(no subject)
all right, this is sort of long, so i'll put it behind a cut. I've also posted it in the hms_surprise community
Title: Like True British Sailors
Rating: PG (ish, nothing too horrible)
Summary: battle with a Spanish frigate
anyway, feed back would be great.
Like True British Sailors
Chapter 1) Sunrise at the Top
We'll rant and we'll roar like true British sailors,
We'll rant and we'll roar all on the salt seas,
Until we've struck soundings in the channel of old England
From Ushant to Sicilly, 'tis 35 leagues.
-Spanish Ladies
* * *
Standing on the deck of the HMS Surprise with his hands behind his back, Jack looked out across the rolling sea. He always liked this watch; not that he needed to take a watch as captain, but he did anyway. Jack felt that it was right. That and it also gave him the excuse to watch the sunrise every morning. It would be an hour yet, the sky was still dark, but the lights of the stars were fading. Pausing a moment, an idea suddenly came to him. 'Mind the course, Bonden. Mr. Blakeney, you have command,' Jack said quickly and rushed below.
Spending most of his life on board ships, Jack had acquired the skill of walking on the creaky deck without making a sound, as to not wake the rest of his sleeping crew. He made his way to the lower deck and stopped before the last cabin to the starboard of the gunroom. Softly opening the door, Jack stepped in the small room. He smiled slightly and shook Stephen’s shoulder. 'Stephen,' he whispered.
The doctor awake quickly and looked up, curious at this early visit. 'Jack? Is something wrong?' Stephen asked.
'No, no, nothing,' Jack replied quickly, 'I thought that you might wish to see the sunrise this morning. There are some clouds yet and the birds were already flying around when I was just on the quarterdeck. The best view is from the Top.'
Swinging off of his hammock, Stephen blinked back the sleep that was still lingering, 'That would be wonderful, thank you.'
Another few moments and both Captain and Doctor appeared once again on the Surprise’s deck. Jack looked over at the midshipman standing on the quarterdeck near the helm, and nodded. Blakeney, the boy, nodded back.
The two were just about to ascend the ropes when another head poked up from the hatch and the familiar tapping of claws on the wooden deck made it’s way over to where Stephen and Jack stood. 'Well, I don’t suppose that you expect that you’re coming too, do you?' Jack said with amusement. The sloth simply looked up at him with wide eyes.
'Come on, little friend, don’t mind him,' Stephen smiled, 'You’re quite welcome.' The sloth seemed quite pleased with that answer and padded closer.
The Top was a platform in between a mast’s course and topsail with a hole at the bottom and the ratl’ns attached to two sides. The hole was called the 'lubber’s hole' since it was mostly used by anyone other than a sailor, unless he was of higher rank. For Jack, using the lubber’s hole was still something he was getting used to, even though he had been a post captain for slightly over three years with both his epaulettes. The men typically climbed around the side, using the ropes. It wasn’t dangerous as long as one knew what he was doing. But with Stephen in tow, Jack wasn’t about to use anything other than the lubber’s hole.
Sighing contently, Jack folded his arms across his chest and looked out over the vast ocean, now reflecting the sky’s morning colours. It was true a beautiful sight, and if either of them hadn’t known any better, they could have sworn it was a painting.
While Jack was quite at home this far from the ground, Stephen still clung to the mast with one arm. He knew quite well about all of the times that Jack had spent aloft, mostly as punishment. Tom Pullings turned out to be a willing informant, not that Jack had guarded that secret well, if it could be called one. It was common to send the midshipman aloft for a day or so, especially in bad weather. And for such a large, broad shouldered man, Jack had a surprisingly good amount of balance.
'Quite a pleasant sight,' Stephen said after a moment, 'Oh! That bird there!' Pulling the glass out of his pocket, Stephen disengaged himself from the mast and the sloth that had attached itself to his leg and moved over next to Jack, keeping the glass trained on the bird. 'I had not seen one of those since we left Gibralter…' Stephen trailed off, taking the glass from his eye and looked at Jack, 'Brother, surely you would have told me?'
