Hi all, are you enjoying this story so far? I love reading all your guesses in the comments (keep them coming), but things will become clearer soon. ;-) Here is another chapter:

Chapter 5

A day earlier

Elizabeth woke up with a headache. She looked around and did not recognise the place she was in. Where was she and how did she come here? She tried to sit up, but the pounding of her head made her nearly sick. She closed her eyes and rested for a while, before trying again.

Slowly her memories began to come back.
She remembered now being near the docks, the strange-looking man who had started to talk to her and who had taken her to this place, without listening to her protests. He had kept insisting that she must know him. And his mates, when they had arrived at the inn.

They all greeted her as if they knew her well. They were a very loud bunch of people, a bit rough, but not unfriendly. Elizabeth had been slightly relieved to see a woman among the group. She looked friendly enough and seemed to be in charge of the lot. The woman let her sit next to herself. "Hello Miss Elizabeth, that must be two years since I saw you last! I can see you are well! Have you long been back in England?"

"Long back? I do not know what you are talking about. I have tried many times to tell that eh, man, who took me here, that he must mistake me for someone else."

The woman looked at her. "Are you not Elizabeth then?"
"Yes, I am Elizabeth. But I have never been outside of England. I do not know what you all are talking about."

The woman seemed in thought for a moment. "Well," she said. "What coincidence then, that there should be another woman in this world, with the same name and who also looks the same as you. May I ask your full name?"
"I am Elizabeth Bennet. I am from Hertfordshire."
"I don't know where Hertfordshire is, but it is nice to meet you. I am Annamaria and this lot is my crew."
"Your crew? Are you a captain? Do they let you?"

Annamaria laughed. "Oh yes, and they'd better. I have grown up with nearly only men around me and I have discovered that they are nothing without a woman around. Besides, I am rather my own captain, than to have to sail under a man. I have done that for a while and it nearly went wrong."

Elizabeth listened with an open mouth.
This woman had clearly seen a lot of the world and seemed to be able to reign over a bunch of sailors who did her bidding. Astonishing!

"So, Annamaria, who then is this other lady that you thought I was?"
"Well, as you surmised, her name is also Elizabeth, and I swear you could be twins. She has sailed with us on some of our voyages. I believe her full name is Elizabeth Swan. Although Jim tells me he saw her some months ago and said she had married some captain. I do not know more about it."
Elizabeth now started to understand a bit more.

"Well, I am very pleased to make your acquaintance, but I must find a way to get to my uncle's house in Cheapside. I believe I may have taken the wrong coach, which ended me up at the docks."
"No, you can't, Elizabeth. Have you seen it's dark outside? And it is not safe around here. Are they expecting you? Maybe you could send them a note?"
Elizabeth's face fell when she remembered why she had come to London on this day.
"They do not know I am coming. I guess you are right. But I don't know if I have money enough to stay in this inn. Is it safe? Is it clean?"

Annamaria laughed a bit. "Clean enough and it may look a bit raggedy, but the innkeeper is a good fellow. As to money, I might be able to lend you some and you can pay me back?"
"That sounds like a good idea. I do not know what else to do."
Her companion smiled. "Good! I like it to have some female company every now and then! It reminds me of my sisters at home."
"You have sisters too? Where are they? Where is your home?"
"Yes, I have two sisters, and four brothers besides. And home is Port Royal, in the Caribbean. But I haven't been there for nearly two years. We have been mostly underway."

"Two years! Such a long time! I have just come from visiting a friend in Kent for a few weeks. I have enjoyed it, but it will be nice to be back with my family. They can be very loud, but I do love them. My favourite sister though, is in London with my aunt and uncle. I am looking forward to seeing them again."

A man next to her started to talk to her. His accent was difficult to understand. Annamaria answered his question for her. "Scar, this lady is not who you thought she is." She then got the attention of all the men. Her voice was loud enough to be heard on deck of a ship, whenever she needed to give orders.

