A PIRATE I WOULD BE

I have been a Pirate for seven years now, It came about almost by chance. I had lived within the law up to that point, no angel bur never charged with a crime and certainly never taking a life. My pal Jake was always a bit wild, never vicious, more in love with excitement and adventure. We were both fishermen working out of a small harbour in Cornwall on the South West coast of England. We made a living, just not a good one; not as good as Jake thought we could make if we joined the crew of this captain he had met , by the name of William Boner, inevitably known Billy Bones on account of him being a pirate.

I think I smiled at Jake's tales of piracy and the money to be made at the expense of undeserving merchants who sailed along the coast around Indonesia and other Asian shores, about which Jake was a bit vague. I expect I would have dismissed the idea, but we had had the worst season in memory, my memory at least, and it was particularly wet and the winds were cold, so Jake's constant harping on warm sunshine , easy pickings and beautiful women....oh, yes, he didn't miss a trick, but then, he was dreaming his own dreams. Assured that the victims were stealing from the locals and generally oppressing them, I thought it sounded like poetic justice. But to be truthful, I thought the whole thing was far fetched and that a few tots of rum had helped the tale along. Captain Boner needed some more crew members, and a bit of exotic adventure might be an attraction . We signed up and we sailed.

Now you might be imagining a square rigged ship with a young seaman high in the crow's nest, and the captain in a tri -corn hat. Not so. It is not a large vessel, but modern, fully equipped with sonar, radio and every device a sailor or a pirate might wish for. We are a crew of eight and we are pirates. We do not have a cutlass between us and we do not fly a skull and crossbones. We try to look normal and innocent, but we are not innocent.

We waylay and rob commercial and pleasure craft which venture into our range. Most of the time this is accomplished with little or no violence, but there have been two occasions when either the captain or one of the crew has got carried away or scared for their own lives and there have been deaths. I have never committed any of these crimes as I have always remained on deck, but it did not take long for me to realize that not all those we robbed were villains. Some seemed to be ordinary seafarers; but bit by bit we accept what we are asked to do and I felt less compunction about stealing for a living. Jake died three years ago when he went overboard during the night. I did not enquire too closely into the particulars.

I have been thinking that I must mutiny. Should I try to lead a mutiny ? Become a sort of Mr. Christian and lead the reluctant sailors to a place of safety ? It is most likely that they would agree to back me, then desert me when the moment came.

I am aware that I am part of the piracy. I have not killed anyone but I am part of the crew and I get part of the booty. What is worrying me is that Billy Bones is spending more and more time searching for Axis gold. There have long been rumours that at the end of the second world war, a train containing looted treasure went along the Burma Railway, heading for a secret hide out, where some of the conspiritors were intending to bury it until able to retrieve it at a safer time. Something had gone wrong and plans were changed. The treasure was diverted into a small craft which had been capsized in rough seas . The treasure was said to be on the bottom of the ocean in an area known to Captain Billy Bones.

From time to time we had headed for the area and carried out surveys of the sea bottom. Nothing had been found but over the past two years we had returned time and again to the area and we seemed to be treasure hunters, rather than pirates. There is no income to be made from soundings of the ocean floor. No booty to be shared from making charts and we are more vulnerable to being caught when we spend too much time in the same place. The Captain likes to fantasize about the gold and jewels waiting to be picked out of the sand. His eyes glisten and he waxes lyrical about items said to have been packed onto that long ago train.

I am not at all sure that such a train ever existed, nor that that treasure ever left the shore. I am very sure that our sporadic attempts to locate it would be extremely unlikely to find it even if it did exist. I want to leave here. I want to land, to lose myself in the cities of the Pacific Rim. I don't imagine the life of a retired expatriate in some secluded and romantic spot. I know I can not return to Cornwall and home. I fear retribution by the authorities if we are found, for I know we will be recognised for what we are. Captain Boner will not put me ashore.

I have three choices. I can try to organize a mutiny and sail the ship to a safeport. I can kill Billy Bones and slip his body overboards one dark night and then hope topersuade the rest of the men to do as I want, or I can steal the lifeboat and hope to make a safe landing. If I fail in any of these attempts I shall not walk the plank, but I am sure to be shot. What is the best course ?

ENDS.