Kenway's Jackdaw

"Godfrey Lijah, we made it!" a weary but happy voice cried out and Edward let out a sigh of relief. Indeed, they had made it.

The Spanish treasure fleet was was in Davy Jones's Locker and had it not been for the hurricane, Edward would have stayed to try to reclaim as much of its cargo as he could take. He resolved to return one day if he could, to see what remained on the ocean's floor.

When they were well clear of the storm, Edward ordered the crew to drop anchor and reef the sails so they could rest for a spell. Every muscle in his body ached and he sat with his back to the helm, listening to the noises around him. His companion had retreated below deck to find a map and sextant and was now on the main deck, talking to the crew. They had lost a few of the men they'd rescued, but the rest, about twenty he thought, were reasonably fit, in good spirits, and more than happy to be sailing with Edward. He heard the Caribbean man laugh and promise to ask the Captain, and then he climbed up onto the quarterdeck. Edward pushed himself up to his feet and smiled.

"By God, we pulled this one straight from the teeth of Neptune." He held his hand out to the man. "I'm Edward. Much thanks for your aid back there."

Looking down at Edward's hand, the man paused briefly before gripping it firmly. "Adewale."

"Ever been to Nassau, Adewale?"

"Not yet."

Edward grinned and stepped to the larboard side, looking at the damage along the El Dorado's hull. "By God, she took some knocks. I think I'll keep her." He slapped the hull and shouted, "All hands aft, Lads. We're taking this one home!"

x ~ X ~ x

Edward asked Adewale to take the wheel and slipped below deck, into the Captain's cabin. Closing the door behind him, he stopped and took a good long look around the room. Boxes, barrels, and chests were stacked up against the walls around most of the room, the majority of the columns as tall as Edward. Before him, in the center of the room, sat a large round table covered with maps, candlesticks, a bottle of rum and two goblets, with a well-stuffed chair behind it. To the left, two overflowing dressers and a seamstress's mannequin with a fine coat draped over it. A weapons rack with a small collection of swords and two pistols was wedged between the dressers with a small barrel of what he assumed was gunpowder. Behind the round table, another desk and chair, and behind that the steps up to the cabin's windows were lined with books and trinkets in a variety of sizes and shapes. There was a wooden table covered with drafting tools, plans, and a model of the El Dorado along the right of the cabin. Edward ran his hand over the tabletop, shifting pieces of parchment, taking one in his hands. The previous Captain had been working on plans for additional cargo storage and larger crew quarters, from the looks of it. The floor of the cabin was covered with thick carpets in rich shades of red and behind him, a collection of flags were hanging by the door above several framed paintings that were propped against the wall. There was no bed to speak of, only the desks and chairs, but there were also hooks on the walls and Edward imagined he could hang a hammock somewhere if the chairs proved uncomfortable.

Kneeling before a chest within easy reach, Edward opened it. A piece of parchment with a name written on one side and a note on the other lay on top of gold and silver cups, plates, cutlery, chains, rings, pocket watches, and a sack of reales. Tossing the letter aside, Edward hefted the sack in his hand and reckoned it held roughly five hundred reales. Grinning, he dropped it back into the chest and opened another. It, too, was full of a variety of treasures, as were other boxes and chests along that side of the cabin. Edward decided that he would gather up all the reales he could find and use the money to pay the crew. It might even be possible for him to give each crew member his own plate, cup, bowl, and cutlery, based on his cursory inspection of the cabin's contents. Whatever he or the crew didn't want would be sold and the funds divided up amongst them.

Sitting at the round table, Edward opened the bottle of rum and took a swig, settling back into the chair. The rum was decent enough, the stuffed chair comfortable, and he could well imagine himself falling asleep there. So much so that he very nearly did, he was so exhausted. Rousing himself, he put the rum down and went to the dressers. They contained everything a gentleman could need, from undergarments to pants and shirts, and it all looked to be well made from quality linen and wool. Looking down at his own clothes, tattered, dirty and still damp from his recent misadventures, he resolved to toss overboard as soon as possible everything he was wearing. If these clothes didn't fit him, they would at least do until he reached Nassau, and his crew would be quite welcome to take what they needed from the previous crew's quarters.

