It takes almost no time at all for Louis to realize that Harry is probably the most useless sailor that he's ever taken aboard. At least the ones that he kidnaps from other ships had some sort of nautical experience. Harry, on the other hand, has lots of useless knowledge about things like import costs of horse feed but couldn't tell a mast from a gangplank.
He tries him out at just about every kind of job possible on a ship. Harry is enthusiastic, certainly, doing his very best to succeed at each job Louis attempts to put him to. It's just that he's miserable at everything. It reaches the point where Louis is starting to wonder whether Harry is more of a liability than a potential asset to his crew.
The sieges themselves are the absolute worst. Harry has a sword, and he knows how to use it, and the second Louis suggests he board the other vessel with them and actually use it, he freezes. All around him men are rushing around readying to rob their unfortunate victim of everything they have, but Harry is standing like a statue on the deck and staring at Louis in horror.
"You want me to- to fight people?" he asks, voice higher than usual. "Like- cut them? Stab them?"
"Not unless they're trying to hurt you. We instigate fights, but we do not start them. Until we're resisted, we use only the threat of force."
Some of the fear leaves Harry's eyes, but hesitation is still all over his face. "I don't- I'm not sure that I could-"
Off to the side someone calls to the captain to come along, and Louis is already backing away from Harry. "Don't worry about it. Stay here, yeah? Don't worry about it."
They take the ship with ease and Louis is all smiles that night, but Harry is not. He's somber and brooding, passing out the meats they'd harvested from the raid without a single word until Louis drains the last of his tankard of ale, walks over to grab him by the arm, and drags him up to the deck. The cool air rushes around them both. "What's the matter, Harry?"
"Nothing," Harry immediately replies. "Why would something be wrong?"
"Because you've been pouting all night. No, don't try to deny it, I'm not an idiot. Tell me, what's the matter?"
Harry looks out over the water and screws his mouth up unhappily. "I'm useless," he says simply. "I can't do anything involved in life on this ship. Why didn't I think of that before I ran away? I wanted to be a pirate and I can't even do- piratey things."
"Not everyone on the ship participates in the raids," Louis defends at once. "Plenty of people have other skills that they use to help the good of the crew and never have to board another ship if they don't want to."
"That's just it, though. They have other skills. I'm useless at everything on this ship and you know it."
"You have to have some sort of viable talent." He can see that the younger man is exhausted after a week and a half of trying different tasks. "Something that has to do with being on board a ship."
"I wasn't trained to do anything nautical," Harry mumbles. "We have an extensive navy, but it isn't the place of the royal heir to learn about how to sail. I could maybe give you statistics about various types of ships, but..."
"Okay, maybe not sailing related," Louis tries. "What kind of things did you like to do? Like hobbies."
Harry pauses for a moment and give it some serious thought. "I really liked swimming."
"Yes, well, if you're in the water then we're all in trouble because the idea of the ship is to keep us out of the water," Louis answers wryly. "Keep thinking. Anything else?"
"I didn't really have a lot of hobbies," Harry shrugs. "Mostly my time was taken up by lessons, and swimming, and hanging out around the castle. I liked talking to everyone and knowing what was going on."
