Chapter 8: H. M.S Elizabeth Ship's Crew

H.M.S Elizabeth Ship’s Crew

Jake stepped back into the passageway and leaned against the wall, his heart pounding. Seeing Merick unexpectedly tied to a chair was a shock Jake could never have imagined. Bruises covered his body, and his hair was long, filthy and tangled, his face covered with a scraggly beard. When Jake first saw Merick, he hardly recognized him. It was obvious the man had been treated badly; but try as hard as he could, Beecher felt no sympathy.

Trying to collect his thoughts standing in the passageway, Jake’s first thought was the deep anger he felt. Jake was surprised how much harm he still wanted to inflict on Merick. Eventually reason set in, and Jake realized he faced problems far worse than finding the disgraced captain bound to a chair. Whatever he wanted to do to his old skipper was not high on the list and he moved down the short corridor. Beecher had no idea what Merick’s attitude would be if he saw him, but for the time being the first mate felt it best to keep anyone, pirate, or his old captain from seeing him.

Jake’s eyes were growing accustomed to the dim passageway and nearing the end he could make out the outlines of more doors. Moving to the end, he found three doors: one on each side of the passageway, and one directly at the end. Beecher knew the cabin at the end would be the captain’s quarters, and it also had the most light surrounding the door. Jake wondered what lay behind all the doors.

Reaching the first door on the left, Jake put his ear against it. Listening, he thought he heard sounds inside. Jake discerned muted sounds of moaning, and some coughing. In the dim light, he could see it was a door, but there was no light shining around the outline. Carefully he tried to turn the doorknob, but it was locked and wouldn’t budge.

Jake moved to the door on the right side of the hallway and listened. There was no noise from inside this room, but there was a feeble light coming from the bottom of the door. Jake took a deep breath and decided to take a chance. Carefully pushing down the handle, the door opened. The sights in the room were awe-inspiring. Even though only a single candle lit the room, the room gleamed. It was full of treasure. Along one wall were barrels stacked with what looked like black powder which first mate found strange since usually powder was stored below decks, but the kegs were marked “black powder”.

Stacked against another wall were muskets along with daggers, pistols, and cutlasses. In the middle of the room were piles of various goods. Jake figured this was some of the treasure the pirates had taken from various ships they had plundered and was being stored. Scattered around the room were several open chests exposing jewelry and fine clothing spilling out, leaving part of the floor littered with various gold and silver coins. Jake quickly shut the door and turned to check out the third door at the end of the passageway.

This room was better lit than the other two because the outline of the door was sharp and distinctive. His hand reached out to touch the door handle and he heard footsteps coming down the stairs from an upper deck. The footsteps were moving towards him, which fed into the corridor, and he realized whoever it was, was coming his way. Jake heard men talking and it sounded like an argument amongst them. The passageway was now blocked, and there was just one way to go except into the new room. Without giving it a thought, he pushed down the handle and stepped into the room.

The room was bare except for two lanterns hanging from beams, and a woman was tied to the bulkhead at the far end of the room. Her clothing was in tatters and her face was dirty and bruised. She had dried blood on her chin, and from the rivulets in the dirt on her cheeks he could tell she’d been crying. It was difficult to tell what the woman looked like due to her battered condition. One breast was exposed and the other barely covered due to the tattered condition of her clothing. It appeared as if she hadn’t bathed in a long time. What was left of her dress was soiled in front and Jake realized she hadn’t been permitted to use a restroom facility very often.

Jake entered the room and when she saw him her face showed fear. She looked like she was going to scream, and Jake put a finger to his lips signaling her to remain silent. The sailor kept nodding and putting his finger to his lips until finally she gave him the smallest smile and nodded in understanding.

Standing in the middle of the room, he heard men walking down the corridor he’d just vacated. In panic he looked around until he spied a small hatch near the floor on one side of the room. Quickly he moved to the hatch and pulled it open. There was nothing behind it but he’d still faced a difficult time trying to fit inside the small space.

Jake heard the men stopping at the door and glancing around the room, he knew there was no option but try and crawl into the space. Jake gave the woman one final glance and put his fingers to his lips, signaling her to remain silent. Indicating her understanding, the woman nodded. The hatch door didn’t have any kind of pull on the inside and Jake had to try pulling the door closed with just his fingertips.

He’d barely finished when the door to the room flew open and Jake watched through the crack of the partially opened hatch. Three men entered the room and one of them stepped up to the bound woman and grabbed her exposed nipple, giving it a cruel pinch. The woman cried out, making it obvious the pirate had hurt her. One of the other pirates said in English, “You better hope the captain never finds out what you do when you come down here. I think he plans on keeping her even after they receive the ransom.”

The pirate grabbed the woman’s other breast and gave it a rough fondle. “Fuck the captain,” the one pirate spat. “I ain’t afraid of him. And, how come he gets the woman? We all want a turn with her; if you know what I mean?” His mouth twisted with a vulgar grin.

The first pirate spoke again, “Pedro, all I can tell you is you had better pray the captain never finds out what you do to her. He will hang you from the yardarm by your balls.”

The three men were standing in front of the young woman. Jake saw the third man had a plate with some food. Without releasing the woman, the third man started to feed her. When he finished, he held up a glass of something and he poured it into the woman’s mouth. Some of the food had fallen on the woman’s chest, in addition some of the liquid had spilled on her.

The pirate called Pedro stepped up to the woman; lifted her dress and wiped her face and chest. When she was clean, he grabbed her breast and fondled it again. Just before he took his hand away, he took her nipple between his fingers and pinched until the woman stood on her tiptoes and cried aloud in pain. The second man pushed Pedro away and told him to stop. “You gonna to stop me?” Pedro snarled.

“No, but I might let the captain know.” Pedro’s hand moved so quickly Jake didn’t see the knife until Pedro had flicked off a small piece of the second pirate’s ear. The second pirate’s hand covered his ear and Jake could see blood flowing between his fingers.

Pedro snarled, “That’s just a taste of what’ll happen if you ever breathe a word. I’ll cut you to pieces and feed ‘em to the sharks. Don’t ever touch me again.” Pedro turned and stormed out of the room. The pirate who was still holding the empty plate and glass looked like he was going to become sick. “Come,” he said, “let’s see if we can stop the bleeding. And I would also stay out of Pedro’s way.”

Two men left the room and the pirate with the piece of ear missing murmured, “Just wait, this is not over. One morning Pedro will not wake up. This is far from over.” As the door shut Jake thought to himself it appeared there were problems among the pirate crew. His mind was trying to come up with ways he could turn this information to his advantage. Jake felt dissention among the ranks was a good thing.