Chapter 4: Discovering New Land

Our journey to the distant and inhabited land of Patagonia didn’t bring much treasures. Sailors rarely used this route unless it proved to be absolute necessary. Instead the ships were often dragged across land further North, but Captain Bloodspatter was fully motivated to take us the long way around. Me, personally was happy to make the journey. The landscape was amazing and there was no abundance of food. Plenty of fish held the Goddess and the rest of us working the galley quite busy and well fed. For the longest time we had been plundering, robbing and living the good life. This quiet part of the world offered us some time to get the Black Rock back into ship shape. New ropes were fixed and wooden damage repaired. The sails were mended and every part of the ship was washed to squeaky be clean.

By the time we were supposed to navigate around the fearful Cape Horn Bloodspatter made another decision. We were not about the head North as planned but rather keep sailing South. No ship had ever dared this journey. The seas this far South was known to be a killing one. No ship had ever returned from their try to keep navigating passed these latitudes. Some of the men were understandable concerned about our Captains plans, but none dared to speak against Bloodspatter. Blæik had the crew prepare the ship, everything was tied down and our ever growing treasure was secured in place. Over all the men was excited, for all we knew there would be gold growing on trees on the other side of this journey.

Our expectations were short lived. It took us at least two weeks to overcome the vast ocean between Cape Horn and land on the other side. As we went on the temperature plummeted to far beyond freezing and the waves stood taller than our ship. They were so huge that we disappeared in the valleys between then, lost all wind before slowly raising to the top of the next mountainous swell. Eventually the waters calmed a bit, only to be replaced by floating chunks of ice almost running us down at all times. The nights were the worst. We had half the crew working shift just to keep an eye out for the dangers ahead. But turning around was not an option. Captain Bloodspatter had put his mind on the possibility of land on the other side and it turned out he was right.

One morning we finally arrived at what we figured must’ve been land-fast ice. The disappointment among the crew to this vast landscape of only ice and nothing else but some strange walking birds we’d never seen before was given. The land we encountered had no vegetation. No nothing but ice and snow. Blæik was set to organize an expedition inland to search out any secrets this mysterious land may have to offer. I was picked to be the one managing the food for this expedition. The Goddess had to stay back along with Captain Bloodspatter to ensure that some crew and our treasure survived our arctic visit and search for larger treasures. But it was pretty clear that we were the first humans to ever see this land. There was no way anyone could survive the climate we were entering. Dressed in clothes sown from polar bear fur we started the long walk inland, only following our compass needle in a strict Southward position.

It was 1608, I had already been sailing with the Black Rock and Captain Bloodspatter for four years. Despite what you might have heard our crew were, unless there was someone before us, the first to ever visit the South Pole. We didn’t know this at the time of course but it would take another 300 years before Roald Amundsen made the journey in the year 1911. I have always been puzzled to how they didn’t find our flag on this expedition, they must have ignored it and taken the honor or it could of course have been overcome by the extreme weather this landscape at times will offer. And we didn’t find any treasures. At the point were the needle abruptly turned the other way and we was startled by what had just happened we had walked for many days without seeing anything but ice, snow and nothing else. We didn’t dare to continue and was sure the crew back at the ship had been waiting long enough, and with this our flag was planted, a solid Jolly Roger was firmly placed and we started to backtrack along our own tracks.

We reported back to Captain Bloodspatter after having been stuck in a storm for many days. Our makeshift tents barely kept us alive and one of our men walked into the white to never return. Bloodspatter didn’t seem to take to hard on us not finding any treasures. Strangely enough he seemed happy just to be the first one to cross over to this strange land of only ice and snow. While we were gone the rest of the crew had caught a whale and was busy boiling down the fat to oil we would use to strengthen the wood in our ship later. It also offered a huge feast onboard. And not having eaten for days upon our return we all indulged in the meal offered to celebrate our safe return.

The very next day we started our journey heading North. None of us were looking forward to the journey, but it seemed like the Gods had decided to be nicer to us on our return. Only some minor storms slowed us down a little otherwise it was a pretty calm journey until we finally saw land ahead to starboard and was on course toward Santiago de Chile. It was only days before we started to see other ships again, which we hunted down and plundered for all their precious silver and gold.

Chapter 3: Bloodspatters Monkey

Sharks circled our ship. The Goddess had for a moment forgotten what latitudes we were at, and had without thinking thrown a bucket of blood from our last polar bear right out the window. Sharks are known to be attracted to blood, and this must have been something very special to them, because now they were literally boiling water in the water around us. But a good pirate knows how to take advantage of any situations so quartermaster Snorre had immediately ordered all the men on deck to load the weapons. Here came the dinner served into our laps, and there was nothing left from our last bunking in Nova Scotia weeks before. The veterans around me sat in a chorus with a shanty about a lone sailor finally getting a long-awaited shark fin soup.

