Adventures at sea - An ocean of hope

By Luke De Saint Pierre

At the beginning of the 18th century, in the West Indies, a pirate caught by the authorities becomes a convict working in a mine.

While doing his hard work in a dreadful atmosphere and exhausting heat, he recalls his past adventures, lived a few years earlier.

Although there is no hope for his possible escape, he keeps thinking about his former partners and friends, and particularly about the 'Señorita Evelia Castillo', a pirate as well, imprisoned somewhere on a Caribbean island and probably already executed...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Luke De Saint Pierre
• Release date: Dec 18, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223403395

Book preview

Adventures at sea

First Part – An ocean of hope

The first step is the beginning

of a long journey

Who knows where we are heading?

Maybe to the other side of the earth...'

Down to the Devil

We pirates and freebooters are used to renaming places that interest us for future pillaging or merely to hide and be forgotten for a while, so that when we talk about it among ourselves, eavesdroppers or spies cannot understand what it is all about. We do the same with some people, ships and many other things.

So, ‘Madre Del Fuego’ is not the real name of this island where I am, or of this mine where I must now work. But at present all that is completely irrelevant since I will probably end my days here, as my life is nearly over...

We walk through the heavy door that closes the entrance of the cavern and the sentries immediately come closer and ask the sergeant what is going on; he says a few words and gives them short orders. I enter thus chained in this dark and gloomy place accompanied by the guards of the quarry who lead me inside, toward one of their Officers. The main door closes noisily behind us.

Although some torches are hung on the rock wall, the place is very dark. We are cautiously going down the first and uneven staircase made of black volcanic stones; the atmosphere is hot, humid and squalid; I can hear a lot of noise coming from the bottom, the voices of men at work, the loud sounds of tools, pickaxes, hammers, carts and wagons uneasily running with their heavy wheels across the mining site...

I'm not a bad guy, but I love gold, jewels, diamonds, I also love pearl necklaces, bracelets, rings and many other beautiful things that I always share fairly with my crew.

It seems quite natural as we are pirates!

The great Sun King doesn't offer us much, except the possibility to become privateers of his majesty, but obviously there was never any question of such an arrangement! We risk our lives to hunt Spanish galleons or English vessels, so yes, the booty is rightfully ours! Moreover we must also pay for our wounded, cripple or sick men.

Of course we are thieves, outlaws, rovers, we hunt and harass merchant and commercial ships; we allow the crews who don’t resist to live, we land these frightened sailors on some inhabited island or in a port where they can begin a new life. Sometimes some of these poor men ask to join our community, because they know that in our company they will always earn more than among the merchant fleets. As for the others, the tough ones, those who fight violently and try to repel our boarding, we don’t give them quarter, we fight them and kill them without further ado.

After all, we are only robbing thieves, pillagers of the new world's wealth, colonizers and murderers of indigenous people.

I know they won't hang me right away, over time I’ve become an important scoundrel, too much wanted and as a convict, my value is great!

I don't know why, but in this new captivity I suddenly think about Maria, this girl with long black hair and sparkling eyes, whom I met by chance in a port of the Bay of Biscay, long time ago, when I was sailing under the command of Captain ‘Black Diamond’. She was a friend, a kind of confidante, who used to know some of my secrets and never betrayed me.

I had entrusted her with some wealth, a small part of one of my spoils, so that these stolen goods would be hidden at her place, somewhere in the depth of her house. It was this same person who had naturally nicknamed me ‘Treasure’, and she used to say ‘my treasure’! I never knew if she was talking about me or about the gold I had left under her care...

Maria, the daughter of the waves, that's how I called her because she loved to admire the ocean and the huge swell that tirelessly came to break on the coast and the steep cliffs of this wild Basque coast.

Life is long and full of surprises, good or bad, what happens to the people we meet? What happened to Maria? She probably met a more serious sailor than me, perhaps a ship's captain, who knows...

