Sea Robber by Tim Severin Read Free Book Online

a snow bank, and her stern still projected into the sea. A shattered stump was all that remained of her single mast. One side of the hull had burst open. A tangle of damaged rigging hung draped over one side. Rime and ice had coated the entire vessel, so that she seemed like a fly that had been caught and embalmed by a spider.
    The entire crew lined the rail as the Delight glided past the extraordinary sight. No one spoke. All were unnerved by the melancholy spectacle.
    ‘Maybe there’s someone still aboard,’ said Hector.
    Cook snorted in disbelief. ‘Not a chance. That ship is a graveyard at best.’
    ‘At least let me check. There may be something to salvage,’ Hector begged.
    ‘Very well, but we won’t waste time. You have an hour, no more.’ He turned and shouted an order that the sails were to be brailed up.
    Hector hurried to the cockboat, and within minutes Jezreel was rowing him and Dan towards the wreck. With a final powerful stroke he propelled the little boat right up on to the ice so that Hector and Dan could step out, dry-shod.
    ‘Jezreel, stay here and be ready to pick us up. We won’t be long,’ Hector said over his shoulder as he and his friend crunched their way through the frozen snow alongside the stranded ship.
    She was a bark, less than half the size of the Delight . There was no name on her stern to identify her, and any flag or distinguishing mark had long since gone.
    ‘How do you think she got here?’ Hector asked.
    ‘I’d say she ran on the ice by accident, in the dark and during a gale,’ Dan answered.
    ‘Then what happened to her crew?’
    ‘There’s only one way to find out.’ The Miskito scrambled in through the gap where the hull had split. Hector followed cautiously.
    The interior of the hull was dimly lit by shafts of light falling through ragged holes where the deck above them had fallen away. Inside was a jumble of debris – broken planks and barrels, anonymous bundles and crates, scraps of cloth. It was difficult to be sure what anything was because everything was coated in ice or half-buried in small drifts of snow that had accumulated.
    Moving cautiously, the two men picked their way through the rubbish to a companionway that led up to the deck. Dan brushed away a thin scattering of snow, which lay on the steps of the companionway. His breath steamed in the shaft of light from the open hatch above.
    ‘I doubt we’ll find much. Whoever was on board left with what they could salvage.’
    He mounted the steps and called down, ‘All the ship’s boats are missing. The vessel was abandoned by the survivors.’
    Hector followed him up on to the deck and looked around. There was little to see. The vessel was bare.
    ‘Dan, go forward and search,’ he said. ‘I’ll try aft. There must be some clue as to why the vessel is here.’
    The slant of the wreck made it awkward to clamber up on to the quarterdeck, and he was obliged to haul himself up by a side rail, using both hands. Again he found nothing of interest. The vessel had been stripped.
    He was descending carefully to the main deck when he heard a shout from Jezreel. He was gesturing towards the Delight and calling out that they should hurry. Hector looked across the water and could see men on deck, bracing the yards around. Cook was preparing to sail on.
    Hector was on the point of abandoning the search when he noticed a low, narrow door under the midships rail. He guessed that it must lead to the captain’s cabin. He tested the door, but it was either jammed by ice or the frame had warped. Hector put his shoulder to the panel and gave a hefty shove. The door grated open and he peered inside. The cabin was tiny, no more than eight feet square and with a roof so low it would have been impossible to stand upright. Even in the gloom Hector could see that the room was bare of furniture except for a narrow bunk along the far wall, a small stool tipped over on its side and what looked like a rumpled coat dropped on the