Winds of Fury

by Peter Duysings

  “Now, señor, I must take my leave. I have overstayed my visit. señors, it was my pleasure doing business with you. I bid you a good day.”

  “Buenos dias, señor.” Agusto and Emanuel escorted Diego to the dock.

  “Until tomorrow morning then,” said Diego and he joined Anton, who was patiently waiting near the wooden post.

  They walked to their boat, untied it from the dock, and got in. In a short time, they were back aboard the mothership.

  Diego and Fritz entered Heinrich’s cabin. Diego exclaimed their success. Heinrich congratulated both men on a job well done. Overall, it was a profitable day; they now had a fast sixty-foot craft armed with twelve cannons, although two of them were smaller 8 pounder swivel guns at each end.

  * * *

  “Buenos dias,” Diego greeted Agusto.

  Agusto lurched as if hit by lightning. He was startled by the voice and then by the sight of the man standing just a few feet behind him. He prided himself as one that was not easily approached without notice. Diego’s stealth flushed his face. Cordoba was smiling, which pained Agusto even more for being caught flat-footed.

  “Buenos dias, señor,” Agusto replied. “I knew I was right about your unique skills,” he added sheepishly.

  “It is but child’s play sneaking up on someone who does not expect it, but the important matter is the sale of the boat.”

  “Por favor, please,” he said and motioned for Diego to follow him. They passed Emanuel, Martin, and Carlos who were clearing the vessel of the last of the fishing gear before the change of ownership. Emanuel gave Diego a wave, which he returned.

  On the dock, Anton was at his post. There was no mistaking why this huge brute was chosen to keep watch. He looked like someone who could strike fear into anyone by sight alone.

  Emanuel spoke to Carlos and Martin who glanced at Anton and then at the rowboat some sixty feet away. They saw six sailors loitering on the dock. The sailors were a tough-looking lot, or perhaps the word should be capable; but capable of what? They looked to be in excellent physical condition, and each one wore swords with a certain cavalier assurance. They looked like they could fight and do so with competence.

  The fisherman wondered who they were selling their ship to and for what purpose – were they privateers? They had entrusted the sale of the ship to Agusto, and as far as they were concerned, the price was more than fair, and Diego seemed very amiable. Now, it was just the matter of getting payment and handing the ship over.

  It wasn’t long until Diego and Agusto reappeared on deck after the exchange of the money and the three crewmen were summoned. Diego was introduced to Martin and Carlos. Carlos shook his hand and thanked him profusely for purchasing their ship.

  “The pleasure is all mine, señors,” Diego said. “My capitán will be very pleased with this vessel. I hope that your future plans will be lucrative.”

  Diego whistled to his men on the dock, motioning to come over. Four of the sailors made their way over and boarded while two of them got into the rowboat and rowed it over to the schooner. They tied it off at the stern and joined their mates on their new ship.

  Diego and his seven men made ready to shove off. The sails were unfurled, the light breeze flared and bulged out the canvasses, and gradually the craft moved away from the dock. Slowly at first, then steadily gaining speed, the schooner cruised smoothly through the harbor on its way to the mother ship. Her gun slats were closed, and from a distance, she looked like just another fishing craft.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  HABITAT in SECLUSION

  The small schooner had a narrow berth and shallow draft, giving it a sleek profile. Its large sails provided plenty of wind power for the boat to slice through the waves swiftly. The hold was significant, providing plenty of cargo space. The five cannons on each side and swivel guns at each end added tactical value to provide the See Wolf with additional protection in case of attack. The crew aboard the See Wolf thought the newly-acquired schooner would do nicely for its other intended purposes; to sail into ports and scour the area for any possible threats ahead of their arrival.

  The men watched in admiration as the smaller schooner docked alongside her mother ship. Lines were thrown across to the sailors and were rigged securely; the main deck was a good fourteen feet lower than the massive See Wolf’s. At intervals along the sides of the vessels, thick ropes made into a netting pattern was draped over the rails to act as fenders between the two craft to prevent them from chaffing each other.

