Andy, his whimpering voice drowned out by the violence of the sea, flailing desperately, I feared he could not swim to save his own life.
“Hold on, Jefferson! We’ll lower a boat!” His head vanished for a moment beneath the waves of the black sea as another strike of thunder tore down through the skies roaring with mighty power. Roselyn groaned. Her woodwork struggled to handle the vicious assault of waves. Another moment passed and we, as fast as was humanly possible under the conditions, began to move a small paddle boat to be lowered down to the brave men. At that moment Captain Rike burst from his chamber and Achilles barked out in fury at him grabbing his sleeve. The giant dog dragged him over to the port side of the boat to look down at the lost pirates.
“Cap’n! James and the Jefferson brothers be knocked overboard, sir!” Upon hearing this Rike exploded into action, as though the very mention of his crew mates in danger struck him with an uncontrollable impulse to act. He removed his great grey coat, boots and swashbuckler with haste.
“Sailor! Be quick with that boat, lad!” And with those words said, much to the disbelief of every man that stood on deck, he leapt overboard down into the dark seas to join his crewmates. I struggled with Sollertis and a number of other men to untangle and free up one of the smaller vessels, Achilles’ behaviour became even more erratic at seeing his master delve into the chaotic ocean.
We had scarcely freed up a boat when every man on deck was felled to their knees, sliding across the gangway towards starboard. An enormous wave, one unlike any I had seen in all my days onboard the captain’s beauty forced the lady near upon her side and we were all washed violently across her upper deck. The released boat slid towards us and I recall for a moment a sudden fear of death as it tumbled across the gangway, though I am unsure how, with great fortune the boat missed all of us, crashing into Roselyn’s woodwork. I breathed a most heavy sigh of relief, attempting to stand up with Roselyn’s returning stability.
“Up, lads, up!” With a great struggle, rain beating down heavier and heavier upon us, against the fury of nature’s power, we pulled ourselves to our feet and dragged the boat with us across the sodden deck. There was no time to use Sollertis’ pullies to lower the boat so all that were present hoisted her up and over the side lowering it down with the ropes attached. I looked fearfully over the side of Roselyn and what I expected to see was so. No man was in sight, nor the top of the mast that the thunder had stricken down into the sea.
“RIKE!” The men called frantically over the sounds of the elements.
“O’er ‘ere, lads!” Looking upwards a vague figure appeared out on the ocean, ‘twas indeed Captain Rike, with one of the crew mates. We dragged the small boat up the port side towards the beak of Roselyn however the captain was a great way away from her, and the ropes would certainly not have reached out to him though it did not matter, he selflessly shouted out to us again.
“‘old the boat close to you, lads! I’ll swim o’er!” His voice was muffled and could barely be heard however I made out enough to understand the order. A good ten of us held the ropes that secured the smaller boat resting upon the seas, none of us could act any further, we were merely made to wait and watch as our heroic captain struggled against the turmoil of the stirring ocean.
A final great bolt of lightning lit up the darkness and the sheer grief of the situation became framed in memory for all of time. The waves rose leagues into the sky. We were but a dot in the heart of the storm, completely at the mercy of nature. Repeatedly did our captain disappear under the surface of the Caribbean, no man could have predicted what would become of him on that night, yet against all odds, against all that nature could throw at him he trawled his way to the minute boat which was itself being blown all over the water, barely remaining attached to the feeble ropes that held it. Suddenly something struck me. I turned to Sollertis whose face, dripping wet from the storm, looked miserable for the thought of his old friend perishing.
“Sollertis! ‘ow will we raise the boat to the deck? It’ll surely tip’n drop ‘em!” I could see the frustration in his face rise as he had no immediate solution to my question, however his eyes quickly lit up.
“Gather up as many ropes as you can, men! Quickly! Time is brief!”
We went with great haste about Roselyn’s gangways and in but moments we amassed a vast hoard of rope. Sollertis then went about tying a huge noose, one similar to something I had witnessed be the end of many a man’s life. Without hesitance we hurled the ropes overboard, down to where the smaller boat rested. Rike was now within a bodies distance from the small vessel, we were all surprised that he had made it and with vigour we were spurred to return our captain to safety.
