The maiden voyage of the Mary Belle 3/13

It was quite late the next day, before she was allowed on deck. The captain was busy talking to the mate and just told Fern to ‘Show the kid over the ship.’

She was already quite familiar with the general layout, as she’d watched it being built; even so it came as rather a surprise when she noticed the life belts lashed to the shrouds. The name of the brig had been painted on them; ‘Mary Belle’.

“The Davy Jones Company chose the name as a lasting tribute to your parents for their help in defeating the pirates,” said Fern. “I know the name isn’t spelt correctly, but they decided that this spelling was more suitable for a sailing ship and it still sounds like your mum’s name if you say it out loud.”

Jennifer Jane was just about to reply, when an argument started between the captain and the mate. They were standing face to face and shouting at the tops of their voices.

“What do you mean ‘no sextant’; you’ll be telling me next that there isn’t a chronometer on board!”

“Well no more we haven’t! We’re not carrying navigational equipment of any kind; this is supposed to be a trial run, not a voyage round the world. You’re giving the orders, you should have checked before you went roaring out to sea in the middle of a gale!”

“Crikey, that’s torn it,” said Fern, “that means we’re lost and can’t navigate our way back home. For goodness sake don’t tell any of the crew that this sort of thing is always happening to you, or they’ll think you’re a Jonah and may very well want to throw you over board.”

Jennifer Jane decided that the best place for her was back in her cabin. She could still hear the shouting even when she was in her bunk. ‘Well at least I suppose this is the start of my next adventure, but I’m not sure I like the idea of being thrown overboard’

Fern brought down her food as usual. “The weather’s getting calmer at last, but the skipper is still arguing with the mate and trying to decide how we’re going to get back home.” She continued chatting until it was time for her to go on watch again.

Jennifer Jane began desperately trying to remember all the stories she knew, where people had to find their way home after being lost, but night came all too soon, and she rolled into her bunk and went to sleep without having thought of a solution to the problem.

She woke up early the next morning, thinking there was something strange about the motion of the Mary Belle. She glanced out of the porthole, the sea had become flat calm and there didn’t seem to be a breath of wind. Surely no one could say she was in their way this morning, so she hurried up on deck.

The captain was standing by the wheel with a miserable look on his face, while the mate was right forward in the bows, sulking. She had often heard her father speak of ‘the calm after a storm,’ but this was the first time she’d ever seen it for herself.

The brig was rolling slightly in an oily swell, the canvas clattering as the masts swung from one side to the other.

Fern came up on deck and walked over. “It’s nice and quiet, there’s no essential work to do, so if you’d like to see how we poor sailors have to earn our living, now seems to be a good time for you to go aloft.”