Juliet: A Seafaring Tale of the Early 1700's

Chapter One: Cap'n Jules

Juliet glared at the pirates, uncowed. Her wrists were bound behind her and around one of the masts so that she stood against that tall, wooden pole, facing the stern castle with her father's body lying in a crumpled heap before her, a stain of his blood spreading out over the deck with the Sea Sprite's every gentle pitch and roll.

Behind her father's body where Juliet could see them, the crew sat on the foredeck, chained together. Many of them were wounded in one fashion or another. "This is still my ship!" Juliet informed the pirates who'd bound her. "With my father dead, I am her captain and these men are my crew." She glared at the pirate who'd murdered her father. "And I will not give up my ship to the likes of you!"

"What say you," demanded the pirate of the nearest crew member, holding his knife to the man's throat. "Will you join us, or walk the plank?"

"As the cap'n goes, so go I," he answered stubbornly, ignoring the prick of steel at his throat. The answer was repeated down to the last man. Juliet stood defiantly. Her father's law had been clear; no piracy, no dishonest trading. They were not a rich crew but what they had; no man could take from them with accusation of dishonest gain.

"Join us, Captain," sneered the pirate to Juliet, "or take your men to the grave."

"No!" she answered with spirit. "I will not."

"Bah!" He spat on her father's body. "Then stand there. Perhaps a few days in the sun will change your mind."

So Juliet stood. At night, she allowed herself to slide down as far as the ropes would allow. When the crew was given water rations, she watched them drink but was given none. On the second day, the cabin boy turned after receiving his water ration from the barrel nearest her and kissed her full on the mouth. Juliet was shocked at first but he managed to transfer his last swallow of water into her mouth.

He bowed his head when he stepped back. "Sorry Cap'n. I couldn' help meself."

"A kiss between a brother and his sister is always acceptable," she croaked. "Did my father not call us a family?" He nodded and shuffled off to his place on the deck, chains clanking. Another sailor followed suit, transferring his last swallow of water into his captain's mouth before sitting down. Another of her men followed suit and another until she'd had a full ration of water.

Thus revived, Juliet stood against the mast and glared fiercely at any pirate who walked by. The hot tropical sun burned her while cool nights made her shiver but still, Juliet stood. Her father's body lay still on the deck before her. It stiffened and then relaxed. Her eyes burned, her lips cracked, exposed skin turned red, then blistered.

Still chained, still on deck, her men fared little better in the heat with the exception of a daily ration of bread. Her father's body turned black, began to stink and bloated in the blazing sun until it hardly resembled the man John Drake had been in life. Still, Juliet would not relent. After several days, another sail appeared on the horizon. Still tethered to the pirate's ship, the Sea Sprite moved only sluggishly until the far-off sail became an English Navy Destroyer.

The pirates made to cut and run but the English captain had seen enough to know what had transpired. It was he who cut Juliet away from the mast and released the Sea Sprite's crew.

"They would not join without me," she tried to tell the silver-haired commander of the naval vessel, but her voice came out in an unintelligible croak. The Sea Sprite's medical officer gathered her into his arms and dribbled water between her cracked lips until her voice was discernible, if not strong. "They did not join," she managed.

"Lay still, Captain," urged the doctor. "We'll get you patched up in no time."

"Who's in charge here?" demanded the English commander.