PIRATES
Prompt - Pirates : Write about a pirate ship
For a change we had something to go on, a target to aim at. John Rebus had been in Aberdeen, selling some of our plunder, and had kept his ears open. Heard there would be a ship sailing in from Lerwick on eight October, and that it had something unusual on board. With a bit of digging around, and a few drinks bought for the right man, he reckoned the 'unusual' bit was some old gold items that had been found in an old Norse settlement, dug up when the locals had been taking away stones for their own building work. John had got back to the village as fast as horse would carry, and told Adam his news.
Adam McAllister. There was a man to look up to, to follow. Tallest and broadest among us, his long grey-streaked hair in a waist length ponytail and ragged beard to his chest, he stood out in any group you could imagine. A clever man too, with a vision for what we could become and escape the poverty we'd been born into. The fishing hadn't been enough for him, and he'd started up a bit of smuggling, but there was little enough of a market for his illicit wares on the north east coast. But when the Elspeth came into his hands our lives were transformed.
He'd named her Elspeth after his mother, replacing the daft name the navy had given her and we'd all forgotten now. We'd been out for the herring when she was spotted, adrift, crewless, seemingly unharmed. Boarding her wasn't easy in the swell, our smack so much lower in the water than this tired looking warship, but once aboard Adam found everything pretty much as it should be, albeit with no lifeboat, not many guns, and not a single soul, alive or dead, to be found on board. He took the decision to split our crew between the two vessels and head straight back to harbour. There might be money to be made from this old ship.
There were discussions. Arguments too, which caused some blood to be spilled. In the end the decision was made, and where McAllister led the rest would follow. We'd keep at the fishing. But every couple of months we'd go out in the Elspeth, see if there was any suitable prey to rob. We'd become part time pirates.
We'd made the ship as fast as possible, to hunt down our targets and escape from any who looked to bring us to justice. The Elspeth had only eleven old nine pounders, instead of the twenty two she must have once carried. For speed's sake we cut that down to seven, three on each side and one to stern. More than enough to threaten any merchant into compliance, not nearly enough to fight any armed vessels, but we would always look to escape if threatened. Our first voyage found nothing, but on our second we came across a schooner to the south of Aberdeen, with half a dozen wealthy passengers on board. Their gold and jewels and fine clothing made their way into our hold and we had our first prize. And with only one shot needing to be fired. Adam was right, there were easy pickings to be had. You needed patience though.
So this was different. We were going out, not in the hope of some random encounter, but knowing what we were looking for and that our biggest haul yet was on offer. If John had heard aright.
Thirty three men set off as dawn reluctantly emerged, our cautious womenfolk staring after us from the quay. Conditions promised fine sailing, although the winds were higher than ideal for being able to get alongside a ship and board her. Clouds scudded across our skies, changing form and colour constantly, so that we had little idea of what the weather might do. But nobody gave that much thought, for there was real excitement running through the men, imagining that they were on the look out for a quarry that could set them up for life. One man in the crow's nest three on the quarter deck, one in bow. The rest of us, whenever there wasn't some sail needing taken in or put out, hugeed the side rails, desperate to be the first one to see what they wanted to see.
"Ship ahoy off starboard bow!" The cry from the man aloft was almost taken by the wind, but he shouted three times and understanding got through. Adam climbed the stern rigging with his telescope, found his mark.
"That might just be her lads. Let us take a look." He barked out orders to change course and load on all the sail she could handle. I was summoned to his side and he asked me to go up top, relieve Joshua, and shout down what I saw as we got closer. Did I think they would need a shot fired to make them pull to?
Impressed at being given this responsibility I scurried up top as fast as limbs would take me, and swapped position with the older man. In my head I'd been chosen because of my sharp eyes and wits. Only later did I realise it was because Josh was by far the superior fighter. But at the time my enthusiasm and pride took over and looked intently for any signs I could read from the fast nearing ship we were about to capture. I could see some activity, but no signs of panic. A couple of women looked back at us from the group lining the deck rail. They went below as we came within hailing distance.
Adam made it clear that we wanted to board, and pointed to our cannons as a show of intent. I could see no obvious weaponry on their decks, but several of the crew appeared to be wearing swords, and there were four men in the rigging who looked to have long thin objects slung on their backs. I shouted down my observations, but the men were too busy getting ready to board to pay any attention to my words. All I could do was watch as our lads swung across he divide only to find themselves at sword point within seconds of landing. Meanwhile the men in the rigging, and others who emerged from below decks, pulled forth muskets and aimed them at our ship. We had been duped.
Only once we had been captured and secured, and our Elspeth taken under naval command once more, did I get to hear the full story. The captain had approached Adam, telling him he'd been expected. Adam threatened to blow the captain's ship from the water, shouted to his gunners. And grimaced at the rumble below as fifteen gun ports fell open in the hull below his feet, and fifteen eighteen pounders, armed and ready, slip forward to cover our ship.
"I advise you to call off your men and surrender immediately. Or you will all be summarily put to death sir." Adam had enough sense to recognise reality. The men on the Elspeth, myself among them, were already ahead of him in that matter. We were shipped to Aberdeen for trial.
During our journey we had two mysteries explained. The 'women' on board had been sailors in disguise, to assuage any fears we might have had. And the 'Norse gold' was a fiction. A naval spy, tasked with getting a lead on the pirates who had caused some havoc with local shipping, had cottoned on to John's line of questioning in waterside taverns and planted the notion in his greed fuelled mind.
My pirating days were done.
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