Episode 43 - The Old Enemy
After a few minutes, the dust and smoke began to settle throughout the deck - leaving the eerie silence to be disturbed only by a few groans from the wounded survivors and the crackle of several fires.
Close to where the Ol'Man and Spanish Corsairs had stood, only a smouldering hole remained, and on either side of this, the side's of the ship had been completely blown out - allowing an orange glow from nearby burning ships to light up the deck.
Overturned heavy iron cannons, cannon-shot, and burning timber littered the entire gun deck and, one by one, the dazed Cutthroats emerged from their hiding place and gingerly got to their feet before dusting themselves down. Each one had singed hair and beards, and their faces were covered in burnt charcoal and black ash.
"Wha... What da 'ell happend?" mumbled a few bedraggled sailors as the pirates slowly staggered their way over to where the gunpowder barrel had exploded.
This end of the deck was strewn with dead and dying Corsairs, and as the buccaneers approached, they gingerly peered over the rim of the hole left by the explosion. Through the darkness of the deck below, they could see Ol'Man and several Spanish Corsairs crumpled together upon a large pile of hides and linen. Some of the unfortunate swabs had managed to survive the explosion, but they soon met an untimely demise as the on-looking pirates put them out of their agony with a few well-placed pistol shots.
"NO!... Not him!" called Coggy as he watched the former-slave, Jacob Jones, take aim and prepare to shoot the Ol'Man.
"We've gotta have some fun with that'n before he goes to the locker!" he added, as he motioned for a couple of men to go retrieve their dazed prisoner from the lower deck.
Patting the former slave on his back, Cog asked, "Ye fought like a lion, mate! What's yer name and from where do ye hail?"
Jacob put his pistol away and hurriedly tidied himself up before giving Cog a quick salute. "Me name be Jacob Jones, Cap'n. I sailed 'ere from Jamaica wit me matey, Cap'n Jack" he eagerly replied.
"Jones, ye say?" remarked Cog as he led the man back along the gun deck.
"Any relation to ol' Davey thar?" he asked, as he motioned towards the ash-covered Davey Jones.
"Aye! Cap'n… we're both brethren pirates I reckons!" replied Jacob, as he vigorously shook hands with the buccaneers.
Within a few minutes the surviving pirates had made their way up towards the main deck.
"WE'VE TOOK HER!!! SHE'S STRUCK!" called out some eager marines as they helped Coggy and his mates emerge from the smouldering interior of the ship.
Coggy glanced up in to the smoke-filled air and watched as the white flag of surrender unfurled in the breeze.
Across the entire deck, the celebrating Cutthroats merrily danced a jig as they rounded up the few remaining Spaniards and began throwing them, along with the scores of dead corpses, overboard.
On the starboard side of the ship, Undead Jack and Lieutenant Excaliber stood proudly on the Bridge of the Finnegan's Wake and gave the pirates a salute - before ordering their crew to cut free the Brig and get underway.
"WE TOOK DA FLAGSHIP!" shouted the dancing pirates once more as they broke open cases of wine, rum, and ale.
Coggy, Davey Jones, Morgan, and Beefy, still a little dazed from their recent experience, stumbled their way up to the Bridge and looked out across to the rest of the Treasure Fleet as the burning ships became silhouetted against the darkening horizon.
"Looks like they're scattering to the four winds mate!" remarked the exhausted Henry Morgan as a few nearby vessels raised the white flag - leaving the rest to come about and head back to the mainland and the safety of Puerto Bello.
"We'd better not stay here too long… the don's will no doubt regroup 'n be upon us within the hour!" said Coggy, as he ordered the dancing pirates on deck to cut short their celebrations.
"HOIST DA MAIN SAIL, YE SWABS! WE'S GOTTA MAKE HASTE!" he bellowed.
Glancing across to the portside of the ship, Beefy noticed the Baron Boat drifting away. The ship had broken free of its grappling hooks during the midst of the battle and still had the Spanish Pinnace along side her. "Lookee thar!" he called, with a touch of concern.
The pirates looked on as Moose's ship drifted aimlessly towards a line of retreating Spanish vessels.
