Clear for Action! by Anthony Barton

Author:Anthony Barton [Barton, Anthony]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bulmer Press
Published: 2018-11-29T05:00:00+00:00

CORRIE pulled on her jacket and fastened the buttons. It might be cold and wet out on deck on a wild night like this.

How she wished she had gloves!

She grabbed her hat and took the precaution of pinning the hat in place lest it should be blown off by the wind.

For the first time in my life, I’m going to be officer of the watch.

If it was four o’clock in the morning here in the Swift, and, back at home in St. John’s, at this time of the night Mrs. Demeter would still be asleep, but Cook would be up stoking the range and kneading the dough for the day’s loaves.

Corrie left her cabin and made her way forward to the quarterdeck. She had to stop and grab at a shot locker to keep her balance when the deck fell away suddenly. The seas had got up. She would have to watch her step.

Young Fraser had darted ahead of her, pretending to be a pilot vessel guiding a big ship into a harbor, and looked back with undisguised impatience at his tow. He had no trouble keeping his footing. Children have an abundance of self-confidence.

The wind tugged sharply at her hat as she came out on deck, but the pin held.

Am I to stand my first watch now, in the dark like this, with a gale blowing? Well, why not? I’ve been out in worse weather on my uncle’s schooner.

She staggered onto the quarterdeck and saw a dark figure waiting for her there. It was the first lieutenant. She saluted and said ‘Midshipman Harriman, sir, reporting as ordered.’

‘Thank you, Mr. Harriman,’ said Lieutenant Keeper, his voice formal and exact. ‘Eight bells and all’s well. We are twenty miles south of the Chapeau Rouge. Our course is north east by east. We are bound for Plaisance and Fort Royal. If you need me, I’ll be in my cabin.’

‘Yes, sir,’ said Corrie, very conscious of her borrowed officer’s hat and coat, and feeling a perfect fraud. ‘Sleep well, sir!’ she added, thinking that might be a polite thing to say to someone leaving the deck after a long stint on duty.

‘I shall try,’ said the first lieutenant, and with that wry comment on her lack of experience he vanished down the companionway steps, leaving the Swift entirely in Corrie’s hands.

She blew on her fingers to warm them. The wind was bitterly cold. A slight dimming of the stars, a few of which were visible here and there through rents in the cloud, hinted at the coming of the day, but dawn was still hours away.

She shivered.

I’m the watch officer. My childhood fantasies have come true. Here I am conning a real ship instead of an apple tree. Oh, my God! How long will it be before we near the far side of the bay?

She pictured the captain’s chart in her mind’s eye. The Swift was sailing into the Bay of Plaisance. To the west must lie Cape Saint Laurence, quite close at

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