CHAPTER SEVEN
When the Andy Dor docked, the Harbormaster informs our Captain that he will be restocked and to set sail for the West Indies. His new orders are to pick up supplies, needed by the Continental Army. After Nickolas notifies the Army base of the intentions of the Black Kilts, he searches for someone to buy the rum. If he had more time, he probably would have gotten a better price. The crew was eager to go ashore and enjoy some time off. Because of delays, in getting the needed supplies, we were able to enjoy another week of shore leave. With most of the men broke, and the ship restocked, we sail again.
The Dutch, who control most of the West Indies, are not allies. The Dutch merchants, like so many other merchants, trade with both sides. They fear the British; but, they don’t want to lose the cotton and other commodities from the Colonies.
A week later, we dock, in the space provided for us in the crowded harbor. We, like all sailors take advantage of time ashore whenever it’s available. The next day was a Dutch Holiday. We weren’t happy that Captain Nickolas accepted the offer for us to take part in the celebration.
Once on shore, I, along with Skinny-Tom, and a few others were on a quest to find some comfort food. We all love Ebenezer’s cooking, but weeks of one-pot meals left us longing for something else. We wanted BARBEQUED RIBS. After visiting the pubs and restaurants on the island, we felt we would have to settle for mangos and papaya. All the meals with meat cost more than we had. I guess we should have heeded Lieutenant Snibly’s advice and kept more of our prize money.
It is good advice now, but it didn’t seem like it then. We were about to give up when the all too familiar smell of barbecued ribs filled the air. Following the scent into the woods, we came across a group of black men sitting around a spit.
Thinking they were natives, Skinny-Tom says, “bon jour Mon Ami, comment allez-vous.”
One of them stands up and answers, “do I look French to you? We are seamen of the American Privateer Black Sapphire. I’m the Captain, Commander Bebinire.”
Before Tom can answer, I say, “Sir, pardon us for interrupting. We smelled the ribs and were hoping for some and some homemade bread.”
Commander Bebinire replies, “I have plenty of meat. Unfortunately, we have no bread.”
Suddenly I realize how I can get some bread and say, “I know how we can get the bread and some greens too. For some of your ribs, we’ll be willing to share them with you.”
The sailors sitting around the fire smiled and nodded yes. To them, after months of eating hardtacks, some real bread and greens sounded appetizing. They tried buying bread when they bought the ribs, but the bakery closed early to bake bread for the feast tomorrow. Even the local pubs were out of bread. All they could offer was flour made into a paste and cooked, in other words, hardtacks.
Commander Bebinire says, “HMM, fresh-baked bread would be a tasty treat. Ok, you have four hours. That’s how long it will take to finish cooking this meat.”
As we left and headed towards the harbor Tom asks; “Joe, where are we going to get the bread and greens? You heard what Captain Bebinire said the bakeries are closed.”
I explained to the others, that earlier Ebenezer told me the fort’s Chief Chef invited him to visit his kitchen and Ebenezer accepted. The Chief Chef, known for his sadistic streak, invites Chefs to watch him make the bread and dares them to duplicate it. According to Ebenezer, so far nobody has succeeded. It’s the Chef’s own secret recipe and Ebenezer wants that recipe. After the war, he plans to open his own restaurant, but needs money. With that recipe, he believes investors will flock to him.
“Okay”, Tom says. “Since he has no money, how does he plan on getting the recipe; steal it.”
I reply, “I don’t know and don’t care. Now everyone, give me all your money.”
When we reach the fort, while the others wait for me, I go inside. Making my way to the kitchen, I start to approach the Chief Chef, but stop when I see the Chief Chef talking to Ebenezer. When the Chef sees me, he shakes his head, motions for me to stop and continues talking to Ebenezer. When he’s finished, he motions for me to come closer. Ebenezer walks away before I could say anything.
Hoping he would have some pity on me, I sheepishly say, “Sir, pardon my intrusion, my friends and I have been at sea for months and have a chance to eat some barbeque ribs. To make this happen, we need twenty pounds of greens and twenty loaves of bread.”
The Chef brashly says; “the bread costs three francs each, but for that much bread, I’ll let them go for two.”
Joe replies; “that’s a reasonable price, but I only have thirty francs.”
The Chief Chef replies, “I feel sorry for you Mon a Mi. Tell you what, meet my price and I’ll throw the greens in for nothing. If you’re unable to pay, then how you say, bug off.”
As the Chef walks away, I look around for Ebenezer. I knew the bread was not the Chef’s to sell; it’s for tomorrow’s banquet. Maybe Ebenezer can sneak some bread out. I caught sight of Ebenezer out of the corner of my eye. As I was going to say something to Ebenezer, he motions for me to follow him into the other room.
Once in there he says, “I’m sorry Joe, I can’t help you. The Chef still hasn’t shown me the complete process of making the bread, and I don’t want to compromise that in any way.”
As Ebenezer walks out I say, “I understand; I know you would help if you could.”
