“There’s always a risk of that,” said Ned. “And it’s 10,000 lbs. of
leaf fine, if the Governor gets you.”
“Well, Ned. If you want fun, why don’t you come in with us. And bring
in some of your mates.”
“Is this trade only a blind, then?”
“Not on your life. But we’re in for a big thing. A very big thing. I
wouldn’t mention it. But you see, I know you, Ned; and so, you see,
it’s like this.”
Between them, Margaret and Cammock persuaded some half a dozen
recruits to join during the first few days in port. The new recruits
promised to come aboard when the ship sailed, but not before, lest the
Governor should grow suspicious. They agreed, also, seeing that
Margaret had a commission, to submit to a sharper discipline than was
usual among privateers. Margaret had no intention of admitting these
men into his fo’c’s’le. They were not waged men like the seamen
shipped in London; but volunteers agreeing to serve for shares. To
admit them into the fo’c’s’le, where they would enjoy certain
privileges not shared by the sailors, would cause bad blood, and
bickering for precedence. To avoid this, he planned with Cammock to
create a military company, to be called “the men of war.” The
privateers who joined him were to be enlisted in this company, under
the command (as he suggested) of an old buccaneer (one of the first to
join) who kept an alehouse some miles out of Jamestown. This old man
was named Raphael Gamage. He had served with Cammock many years before
in Morgan’s raid on Porto Bello. As far as Cammock could remember, he
was a trusty old man, well liked. The troop of men of war (when fully
recruited) was to mess in the ’tween-decks; just forward of the
officers’ cabins and the wardroom. At sea, they were to work the
mizen-mast, standing three watches. In battle, half of them were to
man the quarter-deck guns, while the other half walked the poop as
sharp-shooters. But all of them, at all times, were to obey the
officers of the ship like the other members of her crew. It was a
pleasure to Perrin to help in the arrangement of the ’tween-decks for
the reception of these men. He screwed in hammock-hooks and battens,
and designed removable mess-tables which the carpenter, being one of
the politest of men, thought equal to the Navy.
Trade throve beyond their dreams; for the _Broken Heart_ was the first
ship in since the tobacco crop. Her general cargo of hemp and flax
seed, tools, wines, ploughs, linens and woollens, boxes, cart-wheels,
rope, weapons, books, and musical instruments, sold at good rates, for
silver and leaf tobacco.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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