in which they capture a ship
Nov. 6th, 2013 02:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
smackenzieThe weather the next day was not much better - oppressively hot and still - although the high heat of midday was somewhat mitigated by a slight breeze. The morning and afternoon continued much the same, bickering crew and Severein's inability to place them on his charts included, until someone up on the main top, the lookout's platform partway up the main mast, yelled down that she could see a ship to starboard and it looked to be flying the Usurper's flag.
(The one rule that Maggie imposed on her crew without discussion and without vote was that Penelle's name was not to be spoken on board her ship or in her presence. The woman was the Usurper and would only ever be known as such.)
It was a standing order, already voted on, that the Black Lightning would give chase to any ship flying the Usurper's flag, except in such cases where the ship in question was part of the navy and larger and better armed than Maggie's refitted pirate ship. Now they were too far away for the lookout to be able to accurately identify the size and type of ship that she'd seen, so Maggie gave orders to chase it until they were close enough to tell.
Orders ran up and down the rigging, sails were furled and unfurled to catch the most wind, cannon were readied. The wind picked up and helped speed the Black Lightning towards its target. Maggie pulled out her spyglass, trained it on the other ship - distant but getting closer - and swore. It looked like a ship of the line. It was indeed bigger and better armed than her ship. It could blow them out of the water, and its captain no doubt had orders to do so.
"Hard to port!" she yelled down at Severein, who stood by the wheel. "She's a ship of the line, she'll sink us!" She could hear the call carried across the decks to all the pirates standing by waiting to board, and down to the crew belowdecks manning the tiller and the ranks of cannon. The rigging creaked as the Black Lightning turned away, fighting the wind and her own momentum to avoid the Usurper's ship of the line.
Maggie wasn't happy that she'd just lost a chance to take one of the Usurper's ships and acquire plunder for her own crew, but there were still merchants out at sea just waiting to be captured, and she would have another chance to strike at the woman she hated.
"I do not like doing that," she admitted to Bernade that night in her cabin. In contrast to the way things were done in the Royal Navy, where the captain's quarters were sacrosanct, a pirate captain's quarters were open to all. "I do not like allowing her ships to get away."
"We were chasing a ship of the line, you said," Bernade commented. "At least third rate, more likely second."
All that meant was that the Usurper's ship was larger and had more cannon than the Black Lightning.
"And there will be others," Maggie went on. "But it still rankles."
"At least we have the wind back. I am looking forward to capturing a ship that I can sail. And we will need the supplies it will contain."
"It has only been two weeks. We are not as low as that, surely."
"No, no. But we should not limp back into Port Doras so light in the hold as last time."
Not only had the Black Lightning sustained some damage from a storm, but the merchant ship she had captured two months previously had fired on her before being boarded and subdued, and the crew had run through slightly too many of the stores in celebration of their conquest.
"The skies are clearing. Severein will find us a route and we will take another ship." Maggie tried to sound sure, more for her own peace of mind than for Bernade. Bernade just shrugged. When things were calm on board the ship she was remarkably sanguine. Whatever happened, happened. She knew there were many events she could not control, and so she was concerned only about the things within her power. And whether or not they crossed paths with a wealthy merchant ship was beyond her power. What they did when they found it was another matter entirely.
And they did in fact cross paths with a wealthy merchant ship a few days later. Despite some intermittent rain, the skies had cleared enough for Severein to at least pretend that he had charted their position and their best route to plunder, and he felt vindicated when a merchant ship flying a trading company's flag was spotted off the port bow late one morning. A number of the crew spotted it, and word flew around the Black Lightning that fighting and looting were imminent.
Maggie could feel the anticipation of gold and violence from where she stood in the bow. She watched through her spyglass as they gained on the merchant ship, and as they drew closer she yelled orders to ready the port side cannon as a display of power. She was fully in charge now. Whether they boarded the merchant ship or destroyed it was up to her. There was no vote taken as to which course she should follow - the crew had merely voted on whether or not to chase the ship, not what to do with it once they had cleaned it out - but she remembered Bernade's words and she knew a merchant vessel could be stripped or sold, and if they could capture and board it without trouble, they could keep it.