"Men, I am sorry to disappoint you. Jimmy, I'm afraid you have taken the wrong Elizabeth with you. She may look like Elizabeth Swan, but that is not her name. I have apologised to her for the confusion and explained that she truly looks like Miss Swan. However, her name is Elizabeth Bennet. For tonight she will be our guest, as it is too late for her to travel on. It goes without saying that you will all treat her with respect."

The men started to talk over each other. They could not believe they had been so deceived.
"As two drops of water," Jim said.
They ordered food and a round of drinks.
Elizabeth felt a bit strange at first, between these rough sailors, but she had an adventurous spirit and soon enjoyed listening to all the stories they told about their adventures.

It got later and later and they kept pouring her drinks. She drank rum for the first time in her life. At first she did not really like it, but soon she got used to the taste. Soon she was laughing with them as if she had always known them.

Eventually Annamaria took her up to a room where there were two cots. Elizabeth noticed she hardly could stand on her legs. She must have drunken too much. She giggled. Well there was a first in her life!
She soon had fallen asleep, despite Annamaria snoring in the other cot.

And now she had woken up with a headache from too much drinking.
Annamaria was nowhere to be seen. Elizabeth slowly got out of bed, being careful to not make sudden movements. Her bag was next to her bed, but she had slept in the clothes she had travelled in. She thought she looked not too rumpled. Once she would arrive at her aunt and uncle's she would take a bath and change her clothes. For now, she rearranged her hair, smoothed her skirts, washed her face and then went downstairs, taking her bag with her.

She was greeted by the crew, who were having breakfast. Annamaria pointed to a chair next to herself and soon Elizabeth was eating her own breakfast. The fare was simple but good.

During breakfast they told her they would start loading cargo today and for this reason the ship had to come closer to the docks. Right now it was further out in the harbour for anchor as the previous days there had been no space near the quay.
Another ship would leave the docks today. It had come from the Caribbean and Annamaria's crew had met the crew of that ship a few times.

They asked Elizabeth if she would come with them. They would row in groups out to the ship and then make it ready to be sailed to the quayside.

Elizabeth hesitated. She really must go to her family. Charlotte would probably be worried, even though she had left a note. If Charlotte had sent word to the Gardiners, they would be worrying as to where she was.

But to be on a real ship!
Elizabeth's sense for adventure got the better hand in her decision making. It would probably only take a few hours. What could be the harm in that? Her new companions seemed friendly enough.
So she assented to their invitation. A little cheer went up and then everyone stood up, gathered their belongings and walked out of the inn.

It must have looked strange to see a gentlewoman in the middle of a group of sailors. Elizabeth noticed Annamaria got strange looks from people walking past, because of her dark skin. But most of her crew was sun tanned, so it was not very obvious.

In a corner at the quayside was a dinghy moored. It fitted ten people easily. They would have to go in two groups. Elizabeth went with the first lot.

It was scary to jump into the boat and it was also a bit scary to be on the water. She wasn't easily frightened, but this was her first time in a boat. It gave her a queasy feeling in her stomach. With awe she looked around them, where all over the harbour ships were moored. From very tall sailing ships, to smaller fishing boats. The harbour was buzzing with activity. Cargo was loaded and unloaded; rough-looking sailors shouted all sorts of things to each other. Annamaria pointed towards a ship with the name Margarita, and told her that this was the ship that would soon leave, the one that came from the Caribbean. She said the ship berthed in Port Royal. Her own ship was from a more obscure town which Elizabeth had never heard of but which was also in the Caribbean.

Then Annamaria pointed in the distance towards another ship. That is where they were heading, she said.
Elizabeth was surprised. "That looks very far away!"
The woman nodded. "It's about half an hour of rowing."

This worried Elizabeth. For this meant that when they would finally arrive at the ship, they would have to wait an hour in total for the rest of the crew to arrive. Then they probably had to make the ship ready to sail. She thought it might take less time for such a big ship to sail into the harbour, but she wasn't sure.

This adventure would likely take much longer than she had anticipated.
Then she shrugged her shoulders.
She was not careless, but now that she had decided, she must go with it. And it really thrilled her to be on a ship and pretend she was on full sea.

So, is the mystery solved now? ;-)