I walk out of the room and approach the Chef again and say to him, “Sir, you drive a hard bargain. There just has to be some way we can do this.” After a long pause, I continue, “I’ll be back. I’ll get the money somehow; get everything ready.”
While I’m leaving the kitchen, the Chef gathers twenty pounds of greens. Then he puts the greens in a sack and lays the sack on one of the tables. He was smiling with anticipation of selling the items to the Americans. For him, the money is equivalent to a week’s pay.
As he points to the sack, he says to the other bakers, “under no circumstance is anyone to use these greens. To insure enough salad for tomorrow’s feast, add more beans.”
Once outside, I motioned to the others to stay where they are; then I hurried to the ship. Once on-board, I sneak around making sure the Officer of the Day doesn’t see me. When I’m sure no one is around, I creep into the Officers’ Quarters and commandeer a uniform belonging to Lieutenant Snibly. I put the uniform neatly into a sack.
As I was leaving, the Watch Commander stops me and says, “Joe, your leave doesn’t end until the morning; why are you back? By the way, what do you have in the sack?”
I reply, “uh, it’s a uniform that is in need of repair. I forgot about it earlier, so now I’m taking it to the tailor shop before they close.”
The Watch Commander stared at me, looking slightly confused. As I point to the tailor ship, one hundred feet away, I do my best not to show how nervous I am.
The Watch Commander, after thinking about my answer, says,; “Joe, be on your way.” I quickly head for the gangplank. “And don’t forget there’s a compulsory formation at the break of day.”
While walking down the plank, I do my best not to run. Once the Watch Commander turned his back to me, I run towards the fort. Reaching the waiting group, I take the uniform out of the sack.
Skinny-Tom, looking confused, asks, “Joe what do you have there?”
I reply, “Tom, it’s an Officers’ Uniform complete with boots and a wig.”
“Okay?” Then Skinny-Tom asks, “Joe, what are you going to do with them?”
I reply, while handing Tom the uniform, “Tom, put this on.”
Tom has the same waist size, but is a few inches taller than the Lieutenant. I felt the Officers’ booths would hide the shortness in the pant legs. After Tom put on the uniform, I stand back to get a better look at him.
As I rub my chin, I say, “the uni
form looks a little tight. You’ll be alright if you don’t sit down. Now go in there and demand to see the Chef. Talk very loud as if they’re all deaf. Tell the Chef your Admiral invited the Dutch Commander to tonight’s feast. Then say you are here, to get thirty loaves of bread.”
Tom puts on the wig and hat and says, “Joe, you do realize this is a court martial offense, don’t you.”
While adjusting the wig and hat I say, “Tom, stop worrying and think about those ribs. If you do as I say we’ll be feasting on them tonight.”
After a few rehearsals, Skinny-Tom storms inside the kitchen and makes his demands. “Everyone stop what you’re doing, and do as I say. I want thirty loaves of bread, and I want them right away.”
Startled by Tom’s order, the bakers comply. While the bakers are quickly gathering the bread, Ebenezer does his best to keep from laughing out loud. He was in the opposite corner of the kitchen, and Tom did not see him. Not wanting to give anything away, Ebenezer goes into the other room until the charade is over. Putting his hand over his mouth, he cracks open the door and watches the antics of Skinny-Tom.
The Chef, regaining his composure says, “we only have twenty loaves of bread that we can spare.”
Remembering the rest of what I told him to do, Tom bellows; “since you don’t have thirty loaves,” he points to the sack of greens, “in lieu of the ten loaves, I’ll take those greens on the table.”
Skinny-Tom quickly grabs the sack of greens and puts twenty loaves of bread in another one. He flings both sacks over his shoulder and storms out of the kitchen.
It took a moment for the Chief Chef to realize what just happened. He became so frustrated; he started throwing pots and pans all over the kitchen. The Chef just lost a week’s pay and wasn’t happy about it. Wanting to throw more pots around, he grabs the handles, of a pot and cries out in pain. He burned his hands when he grabbed a pot of boiling water.
A smiling Tom walks outside and back to us; when I see Tom with the two sacks over his shoulder, I say to him, “Tom you need to hurry up and change so I can bring the uniform back.” As Tom changes, I point to the bread and continue, “just be careful with that sack. I’ll meet you at the barbeque; but if I don’t get there in time, make sure you save me some bread and ribs. Save me at least two pieces, no make that three and half a loaf.”
I manage to sneak on-board the ship, return the uniform and sneak off the ship without getting caught. Now would not be a good time for the Watch Commander to catch me.
As I make my way to the rib fest, all I can think about is how good they will taste. I approach the barbeque just in time. Commander Bebinire was starting to portion out the ribs, bread, and cooked greens.
When I stop, alongside Commander Bebinire, he looks up and says, “Joe, my friend, your comrades told me what you’ve done. Come, my guest of honor, let’s have some dinner and watch the setting sun.”
