Chapter 3

We got to the ship well before noon; Daniel Tredway was on deck and waved at us as we approached. The sailors guarding the gangway looked up to the deck and when Daniel had nodded, they let us on board.

Daniel introduced us to some of the crew; then we were shown where we could bunk down. I made sure James was near me, I had heard about some nasty things happening to cabin boys and there was no way I was going to let anything happen to young James. I still felt I had a duty to make sure he got home to the family farm hale and hearty.

We stowed our gear and then James was introduced to the cook, who went by the name of Whitlock he was an old lad with a patch over one eye and the red ruddy nose of a drinker. I took to him straight away; he gave us bread and cheese, and water with a drop of rum.

Whitlock had been a sailor on the high seas before he had gone to work on the trading ship, we talked of places we had both sailed to and he told us of his adventures when he was a younger man. Yes, they were tall tales but I figured in thirty years’ time I would be telling yarns and tall tales so I let him rattle on until I heard the bosun’s pipes calling the crew to deck.

“Looks like it’s time for me to go,” I said and turning to Whitlock, “look after my friend and see no harm comes to him”

I gave him a look that painted a picture, a look that took no prisoners, he looked at me and he knew that I would kill him should any harm come to the boy, he gulped before he answered me

“You have my word Sir,” he said, and he patted the lad on the shoulder, “I will treat him like my own son”

“See you do, or you will have me to answer too,” I said, my voice firm and level but with enough force for him to know I was not messing around.

“You have no worries there Sir!” he replied.

I was not too worried about James in Whitlock’s company; he seemed a level headed fellow and he now knew that he was in trouble should anyone harm a hair on the boys head I headed up to the deck. All ships crews were divided into watches and I was introduced to the watch I would join, they seemed good lads. Each watch was made up of men, called hands, and they each had a set of jobs to do.

The hands were making the ship ready to set sail. Daniel Tredway was on the quarterdeck with the captain, he told me to get aloft and help with the sails. I was no stranger to the job that was for sure. I had soon climbed into position ready to start unfurling the sails.

The captain had two ships boats each attached to a towrope, they were fully manned ready to pull us out into the open water. I watched as the boats started to move forward and saw the tension in the two ropes that were attached to.

There were a few bystanders on the quay to wave us off, including a few ladies that looked like bar girls. I felt the ship move as the boatmen put all their strength into getting us into open water and into the wind. It took half an hour to get us out of the harbour. However, once we had made it out into open water the wind started to pick up and I knew that the sails would soon have us moving at a good rate.

Orders were soon being shouted and the men on the sails started to unfurl them, they were soon billowing with the wind. I slid down a rope to the deck and helped to bring the sea boats back on deck. More sails were set, and we soon had a good head of speed as we headed toward Dublin.

Daniel Tredway came down to the main deck and told me I was just to fill in where needed and to make myself useful. The trip down to Dublin would take less than four hours. I took the time to have a good look around the ship and to meet a few of the crew.

They seemed a good bunch, a good mix of youth and experience. I was sent aloft to help trim the sails and I also took a turn on the pump handles. One of the older hands told me that the old ship leaked like a straw bucket. To be fair many ships did and most ships pumps had to be used regularly.

After an hour on the pump handles my arms felt like lead, so I was glad when I heard my watch being called to dinner. It was a beef stew, full of good meat and fresh vegetables. On most ships after a week or two, at sea, the fresh food would have run out and we would be eating ships biscuits infested with weevils.

I was told that this did not happen on the Morgan as we sailed and traded up and down the coast and the cook did his best to get us fresh food when we anchored up.

James was helping to serve up the grub and he flashed me a smile. Once we had eaten, we were called back up onto the upper deck so the next watch could be fed. We were making ready to dock in Dublin. I had been told we were picking up a few barrels of whisky to take to Pembroke docks.

We docked and two armed men were put on guard, while the rest of us operated the ropes, hauled our cargo on board, and helped to stow it in the hold. It took two hours of hard work to get the precious cargo on board, as we winched the barrels on one at a time.

The old captain stood on the foredeck and watched us as each one was hauled on board and then stowed away. It was backbreaking work, hauling on the ropes and swinging the barrels aboard but it felt good to be part of a crew again.

As soon as our cargo was stowed away, we made ready to leave the port, two pilot boats were being paid to take us out of the harbour, and each was manned with twelve’s oars. Once we were in open water, the sails were unfurled, and we picked up a good wind. It took us along at a good pace. One of the watches was sent below to get some sleep, another watch was sent to start cleaning duties, and another was given downtime.

