Friday, 19th February 1676

The remainder of Wednesday and all of Thursday had passed in quiet wonderment of my inner workings while I celebrated my aching back and tender breasts, begging them to remain sore. My nausea continued, still slight, and for this, I was grateful. Grateful both for its mildness and that it persisted. I had decided to not inform Olivia until I had discussed my condition with Martha, hoping to receive an experienced woman's opinion to bolster Doc's.

On Friday morning, a faint glow lit the horizon astern when I returned from the privy. Charles had earlier answered the voice pipe, and he had gone up top for the morning star sight, so I climbed onto the empty bed and lay on my front, looking through the window. While the sky slowly coloured with the approaching sunrise, I pressed my breasts to the mattress, enjoying the discomfort that confirmed the ongoing tenderness.

Please, God, allow this to continue.

I awoke to Charles snuggling beside me, and I asked. "Did you find us where expected?"

"Aye, the North Star placed us near our DR latitude. Daylight brought Jamaica's mountains standing high above the horizon, but with the peaks lost in the clouds, we cannot fix our longitude. We have altered toward the coast to identify points there." He rubbed my back. "How are your symptoms?"

"They continue. And still no blood."

"Huzzah!" He moved a hand down my back to caress my cheeks. "Shall we?"

I chuckled as I rolled. "Need you ask?"

"Unsure of your condition."

"I will tell you when not. Until then, assume my hunger for you is as usual – insatiable."

Much later, after breakfast, we sat at the long table to organise into auction lots the long lists of items aboard the two hulls. I was three pages into reading the listing of anchors, blocks, deadeyes, belaying pins, coils of rope and on and on, when I paused to turn the sheets toward Charles and ask, "Might we include all of this with the hulls? Divide it between the two?"

He scanned down the list, nodding. "A fine idea. And the masts and spars, as well. Also, the bundles of canvas. They will be of most use to those who purchase the ships." He shrugged. "And with all the parts included, we can honestly call them that. Ships, not hulls or hulks."

"So, would this increase their perceived value?"

"Indeed, it would. They will be seen as closer to being ready to sail. And the astute among those interested will know that with a single laden voyage back to England, a ship can earn more than it had cost to build her, so we should see a high price for each."

We continued sorting the lists into lots, and when this was done, we began writing them to fair, three copies of each, the tediousness relieved only by my visit to the privy. Then a long while after three bells of the forenoon, the voice pipe whistle sounded, and Charles rose to answer it, "Captain."

"Sir, we have identified Cow Bay Point and the end of the ridge beyond the salt pans east of there, and we have a fix on the chart."

"Excellent. I shall be up."

As I rose to follow him, he said, "With your condition, it might be wise you remain here."

I laughed as I continued in his wake. "My condition is boredom from this repetition. Besides, I did not see this area on our previous approach, and I wish to now."

Up top, I stood beside Charles as Mister Cogswell explained his fix on the chart by pointing to the edges of land he had used. "There can be no other solution to what we see, Sir." He ran his finger across the chart. "The only other possibility is twelve miles farther west, looking back at Cow Bay Point and forward to Port Royal, here."

"And why have you dismissed this possibility?"

"It stretches the limit of error of our DR, Sir. Besides, at that distance, we would see the tower of the church, and also Fort Charles, the Customs House and the other tall buildings."

"Well done, Mister Cogswell. Determine the course we should now steer."

"I recommend the same approach as the last time, Sir. Close along the spit."

"Does the wind favour that?"

Cogswell examined the waves, then after looking up at the sails, he said, "It does, Sir."

"Fine, we shall do that."

After Charles had approved the new course, we descended to the great cabin, and when we were beyond hearing, I said, "He has gained confidence these past weeks."

"Indeed, and he questions himself much more before questioning me."

"Your patience is being rewarded."

"This is the method Captain Bryson used."

"What became of him?"

"He settled again in London. On each of our returns there, he examined the slow progress with resurveying and marking of lots. More than sixteen thousand buildings had been destroyed, and the –"

"Sixteen thousand? Surely, you mean sixteen hundred."

"No, thousand is correct. The surveyors had to make sense amid all the rubble, and their task took years to complete. Finally, four years ago, he sold Zeelandia to Captain Angus."

"From where did he come?"

"He had been the First Officer."

"So, you became his cabin boy."

Charles chuckled. "Nay. Well beyond that by then. I had been the Third Officer, and he chose me as his First."

"Oh! So young for that. You were, what? Nineteen?"

"Aye, a year older than Mister Cogswell is now."

I nodded in realisation. "The training process. Cabin Boy to Midshipman to Officer to Captain."

"Indeed, and those who excel at each level are chosen to move up."

"What is up from Captain?"

Charles wrapped me in an embrace as he said, "Ashore, married and raising a family."

The End and the Beginning.