We feasted all-night laughing and exchanging stories with our new friends. That morning, tired but satisfied with last night’s events, we joined in the festivities with the rest of the crew of the Andy Dor. The next day we sailed for America.
While sailing towards America, we came across several merchant ships. We did not touch the ones belonging to Patriots or Allies. We seized three ships belonging to Loyalists. The ships contained cargo and Loyalist families fleeing the Colonies. After confiscating the cargo, we freed the ships, with the Loyalists on-board. Nickolas has no quarrel with people that did not support the cause, unless they took arms against us. He felt it was better for them to flee than to stay.
While unloading the cargo that we brought back from the West Indies, Captain Nickolas searches for a broker to buy the items confiscated from the Loyalist. Some of the men wanted to enjoy some shore leave before sailing away. Captain Nickolas comes back and calls Company Formation. This can’t be good; every time he calls Company Formation, the news is not good. I hope it’s not that he was unable to sell the confiscated cargo; my enlistment is up soon, and I wanted that money to pay for my transportation home.
Once we are in Company Formation, Captain Nickolas says, “don’t worry, I received a handsome amount for the Loyalist items. Now down to business. Lieutenant Snibly, Ensign Barckmaily (it only took two years to find out what our former Instructor’s name is), and Joe; front and center.” I’m think, what did I do NOW, as I join the other two, the Captain says, “Lieutenant Snibly you are to report to the Admiral, you have a new assignment. Ensign Barckmaily you are now my new Lieutenant. Now Joe, you have proven yourself to be Officer Material; it gives me great pleasure to promote you, to Ensign.”
Before Lieutenant Snibly leaves, his last duty is to give each of us our share of the prize.
With my pockets full of money, I walk towards my bunk. As Tom approaches me, he says, “I guess that Recruiter was right, you will become an Officer before this war ends.”
I wave him away and head for my bunk. Since, I’m a junior Officer, I get to sleep with the other Officers.
As I approach my new bunk, Lieutenant Barckmaily approaches me and says, “I knew you could do it. Now I would like you to have these Ensign bars until you can get your new uniform.”
As I thank the Lieutenant, we hear cannon fire coming from the fort. Everyone runs to the port side of the ship and watches as four British Ships attack the fort. Along with the attacking ships, five British Troop Ships were unloading men north of the fort. As we prepare to sail towards the fighting, we see the flag, on the fort’s flagpole being lowered. That can only mean one thing, the fort surrendered. As we way anchor, the British Warships turn and block the entrance of the harbor.
One of the signals us to a duel. The Captain gladly accepts. He’s mad, and wants to take it out on something. He was planning on spending the night with his family; now he can’t.
As the challenger races towards us, the Captain shouts to Tom, “TOM DO YOUR BEST TO STOP HER DEAD IN HER TRACKS.”
With the water in the harbor calm, Nickolas tells PANTS to keep her steady. As the frigate gets closer, we can barely hear some British Sailors shouting something. If they believe we will turn and head for shore, they don’t know our Captain. When the British Ship is in range, Tom fires. The cannon ball shatters the main mast of the challenger. As Tom walks to the other forward cannon, he orders an incendiary cannon ball loaded into that cannon. Then he signals the pilot to turn us slightly starboard. While our ship is turning, the British fire their forward cannons. Their two cannonballs hit us, but do minimal damage. While the British are reloading, we are in position for Tom to take another shot. After someone lights the fuse, Tom fires the starboard forward cannon. As we watch, the cannonball falls on the deck and rolls into a stack of kegs filled with gunpowder.
Figuring the cannonball’s fuse failed, the British Captain shouts, RETRIEVE THAT CANNONBALL AND REPLACE THE FUSE, WE’LL SEND IT BACK...”
Before he could finish his sentence, the cannonball explodes, igniting the kegs of gunpowder. It took only a minute for the entire deck to light up the sky. As we turn back to the middle of the harbor and wait, the transport ships join the British Warships. We are outnumbered and doomed. When the British Ships don’t attack, Nickolas realizes why.
He shouts to us, “THEY WANT THE RESIDENTS TO LEAVE. THEY MEAN TO TAKE THE TOWN UNDAMAGED.” As the sun sets, Captain Nickolas calls us to Company Formation and says, “MEN, we are outnumbered, out manned and out gunned. We cannot defeat the enemy, and I refuse to let the Andy Dor fall into their hands. Gather your things, we will abandon ship and set her ablaze.”
It took several trips to strip the ship of everything useable. The Captain stayed until the very end. As he is about to leave the Andy Dor, he throws a torch into the cargo hold. The torch lands on top of an oil soaked canvas, which covers barrels of gunpowder. By the time, he joins me on shore the And
y Dor is engulfed in flames. My enlistment comes to an end as my ship sinks. When daylight approaches, I bid Captain Nickolas Good-bye. Now I have to decide if a One Eyed Ensign can be of use to the Navy. I decided to go home, with Skinny-Tom, and ponder my future.
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