Entry 8: 1670

by D S S Atkinson

I should begin to assemble the men to action. We worked together in detaching ourselves hastily from the Martona, her wreck would be a ghost ship. So many innocent lives stolen, and without control we were forced to let them drown.

  Once we had made clear of the Martona, and secured all the treasures of the plunder I made my way to the captain’s quarters for his distanced state worried my mind. On approach of his doorway Achilles stood and let me by, it seemed the moment we shared had brought some trust between us. I knocked the door and heard some slurred words spoken loudly, upon entry the smell of ale struck my nose. The captain was clearly drunk beyond all senses of rationality.

  “Capt’n...” He nodded at me, his eyes glazed and face expressionless, he spoke quietly.

  “Harvey.”

  “The prisoner’s upon the Martona were not to be known ‘bout, sir. ‘Twas not your fault, their lives were robbed of ‘em, there be nothin’ else to it.”

  “They were innocents, lad, no man should be dyin’ less he be deservin’ it. ‘Twas our cannon fire that sunk ‘er, ‘twas I who gave the order.” Though I disagreed with the words I said to the captain, ‘twas in efforts to improve his mood, it seems I only made his sorrow greater, however.

  “They were strangers, cap’n, had ye not known they were there, you would not feel guilt.” My efforts were most useless and after a moment in silence he spoke words that he had never before mentioned.

  “Do you know the last thing mi own father said to me as ‘e lay upon ‘is death bed, lad?”

  “Nay, capt’n.”

  “‘e looked up at me, with trouble, ‘e opened ‘is mouth and said: ‘Who are you, and ‘ow do ye know me?’” I knew not how to react to the words of the captain, it seemed his mind was heavy with thoughts of grief, I remained quiet whilst he spoke, gazing not at me, but at the walls of his quarters.

  “The value of human life cannot be questioned, for so great can one man be, yet the millions that surround ‘im seemingly fail to recognise the purpose of one.” The captain began to breathe heavily, he took several large mouthfuls of mead as his eyes glazed over once more, returning to a slumberous fix into oblivion. ‘Twas not so many moons ago that I had never seen the captain in such a state as he had become in recent times, it seemed as though he was losing interest in life itself. ‘Twas clear there was far more on the captain’s mind than the knowledge he had caused the death of many innocent lives, so I bid him goodnight and left his quarters in hopes that the mead he consumed would quell his misery.

  Stepping out onto the upper deck, the mists had resided, however daylight revealed the skies above were a dark grey, so too were the winds picking up. With tired mind I made my way down beneath the orlop to the resting chambers and made an effort to sleep for as long as my crew would allow.

  3.

  I was unaware of the hour upon which I was shaken from deep slumber, not by just my crew, but by Roselyn herself. From within heavy sleep I recall hearing the vessel’s woodwork creaking and cracking as the faces of our lost brothers passed me by, ‘twas not until erratic crewmates began yelling at me in fear that I was awoken.

  “Sailor! We be cursed! The cap’n’s words be true, sir!”

  I burst to life, my senses came about me, the entire ship yawned as thunder raged in the skies above. Near falling from my hammock I made haste towards the upper deck. As I reached the orlop I immediately heard the voice of Rones roaring out across the gangways of Roselyn amidst the violence of erupting thunder. Opening the hatchway from the orlop a mass of water flooded in upon me almost knocking me down from the ladder which enabled my way. I had scarcely managed to force my way upwards out of the hatch when a tremendous rumble cracked light into the skies above. I gazed up at the cloud swamped skies, momentarily lit up as lightning broke the endless horizon. The rain was thick, the seas were high, enormous waves surrounded us. I was drenched to the bone by the foul weather whilst piercing winds shed through my shirt and breeches.

  The majority of the crew was on the top deck desperately attempting to shift water trapped onboard back out into the ocean. Rones was commanding chains of men to work together to remove the water with haste, he himself, despite being restricted by a heavily bandaged arm worked relentlessly to prevent the deck from drowning. Although his language was foul he spurred the men to work with great speed and efficiency.

  Another rumble and burst of light briefly allowed me to glimpse the state of the captain’s beauty. The masts appeared unstable due to their design, to enable them be collapsed Sollertis built them to fold into three parts, allowing the rigging system to fold in on themselves. ‘Twas due to their design however that the tattered sails, scarcely remaining attached to the intertwining ropes, appeared as though they were going to cause the beams to be ripped apart, so ferocious was the storm’s power.