With that decided, he took another mouthful of rum, corked the bottle, and returned to deck.

x ~ X ~ x

Edward had been standing at the helm, contemplating recent events while watching birds fly overhead, when it came to him, the brig's new name. "I think I'll call her Jackdaw, Ade, for a sly bird I loved as a child back in Swansea." He felt a rare pang of homesickness and thought briefly of Caroline.

"A dark little creature, no?" Ade replied, leaning back against the railing to regard Edward.

Only then did it occur to Edward that Adewale might have wanted to claim the brig. It had been his idea to steal it in the first place. He wondered if he had anything to fear from this man. "Does it rub you wrong that I take this brig as mine own?"

Adewale shrugged. "It is the sort of rub I have learned to endure sailing among faces of such ... fairness." He turned to look at the men on deck below, all English, Irish, or Welsh as far as Edward could tell.

"It's true, most of these men wouldn't accept you as captain. So what fair role would complement such unfairness?" He barely knew Adewale, but he owed the man his life and thus far he could think of no reason why they couldn't work together.

Adewale's expression barely changed, but a twitch of his brow and a slight hesitation before he responded suggested that he was surprised by the question. "I'll be your Quartermaster, nothing less." He crossed his arms over his chest and waited for Edward to speak.

Edward would need someone experienced at his side, and Adewale seemed more than capable. "All right. And as Quartermaster, have you any immediate counsel for this tyro captain?"

"Rest and repast would do us good before Nassau. Water for drinking, hunting for food, and repairs."

"Well reasoned, sir. Hunting it shall be. We'll find a decent place to drop anchor. Have you figured where we are?"

"Aye. Abaco Island is to the northeast. If the winds favour us we should find it before night fall."

Edward nodded. "Good. Nassau is but a few days south from there."

Up in the rigging, a sailor started to sing. "Help me, Bob, I'm bully in the alley, way hey bully in the alley."

All along the deck, other men joined in. "Help me, Bob, I'm bully in the alley, bulley down in shinbone Al!"

Edward smiled. His last captain hadn't been a friendly man by any stretch of the imagination and no one had ever dared sing a shanty on board the ship. They were an unhappy, drunken lot. Edward rather enjoyed a good song and wanted his crew to be happy; he would be a different sort of captain.

Turning to Adewale, he said, "I spied a few items in the cabin, powder and pistols. I think I'll fashion myself a second holster, if I can."

Adewale laughed, deep and rich, and nodded. "It's a good start."

"One you find laughable?"

"Could we talk a moment about the condition of the ship?" His warm smile faded, replaced by a more serious expression.

"What's the trouble?" Edward closed his eyes and turned his face toward the sun, hoping the news wasn't too bad.

"I had a walk about the gundeck and couldn't stand for what I saw. A clutter of linstocks heaped like tinder, and one with a slow match still burning."

"Christ." Edward's eyes flew open and he gave Adewale his full and undivided attention.

Edward's focus was not lost on Adewale and he continued. "And just nearby, two barrels of gunpowder, closer than man and wife, fit to explode at the touch of a spark."

"We'll stow ours good and proper."

Adewale was just getting started, Edward realized, and the list of issues needing to be resolved grew with every breath he took.

"As for the cannons, they might as well be tossed. Clogged touch holes in need of scraping, corrosion on the bodies, barrel swabs as naked as knives, and breech ropes so rotted I could use them for knitting yarn. The short of it is we need good equipment, kept in fine condition, for we cannot win every battle with sneers and shouts." He turned to look Edward in the eye. "So worry about your armaments when it suits you, but don't forget about your Jackdaw as well."

Edward nodded, appreciating the man's straightforward manner and unflinching honesty. "No, indeed. We'll make it a point to keep this ship and its crew in fine condition." Reconsidering an earlier decision, he said, "The Captain's cabin is full of treasures and the ship has cargo. We'll take what we need, sell the rest, and use the money to repair The Jackdaw, pay these men, and recruit more sailors. Everyone can help themselves to clothing and a prize, but the rest will be used to set this ship right."