My watch helped keep the ship trim and the little jobs that all ships need. It was four hours later before my watch was relieved and I got some downtime. James and I spent some time on deck and we watched, as the coast of Wales got closer and closer.

We both knew that in a few days we would be back in Kernow, I would deliver young James home to his family and then set about my pledge to rid the world of Arthur Jacobs and his cronies.

He was eager to get back to land to see his family and I was eager to get back to meet up with Jacobs and his band of vagabonds.

That evening we ate in the galley and then headed down to our berths to get some sleep.

It was two nights of sleep later before we sailed into Pembroke docks...

James awoke me as the ships cook called him to work. As I was awake, I headed up onto the deck. The sun was just rising, and I could see the coast very clearly one of the other hands told me it was the port of Pembroke. I knew that Pembroke was in Wales, but I had never been there.

I stood on deck and watched as one of the other watches, trimmed and adjusted the sails. I could hear the pumps clanging as they were worked hard, in the ship’s bilge.

I thought of home, thought about my father, and thought about Jacobs.

The smell of cooking awoke me from my daydream I watched the coast get closer and closer until the bosun whistled my watch down to breakfast.

The ship had one hell of a cook; breakfast that morning was one of the best I have ever eaten.

I ate and went to the ship’s heads, which is what toilets are called on the ship, once I had finished my toilet I went back up on deck. We were almost ready to dock. I had been told we would only be in Pembroke for two nights.

A pilot rowed out to meet us and he helped guide us into the port. We docked just before nine in the morning. It took until lunchtime to unload the whiskey as well as a few other barrels and boxes.

One of the watches was given the afternoon off but they were warned not to come back drunk. My watch was given duties, and James went off with the cook to buy food, I was given a pistol, and stave, and then I was told to guard the gangway. Dan Tredway told me that the old captain was very worried about theft and the gangway was the only way on and off the ship. Tredway told me it was better to have two big lads on guard to ward off potential robbers. The other watches slept and took downtime. I stood at the foot of the gangway with a lad called Thomas Peck; he was the bosun’s brother and had been on the ship for three years. He was from a village five miles from Pembroke and he knew the town well.

He told me about the lads on board, and he told me about the best bars and whorehouses to visit, as we stood and guarded the precious cargo we chatted about life, ships, beer and women.

We stood for four hours and nothing happened. James and Whitlock came back with fresh eggs, milk, and bread. As the evening approached men from the first watch made their way back to the ship. Dan Tredway and Mr Morton, the master of arms stood at the top of the gangway and checked the lads back on board the ship.

Once they were all back on-board, the next watch was called to order and we were told we could eat and then we could go ashore, Thomas Peck told me we would be better off eating ashore.

I still had some silver coins left so decided to take his advice. So, he led James and me to a pie house, we all ate well on mutton pies washed down with glasses of cider. After that, he took us to a public house on the harbour and we had a few pints of ale together.

Thomas wanted to go to a whorehouse but it was not my idea of fun, I like to shag but I never pay for it and I didn’t want to pick up the clap from some old hag that had shagged half the town.

In addition, I had James with me and there was no way I would take him to a house of ill repute. We bid our farewells, he headed into the docks, and James and I decided to have a walk around the town. It seemed a nice friendly place.

We were back at the ship by ten o’clock, and after a smoke on the deck, we headed to our bunks.

The following day we cleaned, fixed, washed, and ate. Late in the afternoon, we loaded some cargo that had arrived at the dock. We created a human chain and passed the cargo from man to man, and then down into the hold.

We were told it was wool that we would be dropping off in a place called Tenby, it was another dock in Wales.

Once the cargo was all secured below the bosun called to swap the watches, once a fresh bunch of lads were on deck the captain spoke to Tredway and he called for us to ready the ship to leave.

I was below eating as the ship was pulled out into open water; you could tell we were under sail as the ship felt different from when it was being towed.

We sailed on toward Tenby; I must admit I slept for most of the journey. The following morning, I had a wash under the ships water pump before I ate a hearty breakfast. When I went up on deck Dan Tredway was already there pacing up and down the quarterdeck shouting orders to the men on deck.

A lot was going on, men were hauling in the sails, others were lowering the ship’s boats.

Dan told me we could not actually get into the harbour so we would anchor up outside in open water and then ferry our goods into the harbour using the ship’s boats. As we talked, I heard the anchor chaining crashing through its port as the anchor dropped into the water and down to the seabed.

