Pirates of the Storm: Stranded In Time Book 1

by Fletcher Best

  Chapter 7: Success Or Death

  “Go on,” the Captain urged.

  “Do you still have the mask and snorkel that was on my kayak?” Jeff asked urgently.

  The Captain wrinkled his brow, “Are you referring to that piece of glass with the odd waxy rim and pipe?”

  “Yes, that’s it!” Jeff replied.

  “I have it in my desk,” the Captain said, walking toward his cabin. Jeff followed the Captain into the cabin and Coxen retrieved the mask and snorkel from his desk drawer. “What exactly is this device, Mr. Greene?” the Captain inquired as he handed it to Jeff.

  “It’s for seeing in the water. You place it on your face like this…” he said as he put on the mask, “…and then you can breathe through the tube when you swim.”

  “Swim?!” said the Captain, “In the sea?”

  “Yes,” nodded Jeff.

  “Mr. Greene, you do know there are monsters in the sea that will devour you, do you not?”

  “Yes, Captain, there are sharks and such, but with some precautions, swimming in the sea is not that dangerous.”

  “If you say so, Mr. Greene, but I shall not be one to test that.”

  “That’s fine, Captain, but with this mask, I might be able to do something to slow down or disable those ships so we can escape.”

  “What do you have in mind?” the Captain asked with curiosity.

  “I’m not sure yet, but I’d like to take a swim around the ship to see what the options might be. Those Spanish ships would be pretty similar in design as the Wandering Wench, would they not?”

  “Aye,” the Captain nodded, “They have more guns and are thicker-hulled, but otherwise they are much the same.”

  “Good,” Jeff replied, “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll go take a look at the ship in the water and see what I can come up with.”

  “Be off , then,” Coxen said with a wave of his hand.

  Jeff walked across the deck to the rail and began to climb down the cargo net. “Where ye be goin’,” Crabtree asked, just before Jeff’s head disappeared below the rail.

  “I’m going to look at the ship in the water to see if there’s a way to disable the Spanish ships.”

  “I’m afraid that be a waste o’ time Mr. Greene. There’s no way we’d get a longboat close enough to do anything before we was blown out o’ the water.”

  “I’m not thinking of going in a boat. I’m thinking about swimming to them.”

  “Yer out o’ yer mind!” Crabtree exclaimed.

  “Perhaps, but I think it’s worth a try,” Jeff replied as he reached the end of the cargo net.

  “Suit yerself,” Crabtree said as he turned away from the rail.

  The sun was getting low as Jeff entered the water. He swam along the hull, looking for some sort of vulnerability. He first thought about drilling or punching holes in the hulls, but quickly realized that it would be next to impossible to do with hand tools without being discovered. Seeing the keel, he next thought of somehow attaching something to it to create drag, but discarded that option as being unreliable and difficult to do without scuba gear. As he swam around to the stern of the ship, he placed his hand on the rudder to steady himself as he stared down the length of the hull, searching for an idea. The rudder shifted back and forth slightly in the water and suddenly it came to him. Jeff excitedly swam around to the side of the ship and called up to the deck, “Mr. Crabtree!”

  A moment later, Crabtree leaned over the rail. “Aye?”

  “Is that broken mop handle from my fight with Harrison around somewhere?”

  “Aye, it be in the fire wood box.”

  “Would you be so good to get it and throw it down to me?”

  “Aye,” Crabtree said as he backed away from the rail. A minute or so later, he returned with the mop handle and tossed it down to Jeff.

  “Thanks!” Jeff said, swimming back toward the stern of the ship. Crabtree simply shrugged and returned to his duties.

  When he once again reached the rudder, Jeff sized up the broken mop handle to the space between the rudder hinges. He gently slid the splintered end of the handle into the space and tested the rudder movement. There was no longer any play in the rudder. He pulled the handle back out and swam back from the rudder. “Mr. Crabtree!” he shouted.

  Crabtree appeared at the rail, looking annoyed. “Aye?”

