Adventures at Sea
By Will Martin
I am in my study surrounded by books and artifacts, looking at a map that we had just plundered from another ship. The map is very detailed with many landmarks. I get up from my comfortable chair and walk out onto the deck. I see my crew doing their daily chores like rigging the sails and ropes and washing the deck. I walk up the stairs to the upper deck and I look out at the vast open ocean. It’s about noon and the sun is just above us. “Where are we headed captn’?” one of my crewmen asks. “We head North West for the Indian Ocean. There we will find many merchant ships trying to get into the harbor.” I walk back down the creaky steps to lower deck where my men are sharpening their swords and loading their pistols and muskets. Some of my men are sleeping in the hammocks by the cannons. “Listen up!” I say. “We are heading North West for the Indian Ocean. So I want all of you to be prepared.” “Yes Sir,” they all say back to me. I open the door to my study and sit back down. The map that I was looking at earlier was in it’s same place. I am about to get up to get a book from the shelf when the cannon crew chief burst in. “What’s the matter?” I ask. “Enemy ships are attacking from the West!” He says. “Prepare the cannons and get ready to board when you can,” I reply.
I rush over to the opposite bookshelf and take out three books. Behind the books there is a small compartment door. I open it and right where I left it, there is my treasure– a gold plated flintlock pistol that brings certain death. On my way out the door I grab my gold handled cutlass and rush outside.
My name is Thomas Williams, Captain of the Black Raider. I have been known to plunder the coast of England. I was a gentry class privateer until one day my partner and I were attacking a merchant ship when one of the merchants took me captive. I was really surprised by this because he was skilled for a merchant. I fought back in the hold with him but he knocked me out. I was lying in the hull of the ship when I felt the ship come to a stop. I heard the footsteps of the some of the crew coming down the stairs. “Get up!” they yell. I slowly got up and they took me up on deck. My eyes burned in the sunlight. “We’re here,” said the captain. He had a scar across his eye and on his nose. “Who are you?” I asked. “My name is Myles Trace.” I was still a bit woozy from when the merchant knocked me out. I could see in the distance a island. I knew what was coming.
By the pirate code of conduct, there is a rule where when a man is stranded on a desert island he is left with one pistol with one shot. I took the pistol and jumped. The water was cold and very clear. When I got to shore I sat on the beach watching the merchant ship sail away. “Damnit Aiden!!” He hadn’t come back to help me off that merchant ship.
“Load the cannons!!! Fire when ready!!!” I shouted to my crew as they frantically scrambled all over the ship. I see the cannon balls fly everywhere. As we approach them, my musket men are firing at the other ship. I look at the ship’s deck and see that there have only been a few casualties. I grab one of the dangling ropes and prepare to swing across. I hear muskets being fired and swords clanking together. Once I’m on the ship I head straight for the quarter deck killing a few of their men on the way. I tell my men to go straight for the hull. I burst open the door to the quarter deck and see Myles Trace sitting there. And I knew right there that this would not end well. He slowly stood up and paced behind his chair. “How the hell did you get off that island!” He said. “Well lets just say I had, help,” I replied. The he drew his pistol and shot the ground it front of me expecting me to flinch. I coked my flintlock and drew my sword. We then went into a deep into battle. There was blood and fatal wounds. I slashed his cheek and he made a deep cut into my arm. Then I took my flintlock and shot him straight in the chest. He just stood there looking very shocked. Then he dropped at my feet blood pooling around him.
I am a pirate and no one can change that except for me. I never thought I would end up like this, plundering and raiding towns and other ships. My life has changed ever since I escaped that island and now I am living free as a pirate with an enormous crew and all the riches I could ask for. But one day I will be caught and I will be hanged. Or I might become a privateer again, but who knows.
Paragraph #5: Reflection- What importance does your life have? What does your work and your identity mean in the larger context of the Colonial World?
A Day in the life of Aiden Taylor
by Armant L’Heureux
I woke up on a soft bed, my back aching from being rocked around by the small boat. I stumbled over to the clothes on the floor, the tan undershirt was getting ripped apart by the old floorboards. Gonna need to replace those, I thought as I threw on the dark blue overcoat. I walked over to the door to the captain’s quarters, my quarters, and yelled for my crew. They emerged one by one from the staircase. 1, 2, 3, 4, I stayed there and counted each one, until I got to 19. “Balthazar!” I demanded, “Get over here, now!” he was my first mate, and although he was obedient, he could be persistent at times. He’s also the closest thing I have to a friend.
“Here, Aiden,” He said, running down the stairs from the quarter deck. He smelled of alcohol, and slurred his words.
“That’s captain to you.” I whispered, then realized what he had done. “Been out drinking again?” I asked him, “We will be setting sail in a few days, don’t waste all of our money now.”
“All of our money? We’re privateers, money comes from setting sail for us!”
“We’re still short on supplies and crew, we need as much money as we can get. Now tell the men to do something, wipe the floors, replace the boards, make sure everything works. Then go to the store and buy some food, we’re running short. No one goes to the tavern until everything’s done. Mess up one thing and no one gets to go at all!”
