Jessop loaded one of his two pistols and drew his sword. He adjusted his baldric since the weight of it had changed and kept his eyes on the enemy. He could hear his father’s voice in his ear reprimanding him for engaging to fight what was clearly the Royal Navy with its blazing red cross and white ‘X’ on a field of blue. It was going to be a long night.
Jessop heard movement everywhere, above in the rigging, below where the cannons were being moved just shy of their position after loading and the ‘zing’ of swords on either side of him being unsheathed. He felt the adrenaline rise within him and his senses were on high alert.
William was pulling an axe from his baldric and Jessop saw the silver metal glint in the moonlight as he twirled it around in his hand. “Be safe, Will,” Jessop said.
“I’ll do my best. Good luck to you, Jess,” William replied.
William saw the cannons one by one appear from their gun ports and with his small telescope he noted the red uniformed men gathering to the sides of the ship with HMS Merriweather painted on the hull. The man at the helm wore a black hat adorned with white swan and ostrich feathers. His sword was drawn and held in the air like some kind of statue or monument declaring its triumph. As they pulled parallel to the Revenge, his hand dropped, signaling whistles, bells, and commands.
As if being orchestrated by the enemy, the pirate flag went up, revealing to all what the British were drawing into. For every shout on the Merriweather, there were two from the Revenge—a volley of shots, screams, bursts of light, deafening booms, and smoke.
William and Jessop popped up from their hidden place, grabbing a rope dropped from the rigging men and sailed across the gap of water between the ships. The same happened from the Merriweather.
Men fought valiantly sailing from one ship to the other amidst the whistling of bullets, shrapnel, and cannon balls. Some even engaged in sword fight as they glided through the air, and quickly the water between the boats was bloodied and littered with bodies and maimed survivors.
Jessop kept an eye on William when he wasn’t battling for his life, but William was able to hold his own, fling his axe this way and that as ably as Jessop could swing a sword.
Bodies rained from the sky as two cannon balls linked by a length of long chain careened into the navel ship’s main mast, wrapping around and slicing through more than half of it.
Splinters of wood shot every way catching Jessop’s forearm as it raised to come down on an officer’s shoulder. In that split second of hesitation, the officer raised his firearm and shot Jessop, grazing his cheek and taking a piece of his ear before Jessop buried his sword deep into the officer’s neck.
Grunts of waning strength and cries of pain wafted above the creaking of the main mast. The weight of its now tattered sails was too much to bear, and as it snapped like a twig, it took the other masts and rigging with it making a mountain of rubble on its once gleaming decks.
A fire raged, and a few brave souls continued fighting for the king, but only for moments, then yells of victory from his pirate comrades rang the night.
Though the battle was over, the work was not done. Pirates swarmed the deck of the Merriweather chopping rigging and putting out the fire. If they couldn’t keep the boat from capsizing due to the sails being weighted down with debris and water, all would be for naught. Jessop learned his brethren were just as mighty and diligent at this task too.
Four men worked feverishly at cutting down one of the masts keeping the others from going overboard while others pulled at the ropes.
Once the ship was secured from capsizing, they rushed into the bowels to pillage what they could from the storerooms. The boat would soon be a new decoration for the bottom of the sea along with them if they did not hurry.
They formed a line of men from the storeroom to the deck. Long boards were secured atop the rails between the two ships as men scurried back and forth like rats carrying goodies to their holes.
Top priorities were firearms, gunpowder, food, and water. Cannons were tied to ropes—men hoisted them to the Revenge with the help of pulleys. Those not injured too badly were hard at work.
When the sun peeked its lazy head above the horizon bringing light once more to the hemisphere, all the men were back on the Revenge and the Merriweather sank silently below the waves into the depths of an unrelenting ocean.
Debris drifted around floating bodies that occasionally disappeared with its ship. It was a sad sight to watch and brought back images of the Victory and her demise to Jessop as he looked over the water. He didn’t like to think about the death that came with such a battle, but he was thankful to have survived another horrible ordeal.
William patted him on the shoulder bringing him out of his thoughts.
“You’re a bloody mess, Jess,” William said. Jessop reached for his ear, feeling the pain in his arm where the splinter still laid, and pulled back a wet, red hand.
“I suppose I am,” Jessop answered matter-of-factly.
“Let’s get you looked at,” William said as he guided Jessop to see O’Donnel and get him bandaged up.
Chapter Ten
With the added weight from the cache taken from the Merriweather, they pushed the maximum displacement capacity, therefore the captain announced they would be pulling into port where they would offload their booty. It also gave the men a chance to heal from any injuries incurred from their latest battle and have a little down time.
This was Jessop and William’s first time at being invited to participate in leave with the rest of the crew and William was looking forward to it. Jessop was more intrigued by how the disbursement of items worked and where it was going. That’s when he made the mistake of asking Fin.
Fin was in charge of all the cargo brought onto the ship and unloaded off the ship. The morning of leave, Fin had a table set up near the gang plank with his journal, quill, and ink and another leather bound book that seemed to be some sort of receipt or accounting book.
