Uncharted Waters

Chapter Three

// Picture above is Captain Lars. Another short chapter - but I wanted to introduce you guys to Gabe and Captain Lars. Next chapter will be longer :) //

Michael grabbed my sleeve, "Cm'on!" He said as he dragged me up the stairs. 

We creeped to the top step and peered unto the deck. Walking with a swagger was a young captain, "That's Captain Lars. I want to be like him one day." 

I scrunched my face, "He looks so... miserable. Why would you want to be like him?" 

Michael ignored my comment and continued to scan the deck, trying to figure out what the captain was doing I assumed, "Pick it up! We need to gain speed," The captains harsh voice boomed. 

Lars looked to be too young for a captain, he looked close to my age. His hair was dark and a tad overgrown with pale skin to contrast it. His dark eyes had a distant stare to them as if they never stopped searching. 

"Why is he so young?" I asked. 

"There's quite a few young captains, actually. A captain needs to be strong, driven and energetic," Michael said and then took a moment to think, "Captain Lars isn't your usual captain. The main reason why he has this ship is because of his Father. His Father has a whole fleet of ships - so, it kind of runs in the family I guess."

"We should get to work," I said. 

"Good thinking," Michael said. 

We both got up and parted ways. I saw the cleaning supplies on the other side of the ship which meant I had to pass by Captain Lars and his first mate. Michael wasn't kidding about Gabe's energetic bounce. He was chatting away with a crew member as Lars walked beside him looking at the ground. Looking at the two of them beside each other was almost comedic. 

"Is that a new face I see?" Gabe's voice beamed. 

I froze. Stay calm, Lee. 

Gabe walked up to me, leaving the Captain behind him. Lars merely glanced up at me, then continued walking without saying a word. Thank goodness. 

"I'm the new cabin boy, Lee," I said to Gabe and gave a little smile. 

"Well welcome aboard Lee. I'll be the one to bark orders at you most of the time, so we will be seeing a lot of each other," He said with a pat of my arm and hurried after the captain. 

After cleaning the main deck it was time to clean the quarterdeck and replace the stern lantern. Up on the quarterdeck by the wheel was Gabe, Captain Lars, and the sea artist - the ships navigator. He looked to be in his fifties. 

I positioned myself in an ideal spot to try and overhear what they were discussing. 

"Just let me get a reading," The ship navigator said as he held up his sextant. 

He was measuring lunar distance... I had learned about that this year. With a sextant you measure the distance between the sun and the moon and get a distance from that which can be used to measure longitude. 

I saw the sea artist put the sextant up and write the reading down. I was waiting for him to do another reading, but that was it. Before I could talk some sense into myself, my mouth opened, "Sorry but if I may, to get an accurate reading you should do a series of measurements and then average it out to get an accurate result. By doing only one reading, you can be off by 30 miles." 

All three of them turned around to look at me. Gabe and the sea artist stared blankly at me in surprise. Captain Lars creased his eyebrows and studied me for a few moments, "Who are you?" 

"I'm just a cabin boy." 

"How do you know so much?" He said in a deep tone, taking an intimidating step forward towards me. 

I shrugged, "I like to read." 

Gabe shrugged it off making an interested hum as the sea artist nodded and the two of them returned to the maps. Captain Lars stared at me for a few more moments - I held his gaze, despite my insides screaming at me to look away. He turned his head to the side as if he were about to say something else, but then dismissed the thought and turned around. 

Great job at not being noticed Lee, I scolded myself. If I only kept my big mouth shut.