I walked towards the tavern, I had put up posters for recruitment, but hardly anyone came. I used to have a good crew, but they started a mutiny and overthrew me and my crew that were on my side. I barely escaped with my life, they stole my money, damaged my ship, and either killed or took most of my crew. They live as pirates now, killing anyone in their way.
Ever since then money has been short, and morale has been low, many of my crew are drunks that have come to sea to escape their ordinary lives. I was nervous about going back to sea, but I couldn’t show it, that would show weakness, I have to be the hero they think I am. I believe that fear and intimidation are the best leaders. My crew respects and fears me, they follow me anywhere I go, always rely on me to lead, and do anything they can to stay out of my way.
Once I got to the tavern doors, I could see the quick glances at me and dark tone I had just set in the tavern. I was shamed as a failed privateer, The captain who lost his crew. Everyone knew my face, and it was considered shameful to look me in the eye. I walked up to my recruitment poster and checked hopelessly that someone would have signed up. As always, no one had come. I made my way away from the glaring and into a ship shop, they had all kinds of items needed for building ships, usually for a good price too. I did actually have a lot of money, it was just in my house in Boston, Massachusetts, where we were on our way to, but we had to stop on the way in Virginia for supplies. I had lived in England until I was 24, when my father, my only family left, had died. He was a merchant, and I used his ship to start privateering. Although it was just a merchant ship, we were a rich family, and it had sturdy wood, lot’s cannons and even mortars. To most people it looked like a very armed sloop. I was in the shop looking for new boards and more food, but they ran out of boards four days ago.
I went back to the ship, disappointed that I couldn’t find anything I needed. As soon as I got to the docks, I crept towards the ship, looking for recruits that may have tried to run off. Three were on the docks, just starting to head towards the tavern for lunch. I sped up to a stride and yelled, “Get back here, or none of you are having food for the next three days!” a threat I could easily accomplish.
They hesitated, but then ran back to the ship. As they were about to board, I put my hand out in front of them. “You think you can just run away, and everything will be fine? Clearly someone hasn’t learnt their manners.”
I grabbed the first one by the shoulder, and headbutted him. He cried out in pain and stumbled backwards. I grabbed his collar and flung him into the water. I looked up to the second one, who was staring in terror. I slapped him on the right cheek, then punched him in the gut. I then kicked him onto the edge of the docks, and he fell off the docks, barely hanging on with his hands. I stomped him off, and he fell into the water below. I turned around, but didn’t see the third one, then I realized that he was sprinting away. I caught up with him, and tackled him, giving him a mouthful of pavement. I got up, and smashed his head into the ground repeatedly, knocking him to the edge of consciousness. I pulled him up and threw him onto the wood, then, while his face was to the sky, kicked it one more time. Then I dragged him by the legs onto the edge and picked him up one more time.
“I don’t think you understood what I meant earlier,” I said, leaning in really close, “running makes everything worse.” Then I punched him as hard as I could in the cheek and sent a tooth along with a mouthful of blood out of his body, then I kicked his knee, knocking him onto one leg, then uppercut his chin, sending him flying into the water.
I sighed and wiped off my bloodied fists, “Everyone else, come with me, we’re going to the tavern.” We walked through the streets, everyone scared from the scene that they had just witnessed, but I just kept walking, ignoring my fists bleeding onto the street and blood drenched over my blue overcoat and tan undershirt. We got the cheapest food possible. Going to the tavern is a special treat, even if the food tastes like dirt, it’s better than ship food.
“Balthazar!” I called, and he appeared out of the crowd, his shirt stained from alcohol and dropped food. I sighed and asked, “what did you find or fix?”
“Nothing sir,” he replied, “except a slash through the mast. We will have to fix that before we go.”
I swore and took off for the ship. Slightly annoyed that they had not fixed the boards in my room, and really annoyed that someone had cut through the mast, making us stay here longer than we had planned. I made it into the ship, and sure enough, there was a large cut in the middle of the navigator’s compass mast. As I swore that it was true, I looked down and realized the three crew members that I had hurt earlier were sitting on the side. “Ah, captain,” the first one had started.
“No, don’t talk to me, you disgrace me.” I interrupted and spat on his clothes.
“Wha-?” He tried to say, but in a second he was over the edge of the boat again. I walked over to my quarters, tripping on the cracked boards, and toppled into my chair. I started plotting courses through the Caribbean and into the Spanish territory.
Once it was around 7:00 I left the quarters. My crew was waiting for me on the deck. Without speaking, I signaled for them to follow me, and we feasted on the leftovers from earlier. The three who opposed me, drooling and staring, they hadn’t had any food yet.
I walked over to them, and split my food into quarters, and gave them each a quarter. I don’t usually give people things they don’t deserve, but sometimes you have to make exceptions. I went back into the my quarters and suddenly realized how tired I was.
“Balthazar!” I yelled, he appeared at my door.
“Tell the crew to stay in their quarters tonight, tomorrow will be a big day.”
“Ok Aiden.” He said, and yelled my instructions to the crew.
That’s captain to you, I thought and smiled. We really were friends. With that thought in my mind, I collapsed on the bed, with a feeling that I had forgot existed, relief.