“Rike! Strap the noose around your wastes! We will haul you up, you lucky bastard!” Sollertis called out to the captain, this time his voice was not stricken out by the sound of thundering bolts in the sky however, the storm was appearing to pass over us though the damage was already done. With troubled minds we watched the captain clamber aboard the paddle boat and drag the remaining Jefferson with him. He clearly had little life left in him for it took what seemed an eternity for the noose to be secured. The very moment it was we began to drag the ropes up the vast woodwork of Roselyn’s port side. Even Achilles assisted us in our feat.
The endless streak of heavy rain was no longer a burden, for the moment I saw the captain’s arm lunge over the side of his princess’ frame the troubles of the present evaporated. The two bodies fell limply over her side and onto the gangway. Sollertis rushed to the captain and loosened the noose that held them secure. Jefferson’s body simply sprawled outwards, the captain however hunched up and began to cough frantically. Achilles went to his master as though to assure himself he was alive. We each stood and stared at the men whilst Sollertis checked the pulse of Jefferson. He was deceased. The boatswain stepped back as the captain rose to his feet. Standing in his aura shed goose bumps all upon me, his selflessness was immeasurable.
Rain drenched every one of us, we all seemed to stand in a circle around the captain and Jefferson, still laying on the deck, no man spoke a word, and though rain hailed down faster than ever the thunder had by this time certainly passed our ship.
“Work to do, lads.” The captain spoke at last, his voice was quiet, almost lifeless. With the command we went our own way to assist in hauling the waters from the gangways of the captain’s beauty. With the waves residing it became much easier to control her flooding. Not a man on deck spoke. Even Rones was quiet, the misery was too much. Our fallen crew mates, the Jefferson brothers and James were well known amongst us all, many a year had the Jefferson’s sailed the seas aboard Roselyn, and James was an amusing character. They were sorely missed by all and so still are by myself.
Once we had cleared the vessel’s top deck and the ocean’s waves had become acceptably calm the crew took up its usual posts. Many returned to resting. I myself went to visit the captain, who had retired to his quarters moments after he had hauled Andy Jefferson from the ocean, only to realise the poor man had passed away despite his greatest efforts to save him.
Achilles was nowhere to be seen when I knocked for Rike, he acknowledged my entry and I quickly noticed the beast was resting close to the captain who sat in his chair with a jug of mead in his hand.
“How do you fair, cap’n?” I asked, aware he was likely in low spirits.
“I’ve seen better days, lad, I’ve seen better days.” He swigged from the jug and without interest stared at the wall of his quarters.
“They lived the finest times o’ their lives upon your vessel I’m sure, cap’n. They’ll be remembered by us all.”
“Though forgotten once we ‘ath parted, lad, those men ‘ad no family to remember ‘em past their generation, they be gone as quick as they come, not a story to be told o’ ‘em, only that o’ their death. No one’ll know o’ your name once you sink down to the locker, only those who commit the greatest acts of all that stand alive are remembered.” He continued to swig at his mead. Ac
hilles sat and stared at him.
“Do you think you’ll be remembered, cap’n?” Rike let out a small burst of disheartened laughter.
“Only pirates who are ‘ell bent upon sheddin’ nothin’ short o’ terror upon the seas are remembered, lad. No pirate is known for ‘is courage amongst ‘is crew, only for the misdeeds ‘e committed upon the oceans. We be imaged as raiders and murderers by the powers o’ the land, and so does all that look to ‘em think us so, but we are not the wrong doers, lad, there be corrupt justice in the world.”
On the many occasions that I sat and spoke to our captain there would be words which would be forever scrawled upon my brain. He often spoke wisely, though at times I could not help but feel he spoke of personal affairs, hidden away in his wisdom, as though he took comfort in expressing them to me without my knowledge. We spoke for some hours that morning upon mostly irrelevant affairs until we were interrupted by the knocking of Sollertis, as he entered I noticed day light breaking, I wished to reach land as soon as I possibly could for the last two nights upon the ocean had been the worst I could recall.
“Captain, the crew is becoming wild, they believe the storm was a result of the Martona’s
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