Disclaimer (to apply to entire length of fic): I would love to have my very own Jack Sparrow to cover in Reddi-Whip and give a tongue bath to, but, try as I might, he does not appear. Ergo, I do not own him, or anything connected to Pirates of the Caribbean.
I own: this plot, Jane, Captain Alejandro Fernandez, Grace and Marie and a couple of background characters, who will all appear later. You can have the background characters, they aren't very important.
Under the Black Flag
For my friends, without whom, I would never see my horizon. Eye loff j00 all!
Prologue
Port Royal lies on the tip of a narrow spit to the South East of Jamaica like an arm flung out from the island. In 1660s, there are 2,850 people, white and black, living there. Here, on of the principal treasure ports in Jamaica, or even the Spanish main – that hot and humid stretch of the American coast which curves in a great arc around the southern rim of the Caribbean Sea – buccaneers and pirates infest the streets, making use of the many carpenters and sailmakers, drinking the rum, and paying the whores for their services. The governors of the island actively encourage them to use Port Royal as their base, hoping that this swarm of heavily armed ships will discourage the Spanish and French from attempting to capture the island, which proves a remarkable success.
This suits the pirates. Jamaica is well placed as a base from which to launch attacks on the Spanish settlements in Central America or the trading ships passing to and fro among the West Indian islands. Port Royal provided them with a fine harbor to moor, and more than enough facilities to careen and repair their vessels. During this time, pirates had a field day.
But it was not just the pirates. Across Jamaica, British settlers are farming the Africans over to work on the sugar plantations. Work is hard; most slaves are being forced to work from four o'clock to sunset. One worker would yield up to 6 tonnes of raw crop everyday. Slaves are burnt, strangled and otherwise tortured in an effort to terrorize them into obedience. The owners of these plantations are very rich and live to the height of splendour, in full ease and plenty, being sumptuously arrayed and attended on and served by their slaves. For most, it is a life to be lived.