  “I’d like to look at the movement in the rudder. Would you turn the wheel to steer to starboard?”

  “Aye!” came the gruff reply. Jeff watched as the rudder turned in response to the wheel. “Good! Now back the way it was,” he called up to the deck. The rudder returned to the starting position and Jeff swam over and slid the handle into the hinge space. “Now to starboard again!” he yelled. This time nothing happened. Just to be sure, Jeff yelled once more, “To starboard, Mr. Crabtree!”

  A few moments later, Crabtree appeared at the rail. “What have ye done?! The wheel no longer turns to starboard!” Crabtree growled.

  “Good!” Jeff replied as he swam back over to the rudder.

  “Good?!” Crabtree screamed, “Ye have disabled the ship! Ye have cursed us all!”

  Jeff wiggled the mop handle from the hinge space and swam back out. “It’s OK Mr. Crabtree, I think you’ll find that the wheel turns now!” he said with excitement. Jeff did not wait for Crabtree to test the wheel and swam back to the cargo net. As he climbed aboard, Crabtree was leaning over the stern rail trying to spot him. Jeff ran across the main deck and up the steps to the navigation deck.

  Crabtree turned to face him, “Thar ye be! What did you do?”

  “I jammed the rudder with this!” Jeff replied holding up the mop handle, “and I can do the same to the Spanish ships!”

  Crabtree smiled, or at least made an expression that Jeff figured was as close as Crabtree’s face came to a smile. “Let’s inform the Captain,” Crabtree said as he headed for the Captain’s cabin.

  The Captain met them on deck, having overheard their exchange when Jeff was in the water. “So, Mr. Greene, you know how to disable the Spanish ships?”

  “Yes, all it takes is some wood wedges that can be jammed into the rudder hinges.”

  “Aye!” Coxen smiled, “That could work, but how will you get the wedges into the rudders on 4 ships hundreds of yards away in the dark? The sun will be down shortly and the ships are just now anchoring, still a good ways out.”

  “Last night it was nearly a full moon, so there should be plenty of moonlight tonight. All I need is a sack of wedges and perhaps a mallet to make them tight,” Jeff answered.

  “Mr. Greene, you’d never make such a swim at night. No man I know could make such a swim in the day and at night you’d be taken by the sea beasts long before you reached the ships.”

  “I’m an excellent swimmer, Captain. I’ll admit, swimming at night in open water is not the safest activity, but I know I can do this.”

  “Very well. Mr. Crabtree, have the men get Mr. Greene what he needs.”

  “Aye, Captain!” Crabtree acknowledged. Jeff and Crabtree gathered the crew and showed them the size of the wedges needed. Several men set to work immediately carving out the wedges from bits of scrap wood.

  “With 4 ships, 3 wedges per rudder side… I need 24 wedges, so let’s call it 30 to have a few spares just in case,” Jeff stated, as he started to carve a piece of firewood. The crew worked quickly and soon had the required number of wedges. Graves came forward with a small burlap sack to place the wedges in and the other Stevens produced a large wooden mallet.

  “Ye should have this as well,” Crabtree said, handing him a large knife with a sheath and rope belt.

  “Thank you, Mr. Crabtree,” Jeff said as he tied the belt around his waist. Jeff looked at the sack and mallet and realized that it was going to be difficult to hold onto all of it while swimming and placing the wedges.
He was going to need an assistant.

  “I need a volunteer to go with me,” he said to the gathered crew.

  “None of the crew can swim, Mr. Greene,” Crabtree said dejectedly.

  The last thing Jeff wanted to do was ask Jenny to place her life in danger, but she spoke up before he could. “I can swim,” she said stepping forward.

  “Why did I not know this?” Crabtree inquired with surprise. “There is much you do not know about me, simply because you have never asked,” she replied, with a slight wink toward Jeff.

  “Good, it’s settled then,” Crabtree said to Jeff, “You have your assistant and your tools.”

