Part 8 --Destination Valereena--

''"Arthur" Dad said. "Yes?" I replied. "I simply cannot believe what you did there, magnificent" He Appreciated. "Thank you" I replied. "Captain!" The guard shouted. "Yes?" He responded. "Military ship on the horizon! She's coming towards us!" The guard told him. "For what reason?" Asked dad. "No one knows" He responded. I went to the quarterdeck and asked dad about their talk, he responded "You see that ship over their?"''

"Yes"

"Thats the HMS Magnificent" "Oh" Said I. He continued "She's a 38-gunned frigate, 18 broadside cannons each, coming towards us for something"

''The thing hing I learned new from that talk, was that she was a frigate with 38 cannons coming towards us. As the Magnificent came closer than before, her crew furled the sails. "Furl the sails and lower the anchor. Come to halt" Dad ordered. "Aye!" Responded the crew. The crew did their job, and I didn't come because I was too lazy, heh heh! The ships lowered their anchors and the captain of the frigate came to the Starlight's quarterdeck and said this to my dad "Good afternoon gentleman" "Good afternoon captain, why are you here?!" Replied dad. "We where here to say that please move out of this area. A Frigate of the Marcusburg navy GMS Hawk is in these waters. We where on the search for finding the exact location of frigate until we found your Barquentine" He answered. "Thank you sir! You have probably saved our lives" Dad thanked the navy captain. "Raise the anchor and drop the sails, let's leave this area shall we" Dad commanded. Our ship started sailing and the frigate too. We slowly moved away. For the next 2 hours I worked with the crew. It was kind of fun because that your working with others to do a hard task and succeeding it, or should I say "Hard Teamwork". After 10 more minutes of adjusting the masts and sails, sweeping and rigging. I became way too tired, so I sat down on a barrel for a rest. The crew did the same and sat on the deck or just lie in their hammocks below deck. Everyone looked bored so the shantyman came and sang to pass the time. "Are you ready boys? We'll now sing a few shanties to pass the time" He said. "Aye, we are ready" The crew replied. And then the shantyman started:''

"I'm singing this one to the one I love best"

"And her picture is tattooed all over my chest"

"Hay ho little fishes, don't cry, don't cry"

"Hay ho little fishes, don't cry, don't cry"

"I've a picture of her mother also on my back"

"And on my stomach flies the Vallish Jack"

"There are fish in the sea there's no doubt about it"

"Just as fine as the ones that ever came out of it"

"Little fish when she's caught she fights like a whale"

"That thrashes the water with her mighty tail"

"The ship's underway and the weather is fine"

"The skipper's down aft hanging out other lines"

"The crew are happy and the ocean's at rest"

"And I'm singing this song to the one I love best"

"Little fishes, Little fishes, I love you the best"

''Dad clapped at us "Wonderful tune" "Thanks captain" the shantyman said. "And now who wants to listen to the story of Reuben Ranzo?" The shantyman asked. "Me! Me!" We replied. "Alright, I know y'all never heard this one before, so just say "Ranzo, boys, Ranzo" after I say a line, okay?" He said. "Aye" We replied.''

"Oh, poor man Reuben Ranzo"

"Ranzo, boys, Ranzo"

"His story will make you go "O"

"Ranzo, boys, Ranzo"

"Oh, Reuben was a tailor"

"Ranzo, boys, Ranzo"

"He shipped on board a whaler"

"Ranzo, boys, Ranzo"

"But he could not do his duty"

"Ranzo, boys, Rando"

"He couldn't even play footy"

Ranzo, boys, Ranzo"

"And they gave him lashes twenty-eight"

"Ranzo, boys, Ranzo"

"They thought it was great"

"Ranzo, boys, Ranzo"

"But not for poor guy Reuben Ranzo"

"Ranzo, boys, Ranzo"

"The captain saw him in pain and said "Oh no"

"Ranzo, boys, Ranzo"

"Now, the captain being a good man"

"Ranzo, boys, Ranzo"

"He took him in the cabin"

"Ranzo, boys, Ranzo"

"He taught him navigation"

"Ranzo, boys, Ranzo"

"To fit him for his station"

"Ranzo, boys, Ranzo"

"Now, Ranzo he's a sailor"

"Ranzo, boys, Ranzo"

"He's a chief mate on that whaler"

"Ranzo, boys, Ranzo"

''I could see the joy on the crew's faces. The shantyman, now with his voice down said "Now that's enough, your ears got what they wanted and now chill and do something else". We all sighed. A couple of sailors gambling to have fun, but by the look of their faces, it didn't seem like they where enjoying to as much as they did from listening to the shantyman, by the way, what was his name? I didn't knew, so I asked the man, the myth, the shantyman, Henry Coffin. He answered to me that, and I couldn't believe he was Henry! Henry is a famous singer of our town, why didn't dad said he hired Henry Coffin. I quickly went inside the cabin and said that to Amelia. She was in shock. "Oh my, I can't believe, I want his sign!" "Do as you wish" I said. I went outside and asked dad why he didn't say to me. He replied "I thought you already knew by his face" "No that's not, back then he had long hair and a stubble, now he has short hair and he grew a rabbi beard" I said. "Exactly" Dad replied.''

