Stephen

☠Part 1- Captain Stephen James ☠

MAY 3, the YEAR 1702

The East Atlantic

Captain Stephen James and his crew had remained behind the British ship, the EMPRESS ROSE, for several days.

Stephen needed the cargo vessel, far, out at sea, away from the Royal Navy eyes, when the opening came to seize her.

He was confident in his crew and in his ship, the GRACE ANN. A medium-sized warship with a shallow draft-fast, easy to control-an an advantage in escaping danger quickly.

Now without another vessel in sight for days, it was time for Stephen to give his men their orders. "All right, men!" He commanded. "Bore up and make haste!"

"Aye aye, Captain!"

The men worked with all their might to gain closer to the British ship. Stephen could see the sturdy silhouette of the EMPRESS ROSE appearing in his sight.

"All right ye bilge rats,"  Stephen shouted to the crew. "If we can behold Her, then she can be beholding us. Men, make certain we're flying they're British colors!"

"Aye aye, Captain!" They cried out.

The bunting tosser put forward the British colors on their vessel mass. As their warship moves toward the EMPRESS ROSE.

"All right, yer bunch of sinful scoundrels, it'll be almost sunset when we reach that ship. We play decent, till we get aboard and we take her!" Stephen said, and then warned his men. "Slit any man's throat, that gets into yer way! If anyone of ye men, steals from me or ye fellow man in the game, less than or valued of a piece of eight, he shall be shot, by me own hand!"

"Aye!"

"Foremost, we'll be needing a reason to call upon that they're--ship. Which one of ye bilge rats, is ill?" He asked, only to be met back with silence from his crew.

"All right, yer drunken rogues. Maybe ye didn't understand me question. Which one--of ye, need a surgeon?"

One of the younger crewmen walked up to the Captain. He didn't look older than fourteen summers in age, and when the youngster spoke, his voice started to crack. "I'd--be, needing one Captain. I've been--feeling out of sorts!"

Stephen felt proud of the young lad. At least he had some backbone. "I see. Yer, looked' en quit pale they're mate..! We best be getting ye, to that ship then!" Stephen said as he patted the young lad on his back.

"Aye, Captain!" the boy proudly said, to Stephen.

The men hid in every crack and cranny they found on their ship. He needed his crew to appear more insignificant than they were. Year's out on the sea had taught Stephen, the ROSE'S crew would be less threatened by an insignificant crew, and easier for his men to seethe aboard their ship, and catch the ROSE'S crew off guard.

His men armed themselves with their boarding axes, cutlasses, and daggers, and some were armed with their muskets and at the ready.

When the GRACE ANN was close enough to the EMPRESS ROSE, Stephen called over to the ROSE. "Ahoy there!"

"Ahoy, They're Mate"! yelled back the ROSE'S Captain, discerning Stephen as he lifted his hand up toward the heavens and waved in greetings to him.

"Ahoy They're Mate, Watch ye be in need of?" the ROSE's Captain repeated.

Stephen explained to the ships Captain that some of his crew had been sickened by an illness, and his own surgeon had died some months back and asked if the captain could afford to spare a bottle of his tonic.

EMPRESS ROSE'S Captain called over to one of his crewmen and told the man to go fetch the ship's surgeon.

Stephen kept the ROSE'S Captain occupied while twenty of his men used their ropes, hooks, and boarding axes to climb higher on the wooded deck of the ROSE.