Chapter 23: Bridgetown

Exactly what the fuck was I supposed to do with a Cassandran Damsel? I certainly couldn’t rescue her, I wasn’t a Hero and didn’t have that ring I needed to use the portals even if there was a bank handy. Although ... mental note to look through all the jewelry we took off the pirates and see if there were any rings that looked like Eric’s.

Meanwhile, I was already planning on going to Bridgetown and Small Cove. I had originally wanted to go just to see what was available there. Small Cove had been the largest port on Hunter Island and the only town large enough to have a bank, but once King Tom had arrived and saved the island from the Brotherhood and then selected Bridgetown as his capitol, Bridgetown had started growing and may well be larger than Small Cove by now.

Then, after we captured Sea Fortune, I wanted to go to Bridgetown to see if we could sell it there. Having two more ships to sell didn’t change that plan at all. And, having a Damsel to unload on Sir Tony or King Tom or whoever was there didn’t change anything, either.

So, once we decided that Flying Arrow wasn’t going to sink on us, we all headed north for Bridgetown. Our crew got spread pretty thin between four ships. The Guard did too. Who in hell decided that I only needed 10 shieldmen to go hunting pirates with?

The answer to that was that I wasn’t supposed to be hunting pirates. This wasn’t an operational cruise. We were only going out to see how everything worked. Maybe we could hire some more hands in Bridgetown.

Our officer corps got really thin. I lost Jono to command one of the new prizes and Filo had to give up his first lieutenant, Matto. Filo got to keep Mr. Black as a sort of acting sublieutenant. Just for safety, Filo kept a shieldman on the quarterdeck any time Mr. Black had the watch.

I was left with Michael as an acting lieutenant, with Garth and Jen filling in as needed. All three had served on fishing boats in their youth, but I was the only one familiar with our rig and I didn’t know this planet. At least I got the Commander and half of the Guard back.

Not that I was an expert on brigs. Square sailing rigs weren’t common on Earth any more since they were so crew-intensive. Once material science had advanced to allow lightweight aluminum spars and synthetic fibers for lightweight sails, a simple sloop-rig could do almost anything a square rig could do. I personally had never sailed on anything larger than a sloop with a single mast, a single mainsail, and a single jib. Still, I’d read enough to know what they were supposed to do if not quite how it happened.

All the captives from Flying Arrow, about 15 or so, wanted to move to my ship. Well, there was certainly room for them! We were also able to put Blue Wave’s crew back to work running their ship again. Well, it wasn’t their ship any more, but they knew the ship. The surviving pirates from Blue Wave were split between it and Flying Arrow so they would have someone to handle the lines and the oars, about 6 to each.

Thankfully, we didn’t get into any more fights before we reached Bridgetown. We saw another sail on three different occasions, but they all turned tail and ran from our fearsome four-ship squadron.

We ended up hanging a hammock over my desk area, hanging some cloth for privacy, and calling it Donna’s cabin. If she didn’t like listening to me and Ceecee, tough.

Bridgetown was a disappointment. It was bigger than Widemouth, sure, but not by that much. The real difference was that it was next to a bay instead of two miles up a river with a current. Bridgetown was a bustling, booming seaport while Widemouth probably wasn’t ever going to grow much larger without a good reason.

The town guard sounded the alarm, of course. They probably thought that we were the original four pirate ships, come back to try again. Didn’t Sir Tony tell them what happened? Although, in one sense they were right. All four of our ships had been under pirate control in the recent past.

Rather than trying to pull up to their docks and probably all get killed, we all anchored out in the bay and I sent Filo and Jono in one of our boats to go tell them who we were. Filo and Jono and one of our crewmen had been here before.

Meanwhile, we all gathered around for a big powwow. Officers, men, captives who had become free, pirates who had become captives. The pirates we had captured were going to be slaves. There was only one way out of that, and that was to die. Any pirate had the right to make that choice at any time and we’d take care of it for him.