''"Captain! A Marcusburg vessel on the horizon!" The cabin boy reported. "Marcusburg? Oh no, oh that's bad, very bad!" Dad replied in shock. "Please tell me what's her class, I don't have a spyglass" He asked in fear. The Cabin boy replied "Looks like a.. Caravel, wait no, she's a Xebec, yes. Probably a slave ship trading black men, but the thing is she's coming closer" I could tell from the face of my dad that he was very worried. The Xebec was black-red painted, probably to make the 2nd deck hotter and for the slaves to suffer. Honestly I don't think that black people should be treated this way. They are just humans who have black skin. Ugliness doesn't mean that they are devils, even Valereena has a strict law that black people shouldn't be discriminated, or else their face is painted black and then they ride a donkey across 1 or 2 cities. In fact we are the only country to ban slavery and racism other than Arabia.''

''The Xebec sailed sailed closer than ever. Closer than ever to us. I could hear their captain scream “Fire”. I’ve never heard cannon fire before, and now I’ve heard it, and it was loud, like 170 decibels, almost deafening my ears. They fired a 6 cannon broadside to us. 2 of them missed, 3 of them bounced of the thick armor or just did no damage. But the 6th cannonball fired hit right at the bottom, damaging the the cargo hold, and I saw a few dry chillies fall in to the sea. Dad, in fright, screamed and ordered “Ahh! Please! take the two reserve cannons and load them with round shots, and man the swivels with their ammo. Quick!” The crew replied “Aye”. I was confused that there where cannons on this ship, why didn’t dad tell me, 2 days before our journey he told me that there are no cannons on the new ship, to make the ship faster and have better space. My guess is that he bought cannons at Yorkston. All of our guns roared, just a 3 cannon+swivel broadside. The bar shots hit the masts of the Xebec, and crippled it heavily. Causing it to slow down. The two cannon balls flew over the front deck. One of them sadly hit a crew man and his head decapitated from his body. It was terrifying to see that. “Load them again, then fire” Dad ordered. The swivel loaded quickly but the cannons took 1-2 minutes to load. The swivel fired and the bar shot missed. This time the crew loaded shrapnel, dad didn’t order them to do so. When they fired the shrapnel, it didn't sound that loud, but the scenes made up of it. If anyone knows what shrapnel does, then you must know the scenes. So just after on second of sight, I was horrified. "Good job, It seems like the enemy has lost a third of their crew, and the Xebec is now almost out-manned because of the crew loss" Dad happily said. "Captain! She's running away!" A deckhand ran to the quarterdeck and informed "She might report to the Marcusburg navy". "That's bad" Dad worried. "Turn to starboard and flee the danger area, after we cover 12 miles, we'll turn port to Valereena" "Aye" A sailor said. And we fled the area.''

''"Hey Arthur" Dad said to me. "Yes?" I replied. "Could you do me a favour of unfurling the front fore-aft sails with the Boatswain to turn the ship to starboard faster?" He asked. "Sure" I agreed without the knowing what fore-aft means. I only understood where to unfurl because of the "Boatswain" part. I went to the bow of the ship and began to raise the sails. Meanwhile Henry came and sang to make the job done faster, because that's what they mostly do, I probably have missed more than half of the shanties he sang when the crew was doing the work. After he sang his first line, everyone said "Ay", so I said "Ay" with them as the response. So I followed them too.''

"To my"

"Ay"

"And we'll furl"

"Ay"

"And pay Paddy Doyle for his boots"

"We'll sing"

"Ay"

"And we'll heave"

"Ay"

"And we'll hang Paddy Doyle for his boots"

"We'll heave"

"Ay"

"And we'll swing"

"Ay"

"And we'll all stop an' end the sing"

