Captain Thomas . Falmouth Circa 1700's

By Paul Stansby

historical romantic fiction set in in falmouth uk in the early seventeen . The Americas, sailing ships, packet boats. Life in and around Falmouth in the 1700's

• Language: English
• Publisher: Paul Stansby
• Release date: Dec 8, 2016
• ISBN: 9781005756956

Book preview

Part One

Chapter one Alice walking up the path stops and sees her friend Ruth

      ‘Your Captain is late, this a pleasant spot along this bank, it’ll get like Flushing across the water one day here’ 

Ruth turns with a child at her breast

‘Yes, he is, Alice, your man is coming back too, a hard life sailing those ships across that ocean.

‘Do you want a hand with that young one, get her off your breast as she always wanting to suckle

‘Please Alice, let her have a go at yours, even though you’re barren, she’s got something to comfort  her and I’ll get pot on and boil up some of these coffee beans that are coming over from the Americas.

‘I like the taste it's lovely, these beans will catch one and you’ve t obacco maybe? As I’ve got my pipe on this splendid morning

‘I have some. We’ll sit outside and watch the men careening the ships and packing the seams.

‘Those timbers shift in a storm, the boat thrashing around in the waves, all the planks need to be checked’

‘Here’s the child, I’ll open the stove up to boil the beans and bring some out some extra pots cause those men will be up when they see the smoke off the fire.

‘Aye they will, they can take a rest from beating the irons to push the oakum in’

Ruth goes in leaves the child to Alice who instantly goes to suckle on her breasts, then falls asleep on her breasts. Ruth comes back out.

‘That’s her settled on yours, they’re a better shape than my over-used ones, I’ve five with that one. The fire should be up and the pot boiling in five minutes, here’s the tobacco ’

‘ Great a smoke, I'm all out till the ships comes in’

‘I get less time to smoke with the five girls, on fine sunny days like today they’re on the beach running up and down it, finding crabs in the rock pools at low tide.They go with a sack so there should be a few in it by now. They’ll be back soon.’

‘An easy meal for this evening, cockles, mussels, crab, and clams and some sour dough to bake in the oven’.

‘Potatoes are nice, out of season now, till October’

‘Its time to spoil yourself in October with potatoes and oysters from the dredgers, they get a lot of those up from the river-beds’

‘Just chuck the potatoes into the cauldron with the mussels, and cockles, then have the Oysters on the side freshly opened'

‘Aye the Bretons coming over with olive oil and garlic make them very palatable’

‘Not forgetting the red wine and brandy need to be careful with customs though’  .

‘The guys have it well sorted out with their secret secure places’

‘The fire has stopped smoking so the pot should be boiling with the hot embers, see you shortly.

Ruth goes in. Alice lays the baby girl on the bank, and wraps her in a shawl that Ruth left, and lays back on the bank gazing at the blue sky, gulls are gliding on the eddies effortlessly, surveying the  waters for surfacing fish . Ruth comes back out of the house coffee pot and mugs, the men wave, put their tools and materials above the high tide mark and clamber up the bank.

‘Good day ladies’.

‘Hello Henry, fixing her up for the journey back’.

‘Aye this one took a battering in getting back here last time, Ruth’

‘I’m Jack, Ruth. We get them clean and smooth it’s takes time off the next journey, these packet boats are all about speed and making good headway’

‘So you’ve got the house ship shape with your man back at any moment Ruth.’

‘Aye Henry, this fine weather gets the children down to the beach so I can sort the house, difficult with four tearing around the place’ 

‘Those flash lot over yonder have maids to lend a hand’

‘They’ve got bigger boats to win money Jack to afford the niceties

‘Aye they get more precious cargoes being longer and faster, let’s get a smoke, thanks for the brew, 3 more hours and the water is around us so not such a long day on the hull’

‘The deck holds are good on this boat, Henry?’

‘Hatches are sound on this one as they can be till a wave breaks over the boat, Ruth never can tell if they’re going to stand up to that.

‘A big enough one can break the back of one of these Packets, or swamp it so she breaches and rolls over breaking the masts

‘Oh, I don’t want to know about that with five children, four under ten, Jack, I cannot do much yet in the way of work’.

‘You need to tell him to put his reins on old’

‘What! After a couple months at sea his trousers are bulging as he comes up the pathway in anticipation Jack.’

‘Well he got the pick of the bunch with you Ruth, you’re a stunner’.

‘More family is inevitable, Henry, there’s no escaping that, some boys would be good as there’s enough girls to bring them up, so not so much trouble there’

‘He’d have to make the house bigger’

‘Indeed, Henry’

‘How many rooms so you have?’

