Hades's Revenge (12 page)

“What about you?”

“If I knew Lily was happy and cared for, I’d
stay—at least for a while. I don’t think I want to be a pirate when
I’m old, though. I’d retire somewhere warm and finish out my years.
I do like the idea that I can be helping the patriot cause by
providing them with supplies.”

“I’m quite fond of that aspect myself,
despite what my father might think.”

They both chuckled a bit.

“Well, regardless of what you think, I have
the sneaking suspicion, we’ve not seen the last of Miss Patti.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“I am.”

“If that happens, and I’m not condoning your
idea, please make sure I don’t shoot myself in the foot if that
happens, or hers for that matter.”

“Can’t guarantee it, but I’ll do my
best.”

Jessop gave him a friendly shove as they
laughed.

When William and Jessop got back to the inn,
they found their comrades ambling towards the docks feeling the
repercussions of the drinking they’d done the night before.

They fell in line keeping the conversation
to a minimum since the men were not in any shape to answer. William
was met with a wretching from Tom when he got close enough to
William to smell the residual scent of the previously donned
coat.

“You reek,” Stubby proclaimed as if no one
could possibly figure that out on their own. “Didn’t you have a
bath last night?” he said wincing at the bright sunlight.

“Yes, well, we had our own adventure last
night that included a woman, eggs, a barn, and a smelly coat,”
William admitted, but before he could finish, Stubby had passed out
and face planted himself in the muddy path.

“Guess he didn’t like your story,” Jessop
joked.

“Guess not,” William said as they both
grabbed Stubby, one under each arm and dragged him to the ship.

At the top of the gangplank Fin bellowed,
“Cap’n would like to bend yer ear on deck at twelve hundred hours.
If’in yer smart, ye better be thar with bells on.”

There were mumbles and moans of ‘aye, aye’
from the men as they deposited themselves to their duties and
readying to set sail. A few straggled behind and the announcement
from Fin was heard several times over the course of the hour
leading up to noon.

When the captain appeared at the rail of the
poop deck, the men congregated to look up to him from the
quarterdeck. With Salty in his arms he cleared his throat before
continuing, “Thar’s been a change in our plan, a detour if ye will.
Things ’ave been heatin’ up betwixt the colonists an’ ol’ King
Georgie after the massacre in Boston. Word is Georgie’s hell bent
on gettin’ his due fer defending the colonists during the French
and Indian war.

“As I’m sure yer aware, enforcement of the
Navigation act has been heavy handed to say the least. The
colonists ’ave been approached by the Italians and Ragusans to
enter a trade agreement, but thar a wee bit timid to do such a
thing with Georgie butting in.

“To further this alliance we’ve been
procured by an unnamed source, to serve as escort to the Ragusans
as they travel from Baltimore to Marseille, guaranteeing safe
passage from corsairs and privateers.”

Fin looked appalled, “But, sir, it don’t
seem right.”

“What’s that, Fin?”

“Fighting our own kind to save a
merchant.”

“Money is money, Fin. If’n they’re willin’
to pay fer our services, why shouldn’t we? Food and supplies fer
the crew don’t come cheap. Chances are, we won’t come across any
trouble, but if’n we do we fight to give the traders a shot at
making their commitments.”

“Yer willing ta have the crew die fer these
traders?”

“We face death every time we step aboard
Hades’s Revenge
—every time we meet another ship upon the
sea. Why not make some money while we’re at it?” Fin looked
unconvinced so the captain said, “Let’s put it to a vote, shall
we,” in order to appease Fin.

“Who among us agrees to receiving a boat
full of supplies and money to boot, for escortin’ a ship to
France?”

Most hands raised among the men but there
were those who were slow and weighed with uncertainty. The captain
added, “This is a one-time deal. We have no other commitments with
these traders. If’n we do this and we don’t like it we don’t have
to do again, we’ll leave it to some other scurvy pirate ship.”

