Chapter 4

Stanly wanted his wife, Elizabeth, to know where he was going so that she wouldn't worry if she didn't hear any news of him for a while. They sailed to San Diego and spent a few days there while Stanly got to "know" his wife, again. The seamen enjoyed their liberty among the cantinas, so there were no complaints about the short vacation.

They sailed north, with a stop in San Francisco to visit the gunsmith who was making the special shotguns for Stanly. Three were finished already, so Stanly took them and the 57 shells. He wanted to start training his men on the best ways to use the shotgun when boarding a pirate ship. The biggest thing he wanted to practice was NOT SHOOTING EACH OTHER! He had the men wander around the Elizabeth, carrying the shotguns, and getting used to the idea of not shooting another man who was carrying a shotgun. Some ludicrous incidents occurred, but this was the time to make the mistakes, not in the middle of a fire-fight.

None of the men were familiar with the waters north of San Francisco, so Capt. McFadden sailed them as far north as Seattle, just to get an idea of the differences between there and further south. There weren't as many islands nor as many pirates, but the ones up there, both islands and pirates, were worth the trip.

Their first contact with a pirate ship caught both sides by surprise. The lookout saw the masts of two ships over the horizon too close together to mean anything but a ship in trouble. Capt. McFadden ordered them to close with the two ships as quickly as possible so that they could investigate the situation.

The Elizabeth got very close before they were noticed by anyone on either ship, because of the heavy fighting going on aboard the smaller ship. The smaller ship was obviously a fishing boat; why would a pirate attack a fishing boat? Well, they'd find out after the fight was over.

Capt. McFadden ordered a shot fired from one of the cannons away from the action so that he could get the attention of the combatants. Well, people on both sides glanced his way, and returned to the fight! Capt. McFadden saw that his only recourse was to grapple to the larger ship and board it. The larger ship had to be the pirate; the smaller ship was too small to have enough crewmen to mount a boarding party.

Stanly issued the three shotguns they had on board, along with ammunition, to John Sessions, the mate, and to two seamen selected by Sessions. As soon as they boarded the ship, Stanly made for the poop deck and the man who appeared to be directing the pirate attack. Stanly order the man, "Stop the fighting now, or I'll blow you in half!"

The man answered, "I can't! Their blood is up, and only death will stop the fight, now!"

With a look of pure disgust on his face, Stanly delivered a load of buckshot into the other man's gut and turned to join in the fight. Stanly switched to his short sword and dispatched the helmsman, the only other man on that deck.

Stanly reloaded his shotgun and rushed to the deck of the fishing boat. By this time, most of the pirates were dead from shotgun blasts and the few remaining were being pummeled by blows from clubs and cutlasses wielded by Stanly's men. These pirates were downed in short order; the idea of a long, drawn out fight on the deck of a ship was pure fiction, especially when the numbers of combatants on both sides was so uneven.

Only two of the original crew of the fishing boat had survived the onslaught of the pirates, and they were so tired that they had to rest a while before they could be questioned. All of the pirates were dead by now, so there was time for all of the living people to relax. Capt. McFadden ordered a lookout posted and had a dollop of grog issued to all the men while they rested.

The pirates had been no more vicious than usual for pirates, but there were no living wounded. The pirates didn't fight to wound, they fought to kill! The fishing boat had started out with a captain and a crew of 6, there were only 2 survivors, neither one of which was the captain. Once these men had rested, they were questioned by Stanly and Capt. McFadden.

The two fishermen were flabbergasted that there was any ignorance of what the pirates wanted. The men explained that they were returning to port with a full catch that was worth a fabulous amount of money. If they killed all of the fishermen, the pirates could sell the catch just as if it had originally belonged to them. The buyers didn't care, all they wanted was the fish!

Capt. McFadden claimed both ships as prizes, but the two fishermen were relieved to hear that they would be returned to San Francisco and would receive their originally contracted share of the money from the catch. A prize crew was put aboard both ships, and the Elizabeth escorted them back to San Francisco.

They were shocked to find that the value of the fish was high enough to make the adventure economically worth while, but there was no salvage value to either one of the ships. San Francisco bay was still full of abandoned ships that anyone could take if he could find a crew willing to leave the gold fields. So, for now, the only value in ships was what they would be worth as buildings once they were dragged onto dry land, and this wasn't much. The original owner of the fishing boat bought it from Stanly at a small fraction of its original cost, but, at least, he got something for it.

The pirate ship was a total loss, unless Stanly could think of a use for it. Finally, he decided to sail it to San Cristabel and park it at the wharf the former pirates had used. If he held it long enough, it might be worth something when sold in Los Angeles.

Stanly and Capt. McFadden were sorely disappointed with their luck north of San Francisco. It looked like it was the Channel Islands or nothing, so they started looking at what might be found nearer home. The addition of the shotguns to his arsenal made Stanly much bolder; he felt that they could more easily attack the pirates on land, now that they had some useful firepower. He decided that they should go back to Nameless1 and work south from there.

It was now mid-summer, and they were getting into the peak of pirate season. They found another ship tied up on Nameless1, so they made plans to attack. The trick had worked so well the first time, they decided to use it again: Stanly would have two sailors row him from the Elizabeth to the strange ship, and he would use that opportunity to look her over. Once Stanly had seen the ship and could evaluate her capabilities, they would formulate a plan of attack.

This ship was about the same size as the Gertrude, and Stanly could count 8 gunports. Stanly had the boat rowed up to the side of the ship and hailed it. Somewhat to his surprise, he was invited aboard. He was fully armed, even to his shotgun and short sword, so he didn't hesitate to climb on board the Rose of Sharon. Stanly was escorted to the captain's cabin, where he was introduced to Sean O'Roark, the owner and captain.

Stanly introduced himself, and the captain responded with his name and an invitation to join him for a drink. The captain put two mugs on the table and poured out the drinks, rum and water (grog). When the captain turned his back, Stanly switched the mugs before the captain turned back to the table. The two men quickly downed their drinks, and Stanly politely refused a refill; however, the captain did have another drink.

They talked for a while about nothing in particular, then the captain got a funny look on his face. He said, "You bastard, you switched..." and fell to the deck. Stanly quickly moved to bind the captain's hands and feet and to gag him. Once this was accomplished, Stanly opened the door to the corridor leading to the ladder up to the main deck.

He was met by three sailors standing in the hallway with cutlasses drawn. They stared at Stanly for a moment, and then one of them took a mighty swing at him with his cutlass. As a matter of practical caution, Stanly had already taken his shotgun to hand before opening the door. When the sailor tried to hack Stanly with the cutlass, Stanly pulled a trigger and blew the sailor to hell where he belonged.