We had arrived in the infamous Caribbean where the plan was to plunder and take with us as large treasures as possible. Captain Bloodspatter, who most of the time stayed in his cabin, now strutted barefoot on deck in the hottest sun I had ever experienced in my life. The Captain was inspecting the work of the crew. The order was that the ship should be golden clean and ready for battle before the Goddess had finished the crew-dinner. Tonight we were going to work, the last two days we had been lying behind a large merchant ship. They had certainly discovered us a long time ago. But Bloodspatter had the great pleasure of tormenting the sailors on board the merchant ship who in the end didn’t have a chance against our proud ship and 150 dirty pirates.

Captain Bloodspatter steered our ship close to the merchant ship and the men under deck fired a series of canons that immediately put the small defense the merchant ship had out of play. Before they had sighed for themselves, our crew did what they could best and the whole crew was tied with any rope we could get around the mast on deck. A couple of men who had not survived the fight were thrown into the mirror-clear sea to the great joy of the remaining sharks who had been circling around us all day in hopes of more polar bear blood. While the merchants sat stiff with fear, held captive by twenty of our men with sabers and rags, the rest of us worked to empty the ship of goods and gold. Their ship’s crate was full of gold-coins and among the goods we found a whole bunch of exclusive goods we were to take with us and sell for gold in the first port. Our crew howled and cheered over the amazing catch, soon we would be given land leave. This meant that we finally got to go ashore and enjoy life as a free pirate for a few days.

Being some of the first pirates to roam these waters, the defense was low on the islands we visited. When at bay we acted as regular traders or merchants and nobody thought to ask questions about the filthy look of our crew. Being that we spoke a whole different language I suppose the locals thought that was how our people behaved. Or they knew the truth but didn’t dare to ask questions. Either way I truly enjoyed being free and to see the culture in the villages. The crew were given each a few pieces of silver and the men was quick to spend them in the bodegas, shops and markets. I spent my first hard earned silver on some of the local fruit and a great dinner of freshly cooked fish and strong pints of beer like I’d never tasted before. It was exciting to walk around the villages. Their huts was nothing like back home in Norway, built on stilts and with open holes as windows. The villagers were all nice, even nicer when you turned out to be a potential costumer. Our crew quickly grew popular among the locals and at the last night of our stay we were having a great party at the dock. Everyone was invited.

Months flew by, and it didn’t take long or many plunderings at all before the word of pirates in the waters had gone out and merchant ships were no longer sailing our waters. It was time to give the area a brake and move on to our next location. We headed to the South Atlantic ocean and to the land of the rain forests. Our treasure down in the cargo hull was now starting to grow for real. Our plunderings had earned us more coins than I was able to count. The Captain had now shifted focus to land based targets, besides this was the land of pearls and diamonds in plenty. For weeks the crew were set to dive for these special treats. It was a dangerous task, cause the waters were infested by sharks and other monsters the crew didn’t dear speak of.

We continued into the rivers leading to the wild forests of Amazon. Captain Bloodspatter had heard rumors that these forests was ruled by Indians who used gold for everything. We were not to leave these woods before our ship was filled with tons of their treasures. The nature here was simply extraordinary. Never have I ever experienced anything like it. Just thinking about the sounds that surrounded us as we silently rowed our ship against the rivers currents. There was no real wind in the river, our sails were rendered useless and pure muscle power was used to make any progress upstream. It was a long way, for weeks we worked our ways deeper into the forests. It was tiresome and after a while many of our men fell sick with fever. Now pressing on with a short crew it got even harder. At night we had to sit down and keep watch for large animals threatening from the dark. There was snakes long as our ship and small fish that could crawl up your butt if you jumped in without protection. But at day it was also beautiful, all the colors of the plants, birds and wildlife none of us had seen before. When we encountered a school of monkeys I even saw how Captain Bloodspatter had to fight to hold back a smile. One of those monkeys took a liking to the Captain. From that day it should be called Balto, following Captain Bloodspatter day and night.

Our new crew-mate, Balto, would prove to be quite a savior before we should leave the Amazons. One day we had finally arrived at the land of the tribes we had been seeking. We had no indication that these people were friendly and Bloodspatter had us guard the ship night and day. One morning we quickly understood that we had come to the right place. Unfortunately not in a good way. As the crew awoke we found the guards dead on deck. Seven men was shot down to warn us to stay away, all with a single tiny arrow each. There was no doubt that the arrows had been poisoned, cause no small weapon like this could cause harm like this. Although being tough men, none of us had seen poison being used this way before. This could prove that our new enemy was not as innocent as we had hoped and far more dangerous than what we had expected.

By that very afternoon, Captain Bloodspatter had come up with a plan and our crew prepared for battle. We all knew that this was a fight that not all of us would return to enjoy the treasures from – but we are pirates, and this is what we do. We knew we must have been watched so there would be no point of sending in a survey troop. Instead we had decided to attack with full force, all men was expected to be first in line. Hopefully this was the only tactical maneuver our enemy did not expect. I was not at all convinced that I would live to see another day, this was nothing like attacking a ship on the open water, here we did not have the advantage of controlling all the factors in play.

As we were sneaking through the dense jungle the constant humming of noise suddenly came to an abrupt stop as we crawled out on an open field. It was as if the world had stopped, for weeks we had heard the constant noise from all the insects, birds and animals around us. Suddenly there was nothing. Not a sound, not a movement. Minutes went by as we hid in the bushes. Then at the same time hundreds of arrows came shooting out from between the trees, followed by the equal number of half naked short men only dressed in leaf-underwear.

