Pirates Of The Storm
Stranded In Time Book 1
By Fletcher Best
Published by George Fletcher Best at Smashwords
Copyright © 2012 George Fletcher Best. All rights reserved. While it is sometimes said that plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery, I happen to take the more conventional legal stance on it and take enforcement of my copyright seriously. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
This book is a work of fiction. While this book does contain references to actual historical figures, all details regarding such individuals have been fictionalized. Any similarities to actual persons or time travel events are purely coincidental.
Visit the author’s website:
http://www.FletcherBest.com
Table of Contents
Preface
Chapter 1: One More Swim
Chapter 2: Lost
Chapter 3: Stranded In Time
Chapter 4: What’s Old Is New
Chapter 5: A New Day
Chapter 6: Port Royal
Chapter 7: Success Or Death
Chapter 8: Setting Sail
Chapter 9: Bad ForBusiness
Chapter 10: No Honor Among Thieves
Chapter 11: Utila
Chapter 12: A Pirate’s Life
Chapter 13: Port Royal, Jamaica
Chapter 14: Into The Storm
Bonus: Chapter 1 of The Corpornation
Review And Connect
Preface
I had just written myself into a corner on another book I was working on when I took a vacation to the island of Roatan, located off the coast of Honduras. Roatan is rich in pirate lore and visitors will see a number of references to the island’s buccaneer past – including the name of the largest town on the island, Coxen Hole, named after Captain John Coxen. Captain Coxen is not as well-known as some other pirates of the day, but in his time he was infamous for his daring raids and was one of the most feared pirates on the Spanish Main, particularly in the Western Caribbean.
As I was relaxing in a hammock looking out on the water one day, the ever-present but subtle pirate theme of Roatan led me to daydreaming about pirates and what life must have been like in those days. The winds and seas were picking up, as Hurricane Ernesto was approaching the island, and there were a few scattered thunderstorms offshore. As I watched the storms, I started to think about what might happen if I were to be somehow transported back in time to the days of Captain Coxen, and from those thoughts the idea for this book was born.
Initially, I set out to make the book as historically accurate as possible, but soon realized a couple of things. First, the recorded history regarding Captain Coxen and the pirates of the 17th century is vague and often contradictory. Second, getting caught up in historical details in a book that is ultimately science-fiction is probably unnecessary. So, I wound up taking some liberties with the history at hand and focused primarily on providing my audience with an entertaining read that has something for just about everyone: a little history, “pirate talk” (and who doesn’t love that?), sexy pirate wenches, humor, bloody violence, drunken debauchery, a healthy serving of sex, and even some philosophy and subtle social commentary.
Did I mention the sex and violence? For the most part, any semi-realistic story about pirates is going to contain at least a little “adult” content. While I do not think I have been overly explicit with the sexual and violent content, this book does contain adult themes. So is this a book for young children? No. If this book were a movie, it would probably receive a rating of PG-13 or perhaps an aaahhRRR! (a little pirate humor there), so parents should take this into consideration before permitting their children to read it, and certainly before reading it to them as a bedtime story!
Anyway, this is the first of the Stranded in Time series. I hope that you enjoy it and the subsequent books in the series.
Chapter 1: One More Swim
Jeff sucked down the last swallows from his glass of rum and coke as he stared out at the water from his hammock. It was the third day of his vacation on the island of Roatan, off the coast of Honduras, and he was enjoying his solitude. Jeff was between romantic relationships at the moment and although several of his friends had initially expressed an interest in going on the trip, they had ultimately all had to back out for various reasons. But Jeff was not regretting going solo in the least. He found that he liked the freedom to do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted, and not have to worry about anyone else’s plans or desires.
Although his body had partially fused into the webbing of the hammock, he pulled himself from its evil clutches and headed toward his apartment to get his snorkeling gear. A hurricane was approaching the Western Caribbean and although it was predicted to pass well to the North of Roatan, it would probably create some storms that would restrict his outdoor activities for the next couple of days. Since he only had a few days left on the island, he wanted to get in one more swim on the reef before the weather turned. He collected his mask and fins and walked over to one of the kayaks provided by the guest house he was staying at. He secured his gear and grabbed a paddle before dragging the kayak to the water’s edge.
Although the sky was still sunny and clear, the wind was already picking up and he could see a white line of surf where the water was hitting the barrier reef fifty yards or so offshore. As he pushed the kayak out in the water and jumped into the seat, he was already being blown sideways and he quickly started paddling to avoid being blown under the dock. His intended snorkel spot was on the edge of a channel through the reef a good distance upwind and he got quite a workout paddling out to it. Despite being in relatively good shape, he was not used to kayaking, and by the time he reached the channel marker his shoulders were burning and he was breathing hard. He took a moment to recover before he slipped on his mask and fins and lowered himself into the water.