Captive, in chains, I don't even know if I'm still a treasure or someone else's treasure, but those who captured me will now use me as a slave in this bottomless mine of Madre del Fuego...

I already know what they want; to hang me or to execute me... But no, they are not interested in such things! I will have to suffer, to endure their brutality, their violence; the work will be hard, inhumane and the atmosphere will be unhealthy, foul-smelling, the diseases and miasmas of all kinds will be abundant. I know that my death throes will begin once and for all as soon as I get into this infernal place. How long will I be able to survive? Some months, some years? No one can say! In the end I’d rather have been hanged; a quick and definitive death, with little suffering, a brief jolt before entering the void.

My jailers speak neither my native language nor English, they only speak Spanish, they talk fast and I don't understand anything, except maybe some hand gestures and peremptory injunctions that I'd better carry out without any delay.

Following a day and night spent in even more miserable conditions than on board the worst ships, waiting to know what my fate would be, two guards brutally lead me outside the mine.

Despite the upcoming Christmas, the bright sun dazzles me and the tropical heat makes me feel suffocated, but in the end I prefer these new conditions to the dampness and insalubrity of the big cavern.

Apparently they are going to assign me to a work other than that of a miner, but this one appears even more execrable; I will have to move stone blocks and wooden logs in order to help consolidate the high palisade that keeps us prisoners.

In order to carry out this hard work in this overwhelming heat I become acquainted with my companions of misfortune.

One of them seems to be the oldest in this place and he speaks fluent Spanish; he also seems particularly cunning. I make friends with him, but obviously he is neither a filibuster nor a buccaneer. I don't know why he is here and I avoid asking him because everyone has their own secrets and it’s better not to stir up the past...

I only manage to know his name: ‘Simon the swindler’.

Thus, days go by slowly one by one, exhausting and boring.

So, pirate, don't you miss your ship and the open sea too much?

Simon put his hand on my shoulder and looks at me with a mocking smile.

I reply at once:

I won't see my ship and my crew again! Here we are just waiting for death, aren't we?

Simon leans over to me and whispers in my ear:

Do you want to escape with us?

I immediately give him my answer:

Of course yes, what a question!

However, I am quite surprised. Who can manage to escape from a place so heavily guarded, and fortified by such palisades?

It will be tomorrow, around mid-afternoon. You will see a guard leading some prisoners outside the camp, and you’ll only have to follow them without forgetting to push your cart. Says Simon.

This escape plan seems really weird to me, much too easy to be seriously considered. And who is this guard who has been bribed to carry out such a mission?

The next afternoon, as usual, I'm working outside, equipped with my tools: shovel, pickaxe, and cart. Then, suddenly, I can see a severe-looking guard coming out of one of the barracks; he immediately speaks in Spanish to other sentries and also to the few prisoners waiting here, telling these last ones to follow him straight away. Thus warned the day before by Simon the swindler, I follow this small group but remaining at a certain distance, and in turn I walk behind them through the gate that has remained open.

At this moment, when I begin to move away slowly toward a pile of rocks, I can see the group of fugitives who are easily caught up by a detachment of well-armed guards; they don't pay any attention to my presence and finally I can reach the boulders from where I can observe them, and fortunately they can't notice my presence.

With no delay the sentinels argue with the guard who is accompanying the prisoners and to my great surprise I realize that he is none other than Simon! In spite of his costume and his Spanish language, the others recognize him, surround the group and bring everyone back to the camp with great brutality.

As for me, without being properly prepared, I am free!

But now, what to do? I am completely alone, without any weapon, with just a shovel, a pickaxe and a cart, not an appropriate equipment for a pirate! I’m also wearing the same clothes as all the prisoners, a loose-fitting top and a red cap, along with whitish pants and bad leather sandals, unsuitable for a quick escape or even a brisk walking.

Trying to sneak into the port without being spotted, managing to get on board one of the ships and then hiding into the bilge, or weighing anchor and setting sail if the