Captain Bloodspatter yelled out to stay hidden. We did not possess weapon to shoot or throw and were only equipped for closeup combat. As our enemy started to come toward us Balto the monkey suddenly appeared behind them. And he wasn’t alone. Hundreds of his monkey-friends was also attending the party. And they all attacked at the same time. They jumped the under-dressed enemy who got so confused and turned around by this surprise-attack that it gave us a chance to leap out from our hiding and attack from behind. Now de-fanged from their poisonous arrows and with only a few spears left to protect themselves it took no more than a few minutes for our men to slaughter a large portion of them in the most horrible pirate ways. It was a bloody fight but we had gotten the upper hand thanks to Balto the monkey and in the end we had a small group of men defeated and surrounded.

Afraid that we were going to exterminate their entire village their leader now willingly took us back to their huts and let us plunder what we could carry of their gold and precious stones. They had a whole pile of them in all kind of colors, and as you can imagine everything in the village had gold adorned to it. Even their cutlery and plates was made of shiny gold. I had never seen so many treasures in one place and by the look of it, neither had Captain Bloodspatter. Now with Balto back on his shoulder he was sitting down in the middle of the pile our men had collected in the middle of the village. It took the entire rest of the day and the next to carry it all back to our ship.

The day after this, after having stocked up on fruit and all the food from the villager’s farmland and a couple of goats, chickens and other strange animals we’d never seen before; we hoisted anchor and started on the week-long journey back down the river. Now being able to use the steady stream of water to propel us the entire crew had some amazing days onboard the Black Rock. Captain Bloodspatter was generous with food and rum as he was taking count of our haul. But despite how big of a treasure we had just filled our ship with, it was room for much more. This is after all the story of how the greatest treasure of the world came to be – and our journey was far from over.

Chapter 2: Heading West

At this time, and for the hundreds of years to come, it would be associated with bad luck to include women as part of the crew. But Captain Bloodspatter was, as I said, a man ahead of his time, and although the gender distribution was limited to a single woman on board, she had at least an officer's position as the ship's cook. Myself as the newest recruit, was immediately set to peel potatoes and turnips. This suited me very well and gave me plenty of time to get to know what it was like to work for Captain Bloodspatter on board his ship, which I quickly learned was called 'Black Blood'. It was also a great help that the chef, who the crew only called the Goddess, was exceptionally talkative when it came to life onboard.

The Goddess was a colorful person who made my first weeks on board to a little adventure in itself. She was loud and noisy. If any of the crew complained about her burnt lasagna, she gave them a slap in the face, and no one dared resist the one who served three meals a day. The blame for any burnt meal was placed on the ship's used equipment. Which, admittedly, was well used, but as a galley boy, I was constantly witnessing how the Goddess constantly dreamed herself away from her job and fell into her memories of chalk-white beaches in the warm Caribbean, which she had obviously put her love on.

Initially, the Captain had decided that we should use the Norwegian coast while we were after all on these domestic tracts. Then we were to set course for the frozen Greenland and on over to the land of the Indians, which today is known as America. No matter how long the Norwegian coast is known to be, it will be small in the big world picture. In a couple of short weeks we had passed the coast, or what at that time was worth taking with us. After passing Tromsø, a small trading town along the northern coast - where we by the way witnessed the local people conduct a series of witch burnings, as we loaded the ship full of provisions for the long trip that lay ahead of us. I noticed on the crew that the voyage we now embarked on was not a dance on roses. Only those with the greatest courage would set course Northwest before the ice had really let go in the waters to the North. The captain, on the other hand, was determined to reach the land of the Indians in good time, so we could plunder their valuable treasures while the population was still tired after a long and energy-exhausting winter.

The time aboard had probably been harder at the beginning if it wasn't for that I quickly got me a friend. The young man that the first night stood next to me proved to be my closest allies. His name was Simen and was also quite new among the crew. He had only been on board for a few months and was in many ways as new as myself. When I arrived on board I took over his job in the galley, but for dinner there was still a great need for help in the galley, and then it was the sim we called. Now, Simen was upgraded to the night watchman, that is, who was responsible for keeping a watch at night. Therefore, we shared the bunk, Me and Simen, I had the bunk at night and he had it during the day. The time in between, when we both had time off, we spent together. He was from Denmark and had been brought in to the crew the same way as myself.

The other pirates on board were also nice to me. All in all, the days went fast, and before I knew it weeks had flown by, and we had to dress in fur coats to keep warm. Having hunted a couple of polar bears in the area around Spitsbergen and Bjørnøya we sailed onto the amazing land of Greenland. Here were just a couple of places where humans would reside, and it was not necessary to plunder them. They volunteered from what they had left of both clothing and food to escape Captain Bloodspatters cruel ravages. Up there in the north, it was about surviving, and for the natives we were the biggest enemy one could ever imagine.

