When William and Jessop got back to the inn, they found their comrades ambling towards the docks feeling the repercussions of the drinking they’d done the night before.
They fell in line keeping the conversation to a minimum since the men were not in any shape to answer. William was met with a wretching from Tom when he got close enough to William to smell the residual scent of the previously donned coat.
“You reek,” Stubby proclaimed as if no one could possibly figure that out on their own. “Didn’t you have a bath last night?” he said wincing at the bright sunlight.
“Yes, well, we had our own adventure last night that included a woman, eggs, a barn, and a smelly coat,” William admitted, but before he could finish, Stubby had passed out and face planted himself in the muddy path.
“Guess he didn’t like your story,” Jessop joked.
“Guess not,” William said as they both grabbed Stubby, one under each arm and dragged him to the ship.
At the top of the gangplank Fin bellowed, “Cap’n would like to bend yer ear on deck at twelve hundred hours. If’in yer smart, ye better be thar with bells on.”
There were mumbles and moans of ‘aye, aye’ from the men as they deposited themselves to their duties and readying to set sail. A few straggled behind and the announcement from Fin was heard several times over the course of the hour leading up to noon.
When the captain appeared at the rail of the poop deck, the men congregated to look up to him from the quarterdeck. With Salty in his arms he cleared his throat before continuing, “Thar’s been a change in our plan, a detour if ye will. Things ’ave been heatin’ up betwixt the colonists an’ ol’ King Georgie after the massacre in Boston. Word is Georgie’s hell bent on gettin’ his due fer defending the colonists during the French and Indian war.
“As I’m sure yer aware, enforcement of the Navigation act has been heavy handed to say the least. The colonists ’ave been approached by the Italians and Ragusans to enter a trade agreement, but thar a wee bit timid to do such a thing with Georgie butting in.
“To further this alliance we’ve been procured by an unnamed source, to serve as escort to the Ragusans as they travel from Baltimore to Marseille, guaranteeing safe passage from corsairs and privateers.”
Fin looked appalled, “But, sir, it don’t seem right.”
“What’s that, Fin?”
“Fighting our own kind to save a merchant.”
“Money is money, Fin. If’n they’re willin’ to pay fer our services, why shouldn’t we? Food and supplies fer the crew don’t come cheap. Chances are, we won’t come across any trouble, but if’n we do we fight to give the traders a shot at making their commitments.”
“Yer willing ta have the crew die fer these traders?”
“We face death every time we step aboard Hades’s Revenge—every time we meet another ship upon the sea. Why not make some money while we’re at it?” Fin looked unconvinced so the captain said, “Let’s put it to a vote, shall we,” in order to appease Fin.
“Who among us agrees to receiving a boat full of supplies and money to boot, for escortin’ a ship to France?”
Most hands raised among the men but there were those who were slow and weighed with uncertainty. The captain added, “This is a one-time deal. We have no other commitments with these traders. If’n we do this and we don’t like it we don’t have to do again, we’ll leave it to some other scurvy pirate ship.”
With that the hands came up confidently as the captain seemed to know they would. “Good. After we leave Marseille, we we’ll be heading toward the coast of Germany. Seems Georgie is procuring a regiment of Hessian soldiers to hunt down the perpetrators of the burning of the Gaspee. I’m sure you’ve heard of Dudingston’s crackdown on the smuggling ring in Narrangansett Bay.” Many men bobbed their heads in agreement.
“While pursuing the Hannah, the Gaspee ran aground in the shallow waters off Namquit Point then sped away. Some man named Bucklin heard what happened and organized a party of sixty or more to raid the stranded vessel. They set the ship aflame.
“Georgie’s taking the incident as a personal challenge to his authority and plans to see justice brought to the colonists at any cost.
“My thoughts were to shadow the ship carrying them Hessians until they get far from home, then act. By the time news gets back that thar ship never arrived, the colonists will have gained a chance at preparing if Georgie sends another land force.”
A word from the crowd said, “I’ve heard these Hessians are a brutal bunch.”
“Aye, I’ve heard this too,” answered the captain. “But they be land fighters and though their methods be fiendish hand to hand, I’m expecting them to not fend well on the water. Many will be sick in the first week, as ye well know. That’s when we make our onslaught.”
“We’re in agreement then?”
A hearty barrage of ‘aye’s’ met the captain’s ears. “Let’s make Georgie’s life a living hell, shall we boys?”
“Aye!” they roared.
“Make sail for Baltimore, men.”
“Aye!” shouted the sailors.
* * *
The captain steered the Revenge through the pitch of night to avert any attention to the rogue ship. At a smaller harbor south of the well-known Baltimore port, they docked the ship.
The men were met by a dozen locals at the pier and quickly went to work filling the belly of vessel with food and supplies. Nary a word was spoken under the veil of darkness that shadowed the unknowing from what was being undertaken. The pirates and the dockworkers worked efficiently and diligently until just before light.
Jessop and William had been tasked to procure wood and hardware from a warehouse within the town. With a cart they set out on their pursuit. A secret knock gained them entrance by a man carrying an oil lamp.
“Come in, but be quick about it,” he whispered opening a barn style door to accommodate the cart.
He pointed to a pile of supplies in the far corner before returning to a drawing table.
Jessop and William went to work piling the cache of timber and kegs of nails onto the handcart. When they were done Jessop made his way to the gentleman hard at work drawing some strange contraption on parchment.
“Was there anything else we needed to pick up,” Jessop said distracted by the detail of the sketch.
“No, unless you need tools.”
Jessop caught William’s gaze in question confirming what he already knew, “No. I think we have everything we need. This contraption is quite magnificent. What do you call it?”
“It’s a submersible. It doesn’t have a name yet, though it looks like a turtle, don’t you think?”
“Indeed,” agreed Jessop. “What materials will you be making it from.”
“Wood,” he said. “It will be used to secretly affix charges to an enemy’s hull.”
“How would the charges be detonated?” Jessop asked.
“I’m working with a clockwork genius named Dolittle who’s making some kind of flintlock type mechanism.”
Jessop nodded. “And how will it dive and move around?” William tapped his foot with impatience.
“A lever will flood the bilge tank here,” he pointed, “and a hand pump will force the water out to surface. These hand cranks will propel the vessel forward and sideways.”
“May I make a couple of suggestions?”
“Be my guest,” he said.
“I’d be inclined to put lead at the bottom with a release mechanism to drop it. That would shoot the vessel to the surface in an instant allowing for the operator to get out quickly if he needed to.”
“Yes. I see. Very good.”
“And though I don’t know the calculations of pressure to depth, I’m guessing you might want to reinforce the wooden shells with strips of steel here, here, and here.”
“And that wouldn’t take away from its buoyancy?”
“Not enough to worry about and the man within will be very grateful for it.”
He chuckled. “Yes. I imagine he would. Thank you.”
“Thank you, and good luck,” Jessop said offering his hand.
He took it and shook, “Thank you…”
“Jesse Andrews.”
“Jesse Andrew, nice to meet you, I’m David Bushnell.”
“Mr. Bushnell it’s an honor to make your acquaintance.”
“And mine, yours.”
Jessop made his way to open the door for William to maneuver the cart outside, waving as he did.
“Didn’t think I’d ever get you out of there,” he whispered as they made their way down the earthen path.
“You should have seen it, William. It was fascinating.”
“I’m sure it was, but we’re on a schedule and I don’t want Fin to have any reason to discipline me.”
Jessop smiled and patted him on the back. “No, we wouldn’t want that,” he said as they walked.