Fifty - Two - CORSAIRS
April 1717
The island was small, with no human habitation that they could see. On the Whydah, Prince stood in front of his crew. Sam with his crew and Paulgrave with his all standing in the background.
The company men stood in a line, everything taken from them but their breeches. Prince waved his sword at the first man. “Off you go,” he said nodding toward the island. The man jumped into the water, followed by the next man, and the next. Prince raised his sword at the commander stopping him in his tracks. “Take off your trousers,” Prince ordered. The commander didn’t move, just stared at him. Prince put the tip of the sword against the commander’s throat. “Do it now.”
The commander removed his breeches and stood stark naked. “She’s just a slave, Prince.”
Captain Prince whipped the commander on his back with the side of this sword. The edge dug into his flesh, drawing blood.
The commander gasped through clenched teeth. “I never hurt her.”
Prince cocked back and hit the man with all he had, dropping him to the deck. The prisoner scrambled up and tried to flee. Hendrick caught him and held him by his throat. The commander’s eyes widened as he looked upon the huge man before him. Prince pulled out a knife and showed it to the perpetrator. “The water your friends are swimming in, its shark infested.” He ran the knife’s blade down the man’s arm opening his flesh. Blood gushed out turning his arm a deep red dripping onto the deck. “If I were you, I’d swim fast.”
The commander looked over at the water and hesitated. Prince slashed the man again, and the commander ran and jumped into the water.
Everyone aboard the Whydah looked on in silence. Prince untied his sword and scabbard and presented them to Sam. “I surrender my ship and my sword to you, Captain Bellamy.”
“Keep your weapon,” Sam said looking past Prince, “you may have use for it yet.”
Prince turned to see what Sam was looking at. On the other side of the island, sailing toward them, was a single ship flying British colors.
“I think I know who that is,” Prince said with distain in his voice.
Sam pointed behind the first ship to the five ships giving chase. “Do you know who they are?”
Prince rubbed a hand through his dark hair. “Could be pirates.”
Sam looked through his scope. “What does a flag with three crescent moons mean to you?”
“Corsairs, from the Barbary Coast.” Prince looked through his scope as well.
“Pirates?” Hendrick asked.
Prince continued looking through his scope. “Yes, but they are way out of their usual operating area.”
Jackson, Prince’s man, stepped from the rest of the crew. “It will be best to just stay back here until they are out of sight.”
Paulgrave chuckled. “I’m a bit confused, if they are pirates why are we concerned?”
“They are unlike any pirates in these waters,” Prince said lowering his scope. “They have been raiding ships and coastal towns for over a century. Taking any man, woman, and child as slaves for their Sultan.”
“Shouldn’t we do something?” Paulgrave asked.
Jackson stepped closer to Prince’s side. “Yes, we should sail the other way.”
Sam stood next to Prince. “You said you know whose ship that is?”
“I do,” Prince said. “He is a nuisance named Cyprian Southack, ordered to escort me on our voyage through the triangle.”
YOU ARE READING
Black Sam - Prince of Pirates
أدب تاريخيThe War of Spanish Succession is over, many sailors are out of work, and the thriving American colonies are quickly becoming the place of opportunity. For Sam Bellamy, it was the opportunity of becoming the captain of his own ship. When he falls in...