The Black Lightning pulled alongside the merchant ship and Maggie stood on the gunwale, hanging on to the outer edge of the shroud, one of the webbed rope ladders that ran from the main mast to the hull. She had not had to fire her cannon, because the merchant ship had not done so either. Too afraid, perhaps, or too unprepared.
"Prepare to board!" she yelled, watching with satisfaction as the few sailors on the merchant ship hurried across the deck in a panic and her own people readied gangplanks to lay across the gunwales for easier boarding. Doren and several other crew members pushed a plank across the gap right near her, so she would have a way to cross. She knew some of her girls would swing across the gap on loose ropes, and if the two ships were close enough, most of them would just jump.
She could see Bernade waving a curved sword in one hand and a pistol in the other, so everyone could see her. As captain, Maggie was expected to lead the crew in boarding other ships, but Bernade was expected to be at most right behind her. Some of the pirates would follow her, and some would follow Maggie.
"Take it!" Maggie screamed, waving her own sword and charging across the gangplank that Doren had laid down. She heard pistols firing and pirates yelling and smoke bombs exploding and it was almost like being back in the navy during the struggle for the throne, attacking the Usurper's ships and trying to win the crown for the duke, before he lost and became the king-in-exile.
She caught a merchantman in the side with her sword, shoved him out of her way, and charged towards the quarterdeck and the wheel. Her crew had completely overwhelmed the crew of the merchant ship and the sailor manning the wheel gave it up to her without a fight. She grabbed the nearest pirate, set her behind the wheel, and jumped up to the quarterdeck. She waited for the fighting to stop, which didn't take long - the merchant ship had sailed with a small crew - and then fired her pistol in the air.
"Quiet!" she yelled, and waited for the battle to die down. It hadn't taken long at all to subdue the merchant crew and take control of the ship. She hadn't expected a protracted battle. She addressed the captured merchant sailors. "I am Red Maggie. You may have heard of me. You may know enough to fear me and my crew. This is now my ship. You have two choices - join us or be put overboard." A murmur ran across the deck, merchant sailors pondering their choices and pirates merely eager to start the plundering. Maggie gave the captured crew a minute to weigh the options and then went on. "Those who wish to join us, to starboard." She helpfully pointed with her sword. "And those who do not, to port." Her sword swept across to the other direction. Merchant sailors hurried across the deck, most of them gathering on the starboard side. Two did not, but stood by the portside cockboat, the small rowboat used to travel to shore if the merchant ship was anchored far out in the water.
Bernade directed the two merchant sailors to free the boat and lower it into the water, and then had them find a rope ladder and drop it over the side of the ship so that they could climb down into it. If they had indeed heard of Red Maggie and her pirate ship and her pirate crew, they knew they would be put overboard without food or water and left at the mercy of the wind and the water and whatever shipping lanes they happened to be near.
That done, it was time to see what the ship held and what they had just stolen. This was Bernade's job, to tally up their booty and divide it into shares for the crew. Maggie went down to the main deck and counted off fifteen of her crew to guard the surrendered merchant sailors until they could be read the Articles of Association and made to sign. The Articles were essentially a contract and code of conduct among the officers and crew, detailing the various shares of plunder, the rules of the ship, and the punishments for breaking those rules. Every pirate had signed it at the outset of the voyage, and any captured sailors who decided to join the crew had to sign it as well. Bernade generally took care of this after she had made a record of their booty.
Pirates milled about on deck as she and some assistants took inventory, and by the time she came up from belowdecks to tell Maggie what she had found, Doren had discovered the merchant captain's personal wine cabinet and had broken open all the bottles. Maggie had taken one and when Bernade came over to her, she offered it with a flourish.
"Tell me what this fight bought us," she said.
"A great deal of fabric and furs, barrels of whiskey, a few chests of gold, good provisions including two cows, ducks, and several barrels of pickled beets, and a passenger."
"I'm sorry? A passenger?"
"A passenger. He says he used to be a priest until he grew disenchanted with his god and his church and left." She took a long swallow of the wine. "If you were to ask me, I would say he left before they could kick him out. Or perhaps they did kick him out." Another swallow and she handed the bottle back to Maggie. "In any case, he has chosen to join us. Ellim took him to join the rest to sign the Articles."
"I believe you have to read them first."