''I swear, that got the job done way faster and easier. Meanwhile the crew was moving the boom of the other masts and thus we turned hard to starboard. "Unfurl the front fore-afts now" The Quartermaster told us. "Aye" The three of us replied. The problem was, the rope was way to high up for any of us to reach. A young sailor -just around age 16- decided he'll climb the mast to the boom and grab the rope down and then I and the other guy would do a quick pull. A genius idea, but I was a bit concerned because he looked inexperienced, might just be me- We all agreed on that and thus he climbed the ropes. He looked pretty scared when he was climbing up, but as he climbed higher, he gained confidence. "Got it" He said. "Now bring it down" We told to him. He then climbed back down while holding the rope, now he had to climb down, which was harder because you cant see properly back and are not used to it, and that he was holding a heavy rope as well, this didn't look it would work. When he was going down, a strong gale blew, forcing him unbalance, and thus he fell. He screamed so hard that it got everyone's attention. That mad man grabbed on the rope and held on it. My dad came to the bow and said "What on my wood is he doing". "Failing, captain, terribly" A crewman replied. The crew had a good laugh on that. At this point the sails should have been unfurled, but the thing was, he was holding a rope that didn't unfurl the sails, instead it was a rope that is used to move the masts, and moved the masts he did, which was completely useless because the sails didn't feel the wind. "Get down from the the sky you fool!" Scolded dad. That guy held on that rope for like 10 minutes until it started to tear, and tear it did. He fell from the rope and landed on his back. Must've hurt a lot, like your falling from like 10 meters. I could see the senior crew and dad boil in anger because he just destroyed an important piece of rope. "Damn you, fired right at the moment!" Dad shouted at him badly. "How many on that back, sir?" The Quartermaster asked. "50, hard ones" Dad replied. "That's too much captain, he'll probably die, we'll lose an able crewman." The Quartermaster gave dad an advice. "Smart words, I think I shall go for 30 hard lashes, he'll feel that even when he's back at home, and he'll be unable to work which is good because he's already dismissed. Little food, no rum or grog for him untill we reach Valereena, and only 2 glasses of water a day. and lastly, that man will be forced to scrub the Starlight to make her shine like one till we reach Valereena, and also must sleep in the hot cargo hold, so no more comfy hammock nights or even open deck sleeping" Dad said.''

''I don't think he should've gave a penalty this harsh, but whatever, because humans are uncontrollable when they are angry as heck. "Aye sir" The Quartermaster agreed. I could see the fear on the face of that man. One of the stronger crewmen grabbed him and ripped his shirt off, and the Quartermaster beat the sailor 30 times way too hard. When it was over, the poor man could barely even move or talk. His back was bloody and red. He was crying in pain. "Now scrub!" The Quartermaster shouted at him. When the sailor couldn't move his hand to grab scrubber, the Quartermaster beat him with the lash on his face, hardly. The man passed out for 10 minutes. When he was back into consciousness, he started his job, but he couldn't do it perfectly, he still felt the pain. It was sad sight, I'll probably see that in the navy too. Anyways now that the masts are permanently to the right (Stern view), we can't unfurl the sails when we are turning to port, and thus turn slower. Worse, we can't move forward properly with all 3 masts' sails open because one will be always making us turn to starboard, so now we have to go slower because the speed got reduced to 6 knots instead of 9 and a half.''

''"Dinnertime" The cook announced. "It's fish and chips, the hard chips". "I hate that cook" Someone muttered, probably because of the hard biskets. A deckhand distributed the food for all of us. I went to an empty rum barrel and kept my food on it. I opened my food bag and was disgusted. I got a cooked fish tail, with the hairy part removed. I hate fish tails, and I can't complain. I took the bisket, smashed my fist on it, then I ate a small amount of fish tail in my mouth and ate the medium sized bisket crumb and ate them both at the same time. And it wasn't that bad, probably because he used another type of fish. So I ate all of the food in the same way. After I ate all of it, I went inside the cabin and slept on my bed after a long day. The next morning when I woke up, I saw something strange. All of the crew and dad where talking about something. I came up to dad and asked why. He responded "In yesterday's foggy night, one man of the senior crew, The master's mate, Fell from the ship and died. We're inspecting the situation along with the Quartermaster and the night crew, because it may be a murder" That was kind of strange. I don't think a senior crewman, especially the master's mate is that inexperienced enough to fall from the ship. Possible murder, but if it's a murder, the night crew must have saw it, but no. They didn't. So the only option is, my guess: Some pirate or enemy must've shot him down from a swivel or a musket from the fog when their ship must've not be seen. I quickly told to dad about my opinion, but he replied "If an enemy ship shot him, they should've attacked us too, and because it was foggy last night, chances are that they would see our ship, or if they did, it'll be impossible to shoot down one man from that far because he'd be simply not visible, and if they got close enough to let him be in their vision, we'll see them"''

''I don't think I'll ever be one of those smart detectives in books or in newspaper comics. Anyways, where are we? close to home? far from it? or lost? I asked dad and he answered with slight frustration "Valereena is just almost an hour away, if the winds where this kind for an hour, could've been just like 40 minutes if that guy didn't ruin the sails".''