  Heinrich, Otto, and Fritz climbed aboard to take a closer look at their new boat. Diego joined then and gave them a tour. Otto called to one of the men looking down from above and told him to fetch Conrad and Manfred to check out the cannons. After a thorough inspection by the gunners, they gave a thumbs-up even though the real proof of the gun’s capability would be at the first firing.

  Once the smaller ship was inspected, the lines were disengaged, the anchor hauled up, and preparations were made to get underway. Their next stop was a secluded cove on the northern shore of Hispaniola, which Diego had once spied years ago during a voyage and recalled it to be extremely secluded. According to Günter, the voyage would take them a day and a half as long as the winds cooperated. They would lay low for a while, resupply their drinking water, and search for fresh fruit. So far, all the islands had fruit aplenty, and Hispaniola would likely be no different.

  After returning to the See Wolf, Heinrich asked Otto to assemble the section heads, including the combat leaders for another meeting. The two ships were in open water heading to Hispaniola when the men began filing into the captain’s cabin. The first order of business was the new naming of the schooner.

  “What was it called by the former owners, Diego?”

  “L’aigrette qui vole. That’s French for the Flying Egret.” Diego answered. “I am certain you would want to rename the ship, capitán.”

  “Lovely sounding name, especially spoken in French, but you’re right; I do want to rename it. I don’t particularly want a bird for the name for a sister ship. Egret sounds too close to ‘regret,’ and that’s the last thing we desire.”

  Sailors liked naming ships, and Heinrich offered his men the opportunity to do just that. “Any of you have an idea what to name it?” he surveyed the roomful of men.

  The group came up with several names, but none caught the interest of the captain.

  Manfred suggested naming it the Beowulf, from the epic Anglo-Saxon poem about a warrior who fought monsters and dragons. The Germanic character was a favorite of many people back home.

  Arnold Schroeder suggested the Shining Pearl. Otto came up with the Caribbean Star. Another was the Headhunter, and yet another was the Flying Goose. All were staunchly rejected, and the latter two provoked howls of laughter. Headhunter seemed a bit too barbaric, and the mere mention of yet another bird seemed ridiculous.

  Heinrich was becoming impatient and said, “Perhaps we should take the next few days to think of other names. We have other important business to discuss in the meantime.”

  Heinrich immediately switched the subject to the manning of the new ship. He explained he had already met with Otto and other section heads regarding how to split up the crew.

  “It has been decided that Fritz Huber will be in command of the schooner when it sails under its own power, with Manfred as his second. There will be a total of twenty-three sailors assigned to man her initially; possibly more at a later date. Herr Rhine, of course, will be in charge of the cannons; commanding all guns. Arnold Schroeder will be in charge of eight riflemen, who will have to pull cannon duty as well to help the gunners load. We will not have a boarding team assigned to the vessel, due to the lack of men, although having one may prove useful. The strategy is to keep the fleet-footed craft mobile if we battle another ship; she will come to our rescue if needed. This tactic may change depending on what happens in an engagement. We have to figure out just how to use her to our advantage. For now, this is the way we will handl
e it. Any questions?”

  “The See Fuchs, capitán. How does that name sound to you,” asked Diego abruptly?

  Heinrich’s eyebrows rose as he considered what Diego had said. “You may have something there, Señor Cordoba. I like the sound of that name, the See Fuchs. That may work well for what the schooner is intended. I will make note, but to be fair, let us take the next couple of days for other names to be recommended.”

  A shrill whistle from outside the cabin interrupted the meeting. The group of men quickly piled out the door and ran to their pre-assigned duty stations. Warning shouts from the lookouts barked out as Heinrich and Otto ascended to the helm and saw Günter searching the water off the starboard through his telescope.

  “What is it, Herr Dietz?” inquired Heinrich.

  “Still searching, captain,” Günter answered.

  Another shout from above reported, “Ship at our two o’clock position!”

