Bloody Rain - Murder, Madness & the Monsoon
by Rick Spilman
Bloody Rain is a short story set in the 1880s on the sailing ship, Queen Charlotte, in the Hoogly River off the Calcutta and in the Bay of Bengal - a tale of murder, madness and the monsoon.Bloody Rain is a short story set on a sailing ship in the 1880s. The Queen Charlotte was anchored fore and aft off the Calcutta wharves in the Hoogly River, waiting for cargo. She was a fine, three masted iron bark; trim, low and fast on a reach - in all respects, the perfection of the shipbuilder's art. If she had a single great flaw, it was on her quarterdeck in the man that the owners had chosen as captain.Captain John McPherson maintains absolute control over his ship and those who sail upon her. The only one that he cannot control is himself, slipping into murder and madness in the face of the relentless monsoon.