On our Southbound journey, it proved to be quite the adventure. The winter storms had yet to let us rest and the sea we experienced on the western side of Greenland was a furious one. The Goddess swore and had her words with the Gods above as she cooked for the crew. Not only did we get burnt food, but also plain potato soup scooped from the floor. No one dared to complain, the Goddess forbid it, and one evening she threw one of the crew overboard after having complained about hair in his polar bear meatballs. The man was never seen again and Captain Bloodspatter just laughed when he heard the news. Lesson learned; You never complain on the one that feeds you. 

Our next stretch was long, cold, and not exactly filled with a lot of events. Mostly we saw open water and ice in the distance, analytically a whale but we had no space onboard to take on such a large animal for food. Eventually we did however pass by the straight parting Europe from the American continent. The currents here was ravishing, but our crew and our proud ship held together, and not long after we entered land of Nova Scotia. Our fight-ready and hungry crewmen did what they do best by pillaging and rob the villages we encountered for anything of value. Already I could see how our storage of gold and treasures of all kinds were growing in our treasure chamber.

Simen, the Goddess and myself proved to be quite a team. In time we learned to let her know minutes before the food got burnt, and after a while she decided that I should graduate to a real cook instead of peeling potatoes. Instead we got one of the young slabs called Morten to help out with the peeling. Morten was a quiet guy, and one who was obviously not really a man, but he dressed like one and acted like one and we all treated him as one - and with that my thoughts were that he was happy. Now in the latter days we understand more of this, but at the time of the 1600-hundreds a person like Morten was perfectly normal to be part of an including crew like ours. Simen was busy doing his night shift jobs. But i was forever happy when he crawled in next to me and fell asleep holding me tight. 

At sea, our days very much was the same over and over again. I was happy the days where we had calm seas and we had good winds to take us where we wanted. Between the storms we made rapid progress toward lands I'd never even known about before my recruitment. I seldom offered my family back home a thought. It was hard to think about, but I had promised myself that I send mother and father the gratitude I'd receive. Somehow. Simen had it much in the same way, but unlike my own mother she had made resistance and Bloodspatter himself had killed her in front of his eyes. He had therefore developed a certain grudge against the Captain that would later come into play.

Blæik was keeping a tight ship. Along with his strong and musculus officers Varg and Snorre, who were twin-brothers, he made sure that everyone was taking care of their responsibilities. Varg was the strongest fighter onboard, the one responsible for training and execution of our heists as we went along. He was not a man to go against and the crew had grown a deep respect for his fearsome persona. Snorre on the other hand took care of provisions and the logistics of our long weeks at sea. He was the one to make sure that the Goddess had enough potatoes for her infamous horrible potato soup, and that enough gunpowder was stored below deck.

Knowing your place was the most important rule. And the barrels of rum didn't make it easy on long passages. Once a man I'd never talked to before picked a fight with me. And if it wasn't for Simen that night, I'd be speaking to angels that night. The drunken man jumped me as I was crawling into bed. He pushed me against the floor and said he was ready to relieve me from my pain. I hadn't felt any pain at all and was surprised by the mans accusations. But the man insisted I had a whole lot of pain and it wasn't before Simen jumped out of our bed with his knife ready to attack that I understood that the man himself was the one in pain. Sadly he never got to explore this pain further, cause both Simen and Varg himself made sure the man never lived to see another day.

Other than these minor mishaps, life onboard went on smoothly. Once you learn that your life ain't worth a thing on its own you were set up to succeed and with this I started to play my role as a pirate for real. I believe this is the first time I thought that I'd be able to off another man without feeling regret. Since then I may have killed hundreds of men and women. I've never killed a child, but then again, never been put in a situation where this was required. I was, and am to this day, a full blooded pirate. In modern times I am not necessarily proud of my doings, but not ashamed of them either. You have to live your life by the cards you are dealt, and these was mine. At the time.  

The general rule onboard was this; As long as we made more than we spent, Captain Bloodspatter was happy and the crew was well taken care of. But while sailing the stretches of nothing but nature and ourselves we started to feed on each other. Just in the first couple of months onboard I saw many a crew go down in favor of the stronger opponent. At times the crew behaved as wild animals and as part of the crew, now counting well over 150 men, I bettered be careful on how I played my game. But things were about to change, we were heading for the Caribbean, a land I'd never heard of. But since the Goddess spoke so warmly about it, I warmed up and had expectations that I never felt disappointment of. From my inexperienced and newly acquired pirate's view.

Chapter 1: Captain Bloodspatter

I was not very old the first time we were told about the ravages and warned against standing in the way of the cruel Captain Bloodspatter. He ruled all the world's oceans, and is to this day the most infamous pirate captain this world has ever seen. One could say that Bloodspatter was ahead of his time for the world had barely had time to launch its first ships before him and his pirates claimed the oceans as their dominion. That you have not heard more about this ravaging Captain has its natural explanation in that the stories I am now going to tell have been hidden away for centuries. Hidden from a world that has not been ready for the story of Bloodspatter and his men, of which I am to this day still is part of.