"I believe I do. I shall do it here and then take control of this ship." She grinned widely. "Did I not say I was looking forward to captaining my own ship?"
"You did indeed. We will have to vote on our next course of action and then it is all yours."
words: 1978
total words: 7441
(The one rule that Maggie imposed on her crew without discussion and without vote was that Penelle's name was not to be spoken on board her ship or in her presence. The woman was the Usurper and would only ever be known as such.)
It was a standing order, already voted on, that the Black Lightning would give chase to any ship flying the Usurper's flag, except in such cases where the ship in question was part of the navy and larger and better armed than Maggie's refitted pirate ship. Now they were too far away for the lookout to be able to accurately identify the size and type of ship that she'd seen, so Maggie gave orders to chase it until they were close enough to tell.
Orders ran up and down the rigging, sails were furled and unfurled to catch the most wind, cannon were readied. The wind picked up and helped speed the Black Lightning towards its target. Maggie pulled out her spyglass, trained it on the other ship - distant but getting closer - and swore. It looked like a ship of the line. It was indeed bigger and better armed than her ship. It could blow them out of the water, and its captain no doubt had orders to do so.
"Hard to port!" she yelled down at Severein, who stood by the wheel. "She's a ship of the line, she'll sink us!" She could hear the call carried across the decks to all the pirates standing by waiting to board, and down to the crew belowdecks manning the tiller and the ranks of cannon. The rigging creaked as the Black Lightning turned away, fighting the wind and her own momentum to avoid the Usurper's ship of the line.
Maggie wasn't happy that she'd just lost a chance to take one of the Usurper's ships and acquire plunder for her own crew, but there were still merchants out at sea just waiting to be captured, and she would have another chance to strike at the woman she hated.
"I do not like doing that," she admitted to Bernade that night in her cabin. In contrast to the way things were done in the Royal Navy, where the captain's quarters were sacrosanct, a pirate captain's quarters were open to all. "I do not like allowing her ships to get away."
"We were chasing a ship of the line, you said," Bernade commented. "At least third rate, more likely second."
All that meant was that the Usurper's ship was larger and had more cannon than the Black Lightning.
"And there will be others," Maggie went on. "But it still rankles."
"At least we have the wind back. I am looking forward to capturing a ship that I can sail. And we will need the supplies it will contain."
"It has only been two weeks. We are not as low as that, surely."
"No, no. But we should not limp back into Port Doras so light in the hold as last time."
Not only had the Black Lightning sustained some damage from a storm, but the merchant ship she had captured two months previously had fired on her before being boarded and subdued, and the crew had run through slightly too many of the stores in celebration of their conquest.
"The skies are clearing. Severein will find us a route and we will take another ship." Maggie tried to sound sure, more for her own peace of mind than for Bernade. Bernade just shrugged. When things were calm on board the ship she was remarkably sanguine. Whatever happened, happened. She knew there were many events she could not control, and so she was concerned only about the things within her power. And whether or not they crossed paths with a wealthy merchant ship was beyond her power. What they did when they found it was another matter entirely.
And they did in fact cross paths with a wealthy merchant ship a few days later. Despite some intermittent rain, the skies had cleared enough for Severein to at least pretend that he had charted their position and their best route to plunder, and he felt vindicated when a merchant ship flying a trading company's flag was spotted off the port bow late one morning. A number of the crew spotted it, and word flew around the Black Lightning that fighting and looting were imminent.
Maggie could feel the anticipation of gold and violence from where she stood in the bow. She watched through her spyglass as they gained on the merchant ship, and as they drew closer she yelled orders to ready the port side cannon as a display of power. She was fully in charge now. Whether they boarded the merchant ship or destroyed it was up to her. There was no vote taken as to which course she should follow - the crew had merely voted on whether or not to chase the ship, not what to do with it once they had cleaned it out - but she remembered Bernade's words and she knew a merchant vessel could be stripped or sold, and if they could capture and board it without trouble, they could keep it.
The Black Lightning pulled alongside the merchant ship and Maggie stood on the gunwale, hanging on to the outer edge of the shroud, one of the webbed rope ladders that ran from the main mast to the hull. She had not had to fire her cannon, because the merchant ship had not done so either. Too afraid, perhaps, or too unprepared.
