goldsoundz
Really Really Experienced
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2005
- Posts
- 439
It was a good time to be a pirate. Too good, in fact. With Queen Anne's War settled, the cursed Spanish had been trying for years now to reestablish the fledgling colony of Florida, sending unmeasurable treasure to the southern American coast and into the waiting arms of any man who could manage a ship and a crew. But the end of the war also brought the end of employment for a slew of English privateers, and their run to piracy meant the seas of the new world now swarmed with murderous thugs.
It would have angered Jack Rackham, had he not been one of them.
So it was with a cold heart and suspicious eye that Rackham now regarded the slow barque with the flying Spanish colors as it lumbered helplessly towards him and his ship, the Serpent. Surely this was a trap. Surely some navy, English or Spanish, had set this decoy afloat, hoping to ensnare some poor, greedy bastard. It couldn't be this easy, could it?
The intensity wore on Rackham's grizzled face as he considered the problem, the calm rocking seas only lulling him deeper into thought. A dozen hungry faces desperately hung on the moment, the salt air and beating sun intensifying every desire among them. The ship's mate patiently waited at his captain's ear, anticipating the thought. He now urged his captain almost with a whisper, so as to not disturb Rackham's concentration.
"Low in the water, captain. She's displacin' 3 tonnes of supplies at least."
"Aye. Supplies...or loaded weapons."
But the caution was mostly for show now, a tool to whip up excitement among the men. He hadn't survived til now playing the pansy, and he wasn't going to start anytime soon. He raised his eyes to the crew, their expectant faces suddenly alive at the change in Rackham's body language. They knew what was coming, and they were reaching for their swords even before Captain Rackham raised his chin and bellowed for all the world to hear and tremble:
"PREPARE TO BOARD!"
It would have angered Jack Rackham, had he not been one of them.
So it was with a cold heart and suspicious eye that Rackham now regarded the slow barque with the flying Spanish colors as it lumbered helplessly towards him and his ship, the Serpent. Surely this was a trap. Surely some navy, English or Spanish, had set this decoy afloat, hoping to ensnare some poor, greedy bastard. It couldn't be this easy, could it?
The intensity wore on Rackham's grizzled face as he considered the problem, the calm rocking seas only lulling him deeper into thought. A dozen hungry faces desperately hung on the moment, the salt air and beating sun intensifying every desire among them. The ship's mate patiently waited at his captain's ear, anticipating the thought. He now urged his captain almost with a whisper, so as to not disturb Rackham's concentration.
"Low in the water, captain. She's displacin' 3 tonnes of supplies at least."
"Aye. Supplies...or loaded weapons."
But the caution was mostly for show now, a tool to whip up excitement among the men. He hadn't survived til now playing the pansy, and he wasn't going to start anytime soon. He raised his eyes to the crew, their expectant faces suddenly alive at the change in Rackham's body language. They knew what was coming, and they were reaching for their swords even before Captain Rackham raised his chin and bellowed for all the world to hear and tremble:
"PREPARE TO BOARD!"