My name is Captain Jack. I was of course not always a Captain, and for many years I sailed under the flag of the horrific Captain Bloodspatter. To this day, I still wake up with the nightmares of the many robberies, looting, and horrific events I was made part of at the time. It is many years ago now, many more than a human life really should count. This also has its explanation, but we will return to it later. Let's start with the beginning. I was 14 years old, the year was 1604 according to the Gregorian calendar, which at this time had not really taken root yet. The world was ruled by several calendars and the year can therefore be many others. I lived with my family in the middle of a long fjord somewhere along Norway's long coastline.

Life at that time was quite different from today. Norway was a poor country, and it was a struggle to survive. On the other hand, the population was something completely different from what we could imagine in our wildest fantasies, so it often took weeks between each time we met people, or the neighbor at all. My father was a farmer, like most people in our region at the time. I had abnormally no siblings, but my mother was a seamstress and took care of the village clothes. Based on this, I worked long days in the fields and in my young life knew little about the world outside our small little fjord. In 1604, Norway was part of Denmark, so we paid little attention to life outside our small community. King Christian IV had never set foot in our part of the country, and it was unlikely that he would ever do so.

We lived so secluded that one night when we heard cannon shots as we ate our dinner, we were immediately assured that the world had come to an end. My awakened father must have understood more than he told us, because it did not take many minutes before he had housed us down in the basement and rattled the door behind us. Admittedly, we had nothing to steal, we were far from rich and hid no treasures worth stealing. With us we grew potatoes and herbs, beyond that we hunted and fished what we needed to survive the long cold winters. The basement was a small dark room we used to store the crops, but this spring there were only a few of the fjord year's potatoes left in the boxes along the wall. We therefore had plenty of space in the minutes that followed, and that would forever change my life.

After the first bang from what father now told was a cannon, there were several loud bangs. In the distance we heard men singing, and father watching the ventilation hatch kept me and mother informed of what was happening outside; A group of men had boarded a light boat and were now rowing from a large ship, larger than father had ever seen, heading for the village that lay down by the water some distance down in the fjord. Dad had always insisted that we live outside and now in retrospect I understand that it was precisely because of events like this, that had made him think in such ways.

"If we are lucky, they will not come up here," muttered mother.
She looked terrified. I was also afraid I had never seen her like this. Not father either, but unlike mother who was shaking in a corner, father looked for weapons to protect us if it should come to that.
"Who's coming?" I wanted to know.
Mother and father exchanged glances. Mom shook her head, but Dad ignored it and turned and grabbed my shoulders. I had never seen him so intense.

"The captain of the ship out there is called Captain Bloodspatter." He said, holding my gaze. "He's the worst pirate the world has seen to this day, and he's most likely come here to recruit young men to join his crew. I'm probably too old for him to want me, but you... 'He hung the rest of the sentence in the air.
Only now did I get really scared. A feared pirate had come to our fjord to kidnap me. It was my first encounter with human evil in stark contrast to our otherwise quiet everyday life.
"But, why me?"
"Look at yourself boy, you are strong and muscular and have a youthful strength that are the best qualities at sea. You're the perfect crew for Captain Bloodspatter and his men. We have to stay hidden until they move on. "
Dad returned to keep an eye on us and told us what had happened down by the sea.
'Now they have come to the pier. None of the villagers are to be seen yet. I hope they have managed to hide. If the pirates get one of them, they'll definitely talk about Jack. "
The last thing he said to my mother, but a look at me told me everything I needed to know. The fact was; that I was the only one of my age in the village who even came close to fitting the description my father had given of men who hired Captain Bloodspatter. There was simply no one else within a mile of my age. Just then it slammed again, a crash on the outside told us that our house had been hit by a cannonball.
"I forgot to blow out the light," hissed my mother. "They see us a long way from here."

We knew we had lost. There would be no point in running to the forest and we had of course left the weapons inside the house. There it was dark and forever far to the nearest good hiding place. Besides, wolves or other wild animals would either eat or reveal us. Our best opportunity was to lie hidden. But even Dad understood that the battle was lost. Fate was not challenged at this time, and we all three knew that my poor mother would not be able to run far with her health. Our best hope was to stay hidden and hope that the pirates thought we were gone - despite the light we had standing in the living room.

Mom cried and held me close to her. For twenty minutes we lay quietly and hoped that everything would pass without any further problems. Dad reported from the window. They had set fire to the inn, and we heard the screams of the villagers right up to us. Then it was quiet for a long time before a shot in the door made mother scream loudly.
"Come out right away and we'll save your lives. We're only interested in the boy, we know he's in there so do not try.
Dad looked so lost on me and mom. I got up.
"No," cried Mother.
Suddenly I had grown up. I felt in my whole being that the rest of my childhood was over and that the only thing I could do to protect my family was to take responsibility by going with the pirates. That was the only thing that could give my parents a chance. I turned to them.
'I have to go now. Father. Mother. I promise to come back. "
Even though I pretended to be tough, I could not stop any tears from pushing myself forward. We held each other's arms for a moment and then I turned towards the door, one last look behind me was the last I ever saw of those who had given birth to me and let me grow up to be the strong young man I had now become.

