Aldrick is obsessed with finding his grandfather's treasure. More than half a century and seventeen voyages have failed to locate his ships after they wrecked in Windward Passage, deeply-laden with pirate plunder and homeward-bound from the Caribbea...
Loud voices from close outside the windows of Elizabeth's night cabin woke Aldrick and Elizabeth, and they pulled the curtains aside to dim starlight and the dark shape of the schooner astern moving slowly from the wharf. They rolled and rose to their forearms to watch and to listen, then Elizabeth said, "Such an angry voice and so much execrating. What possible need is there to use words such as those?"
"That is often the language and manner employed by the vulgar to give orders. Father said they think it incites the men to more quickly act."
"It would cause me to not act."
"Then you would be in for a drubbing. That style of hegemony is through fear and intimidation, with the threat of punishment ever present."
"I thought you had said Peters is an honourable and sensible man."
"That is not his voice we hear. It is too dark to see who, but I suspect that is Andrews. By his words, manner and actions in the publick house, he might be one of the officers, or more likely, he is the self-proclaimed leader of those scheming to depose Peters."
"Depose? As in a mutiny?"
Aldrick nodded. "You heard Jimmy say killing. But I do not think they dare until Peters finds their way back into the anchorage and back out again. He is not one of their kind, and he seems to remain alive because they require his seamanship knowledge and his navigational skills."
"They have not listened to him if they are leaving in the middle of the night. Those waters through the entrance are hazardous in daylight, and they would be dangerous in the dark."
He pointed to the right. "There, above the warehouse, the sky begins to lighten. It will be dawn by the time they are under sail."
"They must be in a great hurry."
"I think Andrews and his followers still suspect the Davis brothers have a scheme afoot to take the treasure."
"That is illogical thinking." Elizabeth shook her head. "No, illogical only to us. They know not what happened except that which the Davis lads told them. They have reason to be suspicious."
"True." He chuckled. "Thinking back to the story Mick and Tim told in the publick house; it was simplistic and implausible. Their raft would have blown with the prevailing winds, and they would have been far to the west of our track. We could not have rescued them at sea. I wonder whether any of the Avenger crew would have questioned this."
"They would not know what route we followed, nor from where."
"That is also true." Aldrick shrugged. "I mentioned only that we had weathered the storm north of Cuba, not specifically where." He pointed toward the schooner. "I hope they took the time yesterday to sail up and down the harbour and test the ship and her rigging."
"Like a sea trial as we had done?"
"Yes, but ours was a new ship from a trusted builder; theirs is an old ship which the previous owner no longer trusted. They will have had to determine what else besides the shrouds caused her to remain unsold for months. It would be high folly to depart on a passage without."
They watched in silence for a while as a series of curses was shouted, and the schooner moved more quickly from the wharf. Then Elizabeth asked, "When are we leaving?"
"Loading and provisioning should be complete before noon, but we will not sail until mid-afternoon. This will put us through the approaches and out into open waters well before nightfall."
Elizabeth bobbed her head. "And sail through the night in the broad and unobstructed waters. This will give us daylight as we approach the passage between Cuba and Saint-Domingue."
"Exactly! This was Grandfather's practice."
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Shortly after the bell of Saint Peter's pealed four, the longboats clipped to the davits falls, and they began their lift to Elizabeth's deck. The brisk easterly breeze ruffled the fore-and-aft sails as they were hoisted, and it quickly filled them when they were sheeted home. The deeply-laden ship slowly gained way and glided westward down Kingston's harbour toward the narrows, directly into the sun lowering in the western sky.
Aldrick held both hands up in front of his eyes to block the glare as he conned Elizabeth toward the entrance to the gut. When they neared, the clouds hanging above the hills swallowed the sun, allowing a clear view of the waters and the stakes marking the edges of the narrow channel.
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They sailed through the gut and past Port Royal with the wind on their port beam, and Aldrick directed the course southward between Salt Pond Reef and Drunken Man's Key, then between the Little Portuguese and the Great Portuguese reefs. When they had cleared the last of the hazards, he called for a course of southeast, then he turned the ship over to his First Officer. "We will tack eastward to remain within sight of land, Mister Wilson. Ensure we have a fix at every bell."
"Aye, Sir. A fix every half-hour." Wilson examined the chart. "We will lose daylight before we reach Point Morant."
"The point will have been sighted well before sunset, and an accurate fix will be on the chart as darkness falls." He unfolded a smaller-scale chart and refolded it to the section he wanted, then laid it on the chart table in the hutch.
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"When our DR shows Morant bearing due north, we will come to northeast and sail in open waters through the night." He ran his finger across the chart to show the route.
Wilson nodded. "And give us daylight through the pass."
"Exactly! This was the Baron's practice." Aldrick paused as he stroked his beard in thought. "This will be the third time our family has taken the treasure through Windward Passage. Let us hope the old saw is true; third time lucky."