  “But you are lacking your sanity!” the Captain said walking across the deck toward the group. “Mr. Greene, please reconsider. Your chances of success are small and your chances of dying are great.”

  “Your concern for my safety is appreciated Captain, but I truly think this will work and I believe I - and Mr. Robinson – will return safely,” Jeff replied confidently.

  “Your safety is not so much my concern as the potential loss of my new ship’s surgeon and now my cook. Actually, the loss of my cook would be the worst of it if you did not return!” the Captain said with a smile.

  “I will do my best to return your cook, Captain,” Jeff said with a chuckle.

  “Very good. I leave this endeavor to your discretion then.”

  “Thank you, Captain. We’ll leave after it gets fully dark - as soon as the moon comes up sufficiently to light our way.

  “I’ll see you off when you are ready,” Coxen nodded before turning and heading back to his cabin.

  The rest of the men wished Jeff and Robinson luck and dispersed to their posts. “We should get ready for the swim. Do you still have my swim trunks, uh, the skivvies I was wearing?”

  “Aye, in my chest below,” Jenny said.

  “Good. I’ll change into those and we’ll need to modify some clothing for you to wear that won’t have as much drag in the water.”

  “Aye,” she replied as they headed to the crew’s quarters. Jenny opened her chest and pulled out Jeff’s swim trunks. He pulled off his pants and she swatted his bare behind as he bent over to pick up his trunks.

  “Hey!”

  “What?” she said, trying to look innocent.

  Jeff pulled on his trunks and then looked at Jenny. “OK, we can cut off the sleeves of your shirt and shorten the legs on your pants so you can swim better. It would also make it easier for you if you take off the wrap on your chest.”

  “I think you just want to look at my bosom,” Jenny said with a smile.

  “Well there is that,” Jeff agreed, “But that wrap is really going to weigh you down. The problem is that in a wet shirt, your breasts are going to be hard to disguise when we get back.”

  “What if I remove my shirt and wrap after we get in the water and stash them somewhere so I can put them back on when we get back,” she suggested.

  “It’s probably going to be tough getting that stuff on in the water, but I guess there’s not really another option. We’re also going to need something to re-disguise your face after you’ve been in the water.”

  Jenny pulled a small leather pouch from the chest. “I can carry some ash and grease from the fire pit in this.”

  “That will work,” Jeff agreed. “Well, let me get your pants cut off,” Jeff said as he pulled his knife from its sheath. He bent down and carefully cut the cloth to just above Jenny’s knees. “I guess we don’t need to do the shirt if you’re going to take it off anyway.”

  “Cut my sleeves too. It will make it easier to put it back on if the sleeves are short,” Jenny said.

  “Good thinking,” Jeff agreed.

  When the modifications were done, Jenny made her way to the galley for the ash and grease as Jeff made his way onto deck. It was now getting quite dark and the 4 Spanish ships were just barely visible outside the reef. Jenny joined Jeff on deck. “I’m ready when you are,” she said.

  “We’ll wait until the moon comes up a little bit so we can see where we’re going,” Jeff replied.

  A short time later, the bright orb of the moon appeared above the trees onshore. The Captain had noticed it through the windows of his cabin and made his way on deck to see the pair off. “Good luck and please return safely.” Coxen said, bowing to them.

  “Thank you, Captain,” they replied together. The other members of the crew circled around them as Jeff tied the bag of wedges around his shoulders with a piece of rope and slid the mask over his face. Robinson gripped the mallet in one hand as she grabbed hold of the cargo net with the other and the two swung themselves over the side. They quickly made their way down the net and into the water and then swam to the back of the ship where Jeff helped Jenny remove her shirt and wrap in the darkness. They secured the clothing as best they could to the ship’s rudder with a length of twine and set off for the closest of the Spanish ships.

