Pirated Love (31 page)

They watched the ship intently.  Of course, it was not the first ship they had seen at sea in the many months of sailing they had done.  In fact, they had hailed a couple of them carrying the British flag to send letters back to England, where they would eventually make their way to the Americas and Canada.  Some of the sailors under Claire’s tutelage sent letters for the first times in their lives to their wives or sweethearts.  They could only hope their wives and sweethearts could find someone to read it to them.  Many had started with, ‘I know this must come as a surprise that I am writing to you....’

Tina did not know if it was because they were approaching Indian waters and the vast British Empire that encompassed so many territories, or if it was because she was naturally alert, but she felt something in the air as they sailed across the Arabian Sea to Bombay, their first port.  They would take cargo ashore here and arrange for cargoes if they could not find them in an expeditious manner.  They would return in a few months after the last of their goods from the Americas was discharged in the Far East.  This would mean that larger cargoes could be loaded, but it also had the potential for spies to report their presence, and they could very well be arrested for trespassing on the EIC’s almost exclusive territories.

People who had not been to India could not understand the diverse cultures that lived in this vast land.  Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism were the four major religions.  The British, in their arrogance, felt they could inflict their brand of Christianity on the masses.  They had not made much headway, but you would not know that from their rhetoric.  Tina trod very carefully among the various factions in her dealings.  A woman in trade, much less a sea captain, was highly suspicious.  Bombay was near enough to Arabia that some women wore face coverings and Tina adopted this mode of dress to hide her features.  The first time Claire saw her, she was shocked at the transformation.  No one who did not know Tina’s marvelous eyes would know it was her.  Her bright red hair was completely hidden, much less her other striking features.  Under the full-length robe she wore were her pants, her sword, her knife, her knee-high boots, and her frilly blouse.  The only thing she did not wear was her crossed scimitars; they did not fit under the outfit.

Using an interpreter could be a tricky thing as well; finding an honest person who spoke the various dialects, and a language that the captains or Tina also spoke, could be difficult.  It helped that some of the major languages in Europe were spoken here due to the continued presence of English, Dutch, Portuguese, and other European nations in this rich country.

Still, they attempted to use some of the people they had met in the past or some who had been recommended to them by other trustworthy ship’s captains and other sailors.  Some deals were struck, some cargo offloaded, and some stowed on board the various ships, distributed so that no one ship had the entire fortune that they were accumulating in trade.

* * * * *

Claire found it fascinating as she got her first glimpses of the country of India.  Tina was a font of information and the books they had on it terribly inadequate.  Tina purchased an outfit for Claire which she found stifling, but hiding her identity as a woman first was important, and she had not ignored the things Tina had warned her about.  This part of the world was male dominated, and while Tina still managed to do business here, it was through men who worked for or with her.

The few times she was allowed to go ashore, Claire found it was drier on the western part of the country.  She was assured there were mountains to the north.  As they traveled down the western side of the country, it became humid.  From what Tina explained to her, it was tropical like a lot of the Caribbean.  One of the oddest things she found was the fact they celebrated Christmas, and there was absolutely no snow.  It was so hot as to almost be stifling and hard to breathe.  The seasons were the opposite of England.  They had snow only in the northern mountains, and instead had plenty of rains in the tropics.  They had to be well gone before the monsoon season arrived, approximately in June.  Tina wanted to be to the Far East and back for the rich cargoes she was arranging so they could sail on and be gone before someone betrayed them to the authorities.  Someone was always watching; someone was always willing to betray for money.

Claire found Tina to be terribly paranoid as they continued to sail around the country and stop at the ports they had set out.  She decided to send two of her boats on so they could skip the next city and then the two she had sent on could meet them up in Calcutta.

Claire was amazed at the incredible poverty she could see when she was allowed to go ashore.  It was much more blatant than anything she had seen in England.  There were so many more people too.  Well- veiled to protect their identities, the men were also strangely garbed in turbans, and a few of them wore a type of robe as well.  Underneath it all they were well armed as even their contacts or friends could turn on them.  They turned aside as British soldiers walked the streets, ostensibly to protect the peace, but more to bully the people and keep them under British rule.

The open markets amazed and delighted Claire.  The prices were so cheap she wanted to fill chests full of the incredible delights they had to offer: from jewelry to extremely rare spices and beautiful silks.

“We can get some of these things now, as we do not know if or when we will return to shop again,” Tina murmured quietly in English to Claire, trying not to be overheard.  The merchants were from all over and one never knew what languages they could speak or understand.  One of Tina’s crew carried her scimitars in his hands at all times in case she needed them, as she herself could not carry them without looking suspicious.  They purchased many things that caught Claire’s eye, some for future trade and some for herself.  She had never indulged herself before, and Tina enjoyed spoiling her.

Tina relished seeing the delight on her wife’s face and seeing the world laid out before her in the stalls and markets.  The foods and the exotic fruits were fun to try, but better to be taken back to their ship in case they did not agree with them or they offend someone unintentionally.

Tina could not shake the feeling they were being watched and she conveyed her concerns to the other captains and her men, warning them to be extra careful.  Many times, this sixth sense had saved them all from capture or further problems when in a foreign country.  The men wanted to blow off weeks of hard work at sea, and while Tina wanted everyone to be discreet, she let them know she would not blow them out of a British prison until she came back,
if
she came back, if they got caught being a little too exuberant in their leave ashore.

