A Sea Too Far

by Hank Manley

  “This is fun,” Warren said.

  Conchshell followed the energetic couple to the open space near the harp. The blonde Labrador sat obediently, quietly yipping her approval of the proceedings, and licking the last of the lamb scraps from her jowls.

  When the music paused, Warren and Mary returned to their table. Anne Bonny and Jack Rackham were engaged in deep conversation. The pirate captain and the aspiring novice to the profession were lost in each other’s company.

  “Captain Rackman,” Mary ventured uncertainly. “Hast thou room aboard thy ship for Warren and me for the night? We’ve just arrived in Nassau late this afternoon and have had no time to secure lodging.”

  “Aye,” Calico Jack said. “Anne has agreed to come for a visit tonight. Let us all repair to the ship. I vouch we’ve had our share of grog and rum for an evening. And ye two have danced thy legs weary.”

  The four pirates, accompanied by Conchshell, departed the King’s Arms and wandered wobbly to Captain Jack’s launch. The two men managed to row the little vessel in a serpentine path toward Vanity, anchored just fifty meters off the shore in the protected harbor. The ride was accompanied by much playful banter and teasing from the two young women sitting in the stern.

  * * *

  Warren rubbed his eyes and looked up at the sun which was high above the horizon. He couldn’t remember when he had slept so late. He wandered across Vanity’s main deck and lifted the lid on the barrel of fresh water. He took a mouthful, swirled the warm liquid around in his fuzzy mouth, and spat over the side. Then he swallowed several cups. The extent of his thirst surprised him.

  “Shelly girl,” he said when the Labrador approached. “Did you have a good time last night? Did you see me learning the Irish jig? Am I a good dancer or what?”

  Mary emerged through one of the hatchways in the forecastle and walked toward Warren. She shielded the sun from her squinting eyes with an extended hand. “How be thy head?” she asked seriously. “I vouch last night was thy first encounter with rum.”

  “I feel . . . thirsty,” Warren admitted. “And I guess I have a slight headache. Is that what rum does to you?”

  “Aye,” Mary said with a shrug of her shoulders. “The rum has been known to leave a reminder of its presence in the morning.”

  “I never danced an Irish jig before,” Warren said. “Thank you for teaching me.”

  “And I vouch ye never leaned over and kissed a pretty girl on the cheek, either,” Mary said with a laugh. “I may not be loath to order ye another flagon come this evening, if that’s the effect it has on thee.”

  Warren blushed and looked around the ship to deflect Mary’s attention. Several of the members of Captain Jack’s crew were awake and toiling at small chores. Suddenly there was shouting from the water. Two of the pirates wandering the deck walked to the side of the ship and looked down.

  “I wonder what’s going on,” Warren said. “Come on. Let’s see.”

  Mary, Conchshell and Warren approached the side. A small launch was approaching. The single occupant was frantically rowing and shouting for attention.

  “Ahoy the Vanity,” the thin man screamed. “Me needs an audience with Captain Jack.”

  A bow line was hastily thrown up from the coxswain to a pair of hands reaching over the railing. The frenzied pirate scrambled up the rope ladder hanging over the side and dashed toward the captain’s quarters in the stern of the ship. He pounded on the hatch. “Captain Rackman,” he shouted. “I must speak with thee. It be important.”

  Calico Jack’s muffled reply sounded through the entry. “Enter and come aft.”

  “What be the problem?” one of the pirates asked Mary. “Thee was with the captain last night, were thee not? What happened?”

  “Nay, nothing happened,” Mary said defensively. “We spent the evening at the King’s Arms. Several flagons of rum and grog were enjoyed, but there be no trouble. Captain Jack even talked of taking the governor’s pardon and abandoning the pirate ways.”

  The hatch from the captain’s quarters below the raised rear deck exploded open. Calico Jack Rackman appeared in the opening. He was dressed in his brightly colored, knee-length pants. White stockings covered his feet. The front of his shirt was open, and he clasped it shut with one of his hands.

  “Man the capstan,” he shouted. “Weigh the anchor. We depart the harbor immediately.”

