Discovery (9780545628112) by Korman Gordon

Author:Korman, Gordon [Korman, Gordon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic
Published: 2013-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

03 July 1665

At first, Samuel blamed the stink of the Griffin on the port of Liverpool. But as they sailed farther, in fair seas or rough, the overpowering stench was still with them. Worse, it seemed to be growing in intensity. It was a mixture of bilge water, cooking fires, the rotting food stores, and livestock smells from the goats, pigs, and chickens that were raised on board to keep up a supply of fresh milk, eggs, and meat for the captain and crew.

Mostly, though, it was the reek of people — two and eighty unwashed men on a long journey under a relentless sun. The acrid odor of seasickness could never be fully swabbed away. And as the barque was tossed by malevolent waves, even the most seasoned sailor would lose control of his stomach. Captain Blade himself was not immune. One time during a spell of rough weather, Samuel barged in on him on the floor of his quarters, retching into his chamber pot.

He leaped to his feet, scorching Samuel with eyes of fire. “You’ll not speak of this to anyone, boy, or I’ll have you flogged!”

It was not an idle threat. There were floggings almost daily on the crew deck of the Griffin. Captain Blade insisted on performing these himself, with his bone-handled snake whip.

“Ah, it feels good to stretch the old muscles,” he would grin as his victim sobbed in a pool of his own blood, his back crisscrossed with angry red stripes. “A man needs some physical activity.”

A regular recipient of Blade’s brand of “physical activity” was old Evans, the sail maker. The overpowering wind gusts of the Atlantic crossing relentlessly shredded the barque’s many sails. Though the silver-haired man labored night and day, sewing until he could barely see his stiff fingers before his failing eyes, he could not keep up with the damage.

“I’ll hang your courtly self if I don’t see the mizzen in its place before the boy brings my supper!” the captain roared. “Courtly” was the ultimate insult on shipboard. A courtly seaman was a landlubber.

In Evans’s case it was the truth. He was a farmer by trade. His landlord had evicted him from the potato fields that provided his meager living. Evans had grown too weak to work the property profitably, and he had no sons to help him. Going to sea was his only chance to provide for his wife and daughters.

In spite of their age difference, Samuel felt a bond with the much older man. Both were non-sailors who had been forced by poverty to the Griffin and its merciless captain. The ship’s boy spent most of his free time in the sail maker’s cabin, stitching canvas until his hands bled, substituting his young eyes for the old man’s dim ones.

Although Evans appreciated the help, he must have at first suspected that Samuel was the captain’s spy. The old man was always saying things like, “Captain James Blade is a right gentleman. Lucky we are to have such a fine master on the Griffin.

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