“Looks like a lot of work,” Jessop noticed as he walked past the table to leave the boat.
“What’s it to yous?” Fin snarled.
“Not a thing, just wondered if you needed help,” Jessop offered.
“Not from the likes of yous,” he said brusquely.
“Where does all this stuff go? Do you store it? Or Sell it?”
“You ask a lot of questions, Andrews,” Fin said curtly.
“I’m sorry. Is it a secret?” Jessop ignored Fin’s growing anger.
“Tweren’t none of yer business, Andrews. Thar’s a code we pirates live by and one of them thar is to not be askin’ questions that don’t concern yous. Just keep yer nose clean and do as yer told. Asking too many questions will be gettin’ yous the dead end of me sword.”
“A code? I was unaware. How does one learn these codes? Is there a book somewhere? Or a list?”
Fin forced a most unpleasant smile. “That would be a might bit useless since most pirates are an uneducated bunch, unlike yerself,” he said brazenly.
“Right. Then how can I learn these codes?” Jessop pushed.
“By keeping your mouth shut and your ears open, lubber,” Fin growled slamming his fist into the table and knocking over the inkwell.
William grabbed Jessop at the elbow and pushed away from Fin and his table and to the gang plank to the dock.
“Are you trying to get yourself killed?” William asked as the two of them fell into the crowd of men making their way into town.
“No. I’m just curious,” Jessop said looking over his shoulder at Fin who was eyeing him and wiping up the spilled ink.
“If you keep it up, Fin’s going to squash you like a bug. He already doesn’t like us, can we try to stop pestering the gorilla and enjoy our first leave off the ship since we were taken hostage?”
“I suppose we could do that. Besides with all the drinking that will be going on, I’m sure someone’s inebriation will answer the questions I have,” Jessop said.
“You’re kind of stubb
orn, aren’t you?” William added.
“You might call it that, I like to think of it as inquisitive and persistent,” Jessop said.
“Call it what you will, but an idiot is still an idiot, no matter what you call him. Be careful about what you ask and who you ask, for my sake.”
“I will do my best, Will, but I’m not guaranteeing anything.”
“That’s reassuring.”
“It is, isn’t it,” Jessop said with a slap on William’s shoulder and a big smile. William could do nothing but laugh out loud at Jessop and his philosophy.
“Let’s get a room at the Cock and Bull, before they are sold out. Heard they have the best food and pretties barmaids in town.”
* * *
Due to the high volume of men on leave flooding the tiny town, five to six men shared a room for those not looking for company of the female kind. William and Jessop took up a room with a few of the crew they knew and liked better than others: Stubby, who had a few partial fingers; Toothless Tom, though to be fair, he did have teeth, just not any in the front; and Jolly Jim, who was always a happy soul, hence the name.
Once that was out of the way, the men made their way to a table to have something other than stale bread, fish, or something that had been preserved in salt for months. Jim had been right in suggesting the good eats. William and Jessop ate their fill and then some. Stubby and Tom were bent on becoming as drunk as possible.
The room was warm and comfortable. William had complained about being cold for months on the ship, but today, he admitted to finally having warmed the chill that had been in his bones for more than two fortnights. Each took turns up in the room taking a much needed bath.
Jessop couldn’t ever remember leaving such filth behind in a tub since he had fallen in Bog’s Creek with Jacob when they were boys. Though bathing was nice, redonning dirty clothes defeated the purpose to some degree.
When he joined his fellow men downstairs, William, Jim, and Stubby were playing a game of liars dice, to which Stubby was undeniably winning. Men stumbled around barely able to walk from boozing as well as getting accustomed to the ground not rocking on a normal basis.
Jessop had noticed this himself and had tottered a couple of times over nothing. After months on a ship, land-legs took a little adjusting, but the alcohol helped, or at least that’s what Jessop told William, which made William drink more.
Jessop listened in on a conversation of Fin’s lackeys going on about this and that. He was not a happy drunk and was loud, obnoxious, and voicing his dissatisfaction with the captain’s treks back and forth from the west coast all the way to Greenland.
“What are we? Kiddies on a swing?” Squid said as his head bobbed in a ‘U’. “West coast, east coast, west coast, east coast. What be the purpose of all this folly?” The men around him grunted in agreement, some sounding angry.
“An’ why are we stopping in here, on Diamond Island, every time we pass. I’m thinkin’ the captain is double crossin’ the crew—selling items and not sharing the profit withen us,” he went on. An affirmative aye and more grunts followed from his audience.
One of the men agreeing with Squid blurted, “What’s he doing o’er thar past the bluffs?”
“I think he’s ’avin ’imself a woman shacked up in them woods.” A hoot of hollering laughter rolled through the men at the table.
“Secret meetin’s. Unknown whereabouts. It smells of monkeyshine ta me. If Fin was the cap’in, we’d know what’s what.”
“Yah!” someone said slamming his stein down sloshing out its contents.
“Fin don’t hide things from us. ’E’s a right good pirate, ’e is,” another slurred.
Another bunch of grunting endorsements were spewed from the crowd at the table when Squid’s eye caught Jessop’s watching them.
