The Historically Unhistorical Work of Historical Fiction

Chapter 17-October 24th, 1495

October 24th, 1495

I woke up some what well-rested and ready to get a start on the day’s work. All of the crew members were in a reasonably good mood. There were no fights and work was finished really fast. Joel hadn’t spoken to me again since the last time and I remembered that he was going to say something but was then cut off. Striker was steering the ship with a real smile on his face and I noticed that there was a little bit of hair growing on what used used to be a shaved head.

Suddenly, Striker frowned and squinted out into the sea. I walked up next to him to see what was wrong. He pointed out into the water but when I looked out into the water, I didn’t see anything and moved up to the bow to get a closer look. Once I was at the bow, I saw it with crystal clear clarity.

Running back to Striker I almost screamed, “It’s an underwater reef!” His eyes widened with fear and he knew that this was a serious situation. I ran to the captain’s cabin and he opened the door on the first knock.

“Come quick!” I pulled him out of his lodgings and dragged him to the front of the ship pointing at the water, “Look!”

There, under the water, was a large purple-ish blob that just grew bigger and bigger with every passing minute. Captain Nyle shook Striker’s shoulders out of panic.

“Do something, Striker! Do something!” The captain yelled in Striker’s ear. I thought he was being a little harsh, but Striker didn’t take it to heart. Striker turned the wheel violently to the right and told the captain something in his ear. Captain Nyle rounded up the crew members who were on the deck at the moment and started shouting orders. They immediately got to work, turning the sails in a different direction to help avoid the reef. I helped them too, fear gnawing at my stomach the whole time. When the sails were turned, I rushed over to the side of the ship.

I was relieved when I saw the reef barely missing the ship. Collapsing on the deck, I was so happy that I was alive. My father had once been on a voyage with a fleet of ships and one of them had hit an underwater reef. The reef tore the bottom the boat in half like a knife slicing through cheese and water had started pouring in before the reef had even ended. By the time the ship had passed over the reef entirely it was halfway underwater and went below the sea in less than 3 minutes. Right now, I was glad that my dad had lived long enough to tell me about all the dangers of the sea.