We should, however, give them a choice between being a slave belonging to some merchant or farmer who spent the rest of his life as a laborer, or a slave belonging to me who spent the rest of his life as a seaman. I knew it wasn’t right, they should all spend their lives replacing the people and animals they had killed, but I was going to try to build a navy and I’d need skilled seamen to do it.

So, I was going to ask for volunteers from among the pirates who wanted to stay onboard as sailors instead of getting off the ship here at Bridgetown. Once we got organized I’d treat them the same as any other sailor including their pay, but they were going to be marked as slaves and if they ever left the ship without permission they would be slain on sight. I agreed that it wasn’t a good deal, it was a horrible deal, I knew that, but if they wanted to be sailors it was a better deal than what the island people would do to them.

Some of the freed captives objected to any of the pirates escaping justice. They got laughed at by just about everyone else. This was not a good deal.

“Listen here. Where I come from we once had a philosopher named Ben Johnson who had to travel by ship once. When he got home again he swore he’d never set foot on a ship again, that being on a ship was just like being in jail except with an added chance of drowning.”

That got more laughter, from just about everybody this time. Right. Sentenced to slavery onboard ship was NOT a wise career choice.

Filo and Jono came back in a couple of hours, saying that we had permission to dock but only one ship at a time. Well, that will make things awkward. You did tell them that we want to sell these ships, didn’t you? Yes, but they want you to unload your cargo first so they can tax it.

I decided that I’d better take Wrong Place in first so that I could talk to whoever was in charge. We didn’t HAVE any cargo to unload and sell. We might sell some of the things the other ships were carrying, but not Wrong Place. All the pirates were going to stay behind on one of the other ships. Donna and all of the other rescued captives would come with us. Any of them who wanted to take off as soon as we docked was free to go. Anyone who wanted a ride to Small Cove or back to Widemouth when we went, well, they would have to wait until we went.

I left Filo in charge of the three prize ships, along with the Guard Commander to ensure there was no trouble. I took Jono with me, though, so I’d have someone who had been there before.

Docking was no trouble at all, with no river-current to worry about. There was a little wind, but we had our oars and could easily put the ship right where Jono said we were supposed to go. There sure were a lot of people there to greet us!

There were dignitaries, there were guards, there were merchants who wanted to buy our cargo, there were merchants who wanted us to buy THEIR goods. And all kinds of people who just wanted to see the ships from Widemouth, of course.

There were people standing by who grabbed lines when we threw them and wrapped them around pilings. There, we were moored. Done.

There was a work crew with a gangplank. When I saw them pick it up, I asked the guards to not let anyone onboard without my specific permission. I couldn’t help but look over at the two launchers to ensure for the fortieth time that they were covered up under tarps.

Of course, the very first thing to happen once the gangplank was in place was a group of soldiers running up with swords drawn, demanding that we disarm ourselves. My Guard reacted to this by drawing their own swords, for the four shield-men, and lowering their spears, for the three militia men right behind them. The other five militia drew their bows and nocked arrows.

There was a lot of yelling and jockeying for position. All the yelling came from the pier and the gangplank, though. My people didn’t have any reason to yell, and they were listening for orders anyway. Good people.

After a few minutes I decided that there wasn’t going to be any leadership provided by the town. I gestured for a speaking-trumpet, pointed it at the pier, and yelled as loud as I could “Every one of you idiots shut up!”

That got some silence. “Did you notice that my crew wasn’t yelling? All the noise came from you idiots. How can you possibly claim to be organized if your people are making so much noise that they can’t hear any orders you might want to give?”

I gave them a few seconds, long enough for someone in the group of soldiers to start demanding that we disarm. Again.

“Shut up! If we didn’t do that the first ten times you demanded it, why would you think we would do it the eleventh time? Shut up, listen, and think. Now, is there anyone in that rabble who thinks that they are in charge here?”