The Emerald Lady
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Jack called down from his perch 187 feet above the deck, “dark clouds on the horizon dead ahead. I see God’s anger.”
“Give a heading to steer clear,” called the Midshipman. “No clearing, Mr. Simmons, solid wall from end to end. Lots of heaven’s fire too.” “Come down, boy. A storm can be upon us quicker than even you can climb,” yelled the Captain. “Aye, aye, Captain.” Jack started down the shroud. Descending to the foremast, he spotted something off starboard, and hooking his arm through the ropes, he pulled the spyglass from his trousers, scanned the waves alongside the ship, and noticed a bloody red body appear and sink below the waves. He yelled, “man overboard, off starboard!” Jeremy Simmons raced to the gunwale, several sailors taking up position along the side also, all searching for a man in the water. The Captain called up. “Give a bearing, boy!” Jack pointed towards the bow, “it was there, Sir! A league distance, streaked with blood and tossed in the waves.” The Captain scanned from where the boy pointed backwards. “Do any of you men see it, or any debris in the water?” A chorus of, “nay,” rumbled down the length of the ship. The Captain looked across the horizon through his spyglass and ordered the boy back up the shroud to his perch with instructions to be on watch for a ship’s mast. Then he called Jeremy Simmons over. “Don’t keep him aloft too long, and keep a lookout for any sign of shipwreck on the horizon.” “What’s your thinking, Captain?” “I’m thinking that a boy his age should not be on my ship, Mr. Simmons. It is a fine age for the navy, who can afford to train a boy to be an officer and a gentleman. But this is a commercial ship, I cannot afford to pay a boy who can’t earn his keep.” “Yes, Sir. But as I explained before we embarked, his father died and he is the eldest of his mother’s sons. He needs to earn a crossing wage if the family is to survive, so he will be my responsibility.” Then wanting to veer the conversation in another direction, Jeremy asked. “What about the body in the water?” “I saw no body,” stated Captain Meyer, “what’s more, I see no wreckage that would accompany a body this far out. Do you?” “No, Sir.” Jeremy agreed. |
“My thinking is; this is the first of many storms we will encounter on this passage, and a boy just from his mother’s teat is full of fear of what a storm at sea brings. As right he should be. If he does not spot a mast hiding among the clouds, or any wreckage in the waves soon, send him below to ride out the storm.”
The Captain knew that a body in the water, unaccompanied by any other sign of wreckage, was a known pirate’s trick to get a ship to luff and becalm her sails. Then they would come racing out of the coverage of the storm and take the ship while it was busy rescuing a person long-time dead. Likewise, the absence of another ship could be a sign of something even more dangerous to come.
As the bank of black clouds appeared before the Rummy Gale, Jeremy Simmons ordered Jack Quick from the riggings, and replaced him with other sailors reefing the upper sails in preparation for the storm. Thunder rolled across the waves and Jack shuddered as he, and Jeremy made their way to the Captain’s quarters.
Jeremy, towering over the frail boy, placed a firm hand on his shoulder, “a storm is a storm, the same at sea as on land. It is just a bit of wind, water, and wailing. Calm yourself, Jack.”
“Yes Sir.”
“Oh, but it is not just a storm when you are at sea.” The Captain contradicted the midshipman, as he stood in the cabin’s doorway watching the men prepare. The waves already rocking the ship even as heavy as she was.
The storm was still several hours ahead, but Jack was right, it stretched from port to starboard with not a break in sight and he hoped the wall of black did not go on for too long. Jeremy had convinced him that carrying milled lumber would increase the load and therefore the profit of the voyage, but it also meant that the ship was much heavier, ride lower in the waves, and be more prone to sinking in a violent storm. “On land, a storm does not open the ground beneath your feet and pull you under. Now, what did you see from your lookout, Master Roggies?”
“You mean the body,” Jack said carefully, as he was quite afraid of the Captain. The grey beard was rugged and unkempt, and the face hard and scarred. “I saw a body with long streaks of blood down its back. But the blood was bright crimson, like fire, it was there for but a moment then gone.”
The Captain led them into his cabin and poured the young boy a full glass of grog. Four times his daily ration. Then he lit up his pipe, taking several strong pulls to get it going. Smoke whorls streamed from his nose and surrounded his weathered face. “Ah, you saw your first mermaid, my boy.”
“Captain!” Jeremy objected. “Do you think it wise to fill the boy’s head with fancies?”
The Captain laughed. “Fancies, Mr. Simmons? You went to sea as a lad a little older than good ol’ Jack Quick here, been on the water some six years now, and you think you have seen all there is. I walked a deck since the day I could walk at my father’s side, I have seen monsters. Fish the size of a ship that can reduce this boat to driftwood. They surface without warning and send clouds into the skies. And yes, mermaids too. They either come to lead us through a storm safely, or to collect our souls for the devil.”