"DAMN! WHAT 'APPENED? WHERE'S MOOSE?" called out the anxious Coggy as he desperately ran to the side of the Bridge and looked down onto the Galleons deck. "I CAN'T SEE HIM!" he called.
Morgan and Davey Jones ran down the steps and back onto the deck. Grabbing a few sailors by their arms and shaking them, they echoed Coggy's growing concern. "WHERE'S CAP'N MOOSE?" barked Henry, to a confused looking swab.
On witnessing his shipmates' desperate antics, Jacob Jones finished dumping a wounded Spaniard overboard and called out, "He went back aboard his ship, me thinks. Aye that 'e did… I remembers seein' it wit me own eyes, I did"
Coggy, Morgan, and Davey looked at one another anxiously and then glanced across to the distant Baron Boat once more as a couple of Spanish Frigates began boarding her.
"Poor 'ol Moose. He's had it" sighed Morgan.
Coggy looked on in sadness as rallied Spanish marines swarmed aboard his mates' ship.
Within a few moments, the distant Brig had been completely overwhelmed leaving the pirates on the Galleon to look on helplessly.
After a few moments, Cog gathered his composure and ordered the men to carry on hoisting the main sails before sending a few of them to get back aboard the Grim Reaper and follow the Galleon out of the area.
"What 'bout Moose?" asked Morgan as he made his way back onto the Bridge and approached Coggy.
"Thar's nottin' we can do mate" replied the downhearted pirate. "We'll have ta run down-wind while we can, else we'll suffer a similar fate"
"Damn it, Coggy! We can't just leave him to the dons!" remarked Davey Jones.
"We aint gonna!" snapped Cog, before adding, "But we can't 'elp him at the moment. The don's 'r running, but they won't be fer much longer. We's gotta git outta here while we can - then we'll figure somethin' out in regards to getting him back"
The three wily old sea dogs glanced across to the distant Baron Boat one last time, before resigning themselves to the fact that Moose's fate rested in the hands of Neptune
Later that evening...
The five surviving pirate ships had soon dispersed into the night and left the smouldering remains of the Spanish Treasure fleet behind them.
Blackhawk, Red Chaos, Greenbeard, and Captain Green Eye, continued on their bearing towards the Mosquito Coast, before turning northwest and running for Roatan. The aged Galleon had survived her run-in with the guard ships, but she rode low in the water due to her heavy burden of looted treasure, whilst Greenbeard's Fluyte had come through the battle relatively unscathed.
All that the pirates wanted now was to reach a friendly port as soon as possible and divide their plunder.
At the same time, Finnegan's Wake left the head of the regrouping Spanish ships and sailed north. Her destination was Jamaica and the English town of Port Royal, close to the village from which the Negro pirates hailed.
After taking a roll-call, Undead Jack looked a little disappointed at the loss of several of his crew - most notably Jacob Jones, who had been left aboard the Spanish flagship with a few of his companions.
However, Jack's sombre mood soon vanished when Lieutenant Excaliber ordered the survivors to break open the treasure chests and looted crates of liquor they'd taken.
"Arrr, now that's a purdy sight, fer sure!" called Jack, as thousands of jewels, trinkets, and silver coins were spread across the deck.
Far to the south, William Fly's Schooner, along with a captured Brigantine ploughed on towards Nombre de Dios.
Pike Masters overlooked the gleeful swabs dance a jig as a fiddler played a merry tune.
"I haint seen nuffin' as pleasing to me eye as what we has here!" he announced, with a broad grin.
Fly tipped his hat to his mate and gave an equally pleasing grin as piles of stolen loot lay before their very eyes.
And by now, the captured Spanish flagship and Coggy's Sloop had also made good their escape from the waters of Puerto Bello.
A few hours earlier, a number of pursuing Spanish vessels had been spotted on the distant horizon back along the coast. But by extinguishing all the lanterns aboard their two ships, coupled with great seamanship, and the luck of a slight wind change, the victorious pirates had given the pursuers the slip and disappeared into the night.
The pirate's swung their two ships north in the hope of putting as much distance between themselves and any patrolling pirate-hunters that would no doubt be despatched at first light.