I opened the door and went out into the yard outside. The pirates stood in a semicircle waiting. They each held their own torch, and muskets to the side. They were not threatening while looking at me.
"Here I am." I said in an overly bright voice I did not recognize.
A tall man with a large saber in his belt took a step forward.
"What's your name, young man?" he asked
"My name is Jack," I said, which was true, "Please leave my family alone, and I will be with you." The last with a slightly clearer voice, I really had to steel myself and push everything forward against I had to be able to prevent the voice from bursting.
"You have my word." Said the man with the saber. "You seem to be as strong as we have been told. Do you agree to sail under Captain Bloodspatter until the day you die of old age or fall in battle? »
I swallowed hard. "Yes, I do."
Two men came up on both sides of me. The pirate who had spoken came walking towards me and tore my shirt open. Another came forward with a steel. A staff that had been warmed by the torches they were carrying. The glowing wand was brought to my chest. The little I had left of pride was the only thing that enabled me to bite into me the scream of the pain I felt. It smelled of scorched flesh, a smell I have unfortunately felt so many times since and seconds later the part over the heart mite was a smoldering wound of burnt skin, where one could see the contours of what today stands as my first tattoo, a letter, a red-hot B that would forever make me one of Captain Bloodsplatter's men.

Not long after, I crawled up a rope ladder, aboard the ship that would prove to be my home for years to come. I was no longer afraid that the pirates were out to hurt me, the man with the saber had kept his word and did not hurt either my mother or father. The worst thing about it all was that I now had to leave the fjord I had grown up in. The only place I knew on earth that until tonight had been a safe and good place to live.

The man with the saber climbed after me. When we got on deck, he stood to assess me from head to toe.
'You should probably do well. My name is Blæik, remember that, it's me you will answer to onboard. The captain will soon meet you, so keep your mouth shut and just answer the questions you get."
I was still a bit confused and quite exhausted after everything that had happened, but I nodded and watched while the rest of the men climbed on board. Each of them nodded to me as they climbed aboard the row.

They were hard-boiled sailors, but somehow I realized that most of them had been in the same situation as I was now. Don't get me wrong, these were top-notch pirates. The most dangerous men who would ever sail the world's oceans. But the mark on my chest, which was still hurting so bad I thought I was going to black out, must have made me already one of them. Now all that remained was to meet the Captain himself.

There was silence between the twenty men who lined up on deck while Blæik patrolled the row of pirates. When he was satisfied with the crew, he lined up and announced that the crew was ready for inspection.
I was already dumbfounded with admiration. I had always imagined that pirates like this would be wild and uncontrollable. But there was no doubt that there was strict seamanship and discipline on board.
Up the stairs from the deck we heard heavy footsteps. I saw how the crew sharpened, and the young man who seemed to be about my age next to me began to tremble a little.
A tall man with a long big beard slipped out on deck. His eyes glazed over the crew as he took heavy, slow steps across the deck. Captain Bloodsplatter, at last he stood directly in front of me and stared down at me with a watchful eye.
"So you're your new recruit?" Bloodsplatter lifted off the part of my torn shirt that covered the burn I had received just a short time ago. "I see Blæik has taken care of the inauguration already. Good."
"He was very cooperative all the way, Captain. No problems arose."
"Well. What is your name, boy? ”
'My name is Jack, sir. Captain." I managed to say in a fairly stable voice.
"So. Jack. You are, from what I understand, the only one on these funnels in this forsaken fjord who is fit for serve with me. You will follow Blæik's order, otherwise I promise to set the course directly back here and wipe out the whole village." A trembling finger in the direction of the flames from the inn told me everything I needed to know. There was no doubt that these were not empty threats. And I had no plans but to follow orders. With a final nod, the Captain went ahead and ordered Blæik to raise the anchor.

The legacy of Captain Bloodspatter

The story tell that hundreds of years ago, while pollution was not invented and the oceans water still seeped into what today is known as the inland waters of the Swedish Kingdom and Foxen – a group of pirates was left behind to guard a great treasure. They were to guard a truly unique collection of gold and glittering minerals collected from heists, robbery’s and gruesome piracy all over the world. Their fearsome Captain Bloodspatter himself had given them the task of protecting their legacy at any cost while the rest of the pirates went back out to search for even greater treasures.

Years went by without a word from Captain Bloodspatter or any of his crew. And the pirates left behind was never going to abandon their given assignment. As if the magical land of Foxen had put a curse on the inland pirates, they stopped aging, and lived to see wars come and go, experience pandemics and global warming while only making sure of the one thing Bloodspatter would forever keep them accountable for, to watch over the biggest treasure known to have ever existed.

East in the waters of Foxen, South of the Bridge to civilization – right next to West Bird Bay and to the North of the troll-fences in the South is where you might be lucky enough, but not secluded to, catch a glimpse of the inland pirates. In their very own little bay called the Super Secret Pirate Bay, you might be one of those selected few to grab a good old warm meal or a very cold pirate beer on a hot summer day from their secret hide. You can always try to call on them, but I wouldn’t put a bet on them showing up until you are truly ready to accept the consequences…

One thing is for sure. The treasure will stay hidden until the day the fearful Captain Bloodspatter return to Foxen, breathing or not – And until that day the remaining, broke and drunken pirates of Foxen will do everything in their power to protect their waters like they have done for hundreds of years.