With that the hands came up confidently as
the captain seemed to know they would. “Good. After we leave
Marseille, we we’ll be heading toward the coast of Germany. Seems
Georgie is procuring a regiment of Hessian soldiers to hunt down
the perpetrators of the burning of the
Gaspee
. I’m sure
you’ve heard of Dudingston’s crackdown on the smuggling ring in
Narrangansett Bay.” Many men bobbed their heads in agreement.

“While pursuing the
Hannah
, the
Gaspee
ran aground in the shallow waters off Namquit Point
then sped away. Some man named Bucklin heard what happened and
organized a party of sixty or more to raid the stranded vessel.
They set the ship aflame.

“Georgie’s taking the incident as a personal
challenge to his authority and plans to see justice brought to the
colonists at any cost.

“My thoughts were to shadow the ship
carrying them Hessians until they get far from home, then act. By
the time news gets back that thar ship never arrived, the colonists
will have gained a chance at preparing if Georgie sends another
land force.”

A word from the crowd said, “I’ve heard
these Hessians are a brutal bunch.”

“Aye, I’ve heard this too,” answered the
captain. “But they be land fighters and though their methods be
fiendish hand to hand, I’m expecting them to not fend well on the
water. Many will be sick in the first week, as ye well know. That’s
when we make our onslaught.”

“We’re in agreement then?”

A hearty barrage of ‘aye’s’ met the
captain’s ears. “Let’s make Georgie’s life a living hell, shall we
boys?”

“Aye!” they roared.

“Make sail for Baltimore, men.”

“Aye!” shouted the sailors.

* * *

The captain steered the
Revenge
through the pitch of night to avert any attention to the rogue
ship. At a smaller harbor south of the well-known Baltimore port,
they docked the ship.

The men were met by a dozen locals at the
pier and quickly went to work filling the belly of vessel with food
and supplies. Nary a word was spoken under the veil of darkness
that shadowed the unknowing from what was being undertaken. The
pirates and the dockworkers worked efficiently and diligently until
just before light.

Jessop and William had been tasked to
procure wood and hardware from a warehouse within the town. With a
cart they set out on their pursuit. A secret knock gained them
entrance by a man carrying an oil lamp.

“Come in, but be quick about it,” he
whispered opening a barn style door to accommodate the cart.

He pointed to a pile of supplies in the far
corner before returning to a drawing table.

Jessop and William went to work piling the
cache of timber and kegs of nails onto the handcart. When they were
done Jessop made his way to the gentleman hard at work drawing some
strange contraption on parchment.

“Was there anything else we needed to pick
up,” Jessop said distracted by the detail of the sketch.

“No, unless you need tools.”

Jessop caught William’s gaze in question
confirming what he already knew, “No. I think we have everything we
need. This contraption is quite magnificent. What do you call
it?”

“It’s a submersible. It doesn’t have a name
yet, though it looks like a turtle, don’t you think?”

“Indeed,” agreed Jessop. “What materials
will you be making it from.”

“Wood,” he said. “It will be used to
secretly affix charges to an enemy’s hull.”

“How would the charges be detonated?” Jessop
asked.

“I’m working with a clockwork genius named
Dolittle who’s making some kind of flintlock type mechanism.”

Jessop nodded. “And how will it dive and
move around?” William tapped his foot with impatience.

“A lever will flood the bilge tank here,” he
pointed, “and a hand pump will force the water out to surface.
These hand cranks will propel the vessel forward and sideways.”

“May I make a couple of suggestions?”

“Be my guest,” he said.

“I’d be inclined to put lead at the bottom
with a release mechanism to drop it. That would shoot the vessel to
the surface in an instant allowing for the operator to get out
quickly if he needed to.”

“Yes. I see. Very good.”

“And though I don’t know the calculations of
pressure to depth, I’m guessing you might want to reinforce the
wooden shells with strips of steel here, here, and here.”

“And that wouldn’t take away from its
buoyancy?”

“Not enough to worry about and the man
within will be very grateful for it.”

He chuckled. “Yes. I imagine he would. Thank
you.”

“Thank you, and good luck,” Jessop said
offering his hand.

He took it and shook, “Thank you…”

“Jesse Andrews.”