On the deck, Sir Loin 'o Beef and Jacob Jones watched as the merry buccaneer's hoarded numerous caskets and chests housing Inca gold, precious gemstones, and priceless jewels from the decks below.
"Thar must be close to a million pounds worth 'o swag thar!" remarked the gleeful Sir Loin.
"Is dat a lot?" asked Jacob Jones, not knowing the true value of such things.
"HAAARRR, aye mate, it is!" laughed Beefy as he patted his smiling mate on the back. "I can't wait ta get me own share! I'm gonna build meself a fine pig farm someplace 'n breed da buggers" he added.
In the surgeons cabin below, Coggy and his mates stood leering over the wounded Ol'Man who was sprawled out on a cabin bed. A few temporary bandages covered his cuts and bruises as the ships' surgeon finished up his work.
"Tas been a long time, ya Ol'Git!" said Coggy, with a smirk, "We've been lookin' forward ta this moment ever since we heard yer pox-ridden carcass was sailing wit the Fleet"
Ol'Man squinted a little as the three menacing-looking pirates' faces came into focus.
"Bleedin' bunch 'o wharf-rats." he mumbled.
"We'll enjoy watchin' ya beg fer mercy!" laughed Morgan as he and Davey Jones unceremoniously lifted him up and prepared to march him up to the deck.
But Coggy stopped them in their tracks. "Hold up mate, I wants a word with tha Ol'Bastid before we watch him swing"
Morgan and Davey duly obliged and shoved the Ol'Man back onto the cabin bed.
Rubbing his wounds, the Ol'Man looked up and said, "I thought I'd seen da last 'o yew buggers… I was sure yew lot were in tha locker"
"HAAARRR, I thought ye knew better than that, Ol'Man," laughed Morgan, "Didn't ye know ol' Cutthroats never die?"
Leaning over the Ol'Man once more, Cog said, "Perhaps ye can enlighten us on where exactly tha Spaniards would take any captured prisoners from today's lil' battle?"
Ol'Man looked a little puzzled at first then replied, "Arrr, so ye lost some o' yer thieving mates to tha dons, I take it?"
"Listen 'ere ya Ol'Git, thar's numerous ways a man can die to the hands 'o psychotic bastids like us." replied Coggy, menacingly.
"Tis yer choice how ye meet that death. Ye can have it quick 'n relatively painless, or ye can suffer a long 'n miserable demise which, believe me, would be far from painless!" he said.
Ol'Man rubbed his wounds once more and remained silent.
Coggy motioned for his mates to grab the Ol'Man again and take him up to the deck
"Have it yer own way - ya stubborn Ol'Fool. I hope yer pox-ridden carcass scrapes a few barnacles off tha bottom 'o dis boat during yer keel-haulin" remarked Cog, as the pirate opened the cabin door to leave.
"Maraciabo" called Ol'Man as Coggy left.
The cabin door opened slowly once again, and Coggy re-entered the room. "Why not Puerto Bello or Cartagena?" he asked.
"Cartagena jail is still being re-built thanks to yer lil' visit there a few years back," replied Ol'Man, "And tha locals in Puerto Bello won't hold sea-scum like ye. They fear reprisals 'n tha like. So if'n any 'o yer miserable mates were captured 'n still live, they'll no doubt be aboard a prison barge bound fer Maracaibo… that's where most felons from the region end up." he explained.
"Maracaibo, ye say" mumbled Cog to himself.
"Ye aint taking his word fer it, is ye Cogs?" asked a distrustful Henry Morgan.
But before he could answer, Ol'Man added, "Maracaibo is tha closest town ta have such facilities. An' besides, that town builds tha finest Gibbet cages this side 'o Hispanola. If'n yer mates survive tha trip - Maraciabo is tha place they'll swing."
Coggy thought for a few more minutes before looking the Ol'Man right in the eye, "Ok, Ol'Man, we won't keel-haul yer sorry carcass. 'Appen I wants ta see yer miserable face tha very moment yer sent to the locker anyhow" he said.
Turning to the other pirates, Cog said "Bring him up top at sunrise and we'll get this thing over 'n done with"
Morgan and Davey Jones gave a vengeful smile then ordered several guards to watch over their prisoner.