It’s great to be back

It’s been a long time coming and we are finally back where we wanted to be, at our destination and Lake Foxen. It’s definitely still early in the year and I have seen no other boats camps around the lake for the entire week we’ve been here. We have however spent our time well, and can now pride ourselves to be owners of our very own raft measuring 4 by 7 meters and our seedlings have started to sprout. Except for yesterdays rainfall, we’ve had the best spring weather we could wish for and have already gotten our first sunburn down.

Captain Simen and Deckhand Balto enjoying the silence

Our journey from Fredrikstad to Strømstad went smooth. We did have a little wind, but it’s only a 20 mile sail and we had the day to make it happen. We then waited around in Strømstad for two nights before getting lifted up on a truck and driven the hour drive inland to the small village of Ed at the far Southern part of Lake Stora Le of which Foxen makes up the Northern part. It’s a long stretched body of water and we spent an entire day motoring our way up to Tøcksfors. This is the town were we do our shopping and connect with the outside world, and also where we bought the materials needed to build our super-raft.

The harbour of Tøcksfors

The raft is now on the water and about ready to be towed to our new Super Secret Pirate Bay at an undisclosed location. It’s a good thing we know these waters so well. Already before our arrival, we had decided on a couple of locations suitable for a summer of life in the free. A quick afternoon trip while awaiting the painted raft to dry was enough to decide on a certain bay well protected from the worst conditions the weather and civilized humans can throw at us.

Simen has started the job of repainting the hull of our beloved FF Ella. Her white coat is now getting a great fresh shade of black. It was really on time for poor old Ella to get her colors re-freshened. It will however take some time before all of the painting is done, cause at the moment we are operating under a strict budget where somehow food gets the priority. Lucky for us we have a great good stash of rice and dried beans for rainy days like these. If all goes well, we’re back in full pirate business within a few weeks anyways.

FF Ellas last lift out of water

We have also gone to the lengths of purchasing an old used canoe for sneak-attacks on nature when it seem necessary. This and new cook-plates and a grill running on expensive Swedish gas will make it easy to cook anything we want this summer. All in all we have really set ourselves up for a great wild summer in the Swedish forest and I can’t wait for the day when the trees bloom for real.

Until next time, stay dry and don’t drink and paddle.

Captain Jack

Leaving Troms and Finnmark

It’s been a while. Since arriving in Tromsø and leaving the Goddess behind the remaining crew have been in need of getting used to be back on the water and enjoy the way of the seas. It has been quite a journey and as these words are being hammered down we have already sailed south of Lofoten and is setting course for Bodø. Let me take you back a couple of weeks.

We spent a few extra days in the great city of Tromsø. An amazing stranger heard our cries for help and offered us a place to stay while the first storm on this side of summer raged across the country. Before we left we made sure to get ourselves a half day at the city’s new water world. Having had the best five showers of our lives we were ready to set sail again.

As the nomad-sailors we’ve become we had invited ourselves to dinner with our new friend Morten a few miles down the coast. Like many places in the North, finding safe anchorage is not always as easy as it sounds. But after introducing Morten to one of his neighbors that conveniently had a strong mooring we could safely take the small boat ashore and settle in for a great evening with great food, company, and a large collection of out of date beer. We also had a good chance to finally do some laundry. The party was so good we stayed with Morten for a whole extra day. The next day was a good relaxing day where we played instrument, painted pictures, built Lego and played the playstation. Ulf, Morten’s friend came by in the evening to talk about herbs and interview us for the radio-station he works at. New friends made, we once again hoisted our sails.

Photo by Morten

In our hunt for new places to take a shower we made the long trip to Finnsnes, with a quick stop in Gibostad to let Balto get his wishes fulfilled by hunting some birds and pee. Finnsnes, a town of which we visited on our journey North is a good place to spend a day or two. There is really not much going on, but they do have diesel, showers and NAV, a place good to visit if you need cash for the food and diesel to continue on. After a quick meeting we had once again restocked and bunkered for our journey forward.

We made the long journey to Harstad, a City we skipped on our way North to save time. Now we arrived right in the middle of a boat-party in the guest harbor. We were late for the sale of alcohol, but since my father studied in this city a few years back he pulled some contacts and we had him go to the store for us to secure a few beers to celebrate the weekend. It was a beautiful chaos of a weekend and we are happy to report a great stay in Harstad, so good that we also here stayed an extra day. To complete the stay we treated ourselves to a huge pizza at Milano restaurant and got up early next morning to leave before the harbor-master caught up with our missing port-fees.

We have not been blessed with good sail winds, so far, and on the next leg we also had some major currents against us. For an entire day we engined toward Tjeldsund, making only a few knots with max engine power. A waste of diesel of course but I had been misinformed regarding the direction of the tidal current, and well, it is what it is. We eventually made it to the place we had picked as our next port of call. Too late we realized to have entered a military area, I was in the middle of reefing the Jolly Roger when a couple of uniform came storm in toward us, explaining that we had passed way to close to one of their submarines and were to leave the area at once. Even we, don’t argue with the military, and even though it was already pitch dark outside we had to explain to the dog that his planned land-leave was pulled and it would take another couple of hours before he could get his evening walk.

