Folksburywoods Story Blog

Her father told her pirates were terrifying and mean, and when he died, her mother took over. Pirates are cruel and heartless, said her mother. Her brother took the helm when she died. Pirates are cunning and ruthless, said her brother, and when he died, she took the helm.

Mary captained the pirate ship Raven. Her crew of marauders was the most feared in the West Indies. Their motto was, “We takes no prisoners, and we leaves no gold.”

Her father had been in the royal navy, but due to his thieving captain, he was blamed for a crime he didn’t commit and given ten lashes and marooned to die of hunger.

As luck would have it, a pirate ship stopped to get water and, finding the dying man, offered him a place on the crew.

Keeping his naval training secret, the man rose quickly in the ranks to become the quartermaster, second only to the captain.

He brought fame and fortune to his ship for five years until a cannonball caught the captain in the lap and placed him in command.

The new captain wanted a clean start, so he made port in Barbados, brought on a fresh crew, and named himself Dragon. He then set out to destroy the naval vessel that betrayed him.

Two weeks out of port, the crow’s nest reported a Union Jack on the horizon. Fearing it might be a man-o-war, Captain Dragon slipped the Raven into the cove to let the ship pass.

Fortune smiled on the Raven that day. It was the HMS Majesty, Dragon’s old ship. The Raven followed just out of sight until nightfall, when they ran alongside her and took her quickly as the crew slept.

The captain was given ten lashes and made to walk the plank. The crew was marooned with a week’s worth of water, and the HMS Majesty was scuttled.

To everyone’s shock, the captain’s sister Abigail had been allowed to board for transport to Barbados. Captain Dragon had met her while serving on the Majesty and fancied her, so he claimed her as part of the plunder.

The woman revealed to the captain that she recognized him as the quartermaster Arthur Turing from the Majesty and apologized for her brothers, cruel treatment.

Abigail was a sailor, having grown up traveling from England to the Caribbean with her father and brother, who were in the Royal Navy.

The two fell in love, and Abigail proved to be the ship’s finest gunner, saving the Raven more than once by taking out cannoneers on the other boat.

Soon, a baby boy was brought before the crew, and as was the tradition, the ship’s eldest crewman was given the honor of naming the lad. It was to be Tristan, and like his parents, the boy was a natural sailor.

Three years passed, and a bouncing baby girl appeared, named Mary after the Scottish Queen. The lass was more monkey than a child climbing the rigging, as though she had been born hanging from a tree.

As with all things, change came. The captain led an assault on a rival raider and was run through. After the shock wore off, Abigail assumed command, and things continued.

Two years later, it was her turn to go to Davey Jone’s locker. She was washed overboard during a terrific storm, and though they searched for her relentlessly, her body was never found.

Mary begged her brother to give up buccaneering and head to the family estate in Barbados. “We are pirates, and always will be,” he replied.

The siblings did well for several years, and they began to believe their bad luck was over. They should have been more careful.

Just after sending a royal merchant ship to the bottom of the sea, the lookout spotted a man-o-war barring down on them. Tristan did his best to out run the pursuing vessel, but luck ran out when a cannon ball destroyed the Raven’s forward mast.

Everyone on the Raven knew they would hang, so Tristan devised a plan to sink the warship. He loaded a skiff with four barrels of gunpowder and a pistol to act as a detonator.

Lowering the skiff off the bow prevented the warship from seeing their plan. Tristan jumped in and cut the boat free before anyone could stop him. He sped straight toward the pursuing warship.

Before anyone could get a shot at him, the Raven’s captain detonated his powder against the haul of the warship, sending it straight to the bottom with all hands.

It was Mary’s turn to take the helm, so she headed to Barbados, changed crews, and prepared to sail the following day.

Before she left, the new captain climbed the hill above her home and, for a moment, released the rage and sorrow from a lifetime on the seas.

“Pirates are sacrifice, friendship, and family,” Mary said as she climbed down the hill and returned to the Raven.