The Pirate Kings by Scarrow Alex

Author:Scarrow, Alex [Scarrow, Alex]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Young Adult, Adventure, Fantasy, Historical, Mystery
ISBN: 9780141968667
Amazon: 0141968664
Goodreads: 15792371
Publisher: Puffin
Published: 2013-02-07T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter 35

1667, Port Royal, Jamaica

Liam sucked in a lungful of air and savoured the distinctive odours of the port all around him. The rich tang of tar as men worked up and down the wharf to caulk the hulls of their ships, an ongoing and never-ending process that ensured a watertight bond between hull planks. The all-pervasive undertone of salt in the air that seemed to cling to everything ship-borne. The odour of woodsmoke curling out of chimneys across Port Royal. The slightly less appealing stench of ripening meat from the market down the way as the mid-morning sun worked on the last unsold carcasses left hanging on butchers’ hooks.

He remembered this sensation from a moment that felt like a whole lifetime ago: a sense of belonging in the right place, belonging to the right time. And, with a smile now, he had the very same thought as he’d had when gazing out across the rooftops of the city of Nottingham.

This’ll do me.

‘Hoy! Mr O’Connor, sir!’ It was ‘Gunny’ – James Gunn and, coincidentally, the ship’s head gunner and only properly trained gun-master – hanging from a sling alongside the prow of their ship. ‘How’s she looking?’

Liam looked up from the dockside at the man holding a caulking brush in one hand and a small bucket of white paint in the other. The name Clara Jane had been painted over and replaced by the new name for their ship: Pandora.

He shaded his eyes from the sun and admired the perfectly formed swirls of the letters. ‘It looks perfect, Gunny. Splendid job!’

The man knuckled his forehead and grinned. Liam watched him as he energetically hauled himself back up to the ship’s rail and pulled himself over on to the deck.

The temper of their crew was markedly different. These last few days, since Sir Thomas had cautiously issued Rashim a letter of marque, the men had been ready and willing to accept orders from not only Rashim, their elected skipper, but Liam too, now commonly acknowledged among the men as ‘co-skipper’ – a term none of them had heard of before but were happy to use.

The letter of marque had, of course, made all the difference to the crew’s morale. There had been a number of conditions written into the issued licence, however. For one, should Sir Thomas issue a call to arms to defend the port from a Spanish incursion, they were duty-bound to drop whatever they were doing and muster to defend it. Another condition was that, while the manner with which they raided Dutch and French ships was entirely their own business, certain minimum standards of conduct were to be maintained when raiding Spanish ships. Mercy was to be given to crews who willingly hove to and surrendered. After the ship’s cargo was ‘confiscated’, the ship and crew should be allowed to proceed on their way. (This courtesy, of course, did not extend to any Negroes, either crew or ‘cargo’. As far as Sir Thomas Modyford was concerned, they were legitimate booty from which he expected his cut.

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