Pirates of the Storm (Stranded In Time Book 1) (24 page)

Coxen barely took notice
of the victory as he set his sights on the second ship in pursuit
of
The
Crow
. As he closed the distance
behind the Spanish ship, a bar and chain shot fired from
The Crow
sailed past its
intended target and barely missed the front mast of the
Wench
before bouncing
across the deck and over the side rail. Coxen turned the ship to
port to get out of the line of friendly fire. “Make ready the
forward guns with bar and chain and prepare to fire on my
order!”

“Aye, Captain!” Jeff
watched nervously as the
Wench
drew close to the Spanish ship. “Aren’t we a
little close?” Jeff asked.

“Aye, but the Captain has
positioned us in the dead zone where their guns cannot hit us.
We’re too far forward for the aft guns and too far back for their
port guns. They are too intent on
The
Crow
to
really engage us,” Jenny explained.

Suddenly, Coxen turned the
wheel and the ship turned straight toward the middle of the Spanish
ship. “Fire!” Coxen yelled. The forward cannons erupted and a
moment later, the center mast and rigging splashed into the water
as Coxen turned the
Wench
away from the Spanish guns.

Captains Coxen and Jamison
now turned their attention to assisting the
Grand Booty
. As they closed the
distance, it was apparent that the inexperienced crew was in
trouble. The Spanish ships were flanking her and appeared to be
delivering a punishing attack from both sides. Captain Coxen yelled
out, “Mr. Crabtree, signal Captain Jamison and tell him that we
will take the ship on the starboard side and ask him to take the
port.”

“Aye, Captain!”

“Ready the forward guns with bar and
chain and level the angle!”

“Aye, Captain!”

Jeff turned to Jenny,
“Level the angle?” “He wants the guns aimed straight ahead rather
than on an incline. He means to target her rudder,” Jenny
explained. The
Wandering Wench
had found the wind and was quickly closing on her
target.

Meanwhile,
The
Crow
was on an intercept course for the port side
Spanish ship and Jeff could hear Jamison barking orders to prepare
for his attack. As Jamison lined up with the Spanish ship,
The Crow
opened fire,
sending a barrage of cannon balls at her hull. The Spanish returned
fire, but now was fighting a battle on both sides as the crew of
the damaged
Booty
was firing at them as well.

Captain Coxen had now moved into
position and called out, “Prepare to fire on my order!”

“Aye, Captain!” Jeff watched intently
as the Captain seemed to be reading the waves and timing the rise
and fall of the ship’s bow for the perfect moment.

“Fire!” Coxen yelled, and a moment
later the report of the forward guns rang in Jeff’s ears. As
before, the Captain’s timing was perfect and the shot found its
mark – a direct hit on the shaft of the ship’s rudder. The wood
splintered, but held strong.

Coxen turned the ship hard
to port in anticipation of return fire from the Spanish ship and
the course change came just in the nick of time. Jeff saw the flash
from the aft guns on the Spanish ship as they roared to life and
two cannon balls whizzed by just a few feet off the rail. The
Spanish ship had now abandoned their attack on the
Booty
and had focused
all of their attention on their pursuers. “Prepare to fire forward
guns the same!”

“Aye, Captain!”

Coxen turned the
Wench
back on course
behind the Spanish ship for a moment, but crossed behind her as the
sound of the Spanish Captain’s voice relayed the impending firing
of her guns. The shots from the Spanish guns again went wide, but
this time on the other side of the
Wench
. “Prepare to fire on my
order!”

“Aye, Captain!” Coxen moved in behind
the Spanish ship and once again waited for the timing of the
waves.

“Fire!” The forward guns
boomed and this time the rudder shaft was shattered. The Spanish
ship quickly veered off course and was drifting away from the fight
even as Captain Coxen set his sights on the remaining ship that was
now being hammered relentlessly by both
The
Crow
and the
Grand
Booty
.

“Make ready the forward
guns with bar and chain and set angle to maximum height,” Coxen
called out. “Aye, Captain!” Coxen steered the
Wench
in behind the Spanish ship.
The Spanish were too busy with the ships on either side of her to
even notice the pursuit from behind. As the Wench closed the
distance, Coxen gave the order to prepare to fire. As he set his
course to a slight angle to the stern of the Spanish ship, he gave
the order to fire. The deck shook as the forward guns unloaded.
Both shots hit their mark, with one splintering the center of the
aft mast and the other tearing through sails and rigging further
forward. The Spanish ship quickly lost speed and the three pirate
ships sailed past her.

Once they were out of
range of the Spanish guns, the ships sailed alongside each other to
take stock of the situation. The
Wench
of course was unscathed, but
both
The
Crow
and the
Booty
were not so lucky.
The
Crow
had sustained some damage to her rigging and had
a few mildly wounded crewmen. One of the new crewmen on the
Booty
had been killed
and two others had been severely hurt, while the rest of her crew
had all sustained some injuries. The ship had serious damage to her
hull and was slowly taking on water. Captains Jamison and Coxen
decided the best course of action would be to sail for a cove a few
hours away where they’d be hidden from any Spanish patrols and hope
to reach it in time to save the
Booty
, or at least offload her cargo
before the ship sank.

Jeff volunteered to go
over to the
Grand Booty
to provide care for their wounded, and quickly
gathered his medical supplies when the Captain agreed. The ships
stopped just long enough for Jeff, the two Stevens, and two
additional crewmen from
The
Crow
to make their way
to the damaged ship in the longboats. As he climbed over the rail
of the
Booty
with
his medicine chest, he was shocked at how much blood there was
splattered all over the deck. The dead crewman appeared to have
been killed instantly by cannon shot to the chest, but he was not
the sole source of the gore. All of the crew on the
Booty
appeared to be
bleeding, just some more than others.

