I came to slowly. It was like swimming up out of a black cloudy pool towards the surface. My head pounded and my body was sore all over. It was dark, but the rocking, creak of the rigging, and slap of the sea told me I was in the bilges of a ship. The stench of humanity, rot, and spoiled meat assailed my nostrils. Rats scurried about in the darkness.
I remembered now: the ship on the horizon; the sea chase; the black flag with a skull and crossed sabers, and the one shot that took out our mast, dropping the gaff on me. That is the last I remember. I must be on the pirate ship. My ship must be lost. I drift back into unconsciousness not mourning the loss of a crew that shanghaied me for a year at sea.
I awake coughing and sputtering, reacting to a bucket of frigid, fetid seawater thrown in my face. I am roughly drug up a ladder and onto the pitching deck. The sun blinds me as I am thrown down to the deck. My head still throbbed and I squint up at the man looming over me.
His boot came forward and lifted my head up, "So, what have we here? What is your name son and where do ye hail from?"
I lift my head free from his boot and answer, "My name is Gillem McDonald and I'm from Charleston, South Carolina."
"Well Gillem, your captain should have known that I rule in these waters. Any tavern keeper and publican in the area can tell ye that. Your captain was foolish. If he'd hove to when we came in sight he'd be alive today. He'd be poorer, but alive. He chose poorly."
I seethe, but I am in no condition to stand up, much less stand up to this pirate. I know he is Calico Jack Rackham. He and his band of cutthroats have raided the Bahamas and East Coast of America for months now. They have been raiding cargo and fishing vessels for crew, food, and treasure.
"Now what shall we do with you boy? I give ye a choice. Join me crew or swim with the fishes."
A short man comes up beside the captain. A brace of pistols protrudes from his belt. "Captain, why don't you let me have him? I can think of several uses for a pretty young fella like him."
The captain and crew burst into laughter.
"I just bet ye can. If you want him, I give him to ye. Get him well enough to climb the rigging or it's over the side with him"
The look of horror on my face brought peals of laughter from the crew. I am roughly dragged below and shoved into a small cabin on the port side of the ship. I am still too groggy to be able to defend myself from whatever this heathen pirate has in mind. My mind floods with stories I've heard of pirates' abuse of prisoners, male and female. I resolve to fight back whatever way I can.
I hear footsteps in the companionway and the door opens slowly. I brace my self to do what I can in my defense. The door opens and a pistol precedes the short pirate into the cabin.
"Be very careful me young friend. It won't bother me a wit to kill you if you cause me any problem at all. No one on this ship will mourn your passing."
I look down the barrel of the flintlock pistol and resign myself to my fate. The pirate uncocks the pistol and sets it on the bunk in the corner of the room. The man walks over and takes my face in his hand and turns my head back and forth.
"My, but ye are a pretty one."
I recoil at the touch of his calloused hands.