A Ship Was Gaining

1782, CHARLES TOWN, SOUTH CAROLINA

Mary Read. Calico Jack. Anne Bonny.

Our names were known to many upon the seas and outside of them. We were wanted, dead or alive. Although if we were to be brought back alive, we would just end up dead. Really, the saying should be dead or deader; you can’t win either way.

Unless you’re a woman. I’ll get into that later. Perhaps.

A month and a half. That was how long it’d been since Mary joined us. With her help, we managed to get more spoils than ever before. We were rich with greed, with gold, with rum. With valuables.

That greed would be the end of us, however. And it would be our Jack’s fault.

You see, Jack had spied a prize; a ship. A twelve-ton mighty sloop; The William. I was reluctant; it felt risky, too risky. Mary, however, agreed with Jack and that was that; we would steal it.

We slipped with muffled oars under the guise of night. When we came aboard, not a soul was in sight. The fools were down in the ragged tavern, drinking. So, we took from underneath them, stole off with “The William”.

Unfortunately, as we celebrated, we didn’t foresee the threat for such an easy win. Initially, I had thought the steal risky; they won me over. And when we stole it without any bloodshed, the rest of my doubt vanished. I was like them; I thought we’d gotten away with it.

We’d come to regret stealing “The William”.

…

…

Mary and I stood upon the deck, staring in horror at what we saw upon the waters, growing larger, closer.

A shadow was looming. A ship was gaining. And all the men were drinking. As the Man-O-War was gaining.

APRIL 2025

Nettie pauses again, searching Lainey’s face for an expression of recognition. Instead, there is vacancy, like she has begun dissociating from reality.

“Lainey? Are you alright?” she asks, sounding concerned, yet also excited for some reason. Did it work? Has it clicked?

“…” Lainey blinks and shakes her head. “Huh? …Oh! Yeah, I’m fine. I just…got lost in the story for a second there. More so than I had been. We’re almost at the end, huh?”

“...You could say that, yeah. The ending,” Nettie agrees. “It could also be a beginning. After all, Anne Bonny lived past the end of her privacy era.”

“How did she escape when the others couldn’t?” Lainey wonders. “Why does she lose everyone, yet get left alive?”

“You soon shall see, dearie,” Nettie states with a wink. “I do this reluctantly, of course; ending the tale means ending the night with you.”

Lainey blushes deeply. “The feeling is mutual but I still want to hear the end.”

“Very well.”

~~~~~~~~~~

The way the story is written doesn’t matter. Professional, simple, perfect, sloppy. What matters most is that the story is being retold again for those who may have never heard of her.

Plus, Karliene is a lovely singer who deserves some more subscribers. She didn’t/doesn’t just write/sing songs for/about Anne Bonny. She also has songs about witches, middle-earth, Anne Boleyn, and others.

If you haven’t caught on, lines are made bold (sometimes italic but hasn’t been the case since the first two chapters) because it’s a line from the song that’s linked; I’ve been doing this for every chapter and will continue doing it.

Bits and pieces of information about these specific pirates come from the wikipedia page and various websites Google linked. It may be true; it may be exaggerated. That’s why I am calling this historical fiction.

And sorry that the lingo is a bit too modern; it’s very difficult to write how people once spoke when you don’t actually know much of how they spoke, even with some research.