’d not save many lives, but if in the end they took this ship and crew down it was a win.
“They won’t be done. Ship like that will have a good number of things to pillage and unless and until they see us they won’t hurry.” Devin handed back the glass and turned the wheel port ever so slightly as Mia was indicating, with a wave of her arm, from mid-deck. When he’d gone enough to her liking she raised her arm in the air. No more than three or four degrees and the ship caught current and surged ahead.
“How the bloody hell does she do that?” Quiggly asked in amazement.
“No idea, but I’d give an arm to have that talent,” Devin said.
“You do have that talent sir, she’s your wife.”
“That she is, Mr. Quiggly,” Devin said not taking his eyes from her until it was time to put the men and guns in place, pleased more than ever he had them practice. He sent Mia below oddly without a fight and turned his vessel broadside to her aft.
His cannon rang out as it cut into the unprepared backside of the huge ship. Sending shards of wood and glass and iron up through the transom, and out mid-topdeck. Those first shots may have also shattered the main mast as it leaned ominously forward towards the bow. “Fire again,” Devin yelled and a second volley of cannon fire cracked across the sea.
Aboard the passenger ship, their arrival singled a hope, giving a number on board the willingness to fight back. Trapped now between the guns of a navy warship and a group more ready to go down fighting, the marauders gave up rather quickly.
“Prepare to board her,” Devin yelled and waited until the crew shifted from cannon to rifle, pistol, and sword. “Caution men,” Devin warned, then lead a squad across. It took only another hour to figure out why the ship was given up so easily. They weren’t armed. They had cannons, but no balls or powder. Only what they needed for the small arms they carried. His wife’s note about the ship never actually firing a shot made sense. Whether out of over confidence they’d never need to, or some other reason, perhaps a need to make more speed, they’d not carried such things with them.
Devin’s crew had the ship searched stem to stern, all its members on deck in irons, and the owner of the ship lured in welcoming him aboard to give his thanks and gratitude, before sunset.
“I don’t know what would have happen to us if you hadn’t come by, Captain Winthrop,” the man introduced to Devin as Lord Huffington said.
“The crew would’ve been murdered, your belongings taken and you’d have been ransomed back to whoever might have paid for you.” Devin swung around to see Mia crossing off the galleon onto this ship, the Pied Piper. At least she’d changed into suitable attire. She spoke up and caused the three ladies standing on deck to swoon.
“Captain?” Huffington stammered.
“I shall introduce my wife, my lord,” Devin said holding out his hand to Mia. “Mia Winthrop, his lordship Huffington. Lord Huffington, the only reason you are alive and safe is my wife Mia.”
“Since when are females allowed on navy ships?” the captain of the Piper asked, stepping up to assess Mia critically.
“Special circumstances approved by the Admiralty.” Devin stared the man down. “It was actually she who spotted the trap in time for us to interfere.”
“Circumstances well in our favor I’d say,” Huffington said. “Wouldn’t you agree, Captain?”
“Aye,” the man said, but didn’t sound half as pleased as he should have.
“Well, young lady, I assure you, your good work won’t go untold,” his lordship said clapping his hand together.
“If it wouldn’t be much of a bother, I’d prefer all credit go to Captain Winthrop.” Even Devin was surprised at that. “My papa would faint dead away if he heard I was helping to fight pirates,” Mia said which satisfied the men. “And I really want my allowance,” she added under her breath but loud enough Devin heard. He pressed his lips together to keep from laughing.
“If everyone onboard here is fit,” Devin started breaking the awkward silence, “I can give you escort to the port of your choice.”
“What will you do with the pirate ship, Captain?” a young, blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman asked, stepping close and batting her lashes at him like he’d not just introduced his wife to everyone.
“She’s fit to sail. We’ll bring her and her crew to port in Jamaica. I’m sure Gallows Point will welcome them neatly,” Devin said trying to discreetly pry the woman’s hand from his arm.
“Well, fitting then we were headed to Port Royal ourselves,” Lord Huffington said as he rocked up on his toes then back to his heels.
“Really,” Mia said coming around to Devin’s other side. “You were heading in the wrong direction.” She grabbed the woman’s hand, pulled it from his arm, and tossed it back at her. “Mine,” she hissed sending the woman scrambling back to the clutch of hens gathered together near the main mast. Again, Devin pressed his lips together.
“We were?” the noble man stuttered again
“Jamaica and Port Royal are west,” Mia said pointing back over the ship’s stern. “You’re headed east. See the sun?” The man turned to look at the setting globe in the western sky.
“Well, bells and balls, oh beg pardon, Missus. You’re correct.” Devin almost laughed again at the man turning bright red and at his blue wording. Mia didn’t even seem to catch the oath. Too polite for her. “Captain, how is it we’ve taken a wrong direction?”
“Heading,” Mia corrected, even as she joined with everyone else to stare at the captain.
“We came around when the fire was spotted,” the captain of the Piper said. And Devin realized he’d not yet caught the man’s name.
“We did?” Huffington seemed
to be thinking about it. “Well, I guess we did.”
“Captain Winthrop,” Asher said stepping into the group. “We’re ready to raise sails.”
“Very good, Mr. Asher,” Devin said then turned to face the man who was also captain. “If you care for escort, Captain… I’m sorry I wasn’t given your name.”
“Jones, Captain Jones,” he said and again Devin wasn’t the only man to give the captain a hard look.
“Well then, Captain Jones, if you wish to follow us in, you’ll need to come about. We’ll wait on you and start on our course at sunrise.”
“Oh lovely, then you and your beautiful wife can join us aboard here for supper. We’ve plenty of room and a very good cook.”
Huffington’s invite grated, but Devin managed a smile. “Very kind of you my lord but it would be an imposition.”
“Nonsense, Captain, I insist,” the man blustered.
“At your insistence then, my lord,” Devin said with an inclining of his head. It was the one part of naval life he detested. Socializing with the peerage and nobility. But there were other women on board this ship and it could do some good to give Mia one night to mix with her own sex. Though seeing her glaring at them now, maybe not.
Chapter 27
“Mia,” Devin spoke sternly and saw Mia look around nervously as she entered the cabin. “Come here,” he said pointing to the spot beside him as he took a seat on the bench.
“Captain?” she asked the smallest hint of fear in her voice. But she obeyed and stepped up where he wanted her.
Without warning, he grabbed her arm and pulled her face down across his lap, flipped up her skirts and untied her drawers before she managed one protest. “Naughty little pirate,” Devin said reaching around to grab her wrist and pull it to the small of her back. It took a bit more effort to catch the second as Mia was busy trying to squirm away.
“What did I do? Captain, what did I do?” Mia asked a bit more panicked now as Devin pulled her other hand behind her.