  ‘Twas a fearful moment I recall as I stood upon the lady’s upper deck, the waves were growing enormous and I feared for Roselyn’s safety. Amongst the creaking woodwork Achilles barked wildly in anger, not at us pirates, but at the lightning striking out in the dark sky. I too recall amongst all the chaos Sollertis sitting most calmly at his chess table appearing to be meditating over something quite irrelevant to the present dilemma.

  “Sailor sir! She be drowning!” A deckhand yelled out through the sound of rolling thunder.

  “Keep up the good work, lads, you be doin’ a fine job! She be floatin’ don’t she..? Sollertis! What o’ the masts!?” My voice was drowned out by the sheer thrashing of rain against Roselyn’s woodwork and the storm beating against the ocean’s surface, the boatswain however did hear me calling and hastily snapped out of his dreamy state to attend my call. He held his arms up as he walked, struggling to prevent the rain lashing his face.

  “Allow them remain...” At that moment a deafly loud clap of thunder broke out in the skies directly above Roselyn and I recall every pirate I could see cower, Roselyn too cringed under the strain of the ocean and rain as a monstrous wave I am sure almost swallowed us whole. Each man struggled to keep a foothold on the slippery woodwork of the vessel.

  “We must allow the masts to remain up, Sailor! It is too much of a risk to take them down, she will become unstable!”

  “Are you sure, bos’n? It looks as though they’re ‘bout to come apart!” I looked up once more at the structures, I am sure the boatswain had never seen a storm so violent in all his days, nor had he anticipated one when he was designing the ship’s masts.

  “They are fine, boy, far more resilient than they appear.” As Sollertis spoke over the storm James bounded up across the deck from his work point shouting out in excitement.

  “I think it be a storm, sir!”

  “Sai...” Sollertis stopped talking and turned abruptly to stare at James. “Were you fired from a cannon as a child? Or perhaps dropped from a great height?” Wide eyed James shook his head unaware of the boatswain’s sarcasm. In efforts to refrain from laughter and prevent him from triggering a further spur of anger in Sollertis I hastily replied to the deckhand.

  “Aye, James, so it seems, back to haulin’ the waters, lad.”

  “I simply cannot fathom the idiocy of that man.” In all the commotion this moment brought a smile to my face, as I stood upon the vessel that would either sale us to safety or drag us down to the locker, a moment of stupidity raised my humour. Whilst James turned to return to his post Davey erupted in frustration, shouting across deck.

  “Which o’ you lazy pieces o’ shite be slackin’ off at the orlop! Get your arses back in line you useless bastards!” He rushed into view past the primary mast and paddle ships and suddenly withdrew at the sight of myself and Sollertis, “with respect, Sailor sir.” Sollertis burst to laughter at Davey’s sudden change of attitude. As menacing as Rones was he was incredibly loyal and displayed great respect for the ranking crewmates aboard ship. I laughed lightly at his honest mistake and nodded at the giant.

  “You’re doin’ a fine job, Davey!” I yelled out to him before he nodded
back and turned to assist the crew. Sollertis continued to laugh aloud and I smiled in amusement at him though our pleasure did not last long. While James and Rones made their way back across the drenched gangway a strike of lightning ripped down through the sky striking the rear mast of the vessel, the woodwork snapped like a twig and swung wildly down across the deck, crashing into James. As the wood and ropes flailed everywhere so too were the brothers Andrew and Mark Jefferson, in a mere instance, before my eyes, dragged away out into the darkness of the ocean. Davey too was caught and pulled across the upper deck, moaning in pain and anger, the loose ropes entangled him, felling him. The entirety of his bodyweight landed on his injured arm.

  The crew ducked to the gangway surface to avoid the enormous wooden structure and whipping ropes. Our quartermaster held on desperately to the cannon hole woodwork, we rushed to assist him as a mass of pirates ran towards port side and looked over the side of the boat.

  “Jefferson! James!” They cried, looking down on the ocean’s surface. As sad as it is to recall, it seemed the mast had stricken James to the head for he already lay face down with a thick red streaming from his skull. The top of the mast was beginning to sink and one of the Jefferson brothers was under the waves.

  “Help!” Cried