  Anne Bonny appeared behind Calico Jack. She was dressed solely in white undergarments. Her platinum hair was tangled around her neck and fell past her exposed shoulders.

  “What be the problem, captain?” one of the pirates called from the forecastle.

  “The governor has declared us all pirates and outlaws,” Calico Jack said. “There be no pardon for any of the crew of Vanity. As of this minute, we be enemies of the Crown and subject to hanging if caught.”

  “But we talked of taking the pardon,” another pirate protested. “The governor pledged to issue a pardon to any that swore to give up the ways of the pirate.”

  The thin pirate who had rowed hysterically to Vanity from the shore stepped through the hatch opening. “Aye, lads,” he said. “Ye all know the governor’s cowardly informant, James Bonny. This very morning he convinced the governor to withhold any pardon for Captain Jack as punishment for stealing his wife. Anyone who sails with Captain Jack also loses their chance for a pardon.”

  “Ye mean that we all be enemies of the Crown, all of us aboard Vanity?” another pirate called.

  “Aye, lads,” the thin sailor nodded. “And the governor aims to send a Royal sloop to arrest us all. When we be caught, it be our necks that will stretch, as certain as the day follows the night.”

  Warren looked at Mary. “Do you think this applies to us?” he asked. “We’re really not part of the Vanity crew.”

  The pirate bearing the bad news overheard Warren’s question and responded. “James Bonny knows of thee, Marty Read. He named thee as one of Captain Jack’s crew, ye and thy friend there. He saw ye both in the tavern last night with his wife.”

  “I was hoping to find somebody in Nassau who could direct me to Serenity Cay,” Warren said plaintively. “This is my chance to return home to my parents. I know Serenity Cay is not too far away.”

  “Where be this Serenity Cay,” the gaunt pirate asked curiously. “There be no island of that name in these waters with people living ashore.”

  Warren’s heart sank. He looked at Conchshell who was sitting on her haunches by his feet. The Labrador’s tongue was nestled between her prominent lower front teeth as she breathed through her mouth. The dog could tell something important was taking place by the excited attitudes of the humans. She was alert and ready should her master need her.

  Warren looked at Mary and closed his eyes for several seconds. He lowered his chin as a wave of sadness swept over him. He had never felt such an attraction to a female in his short life. Were the feelings he was experiencing actually inchoate pangs of love? Was he capable of genuine love for a woman at his age? One thing he knew with certainty, he would be extremely sad if he never saw Mary Read again.

  “I thought we’d be on our way home once we got to Nassau, Shelly girl,” Warren said. He turned toward Calico Jack who was watching his men prepare to depart the harbor.

  “Captain,” he implored. “I can’t go with you. I’ve got to go home to my mother and father.”

  “And where be thy home?” Calico Jack asked in a distracted tone as he witnessed two pirates beginning to turn the capstan, gathering anchor chain from the bottom of the harbor. “Is it this place called Serenity Cay I hear ye talk of?”

  “Yes,” Warren said affirmatively. “Do you know it?”

  “Nay, lad,” Captain Rackman said. “Ye best come with us. There be no Serenity Cay, and the governor will have thy young neck in a hangman’s noose if ye stay in Nass
au.”

  Mary watched a sad expression draw across Warren’s face as he resigned himself to his plight. Her heart ached in sympathy, but selfishly she felt a surge of joy as she realized the object of her growing affections would not be departing the ship.

  “Up the mast, lads,” Calico Jack called. “Lower the sails. We be bound for Jamaica where the gold and rum be flowing like the incoming tide.”

  ~34~

  Vanity had sailed out the eastern end of Nassau Harbor, crossed the Yellow Bank which was scattered with dangerous coral heads, and entered the Exuma Sound by passing Ship Channel Cay to starboard. The water immediately deepened and turned cobalt blue. A brisk trade wind from the southeast had necessitated tacking across the sound, rounding Long Island and Crooked Island, before turning in a southerly heading for the eastern tip of Cuba.

