Chapter 03 – First combat
One evening, ten days later, we were two days from our destination when the look-out saw sails appear on the horizon. He was good, yes, but what helped him was that the falling sun made the sails reflect for a few moments. It was a fleet of at least five ships. No matter who they were, it was better to flee as quickly as possible. The captain gave orders to change course, going in a direction that would slow us with the opposing winds, and to unfold all sails but the biggest one. To me, it seemed a stupid move, but I wasn’t an expert and avoided complaining. We could see, half an hour later, that one of the ships had changed course to pursue us. It wasn’t a question about ‘why’, our black sails, used when in the open and not in need of disguise, were well known. Once the sun was gone, we turned all lights off, then the captain ordered a total change of direction, unfolded the remaining sails, and we started to literally fly on the sea, far from our pursuers.
His tactic had been to make us appear as if we were slow because of some damage and unable to use the main sail, and that so we were trying to flee in a nearby group of islands, where we could hide, so they would have to give up. Also, I was explained by the boatswain of the plan which was hidden to me, but clear to his experience. Captain Hood, always well informed, knew that a recent hurricane levelled all the trees of that group of islands, leaving next to no cover for any ship. Now, while we were running away from there, the pursuer would go toward the islands, hopefully not seeing the coral barrier in the night until too late, thanks to the fact that the common landmarks weren’t there anymore.
There was still the problem of the rest of the fleet, which could either continue its trip, then not be a problem, or scatter to try and cover every other option. Apparently, they chose the first, and we managed to avoid them. We stopped for provisions in a small port under French authority and left in just a few hours.
It was only a week later when I got the first taste of a naval battle, with boarding and fighting. We were passing between two islands, a passage used by some captains as a point of direction and considered by the superstition of most as a sign of good omen to pass through them, when we suddenly got in front of the Dolphin, another ship, the Nuestra Señora de España. It was another frigate, if slightly bigger. It was probably slower than us, because of its heavier armaments, but we were too close to avoid contact.
Immediately, the Captain reacted, before I could even realize what was happening. His crew, as the very efficient and experienced men that they were, was already down underdeck moving the cannons in place. The trick the captain used to avoid facing an unfavourable exchange of cannonballs was that as soon as half of our ship was flanking the enemy ship, Blackeyes dropped the anchor, which made our ship suddenly stop and turn thirty degrees. It was enough for our full cannons to aim at their flank, and the whole volley from our cannons hit the flank of the Nuestra Señora de España, disabling most of its firepower on that side. When the shooting stopped causing mayhem in the enemy ship, we were already too close for another salvo of the cannons, and some of our crew were already boarding. I could only stay in my corner and observe the fight, which, to my satisfactio,n ended with our victory and the capture of the enemy captain.
Captain Blackeyes called me and we searched their Captain's cabin for anything useful. Being Spanish, my mother tongue, I could understand everything faster and better than him. I translated to him several lines of documents, to see if he was interested in them, and put them all in a box for a later, better checking, until we found the letters about the mission and orders of the Nuestra Señora. Its duty was to fight pirates, and mainly to hunt and destroy the Dolphin, possibly capturing Captain Blackeyes. When I read it, I laughed, and he looked at me puzzled. So, I translated it by the letter, and he laughed as well. Chance wanted that our hunter was so lucky to meet us immediately, and we had been even luckier to beat it as quick. Must admit, he confessed later, that their worst mistake, the one that doomed them, had been to have a crew who never been in the Caribbean. That made them react like they would in European average naval battles, instead than how they should when confronting pirates. Plus, they’ve been slowed by the unbelievable stroke of luck in finding the Dolphin so quickly. Or a stroke of bad luck, we could say then.
We got all documents, maps, valuables, resources, powder and cannonballs, even a few cannons to replace our older ones, damaged in previous battles, sails – it’s not every day that you can get free spare parts for a frigate, especially if you are a pirate frigate – and everything useful, especially food and water. Then we pulled the ship out of the passage, in deeper waters, and put it on fire. Being the captain, a known name, but too experienced to be allowed free, the boatswain searched him, asked for his last wishes, even allowed him to write a letter to his family, which I read to check if there was any hidden message – and then he was executed. We would make so his family medallion and the letter would be delivered to his family, just as a courtesy.
Then, we returned to our travel and six days later were in a small pirate refugee camp. Not the infamous Tortuga, too crowded with unscrupulous bandits and likely spies that given the reward on Blackeyes’ head would sell us to the Spanish without a problem, but a smaller one, known only by British pirates, who were – not so secretly – funded by the British Empire.
We passed a few days there, reading everything from the captain’s stash of documents, burned the useless ones and kept what could be of any utility. Plus, we updated our maps with new information.