  “I have her, captain. “She’s hard to see against the island in the background. I make her distance about four miles.”

  Heinrich and Otto both brought their scopes to their eyes. The ship came into view.

  “I see her,” Otto said. “She is definitely a ship-of-the-line frigate; a two-deck war vessel with at least fifty guns!”

  “I concur,” Günter remarked. “Even though her flag is unreadable at this distance, she is most certainly English, but not one of the ones we tangled with.”

  “I concur,” remarked Heinrich.

  “What are your orders, Heinrich?” Otto requested.

  “Keep our current bearings and fill the sails with as much wind as we can. At this distance and heading in opposite directions, we should be able to outrun her easily enough.”

  “Ja, captain,’ Günter acknowledged.

  “She’s holding her course, Heinrich,” Otto said, much in relief.

  “Keep her in sight until she’s out of sight.”

  “Jawohl, I will see to this myself. We cannot afford another attack,” said Otto very concerned.

  “You worry too much. This is a different warship, and they cannot know of our confrontation with their comrades this fast. As long as we sail away from them, we will be fine.”

  Otto was not having it and said so.

  “One can’t be too sure about that. I’d feel a whole lot better watching them until out of sight.”

  “Fair enough. Have it your way and stay.”

  Heinrich and Fritz gathered up the rest of the group and returned to his quarters.

  “Now, where were we?” Heinrich continued.

  “The leather work needed to complete the rest of the upper body armor,” said Fritz.

  The purchased leather was stacked in sheets in one of the holds. Fritz had two dozen crew members assigned to producing enough of these vests. With many years of experience repairing sails, it made sense to apply the skills of these men to make these. But it turned out to be more difficult than anticipated. Diego had to step in and from memory of having at one time worn a similar defensive shoulder protection for a man’s sword arm. He came up with the design for a one-piece unit that would cover both shoulders and upper arms and worked with the others to construct a sample. Once that was done the next thing was to determine the best way to produce them in the shortest time possible. One of these sail repairers, an older sailor by the name of Werner Schneider, told Diego and Fritz how he was part of a group of sail fabricators back in Bremerhaven and explained how they fabricated sails in sections, then sewing the segments into the finished product. It was a faster way to produce sails, and he thought making the leather vests could be made using the same method. Diego instructed Werner to take his time assessing the layout of the leather garb and figure out how separate pieces could be sewn together as a finished vest. It took the better part of two days for Werner to develop a process that worked. He had determined the leathers could be fabricated in four separate pieces and stitched into the final vest. Each boarding unit man had to be measured for it to fit. They gave it a trial run, and sure enough, Werner had successfully come up with a production process that saved hours of labor. It turned out there was enough material left over to make two dozen more, so Otto instructed Fritz to have the men make these extra vests in various sizes and store in one of the armory rooms.

  Keenly aware of the destructive wounds associated with hand-to-hand fighting, Diego also came up with the idea of making wooden buckler shields that would add protection for the boarders to block a foe’s sword or knife strikes. Buckler shields were small and lightweight for mobility and function used for many centuries in Europe. Leather straps would be used to make handholds.

  Heinrich and Otto came to see for themselves what old Werner accomplished. Heinrich made a show in front of the men by promising Werner he would get awarded two straight days of shore leave at the next port. Werner smiled through a set of blackened teeth at the announcement and bragged to his peers about it.

  * * *

  Ernst caught Heinrich’s attention on deck.

  “Captain, my concern has to do with those of us that desire to disembark this vessel. When will we have that opportunity?”

  Heinrich grimaced and furrowed his brow at Ernst Mayer’s question. He still was agitated about this boatswain and the handful of sailors that wanted nothing more to do with the See Wolf after the attack incident. He understood they had a valid point to want to leave expeditiously and get on with their lives. The problem was doing so at a port that they could catch a ship headed in the right direction for them to eventually get back to Germany. He wanted them off the ship as well because he and the rest of the crew were tired of their foul attitude. It turned out that half of them were men who had since the departure from Bremerhaven shown lacking the type of conduct Heinrich desired. Unfortunately, the signs of their behavior did not show until well into the voyage. It was the product of the hurried hiring process to get on their way.