After diving down and tying off the kayak to a rock, he swam around slowly on the surface catching his breath. The reef here was spectacular, with a wide variety of corals and tropical fish. A huge queen angelfish caught his eye and he approached it slowly, watching it swim in and out of the rocks. He was almost hypnotized by the beauty of the fish and was suddenly brought back to consciousness when he looked up and found himself face to face with a large barracuda a few feet away. Startled, he actually yelled into his snorkel, and the sinister-looking toothy fish moved off.
Although Jeff knew that barracudas are generally harmless to people, the fact that he was on the reef by himself made him a bit uneasy, so he kept an eye out for the barracuda as he continued his tour of the reef. He reached the edge of the reef where it suddenly went from about 8 feet to well over 40 feet deep on a sheer drop-off. Along the drop-off, clouds of bright blue damselfish and various other tropical fish congregated. It was a beautiful sight, but the deep water of the drop-off was much darker than the water on the shallow reef, and with the residual creepy feeling left by the barracuda encounter, Jeff decided to swim back towards the shallows.
As he did, he noticed the visibility on the reef seemed to have declined and then realized that it was because the sun was no longer shining. He pulled his head from the water and saw some dark clouds gathering, so he quickly headed back to the kayak. By the time he untied the kayak and climbed on, the sky had become quite dark and the wind and waves were building. He pulled off
his snorkel gear and started paddling the kayak towards shore. Although the water was choppy, paddling was considerably easier than it had been on the way out, since the strong wind was now at his back. He could see the pier at the guest house now and knew he would be able to make it to the beach in a few minutes.
Suddenly, a lightning bolt struck the elevated deck at the end of the pier and a loud burst of thunder roared through his ears. With a lightning strike so close to him, Jeff knew that the safest thing to do would be to put down his metal-handled paddle and lie back in the kayak to keep as low of a profile as possible. He quickly tied the docking rope around the paddle in case it got knocked off the kayak in the rough water and laid as flat as possible. It was not the most comfortable position, especially with the kayak getting bounced around in the waves.
All at once, several bolts of lightning flashed in the sky nearly simultaneously and the clouds started circling over him. As they circled, the clouds seemed to be getting closer and closer. As he looked to the side, Jeff could no longer see the shore. It was as if the clouds had formed a tunnel around him and the walls of the tunnel were closing in! Lightning flashed in the walls of the tunnel, but unlike the bolt that had struck the pier, it was not like any lightning John had ever seen. It glowed pink, purple, and blue and instead of thunder, the lightning made an odd crackling sound all around him. Jeff could feel his heart pounding with terror as the cloud tunnel closed in on him. The strange lightning was nearly upon him and he could feel all of the hair on his head and body standing up in the static electrical charge. The brightness of the flashes forced him to shut his eyes and at that moment, he felt the searing pain of electricity passing through his body. He saw a few brief flashes through his eyelids and then darkness, just before losing consciousness.
Chapter 2: Lost
Jeff came to with a start and he sat up in the kayak. The sky was sunny and the wind and sea were calm. He looked around and to his relief, he saw the island to his left and he was just inside the barrier reef. His fins were gone, but his mask and snorkel were still there. He had a brief moment of panic when he realized the paddle was not in the kayak but fortunately it was still tied to the rope and Jeff pulled it in. He untied the rope and started to paddle, but then realized that he didn’t see any familiar landmarks. Along the shore there were no structures he could see and the pier of the guesthouse was nowhere in sight. He looked at his watch to see how long he had been unconscious, but the digital screen was blank, apparently damaged in the electrical storm. Since the wind had been blowing him towards the West End of the island, he reasoned that if he paddled East, he’d eventually find the guesthouse, so he set off paddling in that direction.
As he paddled, he watched the shore for some sign of civilization. Since he had no idea how far away he was from the guesthouse, the best course of action would be to go ashore anywhere he could get help, especially since it looked like the sun was heading down and it would soon be getting dark. But there was nothing on the shore as far as he could see. He continued paddling, growing more and more worried. There were no buildings or structures of any kind and the sun was definitely setting. Not wanting to be paddling in the dark, Jeff turned towards shore.
He beached the kayak and stepped out. His back and legs were stiff and his arms were sore from the day of paddling, but otherwise he didn’t seem to have suffered any damage from his experiences of the day. Although the weather seemed fine now, he knew that the approaching hurricane could cause problems at any time, so he looked around to see what might serve as a makeshift shelter. He was standing on a thin strip of sand, beyond which appeared to be nothing but jungle. Several hundred yards up the beach, he spotted a rocky outcropping at the edge of the trees. He reasoned that it might at least provide a wind break, and since there did not appear to be any other good shelter options, he headed that direction. By now, the sun was getting low in the sky and the bugs were coming out. There were a few mosquitoes, but the bigger problem at the moment was the sand flies, which were quickly building in number. The bites started slowly, but soon Jeff’s skin was stinging all over and he would have done anything to have had access to some insect repellent. His walk toward the outcropping quickly turned into a run and he would periodically veer off into the water to splash himself and get a brief respite from the bugs.