  The moon was now high enough that all of the enemy ships were clearly visible against the night sky. It was a long swim, but to Jeff’s relief, Jenny was obviously a very strong swimmer. As they approached the inside edge of the reef, Jeff stood up slowly in the shallows to find a path through the rocks where there was too little water to even swim across. Judging from the break of the waves, Jeff saw what looked like a good opening and led Jenny to it. They made their way through a small break in the coral and out to the much deeper part of the reef. After swimming for what seemed like an eternity, they finally reached the first ship.

  The pair swam slowly toward the stern of the ship in hopes to avoid detection by the crew. Fortunately, the two swimmers blended in to the waves and they easily made it to the rudder. The two treaded water as Jeff pulled the sack of wedges from his back and handed it to Jenny. Jeff untied the sack and pulled out a wedge. “Back in a moment,” he said before taking a breath, grasping the rudder, and pulling himself below the water. Though it was dark, the water was clear and the space in the rudder hinges was visible as the ship bobbed in the moonlight. Jeff placed the wedge just below the lowest hinge on the rudder and shoved it in as hard as he could. He returned to the surface and Jenny handed him the mallet. Jeff pulled himself under once more and attempted to swing the mallet, but quickly realized the buoyancy of it was going to limit his swing. He opted instead to grasp the very top of the handle and use short strokes with the top of the mallet head to tap the wedge into place.

  He had been a little worried about the noise the mallet might make, but he was relieved to find that the sound of the small taps was largely muffled by the water and Jeff reasoned that the usual creaks and groans of the wooden hull would easily mask any remaining sound. After testing the security of the wedge, Jeff was satisfied that it would hold and he returned to the surface. He handed off the mallet to Jenny and pulled another wedge from the bag. He pulled himself down and placed the second wedge just above the hinge on the opposite side of the rudder from the first and pushed it into place before retrieving the mallet once more to tap it tightly into place. He repeated the process with another two pairs of wedges and then tested the rudder for movement. He smiled at Jenny when the rudder failed to budge at all no matter how hard he pushed and pulled. He dove down once more to check the security of the wedges and all seemed to be holding fast. “One down, three to go,” he whispered upon surfacing. They carefully tied the sack of wedges closed and Jeff placed it on his back for the swim to the next ship.

  The pair made their way the few hundred yards to the next ship without incident. Now having practiced the procedure, Jeff and Jenny worked together much more efficiently in sabotaging the second rudder and they soon were preparing to swim to the third ship. As Jeff was slinging the bag of wedges onto his back, Jenny let out a muffled cry. “What’s wrong?” he whispered.

  “Something touched my leg!” she said quietly. Jeff lowered his face and se
arched the dark water through the mask.

  “I don’t see anything. Probably just some seaweed,” he whispered reassuringly.

  “It wasn’t seaweed!” she hissed back at him.

  Jeff took another look and carefully scanned the depths for any signs of movement. “Whatever it was is gone. Come on, we need to get to the next ship.” Jenny took a deep breath and nodded.

  The third ship was much further away than the second had been from the first. The distance seemed even greater to Jeff and Jenny with the thought of some unseen predator possibly stalking them from below. The moon was quite high in the sky by the time they reached the ship and Jeff could see the glow of fire as a sentry lit his pipe standing against the rail on the near side of the ship. He turned to Jenny and motioned that they needed to swim around to the far side of the ship where they would be hidden better by shadows. When they finally made it to the rudder, Jenny was pale and shivering.

  “Are you all right?” Jeff asked with concern.

  “I’m just cold,” she replied.

  “OK, let me finish here and then you can head back. I can handle the last ship myself”

  “No. We should stay together. I didn’t want to worry you, but whatever is out there brushed my legs two more times on the swim over!” she said with fear in her voice.

  “All right, I’ll do this as quickly as possible.” Jeff proceeded to place the wedges as before and the two made their way to the final ship.

  The last ship was a relatively short swim and by the time they reached the rudder, Jenny was looking a little calmer. “No more bumps on the legs?” Jeff asked.