“As to your giant fish, I have heard of them, although I have never seen one myself,” Jeremy said, lighting up his pipe, the red glow reflecting the copper streaks in his hair which was tied tight into a neat ponytail. And his equally freshly minted copper eyes lit up brighter as he spoke passionately. “But I have never heard one creditable story of a mermaid. Most are told by those who have had as many years of grog as actual sea duty, and are usually told in exchange for a pint.” He laughed. “And they all end with the rum soaked brain being unable to forget her face, or the love gained and lost in a single glance.”
Jack’s eyes widened as saucers and glossed over as another wave rocked the Rummy Gale.
The captain squared him up, “a man might well take rum as his mistress once his heart has been touched by a mermaid. Drown himself in drink, as it were, to finish the job left undone by the sea. Jack, my boy, you be too young to feel this now, but I assure thee there be no purer love for a sailor than that for the maidens of the sea.”
“You said they come for our souls.”
“Well, not all love is reciprocated,” claimed the captain.
The boy became unsteady on his feet again, and Jeremy, several inches taller than the Captain was at six feet caught his arm and steadied him before letting go. “Finish your grog, Jack, then, go below and help me secure our load.”
The Captain knew that a body in the water, unaccompanied by any other sign of wreckage, was a known pirate’s trick to get a ship to luff and becalm her sails. Then they would come racing out of the coverage of the storm and take the ship while it was busy rescuing a person long-time dead. Likewise, the absence of another ship could be a sign of something even more dangerous to come.
As the bank of black clouds appeared before the Rummy Gale, Jeremy Simmons ordered Jack Quick from the riggings, and replaced him with other sailors reefing the upper sails in preparation for the storm. Thunder rolled across the waves and Jack shuddered as he, and Jeremy made their way to the Captain’s quarters.
Jeremy, towering over the frail boy, placed a firm hand on his shoulder, “a storm is a storm, the same at sea as on land. It is just a bit of wind, water, and wailing. Calm yourself, Jack.”
“Yes Sir.”
“Oh, but it is not just a storm when you are at sea.” The Captain contradicted the midshipman, as he stood in the cabin’s doorway watching the men prepare. The waves already rocking the ship even as heavy as she was.
The storm was still several hours ahead, but Jack was right, it stretched from port to starboard with not a break in sight and he hoped the wall of black did not go on for too long. Jeremy had convinced him that carrying milled lumber would increase the load and therefore the profit of the voyage, but it also meant that the ship was much heavier, ride lower in the waves, and be more prone to sinking in a violent storm. “On land, a storm does not open the ground beneath your feet and pull you under. Now, what did you see from your lookout, Master Roggies?”
“You mean the body,” Jack said carefully, as he was quite afraid of the Captain. The grey beard was rugged and unkempt, and the face hard and scarred. “I saw a body with long streaks of blood down its back. But the blood was bright crimson, like fire, it was there for but a moment then gone.”
The Captain led them into his cabin and poured the young boy a full glass of grog. Four times his daily ration. Then he lit up his pipe, taking several strong pulls to get it going. Smoke whorls streamed from his nose and surrounded his weathered face. “Ah, you saw your first mermaid, my boy.”
“Captain!” Jeremy objected. “Do you think it wise to fill the boy’s head with fancies?”
The Captain laughed. “Fancies, Mr. Simmons? You went to sea as a lad a little older than good ol’ Jack Quick here, been on the water some six years now, and you think you have seen all there is. I walked a deck since the day I could walk at my father’s side, I have seen monsters. Fish the size of a ship that can reduce this boat to driftwood. They surface without warning and send clouds into the skies. And yes, mermaids too. They either come to lead us through a storm safely, or to collect our souls for the devil.”
“As to your giant fish, I have heard of them, although I have never seen one myself,” Jeremy said, lighting up his pipe, the red glow reflecting the copper streaks in his hair which was tied tight into a neat ponytail. And his equally freshly minted copper eyes lit up brighter as he spoke passionately. “But I have never heard one creditable story of a mermaid. Most are told by those who have had as many years of grog as actual sea duty, and are usually told in exchange for a pint.” He laughed. “And they all end with the rum soaked brain being unable to forget her face, or the love gained and lost in a single glance.”
Jack’s eyes widened as saucers and glossed over as another wave rocked the Rummy Gale.
The captain squared him up, “a man might well take rum as his mistress once his heart has been touched by a mermaid. Drown himself in drink, as it were, to finish the job left undone by the sea. Jack, my boy, you be too young to feel this now, but I assure thee there be no purer love for a sailor than that for the maidens of the sea.”
“You said they come for our souls.”
“Well, not all love is reciprocated,” claimed the captain.
The boy became unsteady on his feet again, and Jeremy, several inches taller than the Captain was at six feet caught his arm and steadied him before letting go. “Finish your grog, Jack, then, go below and help me secure our load.”