"Prepare to board!" she yelled, watching with satisfaction as the few sailors on the merchant ship hurried across the deck in a panic and her own people readied gangplanks to lay across the gunwales for easier boarding. Doren and several other crew members pushed a plank across the gap right near her, so she would have a way to cross. She knew some of her girls would swing across the gap on loose ropes, and if the two ships were close enough, most of them would just jump.
She could see Bernade waving a curved sword in one hand and a pistol in the other, so everyone could see her. As captain, Maggie was expected to lead the crew in boarding other ships, but Bernade was expected to be at most right behind her. Some of the pirates would follow her, and some would follow Maggie.
"Take it!" Maggie screamed, waving her own sword and charging across the gangplank that Doren had laid down. She heard pistols firing and pirates yelling and smoke bombs exploding and it was almost like being back in the navy during the struggle for the throne, attacking the Usurper's ships and trying to win the crown for the duke, before he lost and became the king-in-exile.
She caught a merchantman in the side with her sword, shoved him out of her way, and charged towards the quarterdeck and the wheel. Her crew had completely overwhelmed the crew of the merchant ship and the sailor manning the wheel gave it up to her without a fight. She grabbed the nearest pirate, set her behind the wheel, and jumped up to the quarterdeck. She waited for the fighting to stop, which didn't take long - the merchant ship had sailed with a small crew - and then fired her pistol in the air.
"Quiet!" she yelled, and waited for the battle to die down. It hadn't taken long at all to subdue the merchant crew and take control of the ship. She hadn't expected a protracted battle. She addressed the captured merchant sailors. "I am Red Maggie. You may have heard of me. You may know enough to fear me and my crew. This is now my ship. You have two choices - join us or be put overboard." A murmur ran across the deck, merchant sailors pondering their choices and pirates merely eager to start the plundering. Maggie gave the captured crew a minute to weigh the options and then went on. "Those who wish to join us, to starboard." She helpfully pointed with her sword. "And those who do not, to port." Her sword swept across to the other direction. Merchant sailors hurried across the deck, most of them gathering on the starboard side. Two did not, but stood by the portside cockboat, the small rowboat used to travel to shore if the merchant ship was anchored far out in the water.
Bernade directed the two merchant sailors to free the boat and lower it into the water, and then had them find a rope ladder and drop it over the side of the ship so that they could climb down into it. If they had indeed heard of Red Maggie and her pirate ship and her pirate crew, they knew they would be put overboard without food or water and left at the mercy of the wind and the water and whatever shipping lanes they happened to be near.
That done, it was time to see what the ship held and what they had just stolen. This was Bernade's job, to tally up their booty and divide it into shares for the crew. Maggie went down to the main deck and counted off fifteen of her crew to guard the surrendered merchant sailors until they could be read the Articles of Association and made to sign. The Articles were essentially a contract and code of conduct among the officers and crew, detailing the various shares of plunder, the rules of the ship, and the punishments for breaking those rules. Every pirate had signed it at the outset of the voyage, and any captured sailors who decided to join the crew had to sign it as well. Bernade generally took care of this after she had made a record of their booty.
Pirates milled about on deck as she and some assistants took inventory, and by the time she came up from belowdecks to tell Maggie what she had found, Doren had discovered the merchant captain's personal wine cabinet and had broken open all the bottles. Maggie had taken one and when Bernade came over to her, she offered it with a flourish.
"Tell me what this fight bought us," she said.
"A great deal of fabric and furs, barrels of whiskey, a few chests of gold, good provisions including two cows, ducks, and several barrels of pickled beets, and a passenger."
"I'm sorry? A passenger?"
"A passenger. He says he used to be a priest until he grew disenchanted with his god and his church and left." She took a long swallow of the wine. "If you were to ask me, I would say he left before they could kick him out. Or perhaps they did kick him out." Another swallow and she handed the bottle back to Maggie. "In any case, he has chosen to join us. Ellim took him to join the rest to sign the Articles."
"I believe you have to read them first."
"I believe I do. I shall do it here and then take control of this ship." She grinned widely. "Did I not say I was looking forward to captaining my own ship?"
"You did indeed. We will have to vote on our next course of action and then it is all yours."
words: 1978
total words: 7441
