The Kracken

"Why believe him , hes the town drunk!" It happen though, this isn't something I could just dream up. I was there and I remember it so clearly but no one seems to believe me. They all think I have a few screws missing but what I saw and experienced was real and I don't think I'll ever be able to sail again. This story has to be told , it happen and that creature is still swimming the sea.

It was a calm night, me and my crew had just finished delivering cargo to a small Norwegian town called Ålesund and as a thank you the town people let us stay a few days due to the weather and the rough seas. We had a grand time within our stay in this beautiful town , they gave us places to sleep and food to eat ,so the moment the weather cleared up we departed as we didn't want to be in anyway an inconvenience.

We set sail for England and had been sailing for a few hours now, the sun had set and the stars and moon was shining brightly so we took a moment to relax and appreciate our surroundings. Everything was smooth sailing until Jimmy , our look out rang the bell from the top of the crows nest. He started yelling about seeing a small island close by and to steer the ship to the left to avoid it, So I ran to the helm instructing my crew to take there positions on adjusting the sails so we could move around this island in time. That was a lot harder though due to there not being a lot of wind that night.

We got closer but no matter how much hard work we put into trying to turn the ship in time we couldn't do it fast enough. The bell rang again but a lot louder and it sounded like Jimmy was in distress. "The island, it just vanished" Those 5 words caused the entire crew to stop what they were doing and run to the sides of the boat to see what was happening, I myself did the same because this had to be a joke , maybe he had drank to much rum and was seeing things.

Upon first glance there was nothing there, we all fell silent and looked north to where this island had been seen and then laughed and went back to relaxing on the top deck of the boat making jokes towards jimmy and his strange hallucinations. Just as I took a swig of rum we felt something big swim under the ships hull and we all fell quiet again exchanging looks and gulps. The ship darted violently forwards all of a sudden and we tumbled sideways before running into position again getting ready to steer the boat out of danger.

This was the last time I saw my crew alive. Six long tentacles emerged from the water and wrapped themselves around the ship as the other two punctured holes in our deck. I ran to the helm again in a desperate attempt to steer the ship away , but I soon realised it was no good because this sea monster had its grip on the ship and it was near impossible for us to escape from that. My ship mates were firing the harpoons at what seemed like a large squid but it did no damage at all, instead it made the colossal beast very angry and he swept three of my fifteen crew mates off the ship.

My heart started beating out of my chest and I was finding it hard to stay balanced on deck as it was being pulled from side to side. I couldn't think at the moment, My mind went blank and I felt numb. I watched the men I had worked along side of jump to their death or get swept of there feet and I did nothing to help. I climbed as high up the ship as I possibly could knowing that it was going to be sunken soon and started to pray.

Now I'm not a religious man, but in the moment I needed a sense of hope. The more noise there was down on deck the more angry the squid got and from the top of the crows nest I could see exactly what this monster looked like. It was at least 100ft long and if I had to make a guess on how much it weighed id say about two or three tons it was horrifying to look at. I felt like a coward , in fact I still do but I managed to convince myself that it was every man for himself. Its not like I could save everyone anyway!

Anyway after about forty minutes , I could no longer hear screaming or yelling only the splashing of the water and the creaking of the ship. I was slowly getting dragged under water along with the boat and I had to think fast and be as quiet as I could doing so. I waited until the ship fully sank and I went down with it , a current of water tried to drag me down but after about three minutes of struggling I managed to make my way back up the the surface and drag my self on some wood with only a few scratches to show for what had just happen the sea felt extra cold that night and even deeper then normal. I looked around to see if I could see any survivors but all I could see was blackness, I had survived that but I had no idea how I was expecting to survive the rest of the night never mind how I was going to find land or somewhere safe.

Fortunately for me a 2 days later I was picked up by another ship that had actually come out to find the ship that me and my crew had sailed on before it was sunken. I told them what happen but they thought I was crazy, or was suffering some form of shock from the death of my ship mates. Now all I do is drink my problems away because I feel a little better when I do so, but no matter how many times I tell this story or who I tell it too , I always get the same reaction. They think I'm crazy, but they don't know the truth and even if they were to see it for themselves I doubt they would make it out alive.