Chapter 7: The haul

The Captain was happy to see me in the morning with my breakfast tray and accepted my humble apology for disobeying her. She gleefully teased me about it (and the drinking of Holly's piss) before checking the nightly reports and having her morning shower. By the time the Captain had completed her inspection, including a random pubic hair examination (of which all the girls that she checked passed), the Sun had disappeared and was hidden by dark thunderclouds. A few of the pirates eyed the skies nervously as the clouds came overhead and as the first drops of rain bounced off the wooden floor of the main deck, the Captain and Commanders strode to the entrance the corridor to seek shelter.

The vast majority of the girls sought cover immediately but as I sauntered through the cool rain saw Georgina starting to climb up the ladder to the Crows Nest. The Captain, who was sorting through her papers was happy for me to document the results of her inspection earlier. She spoke little but any conversation was made in raised voices, what with the sound of the rain thundering against the walls of the cabin.

I also tidied her cabin, sorted her clothes out, retrieved her clean uniforms and brought up a tankard of clean drinking water and lunch, before she tired of my presence and sent me out to help on the main deck to find Tara.

The rain had stopped briefly, but the clouds in the sky were dark and overcast, and it was only a matter of time before they started again. The main deck was perilously slippy but it was the sight of several drenched pirates that caught my attention. The clothing already well fitted, was skin tight and the top completely see-through :- just like they had all taken part in a wet T-Shirt contest!

I was disappointed to see Tara, who was busy in the Navigation Room, had not been caught in the storm, but was cheered up when instead of continuing my 'training', agreed that it was lunchtime and we got a bite to eat.

After lunch, I ran errands for just about everyone, from retrieving drinks for the crew on the main deck to helping pull in one of the sails and giving messages to everyone. I even had to clean out the toilets on deck – a job that was not as bad as I first thought it would be. The sea air dissipated any smells and they had been thoroughly cleaned by Holly when in port only a few days previous.

I was a little disappointed when the Commander ordered me to bring the girls on deck a fresh change of clothing after another downpour, but did enjoy the sight of them changing. My ogling nearly earned me a whipping from Commander Helen but Tabatha and her crewmates didn't object in the slightest.

As the afternoon dragged on, the sky turned darker, and fog began to appear. Visibility on the main deck was poor and there could have been a cargo ship laden with priceless artefacts no more than fifty feet away and I am not convinced we would have seen it.

I had barely finished my dinner when Lieutenant Anne asked me to take a parcel of food to Georgina at the top of the Crows Nest. The bad weather in the morning had meant that Georgina had been ordered not to come down until explicitly told to do so, which I was doing. She was to come down at sunset.

Climbing the ladders in the fog was surprisingly easy, with it cooling my sweaty body as I climbed and at short distances not interfering with my vision in the slightest. The Crows Nest, a faded dot on the Upper Deck was soon in focus and I was clambering up the last ladder and towards the trapdoor in the floor.

'Evening', I said to Georgina as I came up and made her jump. It never ceased to surprise me how easy it was to make the navigator in the Crows Nest jump whenever I joined them in the basket, and Georgina swore at me as I climbed alongside her.

Her annoyance at me soon disappeared as I took food out of my backpack and passed them to her. She joined me on the floor of the Crows Nest and eagerly took the pie, chips and beer from my hands and began devouring them.

'Seen much', I asked her.

Georgina shook her head, swallowed half of a particularly big piece of pie, and then spoke, her mouth still full of food. 'Fluck Kall'

'Fog, eh?'

Georgina nodded and I peered over the edge of the basket, not wanting to continue with what would be a highly one-sided conversation while she was eating. I could barely make out the deck on the ship, but could see the ocean a mile or two away.

'Heh Georgina. Why can't I see the ship deck but can see the water over there'

Georgina shook her head and swallowed her last bit of food. 'It's all to do with the fog', she told me, that indicated that she didn't really know herself.

I went back to watching the ocean. I could see fog in every direction but as I peered into the translucent mist, I spotted a speck on the horizon.

'Have you got the binoculars?', I asked and Georgina passed them up to me while she was happily swigging the beer I had brought her.

'What can you see?', she asked me as I peered at the speck I had seen, which through the binoculars just looked like a bigger speck. I stared at it for a moment hoping my eyes would make out some sort of shape.

'Is that a ship?', I asked her eventually as I couldn't make out what it was.

Georgina scrambled to her feet and took the binoculars from me.

'Over there', I told her, pointing to my right.

'It's a cargo ship. And its only a mile away ... quick lets tell the Captain'

'I was told to let you know to stay there until sunset'

'Shut up and MOVE', she said, dismissing me and pushing me out of the way.

I followed her down the ladder and reached the Upper Deck just a minute after her. The Captain, Commander Helen, Tara, Georgina and Lieutenant Anne was all peering out to sea on starboard side of the Upper Deck.

'It's definitely there', I heard Georgina say. 'John spotted it and I checked'

'Right. Georgina and John ... back to the Crows Nest. I want updates every hour. We will strike at sunset so lets try and stay a little out of sight. Use the bell or John if you need to get a message to us ... Commander, I want every one of our crew resting and ready to strike. Evening's entertainment is cancelled ... Tara and Anne, I need you to steer the boat. Any problems go to me. Immediately. Understood?'

'Yes Captain', came the response from all four of her crew. The Captain spotted me at the base of the ladder and came over to me with Georgina.

'Nice work, Cabin Boy. You seem to be a bit of a lucky charm in the Crows Nest'

'Thank you Captain', I replied, and less than one minute after I finished descending the ladder, I was climbing back up it.

I was at the top in no time and saw the speck easily. I had moved a bit closer and Georgina reckoned we would need to alter course slightly. Using a bell that was hanging over the side of the basket she rang it four times with varying gaps in between and then repeated this three times.

'What were you doing?'

'Ssssshhhhh', she told me and strained her ears on the wind.

Then, as clear as day, came back the same pattern.

'They've got it', she told me, and went back to watching the speck.

I never had had much to do with Georgina and she looked like an older version of Tara, but she was completely different. Tara and Rhona were very career-focused whereas Georgina was far more laid-back and began chatting eagerly about herself. Like Tabatha, Georgina was very much a chatterbox, and spoke at length about her life. I felt weird with her discussing her 'conquests' but found out that she was saving hard so that she could buy a pub in her home town of Cadder.

She also attended the same school as me, and was only in the year above me until she left the town aged 12. One of her friends was my sister and had she stayed in the town it could have been Georgina instead of Wendy that had introduced me to the world of the female form.

Georgina rang the bell periodically in between our conversations as the vessel drifted away from the cargo ship.

She also took the opportunity to quiz me about my opinion of Tara. It felt uneasy explaining my angst about entering, or at least trying to, a relationship with Tara, with her given the negative effect it could have on her career, but Georgina confided that had never seen her little sister so excited about a guy before. I still didn't know what she saw in me though.

'Because every guy she has ever been with doesn't understand the Navy or what goes on here. They don't like the weeks away on end, the infidelity, the whole lifestyle. And then you come along. You're nice to her. You get on with her. And you can come packaged up with the Navy and understand what it is like. You are her ideal bloke but then you turn her down'