It's Lunch. That means SPAM!
You want to know what kept me up all Saturday night? So that I couldn't put Desolation Island down? Even though I *knew* that finishing it in the wee hours only meant more waiting for the postman? More wistful, non-JackandStephen hours? Do you want to be spoiled for the badness that happens to Our Boys? Because there's gonna be big spoilery spoilers. And unpleasantness. And this Spam is Officially Not Funny. Do you want to know? Do you? Huh?
Then
OH. MY. GOD.
Okay, so Our Boys are sailing in the southern forties (getting down near Antarctica-way) on their way to Cape Horn. The plan is to cut up to the Cape and get some more crew before heading on to Australia. They need more crew because there was a fever on the ship that killed maybe 40% of the men, left another 20% weakened including Pullings, and depleted Stephen's medicine chest. Oh, Pullings! They stopped off in Brazil to leave him with some nuns. We so hope he survives! Oh, Pullings!
So we're in the southern forties, cutting east. When a Dutch warship shows up on their tail. Dood. It's huge. It's got 600 men on board to Jack's 100ish. It's got 74 cannons to Jack's 50ish. It has a hugely unpronouncable and unspellable Dutch name that probably means something like "Dutchy's here to fuck you up". And the Dutch captain *really* wants to play.
Jack's brave, but he's not an idiot. He doesn't have enough healthy hands to man both the sails and the cannons. There's no way to fight, so Jack flies.
They're pretty evenly matched, speed-wise, and Jack tries every manipulation he can think of to outwit and escape Dutchy. But every time he thinks he's escaped, Dutchy's on his ass *again*. Jack decides to do something a little risky and heads south to the fifties, hoping to shake Dutchy off in the huge swells and storms. No dice.
No one's eaten hot food for days, Stephen sees an albatross, the watches are exhausted because there's no one to relieve them for more than four hours, the sails and masts are strained to the limit from the chase and the wet and the cold.
Then, in the middle of a storm, the cannon fire starts.
I'm going to leave this bit there, because you have to read it. But you can see how I couldn't leave them out there.
Then it gets even WORSE.
About two chapters later, the ship is sinking. Slowly. They're manning the pumps as best they can, they've slung a sail under the hull, hoping to stop the leak, but with little success. Hope is fading. They're still in the fifties, with the water rising every hour. Jack had a concussion, and his 1st Lieutenant has spread the rumor that he isn't quite right in the head. Shitty 1st Lt. wants to take the lifeboats and aim for the Cape, about 1300 miles away. Jack says the ship can stay afloat long enough to land at an island he knows. Jack holds order together mostly by an effort of will. He says the ship will stay afloat, so it will. It's as simple as that. But he allows Shitty 1st Lt. to take two of the life boats, leaving one behind for him and the good crew, and most of the newly pressed men go with Shitty. Jack now has a complement of about 50 men.
No one sleeps any more. Everyone, including Stephen, can only pump and man the sails and look for land while the water inches up and up and up.
How could I leave them like that? How? HOW?
Then
OH. MY. GOD.
Okay, so Our Boys are sailing in the southern forties (getting down near Antarctica-way) on their way to Cape Horn. The plan is to cut up to the Cape and get some more crew before heading on to Australia. They need more crew because there was a fever on the ship that killed maybe 40% of the men, left another 20% weakened including Pullings, and depleted Stephen's medicine chest. Oh, Pullings! They stopped off in Brazil to leave him with some nuns. We so hope he survives! Oh, Pullings!
So we're in the southern forties, cutting east. When a Dutch warship shows up on their tail. Dood. It's huge. It's got 600 men on board to Jack's 100ish. It's got 74 cannons to Jack's 50ish. It has a hugely unpronouncable and unspellable Dutch name that probably means something like "Dutchy's here to fuck you up". And the Dutch captain *really* wants to play.
Jack's brave, but he's not an idiot. He doesn't have enough healthy hands to man both the sails and the cannons. There's no way to fight, so Jack flies.
They're pretty evenly matched, speed-wise, and Jack tries every manipulation he can think of to outwit and escape Dutchy. But every time he thinks he's escaped, Dutchy's on his ass *again*. Jack decides to do something a little risky and heads south to the fifties, hoping to shake Dutchy off in the huge swells and storms. No dice.
No one's eaten hot food for days, Stephen sees an albatross, the watches are exhausted because there's no one to relieve them for more than four hours, the sails and masts are strained to the limit from the chase and the wet and the cold.
Then, in the middle of a storm, the cannon fire starts.
I'm going to leave this bit there, because you have to read it. But you can see how I couldn't leave them out there.
Then it gets even WORSE.
About two chapters later, the ship is sinking. Slowly. They're manning the pumps as best they can, they've slung a sail under the hull, hoping to stop the leak, but with little success. Hope is fading. They're still in the fifties, with the water rising every hour. Jack had a concussion, and his 1st Lieutenant has spread the rumor that he isn't quite right in the head. Shitty 1st Lt. wants to take the lifeboats and aim for the Cape, about 1300 miles away. Jack says the ship can stay afloat long enough to land at an island he knows. Jack holds order together mostly by an effort of will. He says the ship will stay afloat, so it will. It's as simple as that. But he allows Shitty 1st Lt. to take two of the life boats, leaving one behind for him and the good crew, and most of the newly pressed men go with Shitty. Jack now has a complement of about 50 men.
No one sleeps any more. Everyone, including Stephen, can only pump and man the sails and look for land while the water inches up and up and up.
How could I leave them like that? How? HOW?