“Whatchya lookin’ at, boy? Gitch yerself an earful, did ya?”
Jessop hadn’t realized he was staring at the men and swiftly turned his head towards his own table’s conversation.
“Let’s get outta here, men. Come on,” Squid said with a glare of distaste directed at Jessop, to which he acted as if he didn’t notice with a laugh at something William said.
“What was that about?” Jim said sitting down with a pint of brew next to Stubby after his bath.
William offered, “Jesse here, is itching to get his bones broken by old Fin.”
“What? Bad idea, lad,” Stubby said.
“I’m not trying to offend him, I just asked him a question,” Jessop retorted.
“Or ten,” William said after a gulp. “And now you’re eavesdropping on his bootlickers letting off a little steam?”
“I wasn’t eavesdropping, or at least I hadn’t meant to.”
“Sure you weren’t,” William added sarcastically as the other men looked at Jessop with concern.
“Fin is no one to be maddenin’. He’s a short fuse and lighting tis a bad idea,” Jim offered with a lisp.
“Indeed you’re right. That was not my intention, I just asked him who it was that bought the loot we had for sale and he spouted off about some pirate code I was unaware of.”
“He,” *hiccup* “does like to,” *hiccup* “throw that into,” *hiccup* “his conversations,” Tom said.
Stubby said, “Doesn’t he just!”
“First off, I can tell you who buys our treasures,” Jim offered. He took a sip of beer before continuing, “We’ve been selling the arms and supplies to the patriot troops. They meet us here every so often in two smaller ships and we sell them what we’ve raided from the royal navy,” he explained.
“Why smaller ships? Wouldn’t it be easier and cheaper to do it with one large ship?” Jessop asked.
“Maybe, but smaller ships is less likely to be haulin’ weapons and less likely to get stopped by the Brits,” he said.
“I see. Do the patriots think it will come to war?”
“They’re already planning fer it and gatherin’ men.”
“And the captain’s an advocate for the cause?”
“Yes. That’s why he sells to them so cheaply and why everything is so secretive.”
“Indeed. It would have to be. Why here though?”
“I’m thinking it has to do with one of his anonymous buyers who lives on this island. Plus Great Diamond has a sheltered port where we can do our business without being seen by ships passing by.”
“Why anonymous?”
“Who knows…maybe he’s a wanted man, or maybe he has ties to the patriotic war brewing in the colonies. For whatever reason, the captain has kept his word and made good on keeping his identity a secret. Some think this secret fellow is one of George Washington’s men or he himself.”
“The general?”
“The very one. Though I doubt he could be away so often without someone noticing.”
“My thoughts too, but they say he has a secret circle of spies that do his bidding. Word is it’s one of these fella’s the captain meets. They say it might even be a woman.”
“A woman spy? Highly unlikely,” Jessop remarked.
Jim raised his eyebrow to the comment as if he wasn’t so sure.
“And this…code. What is it?”
“The pirate’s code? Some follow it, some don’t. It’s just a set of rules to live by,” Jim said.
“I didn’t think pirates abided by any rules.”
“To a degree. I mean, the ship has rules. We follow those, but some like Fin who take the rules to another level, feel the code is what makes a successful pirate crew.”
“So what are these codes? Are they written down somewhere?”
“I suppose they are, but as to where, I certainly know not. They’re really just common sense. Don’t steal from your mates, always be ready for battle, every crew member gets a vote, fight to the death for your ship, don’t bring a woman aboard…stuff like that.”
“I see.”
“Some crews add their own rules, so not all are the same, and most are loosely interpreted as th
e needs that arise.”
Jessop nodded in acceptance of understanding.
“What about this ill will towards the captain? Is it an issue?”
“There’s always a few who disagree with the way things are run. It’s human nature I fear, but my hope is these men were just talking, not organizing a coup of mutiny.”
“I understand.”
“Good. Now keep your distance from Fin. He’s bad news.”
“I’ll take that under advisement.”
“Do that, Jesse. We kind of like you and your fancy inventions.”
They all clanged their steins and cups together. “Thanks,” Jessop added.
Chapter Eleven
Jessop excused himself from the boys at the table and went outside to relieve himself against a tree behind the building. It was twilight—that beautiful time when the sun has dipped behind mountains or sea, sending magnificent colors into the sky and clouds. While he enjoyed the grandeur of nature’s artistic performance, he heard footsteps walking down the path that led over the wooded bluff and out of sight. A brief moment caught his breath as he glanced up to see someone he recognized.
Trying not to make a sound around the branches and rocks that littered the area, he peeked out from behind a tree and saw the captain ambling up the path with a worn leather satchel slung over one of his shoulders.
Where is he going? Is this what the men were referring too? Was a private meeting about to happen that might possibly include George Washington? No. That was preposterous. The man had much too much to do without traveling to Diamond Island every couple of months to meet with the captain of a pirate ship. Though the captain had hinted at a secret he would divulge at a later time and he did speak with a British accent. So many questions darted through his head that he did not notice footsteps coming up behind him.
Hades's Revenge Page 7