The ship swung on its axis as the anchor bit into the seabed and the wind carried us around. Once we had come to a halt the hard work began, the cargo hatches where removed and the ship’s purser started to shout out his orders, I was told to help man one of the winch ropes, we hauled up barrels and packages that the purser pointed out.

We hauled them up from the ships hold and then swung them out over the side and lowered them onto the boats. Once a boat was full, it was rowed over to the dock and unloaded in much the same way.

For over four solid hours, we hauled the cargo from the hold. It was a hard job and by the end of it, my arms and back were burning with pain, I stunk like a dung heap and sweat was running down my face.

Once we had finished hauling on the winch ropes some men swilled off under the ships pump and some dived into the cool sea. I did the latter, I have always loved a swim, and the water looked inviting.

After a few minutes, the bosun called us back on board. The captain had planned to unload the cargo and to reload with a new batch of goods but there had been a hold-up. Therefore, we would be stopping overnight. Our new cargo was due to be delivered to Tenby’s docks from some village inland the following day.

Tredway and the master at arms decided to give one of the watches a shore pass for the evening, and luckily, for me, it was my watch. I asked Dan if I could take James with me. He agreed but only once James had finished in the galley. So later that afternoon we joined a boatload of lads and headed into Tenby. Once we landed on the beach some of the lads headed off to find a whorehouse, some men headed off to Inns.

James and I had a walked around the small town; we visited the beach and walked around the headland. Then we visited the market as James was in need of some new breeches, once we had purchased some we decided a pot of beer would go down well.

We were sitting outside a pie shop tucking into mutton pies and jugs of ale when something caught my eye. Across the market square, two men walked out of a side street and a shock wave ripped through my mind. I knew them; I was sure it was the Pugh twins. What were they doing here, I wondered to myself? To be fair I had wondered more than once if that had made it back to shore after leaving us stranded and sinking on the Pretty Polly.

“James, look over there, is that the Pugh boys” I whispered.

“Where john I can’t see them,” he said as his eyes darted left and right across the market.

“Over by the Boot stall,” I told him trying to keep my voice low and level.

“It’s hard to tell from here,” he said peering into the crowd.

“It’s them I am sure of it!” Said I, I had their faces engraved in my memory banks.

“You stop here john, I will go and take a closer look, they won’t recognise me, “he said and before I could argue he had shot off.

I watched as he wandered over and walked past them three or four times as they tried on boots. Then he walked back to me, taking a route all around the market.

“Yes john ... yes that looks like them alright,” he said his voice full of excitement, “What do we do now john?”

“We follow them, but we stay back we don’t want them to see us,” I told him. We needed to be cautious.

“Good idea” he replied.

“But James, if there is any trouble you run okay, I don’t want you to get caught up in this, it’s my fight, not yours, “I told him

“Yes mate of course,” he said but not very convincingly We got up and walked over toward them, we stayed well back as they wandered from stall to stall without a care in the world. They both bought jackets, sea-going jackets so perhaps they were going to try to reach the Americas again.

They then wandered down a side street and headed deeper into the town. Once or twice, they stopped, and we had to dodge into an alley to make sure we were not spotted by the bastard twins.

We waited at the end of one street as they drank cider outside a public house; they kept their own council and talked to no one. After three pints of cider, they moved on.

We followed them to another pub and watched as they went in, I left James by the front door, and I scouted around the back. There was an alley that led to a small yard at the back of the pub, there were some old crates and a few empty barrels by the gate, and once I was inside, I got the lay of the land.

There was a small stable and an outdoor shit house. The shit house was a typical pub shit house, a piss trough down one side, a floor covered in pools of piss and it smelt disgusting. There were three stalls that all smelt disgusting.

The stables were empty and had three or four stalls for horses, all empty, and a water butt in one corner. There was old straw bedding on the floor and a ladder at one end led to a small loft area. I took a peep in the loft; it was empty apart from some old feed sacks and a few nesting birds.

I walked back to where James was hiding. We went and stood in the entrance to a small street where we could see the pubs front door and the entrance to the alley that ran towards the rear.

As we stood and waited, I hatched a plan, the shithouse and the stable had given me an idea of how to get the jump on one of the lads, as long as I could get them apart.

The light was fading fast now as the evening came down on the town, it would be dark soon, and that would help with my plan. I had wanted to follow them into the pub, but I knew that in daylight they might see me. In a dark pub with tallow lanterns, it would be hard for them to recognise me that was for sure.

We stood, and we waited and only when the street was totally envelope in darkness did I make my move. I told James to wait for me for two hours only, after that, he should head back to the ship. Then I slipped across the road and into the bar.