Rage the Night by Donna Morrissey

Author:Donna Morrissey [Morrissey, Donna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Canada
Published: 2023-08-29T00:00:00+00:00

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After only a day’s sailing since the two steel ships appeared, the hour comes when Captain Wes raises his binoculars and, inevitably, sees his father’s ship, and the rest of the fleet coming up behind him.

When his father is abreast Wes goes to the bow, scarcely lifting his hand in greeting. All the men on board the Newfoundland stare as much at Captain Abe Kean as they do at the Stephano, newest of the steel ships. A walkin legend he is, Roan has heard repeatedly since boarding. Greatest and meanest sealing captain ever stood on the bridge of a sealing ship Three years schoolin, thirteen when he went to sea Had eight youngsters and raised the seven belongin to his dead brother Heave a man overboard to make room for an extra pelt Killed more seals than any other captain You wants a dollar in your pockets, Captain Abe Kean is the man to sail with…

It is in the wake of these words that young Captain Wes—his fourth year to the ice as captain and still no big catch to honour him—stands immobilized on the bow of his Argos and watches as another chance to earn his place beside his father fades before his eyes.

Adding salt to the wound is Captain Wes’s elder brother, Joseph Kean, captain of the Florizel, now coming abreast of the Stephano. All three, father and sons, stand on their decks now, shouting plans to and fro. It is agreed that Captain Wes will sail directly behind the other two, in the passage cut through the ice by their steel’s might.

“Fourrr degrreeees porrrrt!!” Captain Wes roars to his helmsman. Excitement grows among the men as the Newfoundland commences making waves in the Stephano’s wake. Captain Wes strides confidently around the decks now. No matter that he’s sailing in his father’s and his brother’s wake, he’s back in the race to the whelping grounds. The rest of the ships spread throughout the icefield, black smoke puffing from their stacks as they sludge through the most brutal of conditions. Genge is up and down the mast, conferring with Captain Wes, both exhausting their binoculars as they study the expanse of white for leads of blue, hoping to discover for themselves the exact location of the biggest spawning ground.

The excitement is short-lived. By noon the Newfoundland is again trapped in ice. The captain heaves back tea and roars at his deckhands and scrapes the fur off the front of his coat from his constant leaning over the bridge railing, staring northward. When, toward late evening, he does strike through the ice and manage to sail through open waters for a bit, he rubs his hands with glee to see the other ships stuck in ice a mile ahead.

“He’d as soon see the whole bloody lot starve,” Roan hears Mose saying to Uncle Jack, “if it helped him get ahead.”

You think life is better among brothers, Roan?

Before tucking in that evening, Roan takes a final stroll around the boat amid his companions.

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