Excerpt
The waves grew and lightening lit the night sky giving way to a gray dawn. With dawn the rains came and the waves grew to ten feet. The Spanish ships had not pulled in any canvas and were swaying wildly in the big waves.
Sullivan said, “We need to reef in the sails or we’ll lose the ship.”
They had gained on the Spanish ships, but if they reefed in their sails they would loose speed, and the Spanish ships would pull away. Captain Sebastian Cavanaugh had to wait until the Spanish reefed in their sails first.
For over an hour he watched the Spanish ships through his spyglass, the waves grew in height and intensity and the wind was tearing at the sails. He could only imagine how brutal it must be aboard the Spanish ships. Finally the Spanish captain gave in and reefed in their sails.
Sebastian shouted down, “Reef in the main sails. Bring out the storm jibs”
The men jumped to the order, knowing the sooner they brought in the sails the safer they would all be. Sebastian watched the Spanish ships fight bigger and bigger waves. They saw the ships jerk forward, and then disappear into the waves.
Dave shouted down from the crows nest, “They struck a shoal. They are going down fast.”
Sebastian felt dread shroud him in darkness and then his heart broke into a million pieces. He knew, his wife and their unborn son were gone, sinking to the depths of Davy Jones locker. Maybe he could save them, maybe they survived. He kept course, heading towards the shoals.
Jonathan Finley fought his way up to the helm on the top of the quarter deck and whispered, “They hit the shoal between the islands, ships are sinking, there’s nothing we can do for them now. She’s gone Sebastian; you need to think of your ships and your crew. We need to come about and try and outrun this storm, or we will end up on the bottom as well.”
Sebastian felt the last of his hope slip away, the last of any goodness or decency left in his soul sinking to the depths with the body of his wife and unborn son. As if it wasn’t his own voice, he shouted, “Prepare to come about.”