Fair Winds to Jamaica by Barbara Dan

Author:Barbara Dan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: adventure, england, caribbean, pirates, slavery, sailing, jamaica, colonies, sea captain, trade routes, barbara dan, black maroons
Publisher: Barbara Dan

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Chapter Eleven

Jamaica, December 1697

A pale lunar rainbow arched perfectly before the bow of the Fair Winds, as she pursued her course through the Windward Passage. Late that night she veered in a southeasterly direction toward Point Morant on the easternmost tip of the island. Soft tropical winds blew gently like some ancient siren summoning crew and passengers to a land of mystery and enchantment.

Around the ship the phosphorescent glint of teeming tropical fish set the waves ablaze with a myriad of hues. Flying fish skimming the waves winged their way over the side of the ship, their exquisite blue and silver bodies quivering on the deck.

As the crew prepared to lay to for the night just outside the harbor, Grant leaned against the mainmast, already planning his trip ashore at Kingston.

“As a precaution, we’d best set a double watch tonight,” he quietly told Garrison.

“With two cruisers in the harbor, do you think it's needful, Captain?”

“Let’s err on the side of safety.” Grant knew the worst of the buccaneers had probably relocated to the other side of the island, but he wasn’t taking any unnecessary chances.

Scanning the starboard bow, he spotted Charles Lamb and Mercy Wallins with their heads together, sparking. Their romance seemed to be prospering, while his rift with Rosalyn only deepened. But alas, 'twas fruitless to get himself tied in knots over his father’s widow.

He wrenched his thoughts back to the business at hand, arranging the exchange of all the dried, salted cod and rice on board for sugar and rum. By leaving out the wholesalers and dealing direct with a landowner or overseer, he stood to make substantially higher profits. Then they'd sail back to his father’s wily old friend, Belmont, and then away to England! He'd already decided against carrying gold. There was a very good chance Belmont, known for his double-dealing, might waylay the Fair Winds at sea, if he carried gold. Certainly there would be less danger—from Belmont, at any rate—if he carried tobacco.

As for his persnickety partner, she’d likely put up a fight if they left Carolinas without a bit of gold in her pocket. Aye, ‘twas a good thing he had the final say in such matters. By trading sugar for tobacco, he'd get to England much faster—aye, and part company with Rosalyn permanently. After all, that was what she wanted, wasn’t it?

But first he must contact a few plantation owners here in Jamaica. A little friendly competition should drive up the rate of exchange quite nicely.

As dawn broke the next morning, the blue mountains rose some eight thousand feet out of the mist, like the re-emergence of a lost continent. As the men hauled in the anchor and prepared to sail into the harbor, even Rosalyn couldn’t resist showing her face out on deck. Leaning over the side, she marveled at the Portuguese men-o’-war floating, their translucent, filmy bodies and slender tentacles, bright pinks and lavenders trailing over the surface of the water. The clarity

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