Florence Earle, The adventures of the Sapphire

II

When we are far from the coast, I relax my shoulders, only now realizing how tense I was. "Right, William, straight ahead!" I hand the wheel over to him. The sea is calm and the ship is going at a good speed. I walk to my quarters. My men put all the treasure on the desk, it's a beautiful sight, gold flowing over small statues and vases. I empty all the vases, revealing even more gold. I take the vases and put them downstairs, they won't be of much use besides storage. Right as I sit down to count the gold, Curley bursts through the door. "Mr. Crowder. What'd you want?" I growl. "Cap'n! I found her in the berth." He pushes a woman forward. She has beautiful golden hair, she looks angry but her face is soft and there is a glimmer of fear in her eyes. She's wearing an enormous dress, her shoulders bared, the dress is flattering for her figure, showing off her beautiful curves just right. She is breathtaking. "Thank you, Mr. Crowder." Curley leaves the room again. I stand up again, walking around the desk. "So sweetheart, what are you doing here?" I question. "I ran away, your ship was the first one I saw, so I boarded it." She says, her eyes fierce. "Alright." I walk closer to her "Do you know anything about sailing?" "Yes." I take another step towards her "Can you work hard?" "Yes" I take another step, my face almost presses against hers "Can you sail under a pirate?" I whisper "Yes" I nod. "Welcome to the crew, sweetheart." I whisper in her ear.
I give her some more appropriate clothes. Then I give her a tour on the ship."This is the main deck, up there is the forecastle." We go up the stairs at the back of the ship. "This is the quarterdeck" I say, gesturing to the deck that we are standing on and the wheel. "This is William, my quartermaster." William salutes to her. "Hello ma'am" I walk to the rail, looking out over the sea. She comes to stand next to me. "Our ship is one of the fastest in the Caribbean." I tell her. "Some say it's faster than the devil." I look at her, studying her facial expression. She seems impressed. I walk back to the main deck. It takes her a minute to pull her eyes away from the view, then she walks towards me. "You can go sleep downstairs, I'm sure we have an extra hammock." She nods and walks to the stairs. "See you tomorrow, love" I say, and she looks back at me. I wink.

The storm hits us in the middle of the night. The ship is swaying dangerously, I run out on the deck yelling orders at the crew. The rain is streaming down my face, we are soaking wet in no time. "Reef the sails!" I yell, trying to get my voice over the storm. The ship starts to turn, making it slant. I look up to the quarterdeck, trying to find William. He isn't there, the wheel is rotating, making us slant more and more every second. I try to run to the wheel but a wave hits and I'm flung across the deck. I stand up again, the whole crew is running, trying to survive this weather. "It's the girls fault" I hear Curley scream. "It's bad luck having a woman on board" I walk over to him, grabbing on to ropes and wood to keep me steady. Most men are laying on the deck by now, floored by the waves. I grab Curley by his shirt, "Need I remind you who runs this ship mr. Crowder?" I ask. "No, Cap'n" "And what am I?" He looks at me puzzled. "What am I mr. Crowder?" I ask again. "A woman, Cap'n" "Very good, never let me hear you talk about bad luck again or you'll have a one way ticket to Davy Jones' locker! Savvy?" He nods. I let him go.
Another wave hits. I get flung to the other side of the deck again, suddenly remembering where I was heading. I push myself up and falter over to the stairs, the ship moves violently again and I make a run for the stairs. I grab the rails and hold on, just in time to not fall overboard. The wave was violent enough to have thrown most of the supplies on deck, and the canons overboard. I pull myself up and run to the wheel, I grab it and start to pull as hard as I can, cursing under my  breath. "Bloody hell, this godforsaken ship would've been to Davy Jones' locker by now if it was for these quims." I straighten the ship so that my men can reef the sails. Once they're reefed I have more control over the ship. The storm is still very bad but the impact is less. It goes on like that for a while but you can see the change of weather in the clouds. The rain is still really bad but I manage to get her through the storm. "Mr. Peddle and mr. Keats, go check on our supplies, we may have to make a stop in Tortuga if they're  too damaged" I yell. "The rest of ye, make yourselves useful, this bloody ship isn't sailing itself now is it?" Though we're all soaking wet and the ship is still struggling a bit with the wind, I am happy to have some action. I steer the ship myself, feeling more alive then ever. 
We head to Tortuga to stock up on weapons, food and rum. The wind is better now and the ship is doing what she does best, going as fast as possible. I steer her through the waters, one hand on the weel, last bottle of rum in the other. The burn of the liquid helps me warm up. The woman comes walking up the stairs. "That was one hell of a storm." I nod, taking a sip of rum. "I didn't get your name earlier, missy" "Victoria, it's Victoria" "Well Victoria, it's a pleasure. I'm Florence." I hand her the rum. "Want some?" She takes it. "Thanks" She comes to stand next to me, looking out over the ship. The sun is  coming up and we sail towards the horizon.