  He addressed the man. “This is not a meeting to address that subject. Mayer, in due time when it is opportune for us to do so, we have every intention to drop you and the rest at a port of safe haven.” He intended to go to the next item, when Ernst spoke up again, apparently not through with the subject.

  “I don’t know why you did not allow us to depart when at Nassau yesterday. There were ships in the harbor.”

  “Diego looked into that and reported that none of those ships would provide the proper passage you would need.”

  “Then I ask, what port and when?”

  Heinrich locked eyes with the man. His piercing stare bored into Mayer. Grudgingly Heinrich held his temper. Getting the men off the ship was critical; the sooner, the better, he thought. He did not want those men polluting the minds of the rest of his crew with their negativity.

  Heinrich answered with sharpness in his voice, “We plan to sail for San Juan after a stay on Hispaniola. There will be enough ships there that you and the others can find passage home. Now that should take care of your concern.”

  “That is a long way from Germany, captain. The deal was for -”

  Heinrich cut him off by a wave of his hand. “I never made a deal, Herr Mayer.” His patience had run out, and there was viciousness in his demeanor. Several sailors working nearby looked at the two men hearing the exchange and then quickly returned to their tasks.

  “Do not put words in my mouth. I do not negotiate deals with my crew. If there are any displays of discord from you or any of your associates, there will be hell to pay. I have said this already; you will be off this ship at a place where you can find passage back to Europe. You will be paid the balance of your wages plus the cost of the passage. This ship is not a transport service to see to your whims. Now, I do believe there is nothing further to discuss and no reason for you to be here. Report back to Herr Kleist for tasking, while I will continue with more important matters.”

  Heinrich turned and walked away. Mayer’s stomach churned in reaction to Heinrich’s demeanor. In choreographed motion, the sam
e sailors as before turned their heads in Mayer’s direction and looked at him through narrowed eyes; eyes that spoke volumes of what they thought of him. He noticed their scorn and hurried off. He was gone within a few seconds certainly not wanting to be in the company of those who held such disdain for him.

  * * *

  The remainder of their passage was uneventful. They spotted four more ships during their transit to Hispaniola; all of them merchant vessels and a safe distance off. Ships in these waters made it a point to avoid run-ins with other ships fearing they could be pirates on the prowl.

  With Diego’s assistance, Günter located the secluded cove on the north side of the island. They discovered a small village nearby and befriended the inhabitants, who were extraordinarily friendly and showed them around. Otto once again had men make water runs for replenishment and also with guides from the village he had Manfred lead a party inland to hunt game for fresh meat.

  The villagers were a mix of Spanish and native West Indian blood – mestizo. They called their home Paraíso – Paradise. It was quite clear why they named it so; it was lush and peaceful. The name of the chief elder was Ramon Abril. The village elders explained that they formerly lived on the island’s other settlements, but that life became intolerable in the towns due to Spanish miscreants causing mischief and mistreating them without any law and order present. So many years ago, somehow several groups had banded together and sought a remote location to start anew, far from those that preyed on the defenseless. They set up an isolated community, assisted by the natural topography, which kept intruders at bay. The place they found the placid cove surrounded by jagged mountains that provided sanctuary and sustenance with plentiful game and fruit trees. Some of the fruit tress they planted from seeds they brought.

  With Raman Abril’s permission, Doc Strobel was asked to examine the villagers for any health issues. When that was completed, Strobel took time accompanied by the cooks, Karl Schmitt, and Hugo Hartman, and a handful of men, along with the cabin boys to the island to collect fruit. With the help of the inhabitants who pointed out fruit, plants, and roots that were edible, they stockpiled a considerable amount of papayas, mangos, bananas, sugar apples, avocado, cashews, and yams.