“Jesse Andrew, nice to meet you, I’m David
Bushnell.”

“Mr. Bushnell it’s an honor to make your
acquaintance.”

“And mine, yours.”

Jessop made his way to open the door for
William to maneuver the cart outside, waving as he did.

“Didn’t think I’d ever get you out of
there,” he whispered as they made their way down the earthen
path.

“You should have seen it, William. It was
fascinating.”

“I’m sure it was, but we’re on a schedule
and I don’t want Fin to have any reason to discipline me.”

Jessop smiled and patted him on the back.
“No, we wouldn’t want that,” he said as they walked.

As the sun peeked its lazy head above the
horizon, giving a glow that turned the darkness to light, the
Revenge
sat hidden in a small cove waiting for the
Antoinette
to make her way out of Baltimore into the vast
opening of the Atlantic.

When she did, the
Revenge
fell in
behind her full with sail in pursuit. Once beyond sight of land the
Revenge
pulled alongside her and both captains tipped their
hats to one another in acknowledgement. The captain ordered the
colors be raised as they pulled in front of the
Antoinette
leading the way to France.

The weather could not have been better if
they had ordered it up from a menu. Blue skies and smooth waters
set the scene for the few weeks it took to cross the vast ocean
through the straits of Gibralter, past Spain and into French
waters.

Two ships passed them at a distance, but
bearing the notorious jolly roger of Thaddeus Stillwater, kept them
from journeying any closer than need be. Fifty miles off the coast,
the
Revenge
took her leave and headed back to the straits
and northwest to the Azores where they would catch the current
pulling them into the north Atlantic gulf stream.

Luck seemed to be with the cunning captain
and within a week the
Revenge
spotted a German ship head to
the colonies. Their advantage of surprise on the unsuspecting crew
made hand to hand combat unnecessary.

Flaming cannon balls in the black of night
left the ship an inferno. One of the first balls to hit took out
the mast that lay atop the deck trapping the men who’d been
sleeping below to be consumed by flames.

Jessop and William stood on the deck of the
Revenge
looking at the bright flames shooting across the
lame ship and up its mast like a liquid with nothing to curb or dam
its destruction.

Screams from the men trapped lingered in
their ears and Jessop was awestruck at the dismal sight that played
out before him. The fire had no mercy and even if the pirates
aboard wanted to help, there was nothing that could be done. Too
fast had the plot unfolded for anyone to change their minds.

Soon the screams stopped and only the crack
of wood and the hiss of steam were heard. It seemed to affect
everyone on board, for they all stood, even the captain, and
watched the horror until the ship mercifully slipped beneath the
undulating waves and was gone.

Jessop and William had seen misery and
annihilation in their bouts of warfare and battle, but the burning
and sinking of this ship was almost like an accident that had been
long awaited and anticipated by whomever controls natural
disasters. Like the souls lost below Vesuvius, these souls too,
never had a chance—it just happened too quickly.

The incident here would surely scar every
man aboard. Men think they can control the things around them until
something like this happens and they remember just how small they
are, thought Jessop.

With the desolation in the minds and hearts
of the men aboard, the captain turned the ship southwest and the
Caribbean Sea.

He’d told the crew they were there for the
rum, but Jessop was quite sure it was to raise moral before
returning to the coastal paroling of lone British ships heavy with
cargo, money, and arms.

They dropped anchor off the coast of St.
Croix and the men were allowed leave for a week.

Many drank the tragedy of the Hessians out
of their minds, others found companionship with bar wenches to ease
their woes, but at the end of their stay, Jessop and William found
their distraction in the antics of a man named Olaf Olaffson.

* * *

Jessop and William along with Stubby and Tom
were staying at the Soused Herring drinking ale when a giant blond
man stepped through the door, wearing a leather cap that made his
head look like a bullet.

A nose guard reached between his eyes to the
tip of his nose covering it completely from sight. He wore trousers
beneath a tunic that came to his knees and was belted at the waist.
But it was the large broad sword in the scabbard on his back that
caught most everyone’s attention. It must have been at least five
feet in length and five inches across at its hilt.