  The low islands of the Bahamas, bordered by necklaces of beaches, had given way to the precipitous landmasses of Hispaniola and Cuba which rose sharply from the sea. The deep purple of the ocean crashed directly on the rocky coasts of the huge islands, and tall mountains of lush green jungle ascended into the azure sky where fluffy balls of cumulous cloud crowned the lofty peaks.

  Warren and Mary stood transfixed on the forecastle of Vanity. Conchshell stood between the captivated couple. The Labrador happily wagged her tail and sniffed the intoxicating scents that drifted with the salty air from the verdant island of Jamaica three miles ahead.

  The coloration of the ocean was so intensely blue, and the sky so magnificently expansive and bright, the two fleeing pirates stared speechless, mesmerized by the beauty surrounding the ship.

  Warren’s homesickness had gradually diminished as the miles swept under Vanity’s keel. The inevitability of his situation made longing for his parents seem entirely futile. The splendor of the ocean and the fascinating change of the passing islands assuaged his initial sadness at departing Nassau. The opportunity to spend more time with Mary and explore his budding amorous feelings substituted for his yearning to return to Serenity Cay.

  During the four day voyage from Nassau, Mary spent considerable time with Warren teaching him to fight with a sword. Together they practiced offensive moves with the blade and the defensive counter moves necessary to ward off a well delivered blow.

  Warren learned quickly, and before long he was able to match Mary’s considerable skill with the weapon.

  Calico Jack stood smiling on the stern castle as he watched the two young pirates hone their fighting skills. “Ye be quite an accomplished swordsman, laddie,” the captain remarked after witnessing a prolonged vigorous exchange of blows. “I be glad ye be one of me crew rather than an opponent.”

  Warren waved his acknowledgement of the compliment. “Much credit should go to my teacher,” he said pointing to Mary.

  Mary laughed. “I taught him everything he knows,” she said. “But not everything I know.”

  * * *

  “There be a ship departing Port Royal, captain,” shouted the lookout high in the mast of Vanity. “Five miles ahead.”

  “What type of ship?” Calico Jack called aloft from his position behind the steering wheel on the raised stern castle.

  The lookout stared for several seconds through his spyglass. “She carries the flag of Spain,” he yelled. “Me thinks she be a heavily laden merchant ship headed across the sea.”

  “Charge the cannons, lads,” Calico Jack ordered. “Raise me banner. We’re going to take this ship and all the bounty she carries.”

  A large, black rectangular flag unfurled high in the mast. A smiling skull with white teeth and huge black holes for eyes snapped open in the breeze. A pair of crossed swords with sharp points slashed across the banner below the death’s head.

  Anne Bonny climbed down the steps from the stern castle. She was festooned with pistols and swords. “Be thee ready for some adventure?” she said with a twinkle in her eye as she approached Mary and Warren. The two young pirates had gone below to arm themselves after Calico Jack had announced his intentions.

  Mary had a pistol tucked in the waist of her pants and a sword in her hand. Warren held a short-handled axe that one of the sailors had loaned him for the encounter. The sword he had liberated from the French sailor aboard Marseilles had been left aboard Queen Anne’s Revenge.

  Twenty other pirates of Calico Jack’s crew were preparing to climb aboard the merchant ship with various cutlasses and firearms.

  Conchshell paced the main deck with nervous anticipation. The Labrador recognized the deliberate preparations for battle and recalled the last attack on the French ship with the accompanying flurry of cannon shot and excitement.

  Calico Jack turned the helm over to the ship’s boatswain and joined the boarding party on the deck. The captain was holding a sword in each hand. He assembled the crew as Vanity closed quickly on its prey.

  “There be no need for injury if we show resolve and courage early in the fight,” he warned. “Four cannons will fire when we approach. Throw the grapples hard and true. Secure the Spanish ship quickly so there be no delay in boarding. When the lines be fast, we jump with aggression to the other deck.”

  Anne Bonny nervously checked her pistols to be certain they were properly loaded. “How many battles have ye had?” she asked Mary. “This be me first. Ye remember I told ye that me pathetic husband James fancied himself a pirate, but we never went to sea.”

  Mary placed a comforting hand on Anne’s shoulder. “This be me seventh boarding,” she said. “Me advice is to stay with Calico Jack and fight together, back to back, so nobody can sneak up behind.”