Tina was a hard captain, but fair.  While many of her crew were eternally grateful for her having saved them from worse fates, they knew she would not hesitate to drop them if they did not obey her directives.  Avoiding detection at all costs was her prevalent edict.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

To Claire, they did not stay long enough in India.  She could have spent years there seeing the sights, the unique architecture, the exotic foods and people, and the incredible treasures, some of which were even now in trunks in their holds.  The weeks they spent sailing around the immense country were filled with laughter and loving with Tina, who knew stories and shared them with her willingly; frequently the crew contributed.  There was, however, a feeling in the air for all of them, almost as if they were waiting for...something to happen.  As they sailed away from Calcutta, east across the Bay of Bengal, and out again into the Indian Ocean towards China, they all breathed a sigh of relief as this oppressive feeling slowly left them all.

Claire looked forward to the sights and sounds of China, and pestered everyone with questions about their destination.  Not a lot was known about the country which had barred foreign trade for years until attacked and forced by countries such as Britain, who, under the guise of ‘protecting’ their interests, fought for the right to trade for the riches that abounded in the Far East.

It was incredible to Claire, as she began to see ships that looked nothing like the European ships she had seen in the Americas, Europe, and even Africa.  They seemed more primitive, definitely older, and simple in comparison to the big ship that was Tina’s pride and joy.  They dwarfed the various ships that they began to encounter as they headed further east.

“Fishermen,” Tina told her when she asked if they were all traders.

“Aye, but some may be pearl divers too,” James teased.  He had told Claire of the immense wealth below the surface of the sea, especially in the Arabian Sea when they went through it.

“The real pearl divers are even farther east than what we are traveling,” Geoff the cook told her.

They told of lions, and gold cities, and incredible palaces, as well as riches such as pearls, jewels, and other rare metals.  Claire was not sure where tales began and true stories ended.  It quite overwhelmed the senses.

Tina began to go ashore in smaller villages before the larger cities came into view.  She would only take one boat at time, her others laying offshore and over the horizon so as not to frighten the villagers into thinking they were being attacked, although Tina’s Black Betty was certainly capable with its accompaniment of cannon.

Since it was impossible to speak all the dialects that were spoken in the vast country known as China, a lot of hand signals and pantomime were enacted, the same thing they had found in India.  Occasionally they found someone who might speak English or French or Portuguese, but that was rare until they got to the major cities.  Tina was careful about going ashore, but she managed to get some truly priceless trades for her cargoes.

As they sailed one by one into port, they positioned themselves to help one another if needed, but also pretended they did not know one another so as to raise no one’s suspicions as they began to contact factors for trade.

Once the word was out that Tina had ginseng to trade, the factors came to her to solicit her business.  The spices, the silks, the porcelain, and the tea they traded for would bring an absolute fortune in England and Europe if they could trade on the continent.  France would be off limits for many years due to the wars, but other countries would welcome their cargoes if they were not stolen from them by the governments.  Tina was naturally distrustful and preferred using alternate means rather than alert officials to her presence.  Her pirating days being behind her did not mean that others accepted that of her, and while she was legitimately trying to become a merchantman, her instincts honed as a pirate would remain with her the rest of her life.

It took them many weeks to trade all of the rest of their cargo once the ginseng was long gone.  Chinese, and even some of the Indians, highly prized this root that grew in the wilds of the Americas.  Tina had remembered this and put the word out that she would trade for it if people would harvest it.  Her cargo had been a fortune of roots.  She was now trading other lesser but necessary items that were not found here so far from the source.  New England goods were sought after and highly valued.  In exchange, the spices, cloths, and other oddities were welcome in her holds; there would be no need for the ballast that some ships had to carry to balance their loads.

“Mayhap you can find some Cantonese Groin,” one of the men called to Tina as they sailed into the large harbor near Hong Kong.  There were hundreds of boats, ships, and what the Chinese called a junk-a boat with a strong hull to combat the strong waves and violent storms in this part of the world.  The ships also had a bulkhead, a partition in the interior of the hull that went across, and sometimes along the length.  They made it rigid and gave the boats watertight compartments, something Tina had learned years ago while sailing with her grandfather and had adapted to her own boat.  It was invaluable when a leak at sea needed repair.

Tina chuckled with the rest of the men who heard his sally.  She saw the puzzlement on her wife’s face so she explained, “It is a dildo in this part of the world.”  To her delight, Claire flushed at the man’s teasing now that she realized what it was.  “Sometimes they would use a plant,” she further explained.  Claire walked away in her embarrassment, ending the conversation, but it did not mean when they were in private that she was not curious.

“Do they have other kinds?” she asked, as she touched the one they had just used so vigorously between them.

Tina laughed at her wife’s enthusiasm and obvious interest.  “We will shop for them, I promise you.”

* * * * *

“No, you do not want to go in there,” Tina laughed as Claire walked towards a building with a distinct odor coming from it.

“Why, what is it?” she asked, wrinkling her nose as she watched sailors going inside, some coming out with a stagger unlike when they were drinking.

“It is an opium den,” Tina explained, and then at Claire’s puzzled look, she went on to explain.  “They make it from the poppy flowers.”  She explained what they looked like and Claire nodded.  She went on to explain that most of the Chinese did not think much of it because it was expensive, but it was enjoyed by sailors who would use up every bit of their pay.  She gestured to the men going in and out of several establishments she was avoiding.  “The doctors in England call it laudanum.  They are black pills that they call ‘Stones of Immortality’ since you might do things on them you otherwise might not do.”