Then we sailed to hunt some prey. I could see that the sails were white, and we had the Union Jack flying instead of the Jolly Roger. We roamed around the medium-frequented routes for a few days, then Captain Blackeyes gave orders for a new route. In two days, we were where he wanted to be, and the next day, we started to pursue the ship he was looking for. It was a brig, quite fast, but not as much as our frigate. It tried to flee, but to no avail. I could see John was worried, though. I asked him, and he said the brig was the one he was looking for, right ship, now that we were near enough, right name… the Flaminia. His information was that the ship should secretly carry a delivery of gold for the pay of the Spanish garrison in Cartagena. But the ship shouldn’t be heavily armed, while this instead had several cannon mouths visible on its flanks. He decided that there was nothing he could do, just that he’d be more wary. We approached, using wooden walls to protect from the ship’s muskets, and getting so close from behind that when we flanked it, the ships’ flanks literally scratched each other. Then, the grapnels tied the ships together. Our men boarded and were slowly prevailing when the hatchway opened, and so the two mast doors, and countless soldiers poured out. Blackeyes’ feelings were right; it was a trap. Our men were slowly repelled back on our ship, where they kept losing ground. At a certain point, I was, as always, observing from my corner next to the stairs, out of sight from muskets and out of the feet of our men, when two things happened. A Spanish soldier died and dropped his sword next to me. One of our men got wounded, fell less than a metre from me and was about to be killed. I didn’t think, just reacted. I took the sword, diverted the blow about to kill my fellow pirate, and killed the soldier. Then, just out of instinct, I started moving along the ship. Parry a blow here, pierce a leg there, kill a soldier, pierce another’s back, quickly win one, two, three… sixteen duels, deviate a blow to my arm in the flank of another enemy, kill the man, and in five or ten minutes, we were surrounding the few remaining soldiers. Then the men boarded the other ship and took prisoners the captain and the soldiers’ commanding officers. They admitted they were a trap, meant to lure pirates. They already wiped out two ships. They kept a few prisoners on the ship to hang them in Maracaibo, as a warning to the other pirates. We went down to check them, and found they were treated very bad. Some wouldn’t make it to Maracaibo; most had been tortured. One of those in better shape said that soldiers were often down there having fun with torture. We freed them all and moved them on our ship. Then tied the surviving soldiers, some of whom had iron armours on, all together, and told them we would repay their cruelty. Then we pushed them overboard. Their equipment made them sink quickly.
The captain and commander got a quick end, pierced in their hearts. We plundered and burned the ship, then left.
The whole crew cheered me, and many came to congratulate and thank me. Apparently, I saved many lives directly and all indirectly, because they were about to be overwhelmed. Captain Blackeyes commented, “Apparently, our young ship’s boy has some surprises for us… Never has a surprise been so appreciated like today… Care to come to my cabin and explain?”
I nodded and followed him.
“So, Ash, how come you are so proficient in swordsmanship?”
“I told you that my father had only me with whom to share his passions… swordsmanship was one of them. I just didn’t believe I could be of any use. I honestly thought I’d be just a child compared to you and professional soldiers.”
He thought for a moment, then asked. “Were you good when exercising with your father?”
“Well… lately I could barely avoid bruises most of the time, and beat him sometimes, but he often managed to still beat me. Even if it was much less often, I have to admit. But still, he was old, I’m young… It’s not that difficult to beat a man of his age, and I couldn’t.”
“Ash… Cyndria… do you remember who your father was before being appointed as Governor in Simòn de Alpeche?”
“He told me something once, about being in a high position at court.… not sure about what though.”
“Your father, Luis Monteyo y Spinoza y Aquino de Alameda, has been the most famous Royal Armsmaster of Spain. That means he was the best fighter of Spain, in charge of training the Royal Guards and the Elite Platoons of the Army. It’s widely known that he lost his position thanks to court games and plots, because he was honest and incorruptible. If you managed to keep up with him, you are likely the best fighter on this side of the Atlantic Ocean.”
“No, it can’t be, you are making fun of me! Ok, those soldiers seemed easy, but they always send recruits on this kind of mission!”
“Cyndria, do you think recruits could have bested us as they did? They were from the Elite corps of the Spanish army. Veterans of many battles, trained directly by the Royal Armsmaster. The actual one, not the one who replaced your father. Did you see their commander's surprise when he realized we won? He couldn’t believe it. I bet he was already planning, if he made it alive, to warn that we were much tougher and trained than expected. Just, it’s better if they don’t know.”
“Believe me, I’m as surprised as you, probably more.”
“I don’t know. But never mind. Would you train my men? They can teach you a lot of dirty tricks that soldiers don’t know. But if it’s about your life, any trick isn’t too dirty, don’t you think?”