  “Is that what ye and Warren are going to do?” Anne asked. “Fight together?”

  “Aye,” Mary replied. “And be aggressive like the captain said. In all me battles with Blackbeard, we first scared the other sailors with our yelling and sword waving when we jumped aboard their ship, and they usually gave up right away when they realized resistance was futile.”

  The Spanish ship loomed larger as the swifter Vanity closed the distance between the two vessels. Sailors aboard the merchant ship scrambled about the deck, attempting to adjust the sails and increase speed to avoid the feared confrontation. The display of Calico Jack Rackman’s pirate flag left no doubt as to the intensions of Vanity’s crew.

  “Stand by the grapples,” Calico Jack shouted when Vanity was less than one hundred yards from its target.

  The pirate boatswain guided Vanity alongside the Spanish ship. “Luff the main sail,” he screamed over the rushing water that was tumbling past the hull.

  “Fire the two forward cannons,” Calico Jack ordered.

  Two explosions sounded from the forward section of Vanity’s main deck. Smoke mushroomed into the air as the twin cannons leaped back on their wheels in recoil from the powerful ignition of gunpowder.

  Mary and Warren were able to follow the arc of the two iron balls as they flew across the space between the rushing ships. Wood planking in the aft section of the Spanish ship shattered. Splinters spiraled into the air. Shouts of panic and fear sounded from the benighted sailors aboard the vessel under siege.

  The distance between the attacking pirate ship and the merchant vessel closed to less than fifty yards.

  “Luff the main again, lads,” called the boatswain. “Bring us to the same speed.”

  Pirates eased the lines holding the corners of the square main sail. More wind escaped the confines of the straining canvas, slowing Vanity’s forward motion.

  “Fire the two aft cannons,” Captain Jack ordered.

  A second pair of booming detonations shook the timbers of Vanity. The pirates manning the firing cannons jumped smartly out of the way of the leaping mortars as they recoiled.

  The damaged aft corner of the merchant ship’s raised stern castle collapsed under the barrage of the two flying cannonballs. A gaping hole a
ppeared high in the hull, and Mary and Warren were able to see the structural ribbing inside the captain’s quarters.

  “Heave the grapples!” Calico Jack shouted as the two ships closed together and the screeching sound of scraping wood permeated the smoky air on the main deck of both ships. “Make fast the lines.”

  “I’ll stay with you,” Warren said to Mary as they prepared to jump from Vanity to the Spanish merchant ship. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  Mary felt a twinge of warmth in her heart as she heard the young pirate’s comforting words. She was the experienced fighter. She was older and more mature. But Warren was assuming a protective role. The young woman realized she didn’t resent Warren’s assumption of leadership; she rather liked his assertiveness.

  * * *

  Warren jumped to Vanity’s railing and leaped across the yawning chasm between the two ships. He remembered to ignore the perils of falling between the rounded sides of the vessels and likely being crushed or drowned. His concentration on the jump was total.

  Mary flew through the air a second after Warren. She landed on the merchant ship’s deck and quickly positioned herself to the young pirate’s side.

  Twenty other heavily armed members of Captain Jack Rackman’s crew joined them.

  Anne Bonny and Calico Jack vaulted to the Spanish vessel’s deck simultaneously. Both pirates began advancing toward a grouping of the merchant crew who were brandishing swords in a defensive posture. Jack let out a scream and slashed the air wildly.

  “Drop thy swords,” he shouted.

  Anne Bonny continued to press forward. One of the Spanish sailors raised his sword and stepped from the gathering. “You be a woman,” he guffawed. “I drop me sword for no woman.”

  The Spaniard chopped twice at the air with his gleaming blade, aiming for Anne’s neck.

  Anne struggled to raise her weapon in time to ward off the two well-placed blows. With each slash by the Spanish sailor, the sound of the steel blades crashing together rang sharply in the smoky air. Anne’s arm vibrated wildly under the impact of her opponent’s powerful strike. Her wrist bent uncomfortably with the weight of her own weapon. She feared she might drop the sword before she had ever struck a blow.