the captains shore

Just as things are settling down, a shout is heard across the ship “Land Ho!!” shouts the scout. These words seem to have a profound effect on all persons on the ship. The crew take it as a sign that they have made it to safety, and thus reduce their diligence on the matters at hand, the passengers take is as a sign that they will make it to safety and thus decide to ignore some of the more scary warnings they have been given. The captain however is startled by the claim as he now tries to hastily identify which land this was and how he could safely navigate the ship to the shore without it breaking apart.

The boards are creaking, the steel is singing, the captain knows that the ship is doing all she can do to survive the storm. One big hit is all she needs to bring her down, more that ever he needs the crew to be on high alert. The Captain then thinks that he has identified the island and purposely strides out of the office to find some passengers back at the side of the ship. He's shock quickly turns to anger, What is this!! he shouts, he then turns to find some crew members have deserted their posts and are busy talking to each other. “Tom” he shouts “whats going on?” Tom then turns to him with a smile on his face “Captain, Land ho, did you not hear?” The captain shakes his head and wonders what has gotten into these people's heads. “Tom, the storm is still raging over our heads, what is the point of everybody hanging around doing nothing when the ship hasn't yet gotten out of the storm? Do you think that she will just find a safe shore by herself, have you forgotten everything that you were taught about the Ocean?” At this point the Captains eyes are bulging out of his head and his arms are flaying all over the place.

The visual has the effect of disconcerting some people especially the crew who had never seen their captain lose control in that manner. It also has a sobering effect on those crew member in his immediate vicinity as they realize that they really were not out of the woods.

The crew then start back to their stations when the girls mothers wails intensify. That could only mean one thing thinks the Captain as he rushes over to the ships side, and sure enough when he gets there he cannot not see both the girl and Marcus, he then turns to look for the line belonging to the lifesaver.

There it is, he can see the brightly colored end of the line being whipped into the ocean and steadily disappearing beneath the waves, but that wasn't what caused the girls mother to scream, it was that the cord had succeeded in wrapping itself around Marcus and was very successfully dragging him away from the girl, towards the ship and more directly towards the helm where Marcus nicely smacks his head, and consequently disappears from eye sight.

The calming effect that land ho has is thereby canceled and the original pandemonium returns. Well thinks the captain, if nothing else the crew will remember that they are in the middle of a bloody storm!

At the end of this thought he turns back to the crew as he realizes there is nothing he can do to save the girl and that any more concentration on her will lead to more lives being lost. He turns and and for a moment looks at the mothers with pity in his eyes then turns his head back to the task at hand.

The incident also has the effect of kicking in people's survival instincts. Its a me me situation after all. Only the girls mother is left looking at her daughter slowly go beneath the waves. Some of the passengers try to pull her away from the side of the ship in the belief that watching your daughter die is not the best way to preserve her memory, but she will not budge. After a few attempts they give as they must take care of themselves. Even the very vocal Mr. Brown is conspicuously silent as everybody waits for the captain to do his job.

With the crews attention on him, the captain is then able to slowly maneuver the ship towards the observed shore.

Coincidentally, the storm starts to abate giving the captain the opportunity to land the ship safely to shore, albeit extremely worse for wear.

At the shore the troupe of shipwreck survivors find a group of fishermen who had been watching the battle in the ocean in what came to be known as the leaf in the storm cup. The head fisherman has already organized a rescue, although at the point of organizing he was not sure there would be any rescue.

As the captain falls wearily to the ground he thanks God there were only two fatalities

As the girls mother falls wearily to the ground, she curses the captain for failing to save her daughters life and vows at that moment to ensure that he never forgets

As Mr. Brown falls wearily to the ground, he thanks God that he was not the captain, even though he thinks he could have done a better job

As the crew fall wearily to the ground, they thank God the captain was able to lead them into safety. Some of the crew know that they will never set foot on another ship, others think that they shall only ever sail with the captain and vow to follow him to the ends of the earth. The rest are just glad that they have made it

As the rest of the passengers fall wearily to the ground, they thank God they are alive. Some look at the lady who lost her daughter and avert their eyes when she turns to look at them. Others go to the crew and pat them on their back,shake hands and pump their fists in the air. One teenage boy looks at the Captain and vows that when he grows up, he will be the Captain of his own ship.

Get a little painted