‘Four, Henry’

‘That’s two more than we have mind you we’ve no children like Alice here, something's not right somewhere. At least you’ve got space around the house to extend’

‘He’s mentioned going up a level, Henry, maybe two for the view, you can see St Mawes from higher up the hill’ 

‘He needs a faster ship, a new stiff, deeper keeled one to bring home the gelt. I’ve told him that'

‘That’s something to look forward, building that one Jack[

‘Aye it is, Henry, let’s get on with this tub on the beach, back to our mallets and irons and knock some more shape into this hull, caulk her well, and she’ll float well enough to make passages across the seas again.’

‘See you later men at the Inn?’

‘Indeed Alice, down at the Weather View Inn later Henry and I will be quaffing some ales, a Gin is on me if you’re in’

The men leave back and the hammering of irons sound out again

‘The men ashore are kept busy with all these ships.'

‘They are Alice, let’s have another smoke and go inside, I’ve got all the children's clothes to wash ,  a good pummelling in the tub and they’ll dry easily on the bushes’

‘A good tot of Rum too, Ruth, after its all washed and put out to dry’

‘Always after a session in the tub, there’s a cask of beer to try, it should be just about ready.’

Chapter Two:  The two women go to the house after finishing their tobacco, picking up the now sleeping child as they go.

      ‘You’ve good sized rooms in here, the range is impressive, it works?’

‘I does Alice, cooks well and keeps the placed aired to, if it’s out for more than six hours in winter you can feel the damp immediately, I keep it stoked with all the driftwood that comes down the river’

‘Some burn the seaweed in town, collect if off the beach after a storm, it dries out easily’

‘You can chop it up and cook it as well, hauling firewood is an effort with these hills’

‘For that you need a horse and cart, let the river bring the fuel like it brings the fish and oysters from its beds.

‘I like the Scallops from the Helford river, but one needs to borrow a skiff to get up there.’

‘Sea Lions like it up there so must be well packed with fish too, so let’s get these clothes scrubbed and clean, then drape them on the bushes, I see the cask of beer on that table in the far corner’

‘Our incentive and reward to get them clean, a drink and a smoke, hopefully we won’t see the girls till the evening then food for them, after bed and they’ll be asleep in an instant.’

‘Supper, when are you doing that?

‘On their return, five minutes with the shell fish in the cauldron, with dough bread to mop up the juice, five minutes to eat it, five minutes to their bed, asleep in another five, so 15 minutes from a meal to their slumber. I’ll have the cauldron on the fire boiling in readiness. You’re staying, Alice?’

‘I think so, a couple of beers then sleep for me, are you going along to the church for prayer?’

‘No, I went two nights ago, I’ll take children tomorrow night, good to get them there regularly and hopefully they’ll be introduced to reading and writing’

‘That’s something I’m not much good at, how about you  Ruth?’

‘I’m picking up slowly, I’m making an effort with having the children but it’s not easy’

‘New things never are, the mind needs training for everything, I can make fishing nets really easily and cut out sails and stitch them up, there’s not any reading required for that. I can make out the words Gin, Rum & Beer of course.

Chapter Three The children come into the house

      ‘I was thinking I might have to come down to the beach with Alice to carry you younger ones back.

Jasmine (eldest child), ‘We got a lift from Mr. Dean on his cart, mother, he has a nice horse to draw it .

‘Mr. Dean was collecting driftwood from the beach no doubt, Jasmine.’

‘Seaweed to, he says you can eat it’

The younger three sit down at the table and puts their heads down on it

‘Yes you can, Jasmine, I give it to you cooked in pies, you gave him something for the lift .

‘Oh yes, a huge crab, we’ve an assortment in the sack’

‘Well let’s see what we need and put the remainder in the pond we have for tomorrow’

‘Can we get a horse, mother?’

‘Horses need grass, so I would need to see a farmer to keep one, but a cart would be good for collecting things’

‘ So that’s a possible mother?’

‘Let’s sort these shell fish out, Jasmine, good there’s some oysters and scallops, they must have been washed ashore in last night small storm, makes for a nice change’

‘Rock pools were full of crabs as well, is Alice staying for supper?'

‘Yes, I am, Jasmine I’ll get the oysters and scallops opened up’

‘We have some olive oil for those, I’ll throw some crabs and mussels into the pot, then get these three young ones sorted out before they're asleep on the table. Your night clothes are all freshly washed and dried, so off with your dresses you seem clean’

Children together, ’we’ve been in the sea, so we're very clean just rather salty’

‘I’ll wipe you with a damp flannel you so you don’t start itching in the night, especially in your creases’

Children, ’thank you, mother’

Chapter  4:  The children are fed and are in their beds.