“I guess so. Ok, I’ll train them. But only volunteers. And during the training I must have total control over them, as if I were you.”
“Don’t you think it’s a little too much?”
“No… If I have to motivate one of them through humiliation, I can’t risk that he stabs me in the back because he feels offended. You would punish him, but that wouldn’t change anything for me then. And if you need to intervene to confirm my orders, or deny them, I would only lose authority, and at that point, I wouldn’t be able to teach anything.”
“You have a point. I’ll join the training too. And yes, I’ll also obey you, during the training and for things related to it, but will keep the authority to stop it if I think it’s going over the line, and them if they get angry.”
“Fine. We’ll start when everyone is healed and rested from the recent battle. Also, how many of those prisoners do you trust? I suspect there may be spies amongst them.”
“Yes, I suspect it as well. But there is a reason if they never manage to infiltrate spies and have to resort to a one-time treason… I’ll let you know what I found. Until we have them around, there won’t be any training. I’ll warn the men not to talk about you and what happened until all of the prisoners are proven reliable.”
It took a couple of days, and then they managed to reveal the spy. What gave him away was the fact that pirates have a tough life. Scars are frequent, and rotten teeth too. Hardened muscles, no fat at all for the active crew, a degree of cruelty, alcoholism, vulgarity, rudeness, ignorance, and a slang I was just starting to grasp after weeks living with them. That guy was always staying alone with himself, never joined the others in drinking, and had just a few bruises and scratches on himself. The better treated of the others had still fresh whipping marks on their backs. Plus, he was muscled, but well fed and toned. His story was plausible, but unconfirmed by those who supposedly were on his own ship. A new face was the subject of rumours, guessing and curiosity on a ship. As I’ve been since my arrival. Every single man of our crew found an excuse to look me in the face within the first day. It wasn’t possible that his own mates wouldn’t know about his joining the crew.
So, he was taken outside and stripped naked. Would you believe his back was as smooth as mine? And I was sort of a noble, who would never get marks on her skin save for an accident. Even soldiers sometimes get the whip.
In fact, at the second hit of the whip, he spilled everything about his mission. It was to gather all information about us, our bases, and then pretend to die or disappear when near the coast, and report to the Governor of the nearest city. He didn’t get to the next day.
The others were mostly the classic pirate, who would fight to the death for you, but stab your back if unhappy, or if convenient. A couple were promising candidates to join us, since we lost a lot of men in the last battle. These were also British, while most of the others were French and Spanish. While they wouldn’t care about killing Spanish, there was still some ancient unrest between them and the others. We would drop the Spanish in Tortuga and the rest in Port Royal, where we would look for new British recruits.
Ten days later, we were down in Port Royal. I kept my face hidden and was always escorted by John or Robert, plus a number of our men. But there wasn’t anything I was really interested in, so after a few hours, I was back on the ship and didn’t leave it again. Robert and John managed to recruit fifteen men, careful avoiding groups that could band and cause troubles, and none with any leadership. Too many cocks in a poultry would only cause troubles.
I was exercising in talking with a low masculine voice, and if I had to shout, to shout as manly as possible. Still, it would be obvious at first sight to everyone that I was a woman. John got an idea, though. He went to the city theatre and looked for a make-up artist. He handsomely paid one to teach me everything about doing make-up. It took only three days, plus one of exercising, and I was almost as good as him. Then, I covered my face with make-up that portrayed a big scar on the neck, more masculine traits, a scar vertically crossing my face, and the other side of the face as if it was horribly burned. That would both explain the nickname ‘Ash’ and the voice, presumably damaged by the neck scar. The most difficult thing was to hide my chest, and believe me, compressing it with leather straps was painful. But either that, or I wouldn’t fool anyone about my being a woman. It would take a while to learn to move with my new bindings, but I would manage. Luckily, I was what by some would be called flat-chested. I wasn’t flat, but men like big boobs, and I was quite small in the department. The upside of this is that I was wearing a sort of leather armour below my shirt.
We sailed after a week of rest. In the next six months or so, we fought a few battles and raided a number of Spanish ships, one of which had a good gold load. We were happy and took almost three weeks of rest again in Port Royal. While the men were wasting money, though, John and me secretly bought a house, with a wide garden fenced by high walls, we dug a secret chamber in the basement, in a place nobody would ever think of checking. With countless trips, during which I sometimes dressed like a rich woman and acted like one, so as to appear common going in and out, we moved all of our possessions and loot in the new chamber. Then we closed it permanently with a wall. The day we would need to add some, we could partially reopen and close it back eventually, but nobody would think about a secret room if there wasn’t any access, which we also made so that it appeared as old as the rest of the basement walls. And the day we would retire, we could open it and transfer everything to our settling place.