Draping an arm over the wheel, he turned to face his quartermaster. "My thanks for your counsel, Adewale. I respect a man who's honest with me."

They nodded to one another and slipped into a comfortable silence, their eyes on the horizon. Gerald, who volunteered to be scout for the day, started a new shanty.

"Weigh-hey and up she rises, weigh-hey and up she rises, weigh-hey and up she rises early in the morning!"

Laughing, Edward joined in. "What will we do with a drunken sailor? What will we do with a drunken sailor?"

Adewale joined him for the rest of the chorus. "What will we do with a drunken sailor? Early in the morning!"

x ~ X ~ x

The Jackdaw anchored off the shore of Abaco Island for five days. In addition to getting the crew rested and recovered from their captivity, Edward wanted Adewale to be satisfied that they would be able to work with the equipment they had until it could be replaced. He aimed to avoid trouble if possible, but there were times when it couldn't be helped. He also wanted to know what, exactly, was in the cargo hold so that when they reached Nassau, they would be ready to sell it, and there were some repairs they could do themselves with supplies from the ship's hold. Sorting through provisions was also a priority, and Edward was pleased to discover that they had everything they needed to salt their own fish. There was a store of hardtack and the ingredients to make more, and the Jackdaw was equipped with a whaling boat, harpoon, and fishing nets. Edward set about teaching those who didn't know how to fish. They gathered fresh water from the small pond at Abaco's center and hunted iguana and ocelot for bait, bones, and skins. At night the men built fires along the beach, drank rum, and told stories while they cooked and ate the day's catch.

Edward's affable personality and his sailing, hunting, and fishing skills quickly gained him the respect and admiration of the crew. With Adewale's help, he sorted through the trunks and boxes in his cabin and throughout the rest of the ship. When all was said and done, they were able to ensure that each man on board received a trunk containing a cup, plate, bowl, knife, fork, spoon, a woolen blanket, and two hundred reales. Edward found an empty ledger amongst the former captain's possessions and quickly put it to use noting what he'd given to the crew, as he wanted to be sure each new crew member was given the same kit. He also itemized their cargo to make negotiations with the harbour master and local merchants easier to manage.

As the sun rose on the sixth morning, he stepped out of his cabin and waved to the men on deck. Climbing up to the quarterdeck, he smiled and nodded to Adewale.

"So, are we rested or should we idle a while longer?"

"Best weigh anchor. I think the crew is itching to reach civilization."

"You'll find no civilization in Nassau, Ade, but it's a fine place to be merry all the same. Why don't you call out the orders?"

Adewale shouted out to weigh anchor and hoist the sails, and the men got to work. Taking the wheel, Edward wondered who would be in Nassau when they arrived. He couldn't remember when he'd last seen Ben Hornigold, Edward Thatch, or James Kidd, and he hoped they would be in residence. He smiled as memories of their adventures together as privateers and their growing brotherhood in Nassau came to him. It would be good to see them again.

The Jackdaw's masts creaked as the wind caught the sails and Edward turned his attention to navigating them around sand bars and rock and out into the open ocean. The skies were bright blue, the horizon clear, and the wind steady. Edward felt a surge of excitement, an unwavering conviction that he was going to find a great prize, and he looked at the ship, from her sails and masts down to her deck. With a bit of work and time, he'd have everything he needed to succeed and a whole new world of opportunity would open up to him. His head swam at the thought of it, and he took a deep breath. Focus on the task at hand, Mate. Focus on the task at hand.

A/N: It's been a crazy couple of weeks at our house and my plans to stick to a regular publishing schedule were derailed almost as quickly as I made them. Finding time to write has been tricky. However, I think things are settling down again so I hope to have you docking at Nassau in two weeks. My thanks to AC4 for the playground, to Zevgirl and Zute for their friendship and encouragement, and to my readers. Thank you for adding me to your alerts and following along. I'd like to hear from you! Cheers, Biff.