        Alice, ‘trying times, winter’

‘The children get very irritable and fractious after being in for days and I’m worrying about storms with my man out there. The rain constantly lashing the closed shutters and lanterns on all day, days like this are a dream.

‘I like the beams in the house’

‘Well, if it ever gets into being made into a grand house like the ones across in Flushing here hoping these oak beams get used.’

‘It’s resemble a ship’s cabin’

‘I like it, but I’m glad that were not crashing and bouncing around like a ship, the lanterns swinging, the crockery rattling, water running in from the hatches as the sea crashes over’

‘Days of that would soon get monotonous, the expectancy of our men leaping into warm dry beds with us must be high on their minds’

‘Then a smoke of tobacco with a large rum afterwards, brandy if they’ve managed to sneak one through, they certainly deserve it. Do you ever get any perfume?’

‘Only when the Bretons come over, and slip into nearby coves at the dead of night. Skiffs slip off silently from The Bank here as its known, for a rendezvous out in the dark’

‘It’s lovely to smell good with french scents’

‘Maybe if one of your girls gets to write well, she could recount all this’

‘The hours of adventures their father tells them would fill a volume, maybe two, they get more vivid and wild after each tale, the rum and not forgetting whisky adding to the occasion'

‘The children must be excited, Ruth’

‘Oh yes there and back is around 4 months if you’re lucky and maybe two trips a year, so yes they're bubbling with anticipation of their father and the presents that he gets them

‘So, you expect him in the next ten days?

‘Most likely, it’s all up in the air like the wind over the sea, nothing ever goes to plan’

‘I’m thinking likewise for my man as they often sail in a convoy of two or three so they can lend a hand to stricken fellows if the need arises, but there’s many wenches in the ports on those faraway shores who entice them to stay’

‘More than accommodating and no children here to urge him back to you’

‘I know’

‘Shall we go down the church and say a prayer for our men’

‘Why not’

‘The children are all fast asleep, the stove is on its embers so I’ll shut the door slip on our shawls and we’ll go down the church, it’s not far its doors are always open’

‘We need the church, so many months of not knowing the well-being of our men, ever expectant of their return’ 

Chapter 5  The two women have gone down to the church.

      Alice, ‘there’s always a few in here praying’

‘ More comfort than religion, though that’s good to have for discipline , life would be mayhem without the church.

‘ I never see men here’.

‘I think they feel as much as we do the men, but act tough so don’t come in, mind you we don’t go to sea, so on a rough night in a storm they’d cursing god something rotten’

‘I expect that would be the case let’s put our hand on the bible and pray.’

The two women pray. Alice, ‘always make me feel so much better’

‘We’re getting nearer to our loved ones and our creator, creator as were lead to believe, we know of nothing else’

‘God and the church gives us identity and purpose in life which we need,’

‘ Being in touch with our maker and thanking him as this is how we were brought up and beliefs makes for good feelings, I always attended church regularly with my mother as a youngster’

Chapter 6:  Back at the house the two women sat at the table with a lantern lit.

      Ruth, ‘this house feels good’

‘ Mine is okay this one's better, you brought life into the world here, spirits arrived here and joined new lives , so makes its magical’

‘I hope it’s here forever, or least a house on this spot so countless generations can come and go,

a house is a shrine to life, here’s hoping that it’s all good ones that come and go.’

‘The church is for praying, comfort and letting go, celebrating unions, births and people’s lives when they pass away, the house is to live our lives so very important.'

‘I love the singing in the church, really raises ones spirits and puts a smile on the face of everybody as they join together, all be it a little raucous’

‘Some of the big churches now have organs to help the songs along, I really like the sea shanties in the Inn after some drink and most are tipsy.'

‘I haven’t managed Inns with having babies for a long time, if the men keep us regularly with child it stops our minds wandering and tied to the house.

‘ I'm not a lot of use, so we can’t share suckling on me being barren, then you could go out for the evening or day’

  ‘ I think I’ll be going to go out early evening soon with you, my eldest is eleven seems to like being charge of her sisters, so she’ll be able to manage the baby soon with mashed up food’

‘That gives the eldest a purpose and they mature a lot quicker’

‘The girls must be aware of the perils of life, I’ll make sure they have a close association with the church and not to be led astray by a charming man who comes in on a fresh breeze and then disappears in the clouds never to be seen again’

‘ Aye you’d end up surrounded with babies especially with five girls, all too easy, drop their awareness and catastrophe , the church is all important, sets out how to conduct yourself and morals to life’

‘I’ll be down to the church tomorrow evening with them, impress a moral life firmly in their heads from early on.'