  “No, nothing since the swim to the last ship,” she replied. Jeff set to work placing the wedges. As the two gathered themselves for the long swim back to the Wandering Wench, they heard activity above them at the stern rail. Jeff pulled Jenny in close to the rudder as he carefully peeked out from the shadow of the ship to see what was happening. He could see a man standing at the back rail but it was too dark to see much of anything else.

  “What’s happening?” Jenny whispered.

  Jeff raised a finger to his mouth to shush her and as the “Shhh!” came through his lips one direction, liquid rained down on him and went the other direction into his mouth. The foul taste of urine met his tongue and it was all he could do to keep from gagging on it. Realizing what was happening, it was all Jenny could do to keep from laughing out loud as she clamped a hand over her mouth. Jeff pulled himself to the rudder to escape the stream and sucked in a little saltwater to rinse out his mouth. Jeff was now stifling a laugh and Jenny was still convulsing silently as the stream finally stopped and they heard footsteps leading away from the rail above. Jeff rinsed his mouth with seawater a few more times as Jenny composed herself.

  “Ready to head back?” he whispered.

  “I am ready,” she nodded.

  “Let’s head straight toward the reef to minimize the chance of being seen and then we can head up to the ship once we’re inside,” Jeff suggested.

  “Aye!” Jenny agreed.

  After slowly putting some distance between themselves and the Spanish ship, they picked up their pace toward the reef. Jeff would periodically duck his head below to scan the water for whatever had bumped Jenny earlier. He looked up and could see the waves breaking over the shallow part of the reef less than a hundred yards away when Jenny suddenly grabbed his arm. “It’s back!” she said with alarm. Jeff quickly lowered his head and scanned the darkness. Behind Jenny he could see the unmistakable gray tail fin of a large shark moving off.

  He pulled his head from the water and said, “We need to stay calm and keep moving slowly toward the reef. Try not to splash around.”

  “What is it?” she asked, her eyes wide with fear.

  “A shark, but…” Before he could finish his thought, Jenny took off swimming as fast as she could for the reef.

  “Jenny! Stop!” he said as he took off after her. Just as he caught up to her, he got slammed sideways in the water. Despite the intensity of the hit, Jeff didn’t feel any sharp pains. He looked down at his body and was relieved to see that he had not been bitten. “Bull shark!” he thought to himself, knowing that they get their name for the tendency to ram their prey before biting. He looked around in the water and saw nothing. Then, from out of the gloom, he saw the shark coming straight for him, jaws wide open!

  Jeff reacted the only way he could and he closed his eyes as he thrust his arms out in front of him to try to ward off the deadly attack. He felt his hands slam against the shark’s head as he was pushed through the water. He forced himself to open his eyes and although he had a horrific view looking through the shark’s gnashing jaws and down its throat, he found to his surprise that his hands were effectively holding the shark at arm’s length. His left hand was gripping the shark’s snout and his right was clutching the outside of its lower jaw. The shark swam in a wide circle, thrashing its head back and forth trying to dislodge Jeff’s grip. He held on as hard as he could and kicked furiously to keep his position at the surface so he could breathe. He knew that this was a stalemate that he could not maintain for long. Eventually the shark would shake him off and tear him apart. As he stared into the shark’s mouth, the water suddenly filled with a dark cloud. “Blood!” Jeff realized. But as far as he could tell, he had not been bitten. Then to his left, he saw a silvery flash in the moonlight beside the shark’s head. It was the blade of Jenny’s knife and she was slamming it into the shark’s gills!

  The shark continued to thrash violently in the cloud of blood. As it did, it knocked the knife from Jenny’s hand and Jeff saw it sink into the depths below. The shark was wounded, but still dangerous and Jeff dared not let go of it. Jenny quickly swam around behind him and wrapped an arm around his waist as she reached down and pulled his knife from its sheath. She pushed back and swam to his right and attacked the other set of gills. Jeff could feel the shark beginning to weaken. Finally it stopped thrashing and although he was reluctant to release his grasp on it, the shark was starting to drag him down and he had no other choice. As he let go, he half-expected the shark to spring back to life and resume its attack, but to his relief, it slowly sank into the dark water below.

