Ahoy Mateys,
Unfortunately, we’ve run into a few problems. Milton claims we didn’t hit anything–and that actually there was nothing around for us to hit–yet somehow we’ve sprang a leak in the hull. It isn’t anything that Shipwright Elias can’t fix but it might set us back a day. Problem is, we don’t have a day. Our supplies will be all used up tomorrow unless I ration beyond what is healthy so it is imperative that we can at least see land by tomorrow night. That won’t happen if the hull isn’t patched. Luckily we do have those supplies. I haven’t spoken to Elias in a while but when I had, he didn’t have an estimate of how long it will take to fix. I’ll check in with him later.
Currently we are in a more trafficked area of the sea so we may just have to flag down another ship–one that I can at least trust on the surface–and barter for extra supplies.
As for the rest, I promised today that I would give you a bit of history on the Leviathan. When I was just barely an adult, the navy was in the process of putting the final touches on what was to be the admiral’s personal vessel, paid for out of the king’s own pocket. Whenever I was in port, not out on some vessel as cabin boy or other, I would watch this ship be built. Well, the summer that this ship was completed, my father wanted Wagner and I to become full members of the navy in his stead. That, of course, wasn’t something that the two of us were interested in.
So Wagner had an idea. In the dark of night, the two of us crept down to the docks. That day, the builders had put the final touches on the great ship. We stopped at the end of the dock looking up at the great hull. The gangway wasn’t down and no one was around. The ship was scheduled to go on its inaugural voyage the next day. But we would take that night.
I don’t even want to know how but Wagner had secured a pirate’s flag, the jolly roger. Being the nimbler of us two, I scaled the hull then lowered the gangway for Wagner to join me.
That night, we lowered the navy flag and raised the jolly roger.
Then we quietly left the port. Not going to lie, that was the most ungraceful voyage I have ever participated in. By morning, I’m certain that the whole kingdom knew that we had stolen the great ship. I can’t remember what its original name was supposed to be, but Wagner and I called her the Gilded Leviathan. We sailed up to the next port, smaller and slightly more detached from the government, and secured our first crew.
Since then, men have died, men have rebelled, men have left, and men have joined until we ended up with the crew that we have today.
Maybe I should write a poem about that. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the story. Not enough action for you? Well, I’m not a story teller and, hey, there was no action that night. I’ll find something else to tell you tomorrow or else you’ll get stuck with another of my poems.
Signed,
Captain Davenport
3.26.14
argobay 