‘I’ll come along with you so they feel more connected and it’s not just their mother dragging them along being over protective to outside perils that they will encounter’ .

‘Shall we to bed?’

‘Aye we can wash each others back with some warm water that’s on the stove .

‘Squeeze all our spots out. I’ve some dandelion oil to put on them draws them out nicely. My sisters are a dab hand with the herbs out of the garden, do pulses, roots and oils for most things , they’re very good’

'I can see why those abilities are tagged to witches.’

'It’s all at hand in the garden and woods to fix you, just knowing it, it’s not magic’

‘Let’s wash, its good the children have been in the salt water, that’s a good healer for sores and  abrasions .

Chapter 7:    Next evening in the church with Ruth’s girls

      Alice, ‘it’s a good crowd in this church, Ruth’

‘There’s some dirty ones and smelly ones in here tonight, they'll be head lice doing hurdles in here at least they stand out in my girls red hair.’

‘I’m s urprised the nits go that far’

‘They jump huge distances for their size onto hair and pubes alike, disgusting, hate them. I’ve got head scarves in my bag, let us quickly go out and adorn ourselves with them then we'll most likely be nit free, takes ages to get rid of them.

‘When I got them, my hair was shorn off and burnt, I can why Moslem women have their yashmaks and other religions having head gear, especially in hot countries’

‘Yes, it’s keeps your hair and head free of nits and how do you find them in jet black hair’

  ‘Moslem women's hair is thick as well, men can go for shaven heads that’s not one for women’

They go outside, Ruth, ‘there you are girls, large headscarves, let me do your hair up in a bun and cover it all up from the nits.

Jasmine, ’thanks mother, we don’t won’t those, once arrived they never leave, unwanted guests’

‘Totally correct, cleanliness is next to godliness, just what we have preached to us as well, seems to be sinking in.

Jasmine,‘Sinking?’

Ruth, ‘Not boats, going into your heads, penetration and maybe that’s not right, becoming wiser which the bible refers to in the scriptures’

Jasmine, ‘we listen, so we will listen more and attentively to comprehend everything’

Ruth,‘learning is  beneficial, as long as it’s not by the people who wish to influence with bad ways.’

Alice, ’there’s a few religions around, Ruth. I’ve encountered several and they have own churches or halls to worship in'.

Ruth, ‘my husband the Captain Thomas, tells me that it is starting in the Americas for the savages as such worship the sky’

Alice,‘to some it’s like a leash and a crutch to fall back on my man says, absolves you from all your wrong doings’

Ruth, ‘some people do manifest all sorts in their minds, we’re good here girls, nit free we hope and encounter some straight forward God and King James bible’

Jasmine, ‘what or who is God mother?

Ruth, ‘Our creator’

Jasmine, ‘I thought you and father did that’

Ruth, ‘I really don’t know the answer to that one, Alice any ideas’

‘Oh, I’m in full anticipation of how you’re going to explain that one Ruth’

They go back in the church.

Chapter 8:  After Church

      Ruth, ‘A pleasant service, he preaches well the priest and writes a short sharp message of relevance with each of his sermons.’

Alice, ‘a learned man whose good with words, there should be an Inn next to these churches, I'd love a pipe and a tot of rum now.’

‘When the local people get drunk, they would get confused with the two places being adjacent.

‘Absolve your sins with drink instead of through God, I could see the antipathy with that.’

Jasmine, ‘so rum and beer replaces God, mother.’

Alice, ‘love children don’t you, saying no to that gives them an incorrect concept of reality of drink as they’re both spirits and you philosophise with both’

Ruth, ‘some people turn to god for solace and others turn to drink'

‘Oh right, so which is the best one, we go to church to visit God but we have beer and rum in the house’

‘God is deliverance of life to us on earth, and the preacher’s sermon makes it more relevant to our present day, because God is old, beer and rum are for after church'

Jasmine, ‘Jesus, his son, was resurrected’

Ruth, ‘that was because he was forsaken but rose to live again in spirit’

Jasmine, ‘ooh, we have another go at life?’

Ruth, ‘the privileged ones and you have to earn that by being good’

Jasmine, ‘Oh right, also we all have to be good then so when you make more of us they’re part of me as I’m part of you.’

