1632 Snippets
1636 The China Venture – Snippet 33
1636 The China Venture - Snippet 33 Von Siegroth pointed to the pendulum hanging from the foremast. "The ship's officers can use that to judge the roll, and instruct the gun captains accordingly. We've also equipped each gun carriage with spirit levels; a bubble moves inside a graduated tube partially filled with alcohol. One tube shows roll and the other shows pitch." The gun captain was checking that the gun was trained and elevated properly. "You'll observe," said von Siegroth, "that the breech end of the carronade is substantially wider...
Council Of Fire – Snippet 09
Council Of Fire - Snippet 09 Chapter 5 This is the end of the world Aboard HMS Namur The coast was more visible in the morning, with the seas calm and the wind scarcely blowing--the best sort of weather for a survey. It became gradually clearer that this land was not the Cape Verde Islands, but was some land hitherto unknown. What at first was taken for snowcaps turned out to be the pale color of the land itself. It was stark, almost like the Dover chalk-cliffs, bare of vegetation. Boscawen summoned the slave Gustavus to his quarterdeck. Once...
Council Of Fire – Snippet 08
Council Of Fire - Snippet 08 O'Brien did not seem the least discomfited by sleeping on the deck, under the overhanging shelter aft of the pilothouse. No complaints reached the admiral's ears; but while he was making his rounds of the deck, bundled in his greatcoat, he paused to speak to the lieutenant of the watch. "Pascal, isn't it?" "Aye, my Lord." Lieutenant Pascal touched his cap, looking away from his black servant--or slave, he wasn't sure which--who was coiling rope beside him. "Have you heard anything regarding the Irish boy sleeping...
1636 The China Venture – Snippet 32
1636 The China Venture - Snippet 32 Chapter 21 On board the Rode Draak Liu Xiang's Eagle's Claw was sailed into position by a skeleton crew. Once they got there, they quickly reduced sail. That was an easy task on a junk rig, as it could be accomplished by a single man on deck, easing up on the halyard until the desired number of panels had dropped down and been collected by the buntlines, like an upside-down Venetian blind. The crew then threw over a crude sea anchor. It was in the conical shape of the fishing nets used for trawling, but...
Council Of Fire – Snippet 07
Council Of Fire - Snippet 07 Chapter 4 The keepers of the house shall tremble Aboard HMS Namur In the Atlantic Ocean If he had been able to sleep that night, Admiral Edward Boscawen might not have survived the experience. Of such things is history made; the whim of chance, the roll of dice on the backgammon-board, the choice of this path rather than another. But sleep had not come that night and he instead found himself on the quarterdeck of HMS Namur, bound for the roadstead of Toulon, where he would command the squadron charged with...
1636 The China Venture – Snippet 31
1636 The China Venture - Snippet 31 After their somewhat ignominious departure from Guangzhou, the Rode Draak and the Groen Feniks had hoisted ensigns that Yan the Swallow had brought with him. They indicated that they were sailing under the license of his elder brother, Admiral Zheng Zhilong, and would ensure that they could safely enter any harbor in Fujian Province. That, however, would not be sufficient to assure that they could trade with the inhabitants of that harbor. First, they were told, they would have to go to Xiamen to be...
Council Of Fire – Snippet 06
Council Of Fire - Snippet 06 Chapter 3 One word over and over. Lands of the Six Nations The night of the Change had been still and cold, with no hint of the coming spring. But still, there had been something so odd that no one, not even the oldest among those at Canajoharie, could remember anything like it. A wind swept across the settlement, bringing with it a strange fog that seemed to contain dancing lights--it came and went in less time than it took the moon to climb from between the tall trees to above them. The next day the shamans and...
1636 The China Venture – Snippet 30
1636 The China Venture - Snippet 30 Chapter 20 Year of the Pig, Fourth Month (May 16-June 14, 1635) On the deck of the Eagle's Claw, off Tianwei Point Zheng Zhilong stood on the deck of Liu Xiang's flagship, the Eagle's Claw, sword in hand. He could no longer hear the sounds of battle from the hold below; his Black Guard had plainly prevailed, or Liu Xiang and his men would be seeking even now to recover control of the deck. Jelani emerged from the main hatch, and Zheng Zhilong hurried over to speak to him. "You have him, Jelani?" Zhilong...