He finally reached the rocks and between swatting bugs he spotted what appeared to be a small cave about 10 feet up the side of the outcropping. It wasn’t exactly easy to get to, but he was able to climb up the sharp rocks without too much damage to his hands and feet. It turned out to be a pretty shallow cave. It was really more of a cut-out in the rocks than an actual cave, but it did provide a covered area just big enough to lie down in. It would provide decent shelter from any storms that popped up from the hurricane that night. By now, Jeff wondered if the bugs were going to leave enough of him to even have to worry about storms. Smoke from a fire would help, but despite having seen several television shows on how to make a fire in the wilderness, he didn’t have much hope of being able to actually pull it off in this environment, especially without any tools.
He then remembered reading on a travel website about using coconut oil to prevent sand fly bites. He was surrounded by jungle – surely he could find some coconuts! He carefully climbed down from the cave and was pleased to find a coconut tree just a few feet away that had a few mature nuts on it. The only problem was that they were 15 feet up. He tried climbing the tree but only managed to scrape up his arms and legs before having to drop back to the ground. Looking around, he found a tree branch. It was heavy and awkward, but it was just long enough and he was finally able to knock down a coconut.
But the hard work was just beginning. Opening a coconut with a machete or other tools is not too difficult, but opening one with rocks is another thing entirely. After repeatedly crunching and scraping his hands on the rocks while beating the coconut on them, he finally opened up a tear in the husk. After several more minutes of beating, tearing at the husk, and cursing, he managed to separate the inner nut from the husk. Although he was still being bitten repeatedly, a light breeze had come up and the bug bites were slowing somewhat. Realizing that the coconut would provide much-needed hydration as well as insect protection, he carefully cracked open the nut and drank the coconut water before breaking the shell apart to get at the meat. He pried loose a piece and set it on a rock to beat it into a pulp. He then rubbed the coconut on his skin and to his surprise and relief, it not only greatly reduced the number of new bites, it also soothed the sting of the existing bites. With the sting of the insects subsiding, John suddenly realized how hungry he was. He broke off a piece of coconut meat and popped it in his mouth. While he had always liked coconut, none had ever tasted so good.
It was now getting quite dark and Jeff realized that he had better get back up to the cave while he still could see enough to climb the rocks. He placed the remaining coconut under his shirt and tucked the shirt into his swim trunks to hold it while he climbed. There was just enough light left from the sun sinking below the horizon for him to find hand and foot holds as he made his way back up into the cave. He mashed up a little more coconut for insect protection and slowly ate the rest as darkness set in. As time passed, the moon started to rise in the sky and there was actually a little more light than there had been when he had climbed into the cave. Although he was tired, Jeff knew that he probably wouldn’t get much sleep. The floor of the cave was hard and rocky and his thoughts would surely keep him awake. He stared up at the moon and stars for a while before lying down to try to get some rest. As expected, he could not really get comfortable, but eventually Jeff’s fatigue took over and he lapsed into a fitful sleep.
Jeff awoke to the sun in his eyes and the sounds of sea birds. His body ached from a combination of dehydration and sleeping on his rocky bed. He was surprised to see the sun, since the Hurricane had been projected to pass close by during the night. Apparently it had changed course. Jeff was thankful he’d be able to
search for help without being hindered by bad weather. He climbed down from the cave and set about knocking down a few more coconuts. His experience from the night before served him well and he was able to open his first coconut of the day much faster and with much less damage to his hands. The second and third coconuts went even easier. The coconut water and meat made him feel considerably better and after a brief rest to collect his thoughts, he walked up the beach to the kayak and set off to try to find help.
Chapter 3: Stranded In Time
Jeff paddled the kayak slowly along the shore, searching the jungle for any homes or other signs of life, but there was nothing. He knew that Roatan wasn’t the most developed place in the world, but it seemed strange that there was so much prime beach front real estate that remained untapped. In any event, the island was only 35 miles long and if he kept paddling the same direction he knew that sooner or later he would find help.
As he passed through a stand of mangroves, Jeff spotted something in the distance. There was a large sailboat anchored outside the reef! As he looked closer, he realized that it was actually an old-style sailing ship. “It must be that pirate adventure ship they do the tourist cruises on,” he thought to himself. Jeff paddled harder, not wanting the ship to pull anchor before he could get to it. He could see people on deck and he started yelling to them. “Hello!” “I need help!”
The occupants of the ship apparently had heard him as there was a great commotion on the ship. Jeff paddled the remaining few hundred yards to the side of the vessel and grabbed hold of a cargo net that was hanging down. Things were now quiet up on the deck. “Hello?” Jeff called. “Can somebody help me?” he shouted. He looked up and saw a hand hanging out over the side of the railing waving him upward. Jeff thought it was a strange way to greet someone calling for help, but shrugged it off. He tied the kayak to the end of the net and started to climb.
Pirates of the Storm (Stranded In Time Book 1) Page 1