Ruth, ‘your sisters need to be good so this you have to impress God on them, I can’t say I want to be with child again, beautiful as you are

Jasmine, ‘I understand mother, so no babies, aren’t Nuns like that in monasteries.

Ruth, ‘ I believe so, they’re seeking absolution, but I don ’ t think it’s obligatory to join an order just not to have babies.’

‘ I'm eleven so a while yet’.

‘It’ll come fast enough, be wise like the old wise men referred to as Kings in the bible who bore gifts from the earth to a new presence on the planet’

Alice, ‘wisdom is being a King to many, knowledge opens the doors to life and living.’

Jasmine,‘new is good and old is wise, so to be righteous you need the balance of the two’.

Alice, ‘she’s bright this one Ruth’

‘Yes, takes after the captain, the eldest child seems to, yes I think you’ve worked out that one well child’

Chapter 9 Back in the house.

Jasmine, ‘time to sleep mother’

‘Some warm milk with crushed nuts and oats’

'Yes, I’ll go and milk the goat'

  Alice, ‘beer would have been easier'

  ‘They’re a little young for that Alice , the cereals tastes all right with beer though, Jasmine milks goat with ease’

Jasmine goes to milk the goat

Ruth, ‘we can have beer though, while we’re waiting for the milk to heat’

‘Chocolate would be a good addition to the cereals and milk those but that’s more in the towns, not much of it down here yet.

‘Too expensive yet for us country folk’

  'It will be here eventually’

‘Maybe the Captain, my husband will have some this time if he's not eaten it all on the voyage cause its tasty.’

‘Goes well with rum I have heard, let’s hope we can try some soon.’

‘Indeed, that was quick child!’

Jasmine, ‘the goat was bursting so it flew into the pail’

‘ Good, a relieved the goat too, just going stir the meal in as its warm, then myself and Alice going to have a tot of rum and a smoke of tobacco .'

Jasmine, ‘When can I try tobacco mother?’

‘In a few years, you must fully grow first, King James, whose bible we use thought it was not so good for you.’

‘I understand, I don’t want to be short’

The children have their cereal and go to bed.

Alice, ‘good they're off, shall we go to front room, rum and tobacco, pontificate on our future years however short or long’

'Oh yes, you are barren, at least you’re going to live longer, after five I live in fear of death in child birth, one’s body can only take so much'.

‘That’s a really serious consideration’

‘I’m thirty three, in this day and age another is a precarious undertaking’

‘He’d had most likely be going to the ladies of the night if a son had arrived, satisfy his urges and keep you safe.'

‘Aye, those ladies perform us mothers a service, as for a boy nature takes its course there, I think after five girls there’s no chance.’

They go into the front room. Ruth, ‘oh there’s a secret hole in here I found, Alice.’

‘Keep all the goodies hidden from the customs, you must get the odd visit’

‘It’s down here under the table’

‘All well concealed’

‘I found the lever for the first time the other night, well hidden. I was fiddling around with it for ages. I always knew it was somewhere in here .

‘It's some good stuff by the smell’

‘There’s hemp and some other liquid, we can try smoking those, and some coca leaves to put into the gums of your mouth, they make you feel magical’

Alice

'That Armagnac bottle there looks good, let’s have a sniff’ Alice uncorks and smells.

‘Its good, huh, by the looks on your face’

'Delightful, a slug of that would be good

‘Taste some’

‘I will, oh yes, very pleasant on the palate’

‘My turn, I’ve never had it, yes that’s good'

'Those leaves tobacco leaves smell similar to the ones that grow in my back garden, give you a buzz, look a little like mint I expect your sister knows' 

'We gotta to get through our day to day routines, so we need to indulge, so how about a glass of this Armagnac’

‘Great and I’ve got some of these tiny mushrooms in my pocket, they get you from dawn to dusk and back again.

‘ Aye, roll up some dried mushrooms with this scented tobacco and try that out’

‘Why not, add them to the stuff that looks like mint from my back garden’.

‘I’ll just get the pot of coffee, there’s some brandy glasses on hand in this hidey-hole

‘A bit of a give-away having those out and about in the house’

Ruth goes out and comes back with the coffee.

Alice, ‘how does he get the contraband in?’

‘Oh easily, he adds some hollow ribs and beams to the structure of the boat and put its in, he calls it stashing it’

‘A safe place , customs are always looking for drink and tobacco’ , .

‘So, let’s get on with our night’

'What’s this little piece of black stuff right at the bottom?’

‘Oh, that’s dream and dream on, when you haven’t got much going on, he says it comes from India and its get found in the ports, sailors use