⛵ ⛵ ⛵ ⛵...(Tour of "High Island")...
[Last time...]
The command to fall to the deck rang out through the ears of every officer and seaman! Galligan slid down the big wheel and hit the bridge deck planks, holding the spindles only at the lowest edge. Then the crashing thunder of the nine pound balls burst their ears!
One careened into a tall wake of water to the portside, sinking harmlessly into the dark watery depths, but the second ball struck high on the Orlop deck, punching a small hole through the hull and penetrating into the interior! A faint scream could be heard from below…
Commander Galligan jumped back up to his feet and took the wheel just in time to hear the Captain’s deep booming voice…
“Fire! Fire! Fire!” ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~[On the French Corvette...]
The report of the nine big guns on the Silverton’s portside was deafening, and Commander Gagnon knew that there was but a second to react…
“Down!” He yelled as he threw himself forward.
It seemed that the moment their faces hit the deck the terrible, wrecking damage of the sixteen pounders struck! With only a narrow frontal target to her enemy, the Corvette Serpent was spared the merciless assault of two of the nine balls as they whizzed past to the right and the left...
The other seven loads however, cut through wood, brass, iron and canvas alike!
As luck would have it, a large wave lifted the portside of the Silverton the moment the nine guns fired, jarring the path of the discharge five or six feet higher than their aim. The result was that the seven balls of hot iron tore straight though the fore and main mast, snapping them off at head level and ripping their spars and booms to pieces above them! The mainsail and the forward jibs were caught in the wake and ripped into a dangling mass of ribbon-like flags that rippled in the wind!
Splinters and shards of wood blasted out from the masts and at least three men caught the brunt of it with foot long splinters sticking out of their backs and buttocks. One poor sailor caught one square in the face and was catapulted overboard in an instant with a scream, never to be seen again!
As Commander Gagnon rolled over on his side, he was relieved to see young First Mate Louis sprawled next to him, unharmed. Pushing himself up to a sitting position, he very nearly missed being crushed by a falling mizzen boom that hit the deck three feet to his right and made him shudder from the impact!
Exhaling deeply he crept up to a kneel and gazed out to the north-east. His enemy was now perfectly perpendicular to them. The smoking barrels of the nine sixteen pounders pointed ominously in his direction.
Commander Gagnon caught his breath in a moment of shock before yelling out his command…
“Anyone…anyone who… is able…find a patch of white sail cloth… and hoist it into the air...before they reload...” He yelled out in a broken voice as he then slipped back down onto his left elbow.
It was then that he saw the bloody wooden shard embedded deeply in his shoulder...
[On the Silverton, upper gun deck...]
"Roll them back an' prepare tae swab-oot!" Warrant Officer Errislravenhill yelled as she fanned the smoky air away from her face.
Junior Petty Officer Oldrooster and the others pulled with all their might to roll the big guns backward into the loading area...
⛵ ⛵ ⛵ ⛵
Vocab fur lainlubbers:
abune (above)
boak bay (sick bay)
clootie (cloth)
deid (dead)
dinnae (don't)
doon (down)
dug (dog)
een (eyes)
gang (go)
gin (gun)
haur (here)
jobby (shit)
ken (know)
kent (knew)
Lassie (girl)
loon (boy)
mingin (nasty)
nane (none)
noo (now)
oot (out)
pit (put)
plotzblitz (upon my soul)
reit (right)
rin (run)
stoaner (hard)
tay (too)
tint (lost)
uir (our)
ur (or)
wabbit (tired)
whit (what)
woriat
yak (eye)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Confused? Ascared? Seasick? Need a private chat with the Captain?" - Skelp th' 'Reply' button!" ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~References: - Pictures from: www.freeimages.com, www.pexels.com, pixabay.com, steemit.com, Wikipedia an’ www.google.com/maps. Data loosely interpretted froms: Wikipedia, an' sometimes finely crafted reit from th' author's extensiff personal experience an' such.