  Jeff and Jenny were too exhausted to speak. Jeff motioned with his head and they manage to swim the remaining distance to the reef. Jeff found a cut through the rocks and they made their way to an area of chest-deep water where they could stand and catch their breath. The two held each other tight, both shivering with a combination of cold and adrenaline. When he could finally speak, Jeff smiled at Jenny and said, “I thought you were beautiful before, but I’ve never seen anything so sexy as you stabbing that shark! Thank you for saving my life!”

  “Oh, I didn’t do it for you, not really,” Jenny replied, still breathing heavily, “I was planning to use it for shark fin soup, but you let it get away! But besides that, after finally finding a man to give me a good rodgering, I wasn’t about to let you die just yet!”

  “I see, you’re just keeping me around for the sex,” Jeff replied. “That’s fine, just use me as you wish - 17th century, 21st century, you women are all alike!” The two managed a weak laugh together before Jeff said, “We should get back to the ship while we still have the adrenaline keeping us going.” Jenny nodded and the two headed towards the silhouette of the Wandering Wench that was barely visible in the moonlight.

  As they approached the ship, Jeff reached over to get Jenny’s attention and whispered, “We’ll go quietly to the stern so we can get you disguised again.” Jenny nodded in agreement and they slowly closed the distance to the ship. Jenny’s shirt and chest wrap were where they had left them and Jeff unrolled the chest wrap. Getting the wrap and shirt on in the water was no easy task, especially in their state of exhaustion, but they finally managed to get Jenny dressed. She then pulled out the pouch of ash and grease and Jeff
rubbed some on her face. He had her turn her head back and forth to look at the makeup job in the moonlight. Convinced that she was ready to be seen by the crew, the two splashed their way to the cargo net. Crabtree peered over the rail with a flintlock in hand and saw the two struggling up the net. “They be here!” he called over his shoulder. “Men! Grab the net and heave-to!” Several of the crew ran to the rail and started pulling the net up the side of the ship. As the pair’s hands made it over the rail, they were assisted onto the deck by several men.

  The Captain approached, smoking his pipe. “Well?” he asked hopefully.

  “I think we were successful. The wedges were holding fast when we finished at each ship and I would guess that they’ll swell in the water and get even tighter before morning,” Jeff replied.

  “Splendid! You seem more than tired. Did you have any trouble?” Coxen inquired.

  “We were attacked by a shark, but Robinson killed it,” Jeff said with admiration.

  “Remarkable! Well done, Robinson!” the Captain bellowed.

  “Thank you, Captain,” she replied. She turned to Jeff and said, “Were you going to tell him about your drink of Spanish piss?”

  As the Captain and crew snickered, Jeff shook his head. “You had to bring that up, didn’t you?”

  “Aye!” she replied, trying to look innocent.

  “First water and now Spanish piss. You do have some odd thirsts, Mr. Greene!” the Captain said to the laughter of the crew.

  “Let’s just say my mouth was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Jeff said with a laugh of his own.

  “Well, Mr. Greene, Mr. Robinson, I shall look forward to seeing the fruits of your labors at first light. But you must be tired. Please take your leave, change out of those wet clothes, and try to get some sleep. We sail at dawn.”

  “Thank you, Captain,” they replied in unison as they struggled to their feet and made their way to their bunks. A few men followed them down to the crew’s quarters and flopped into their bunks as Jeff slid off his swim trunks and pulled on his pants. Jenny watched the others settle in before turning her back and quickly removing her wet shirt and wrap as one and sliding a dry set on. She was just as fast in changing her pants and in a matter of seconds, she had managed to completely change clothes without revealing any hint that she was a woman to the others in the room. The two crawled onto their bunks and said a quick goodnight to each other before both quickly fell asleep.