The two Stevens and the
crewmen from
The
Crow
set about taking over the
duties of the battered men of the
Booty
while Jeff started attending
to the wounded. The two men with severe wounds had been pulled to
the back of the main deck and were propped against the rail next to
each other in an ever-increasing pool of blood. Both were barely
conscious, fortunately for them, Jeff thought, because the pain
from the injuries he was looking at would have been intense. The
smaller of the two men was bleeding heavily from a wound in his
abdomen. Jeff knew his chances of survival with the treatments
available were bleak, so he turned his attention to the other man.
He was missing the outer half of his left hand and was covered with
large wooden splinters and debris poking out from all over his
body. All of his wounds were bleeding, but none heavily, and Jeff
believed he had a chance, although preventing infection was going
to be a challenge.

Jeff opened the medicine chest and
began pulling shrapnel from the man. Each time he removed a piece
of wood, Jeff would pour some lime juice in the wound to try to
disinfect it. Even in semi-consciousness, the pain of the treatment
would prompt a grimace and moan from the patient. Once all the
shrapnel was removed and the wounds had been disinfected as best
they could be, Jeff bandaged up the man’s hand and the worst of his
other wounds. Jeff hoped that it would be enough to keep the man
alive for the time being and turned his attention to the rest of
the injured crewmen.

Jeff worked as quickly as he could to
treat the worst of the injuries on the remaining crewmen. Each man
seemed a little more hesitant than the last as they watched the
reactions of their mates to Jeff’s care. But all of them knew that
death by infection was a horrible way to die and so they took their
chances with Jeff’s lime juice treatment. As he worked, he noticed
that some of the men had formed a bucket brigade to bail water from
below deck. At first, he was too busy to tell if they were making
any headway on the leak, but as time wore on, it definitely seemed
like the ship was riding lower in the water. They were definitely
sinking, it was just a question of whether they could reach the
cove soon enough to save the ship. Jeff had only treated about half
of the injured men when he looked up and saw land ahead. They were
going to make it.

When they finally arrived
at the cove, Captain Coxen himself came over to the ship to assess
the situation and decide what to do with the
Grand Booty
. Jeff was still busy
caring for the wounded when the Captain returned from below deck
and approached him.

“How is the crew, Mr.
Greene?”

“Most of them will live. The one with
the gut wound over there, is probably dead by now. I haven’t had
time to check. The one beside him, may or may not make
it.”

The Captain sighed, “You have done
good work here, Mr. Greene. The ship is salvageable, but we shall
have to beach her to make repairs. I am going to run her aground on
a sandbar shortly. Finish up what you are doing and make
preparations for yourself and the injured to hold fast as we shall
be coming to an abrupt stop.”

“Will do, Captain,” Jeff
nodded.

The Captain made his way to the
navigation deck and took his place at the wheel. Jeff finished
bandaging his last patient and quickly packed up the medicine chest
and secured it with a length of rope. Jeff then made his way over
to the two critically wounded crewmen to check on their conditions
and to secure them for the grounding of the ship. As he suspected,
the one with the abdominal wound no longer had a pulse, but the
other man seemed to be holding his own. Jeff found a length of rope
and secured him to the rail so that he would not suffer further
injuries in the grounding. Captain Coxen called down to the crew,
“Prepare to run aground, men!”

“Aye, Captain!” the chorus of men
shouted back as they took places holding on to various structures
on the ship. Jeff kneeled down at the rail next to his patients and
got a good grip. A few moments later, the ship groaned as it came
to a sudden stop on the sandbar.

The next few hours were
spent transferring the injured men from the
Booty
to the other two ships for
further treatment by Jeff and his counterpart on
The
Crow
and sending planks, boxes of nails, and various
tools to begin repairs on the
Booty
. By the time the men and
supplies were all moved, the sun was beginning to set. Jeff had
just finished checking up on the most seriously injured and was
relieved to find that everyone seemed to be doing well. Even the
man Jeff had removed all the shrapnel from was fully conscious
again and upon noticing the condition of his hand had even
suggested that the others men should call him “Lefty”.

Jenny stuck her head in the door of
the infirmary, “Captain told me to come and find you. He wants you
to join him in his cabin for dinner when you are done
here.”

“I’ll wash up and head that way,” Jeff
affirmed as he stepped toward the door.

“Perhaps after dinner you can help me
with moving some things in the cargo hold?” she asked suggestively.
Jeff smiled.

“I’d be happy to help you move
things!”

“Very well then, Mr. Greene. Until
later…” she said as she turned to leave.

Jeff cleaned the blood from his hands
before changing his shirt and making his way to the Captain’s
quarters. Before he could knock, the Captain opened the door, “Come
in, Mr. Greene. Thank you for joining me.”

“My pleasure, Captain,” Jeff
acknowledged.

“Do have a seat at the table and I
shall pour you some rum,” Coxen said motioning toward the table. “I
wish to commend you on the fine job you have done in tending to the
injured men.”

“Thank you, Captain. Some of them
aren’t out of the woods yet, but so far things are looking pretty
good.”

“Splendid!” the Captain
smiled.

The two men made small talk and
shortly Jenny arrived with the evening meal. Both men ate hungrily
and then relaxed with a pipe afterwards. As the remnants of tobacco
burned up in their pipes, the Captain said, “Well Mr. Greene, I
know Robinson is waiting for your assistance in organizing the
cargo hold, so you should take your leave of me now.”