Jack grinned, 'I was hoping you’d notice sooner.' He pointed to starboard, there was a strip of land that Stephen had missed.
'This is a most welcome surprise Jack,' Stephen shook his head, amazed at how for being in such close quarters with Jack and the rest of the crew, they had all managed to keep the doctor in the dark about their next destination.
'Unfortunately, we won’t be staying long,' Jack replied, 'Only long enough to re-supply and get new orders. I don’t expect more than a few days.'
Stephen half smiled, 'That’s more than we had at the Galapagos.'
'Yes, well…' Jack trailed off as his attention wandered to the strip of land, it would be nightfall before they actually reached Gibralter, the land they saw now was just the coast of Portugal.
* * *
'Sail ho!'
Midshipman Peter Calamy, the officer of the watch, made his way quickly to the starboard bow. Lifting his glass, he glanced over the ship. She was large, bigger than the Surprise. Calamy hesitated and then turned. 'Mr. Pullings, sir,' he said to the Lieutenant that had just joined him at the rail, 'She carries no colours.'
'In these waters we could be faced with anything, Mr. Calamy. Send for the Captain,' said Pullings.
'Aye sir,' Calamy replied, dashing off below deck. He found the Captain in his cabin, going over charts and the morning report while the Doctor gazed out the window, talking about a certain animal that he had encountered on their last mission.
Jack hadn't even looked up when the boy knocked and entered, 'What is it Mr. Calamy?'
'There's a sail on the horizon, sir, Mr. Pullings sent for you,' Calamy reported, holding his hat under one arm.
Standing from his desk, Jack nodded, 'Thank you, Calamy, I'll be on deck presently.'
'Report if you please, Mr. Pullings,' Jack said quickly taking the glass from Calamy and gazing through. The ship on the horizon was just barely visable to the naked eye, and while the glass made it large, was it was suppost to, her alliegence had yet to be yielded.
'Just the one ship there, sir,' Pullings explained, 'But with the threat of Spain..'
'Yes, I am well aware of the Spanish, Mr. Pullings,' Jack paused and lowered the glass from his eye, but never stopped watching the ship. 'She's too far to tell. But, the wind is in our favour, her true colours will be revealed soon enough.'
'Aye, sir,' Tom nodded.
Half smiling, Jack held up his scope again, 'We may yet take a prize before we reach Gibralter.'
'A merchant.'
'Eh?'
'It's a merchant!'
'Are you sure?'
'Of course I am.'
Midshipman William Blakeney frowned, 'She doesn't look like a merchant to me.'
'You haven't been at sea as long as I have, I tell you she's a merchant. Spanish, yes, but a merchant all the same,' Richard Thomas replied, also a midshipman. Thomas was only a few years older than Blakeney, but all of his talk was mostly just show, he spent most of his time off duty finding anything but studying to do. 'See? Her colours are wrong for a military vessel.'
'There, you're wrong, Mr. Thomas,' the second Lieutenant, William Mowett, said softly so only the two boys could hear, 'She has gun ports and those are Spanish military colours.'
Jumping and saluting at the same time, Thomas suddenly felt his face turn bright red. 'Call the Captain over if you please, Mr. Blakeney,' Mowett ordered, looking through his glass again at the ship.
'Aye, sir,' Blakeney saluted and scampered down to the quarterdeck. He saluted again when he reached Jack, who was contemplating their course with Bonden, the Coxswain. 'If you please sir, Mr. Mowett wishes to see you about the Spanish ship, sir,' Blakeney said quickly.
Jack looked up, 'Carry on, Bonden.' He jogged down the deck, jumping up the stairs in a single step, one of the advantages of being tall.
'She appears to be a frigate, sir,' Mowett said quickly, pointed at the ship on the horizon that was closing the distance between them, 'Spanish coast patrol no doubt.'
The Captain nodded gazing through his glass. 'Give it about another hour or so and we'll beat to quarters, she won't let us pass so easly,' Jack reasoned, removing the glass from his eye again. 'Get us in a good position Mowett, the winds will change soon, if we have the weather gage there's no way that we can't take her.'
'Aye, sir.'
* * *