Jacquotte

Chapter 11

  Jonasen had been sleeping throughout all of this, and now woke up crying. He wasn't hungry, nor smelly, so she rocked him back to sleep. Silas eyed Jonasen.

"How do you propose to do all this with your son? This is a very dangerous venture."

"I will protect him with my life, if need be. Whatever is necessary to ensure his well-being I will do it."

Silas settled back, mollified. He nodded in assent.

"You have my assistance at your disposal. I trust in Matteo's instincts, and now I will place my trust in yours."

Jacquotte shook his hand, sealing their alliance.

It took two days to amass a crew that passed Jacquotte's requirements, a total of sixty or so able-bodied men, each of whom possessed an adequate amount of naval knowledge. Jacquotte was not blind to the fact that many of them had doubts about serving under a woman captain, yet they had signed up under her and she knew she would be able to gain their respect.

Now, there was quite a few worthy ships currently docked, but Jacquotte had her eye on a particular one, the HMS Dauntless. It was a schooner, complete with four swivel guns and eight cannons. The current captain was a fat drunk, and the crew was a dumb, rowdy bunch who spent the nights (and early mornings) in the multiple gambling halls scattered near the docks. Foolishly the captain didn't post guards, leaving the ship susceptible to Jacquotte. Silas and Jacquotte planned to take the ship the next night, and so spent the day preparing and gathering supplies and such. Silas had become Jacquotte's friend in a short amount of time, both viewing the other with respect and honest admiration, though neither felt any sort of romantic inclinations. Jacquotte learned that Silas was an orphan, who grew up in the slums of London. He had signed up as a cabin boy when he was ten, but the ship had been overtaken by pirates. They took him for their own cabin boy, and he sailed with them until he was fourteen. He had garnered respect through his ruthlessness in battle, and he now had a fearsome reputation in the pirate world although he was only fifteen now. Jacquotte made him Quartermaster, and of course she was the Captain. They made a strange yet formidable pair.