A Pirate’s Tale: Night of the Living Nightmare
A Pirate’s Tale: Night of the Living Nightmare
8 years, 2 months, and 5 days after the events I shared earlier (“I Spy: A Pirate’s Tale”) came a terror I never want to repeat, a terror I would never wish on anyone. They had come before; they’ve come since, but that night, that one night
Ever since I was taken as the hostage and protégé of the pirate captain Atch, I’ve had re-occurring dreams that vividly recalled the events of that fate filled day when the sailing vessel I was on was viciously attacked and consumed. Usually it only came in bits and pieces, a scene here, a glimpse there. But that night, that one night… I re-lived it all. From beginning to end I endured every gory detail in a vivid retelling that defies normal logic.
There was nothing unusual about that day, or really any one of the days leading up to that one night. That one night began as any other, we had finally settled down for the night. The kids were bathed and settled into bed. My wife had just finished the quilt for our next “arrival”, and I had finally finished splitting wood for the coming winter. When we turned in for the night I was exhausted. Sleep came fast but it didn’t stay long. It seemed like I had barely closed my eyes when the first one came…
Our ship, “The Scarlet Rose”, (a name given this 6 year old ship by the Captain in honour of the Captain’s late wife, a woman he dearly loved who had died in childbirth) was a fine sailing vessel, light on the water and quick on the turn. She spent most of her time in the East Indies trading spices. She would sail from port to port collecting her cargo, then make a long trek back to Europe where she delivered her goods. It was on one of those return trips to Europe where I had the opportunity to join the crew as she set sail from England back east. Twice I sailed to the East Indies and back, living quite an adventurous life for a young boy. As we prepared to sail a third time the Captain, Robert Smith, told me I was to stay in England where I was to attend a boarding school, but after much begging and promising I would work twice as hard on my schooling while on board ship, he relented and let me stay on as cabin boy.
Our return to the East Indies was relatively uneventful, not including the midwinter squall we encountered while rounding Cape Horn of the coast of South Africa. However, once we passed that it was smooth sailing until our first port of call in Thailand. We spent the next few weeks stopping for a day or two at our ports of call in New Guinea collecting our cargo bound for Europe. We were two days out of port when in the dawn light we spotted on our leeward horizon a ship making good speed on an intercept course for us… The image of a ship on the horizon wasn’t new or strange but somehow the crew seemed nervous. The captain of our ship, Captain R. Smith, had ordered me into the cabin at the aft of the ship, I tried to disobey but there was urgency in his voice that I had never heard before. When in my cabin, I grabbed a small chest and pulled it up to the door so I could peer out its small window. Looking out over the deck, I could see the rest of the crew busy securing everything that was loose, tossing overboard everything not needed, and bringing up a few chests of small arms and assorted weapons from the ship’s hold. Though not a fighting ship, we were equipped with a few light cannons. Then the Captain ordered the first mate and boatswain to run the ship hard in an attempt to outrun this other ship. The crew even threw cargo overboard hoping it would help us run faster but by late afternoon it was clear that we wouldn’t outrun our pursuers. So the Captain and crew made ready our weapons and prepared to fight. I saw the Captain coming to my room so I quickly moved the chest and ran to my desk as though I were busy with school work. When the Captain came in, it was with grave tone that he informed me we were being pursued by pirates, he then gave me clear and explicit instructions on what I was to do if we couldn’t stave them off. I made my preparations quickly, then I was back at the window watching with keen interest (To this day I am sorry I did). It was only a short while later that all hell broke loose…
…in the minutes before the assault it seemed as though time forgot to keep moving, as though it was lost in thought somehow. Breaking through time’s slumber came, the “Sea Wolf” firing its cannons across our bow in an attempt to stop us; but instead of slowing down our captain started yelling orders in an attempt to out manoeuvre our hunters , but the “Sea Wolf” matched our turns and closed to within striking distance. The next few moments were but a blur to me as the Sea Wolf struck us with a short but brutal cannon assault that proved to be quite efficient. I remember seeing our fore mast breaking and falling toward my cabin, all the while watching a crewman getting hit by a cannon and seeing a red spray hit the window… then I felt a shock as the mast struck the ship’s deck above me. I next remember getting of the floor and feeling a dull throb in my head. I noticed an odd mix of blue sky and smoke through the hole that the mast had opened as it crashed through the deck. My ears rang as I stood up and crawled through the hole on to the deck of the ship. I could see a man running toward me and I caught a glimpse of a muzzle flash coming from the Sea Wolf, as the man fell I realized it was Captain Smith. A few moments after he fell he carefully got up and made his way to me, pulling me back into the cabin and hiding me under my bed. He whispered to me an apology and told me to not come out until everything was quiet.
The next ten minutes may as well have been eternity, although I couldn’t see anything, I heard a horrifying mix of yelling, gunfire, curses, and screams that eventually tapered off to a sporadic gunshot, and the relative quiet of voices, moans of pain, and the sound of men shuffling through the ship. Finally I heard footsteps in the cabin and then I saw a hand reach down and pull the bed off of me. I was grabbed by my jacket and hauled out of the cabin. I don’t know how, but I managed to grab my bag while being dragged to the ship’s deck, where my eyes beheld the devastation I had only previously heard. The ship’s deck was a slippery mix of sea, blood, and guts. I watched as some of the pirate crew emptied our hold, taking for themselves the cargo we had gathered over the last 2 months. I was just turning to look aft when I heard a salvo of gunfire and saw the last of our crew drop to the ship’s deck. Then I saw him, the Captain of the ship that had overtaken and pillaged us. The pirate captain walked toward the last remaining prisoner and bent over and whispered something in him ear before raising his weapon. It was only moment, but in that moment before his death, Captain Robert Smith’s eye caught mine and conveyed in that second what most fathers can’t convey in a lifetime. And then he was gone, another victim of man’s obsession.
The next few moments seemed to last forever. I watched as Captain Atch walked over to me, bent a knee, lifted his blade to my neck, and whispered in my ear. Then he stood up and gave orders to his crew to take anything of value and then burn the ship. Within a few minutes I was on the deck of the Sea Wolf sailing toward Fiji while in the distance ‘The Scarlet Rose” slowly burned. I watched until all I could see was the trail of smoke against the setting sun…
I awoke several times that night, each time hoping to return to a more restful sleep, but each time only returning to continue the story. Although I would go on to see many days like it. In my mind, those other days are just pale echoes of that one long day and night: A mere reflection of that living nightmare. In retrospect I think my subconscious was forcing me to relive those memories. Maybe my mind knew that I was finally capable of grasping the utter desolation of that day. Maybe my subconscious knew that a terrible night like that was just what I needed to steel my resolve to see justice measured out to the cruel Captain and his crew. Whatever caused the dreams I don’t know, but from that night on I was a man on a mission…
Let these words guide you:
You’ll find three each at beginning and end
Let the pale eyes be your guide and friend
At the first three look close, see what’s under the lid
You’ll need it to find the treasure I’ve hid
Not included on listing are the last 4 lines of the riddle:
At the last three you’ll find I have pointed the way
To the space in the rock where the treasure does lay
beyond that circle a golden flash lies
carefully hidden from prying eyes