Making dinner as we went, we had to cross a fjord in order to find a suiting place to stay. On the way there we finally had some good winds, sailing upwards of six knots, harboring for the night in Skarstad. Here however there is not much to see, but it was a nice quiet place with almost no cars on the road and only a couple of visible houses. To let Balto have some more shore-time we played the new norm and stayed an extra night.

Again, we are starting to look for showers, and a place to get coffee and therefore sat course for Korsnes. A small community, once the home of Knut Hamsun, with a nice little artistic village and a store. We were here for a couple of days, but soon enough it was time to go on, since Even the best places don’t always have showers for sailors like us.

That’s about the update I have for you this time. We are once again sailing and as the darkness once again is upon us we have sailed the entire day, and are now passing Steigen. We have found a harbor on the map, and it says there should be a shower there. Only time can tell.

Captain Jack

Thank you for this time

It’s been a few weeks since the Goddess left FF Ella for this part of the journey. These are her words to be shared with our followers. You’ll have to excuse the translation of the text as it is mostly done by Google. We of course know that we will see her soon enough, and the crew would like to thank her for her joining the start of this new adventure south.

The downturn that the journey is over has meant that I have spent an unbelievably long time formulating something this time. I have in many ways gone from one adventure to another. Because on my journey back to the future, I am now in the process of completing 10 weeks of student internship, which I need to get my further education approved. So it’s really forward-looking. It is my springboard into the future and away from Lillehammer.

I have been very aware that I will not be living in Lillehammer, but then there are situations that arise then, which one actually uses as excuses, then one becomes anyway. Be it children, work etc … For my part there are children … But they are big and independent, and not dependent on me in the same way. I have no contact with Yngstemann (the youngest) at the moment….. Therefore, I find the assessments even more difficult. But I’m afraid that it’s perceived as a total rejection if I move to another part of the country, that I make a bigger gap in the relationship than it is… It hurts, I feel sad and sad to feel rejected in this way. At the same time as I know that it is his detachment, his experiences to do, his way and go, with or without me. It helps little, and only comforts a little, because I am still his mother. Therefore, I use what is now difficult between him and me as an excuse not to move away from Lillehammer. Although I feel that there is not a single cell in my body that will be here.

The new is always a bit scary, that I have the opportunity is also something new..

With the last trip, I got the even stronger and stronger confirmed fall. So now there is no way back for me actually, I MUST go north, I MUST get to the sea! I MUST to the light in the dark, I MUST to the northern lights! Easily..

My dear wonderful brothers, you are really bringing new dimensions into my life! To have this honor of being their big sister touches me deep in my heart. You will ALWAYS have your place in my heart! Balto has his own aunt’s heart, no more to say about it.

This anniversary journey back to the future, has been magical simply!
It was great to travel to land north, magically to be on water with you again, and now in the air with, by me taking a plane home. To you other travelers who follow Harryfloats.com, I can really recommend this. Start a new trend, a “travel slow trend”. Then you get much more experiences on your travels.

Back to my anniversary tour, 25 years since I moved from Alta and 25 years since I moved to Lillehammer. It was absolutely fantastic to be back in Alta, I have longed for it … Oh now it happened.

It is not possible to pick out one highlight from this trip! Because NONE of them can be measured against each other! They are all unique in their own right, but it was unbelievably funny that I managed to surprise you, by arriving one day earlier than first said. I really should have had their faces and reactions on film. But they are well preserved in the heart.

To be able to join the drydock in Kåfjord, and help maintain FF Ella, I think gives my trip a special twist. Because it is easy to forget that maintenance is important, if you want many more experiences.

Bekkarfjord with its dazzling green mountains and a fantastic large mountain birch, is an experience worth seeking out for anyone who likes nature a little or very much.

Hammerfest with the urban, lots of great people we came in contact with, and in addition meet someone I know from life in the south, drive the light boat across the strait to get me a shower at a hotel, reindeer as a local lawnmower in a garden.. Absolutely wonderful!

On to Vinna, where I was on a summit trip in a life jacket, because that summit trip was only made because I was so in contact with my own flow. MAGICAL! Wonderful experiences with sky in fire and flame literally. Hasvik with skiing on NAV, turquoise sea and a fantastic sunset. Øksfjord where I really became one of the guys, host as close as I can get without surgery.

Personal hygiene and showering in the Barents Sea on the way across the Lopphavet. Sail into the sunset, end up in a harbor the gods know where, to get the most amazing northern lights fireworks no one can dream of after 12 hours at sea.

Then my thoughts suddenly began to swirl around as I began to approach Tromsø. Because there I had an eager soul who wanted to visit. I already had the apps for buses from my trip north. So it was as far as easy to follow. But finding out where the bus stops were in relation to marinas in unknown places, it was not as easy …

Then brother Jack comes out in the cockpit, where I sit at the helm in my wonderful “Tubbie Goddess suit”, “Maybe we should just sail to Tromsø tonight?” I felt it cheering inside me and the suit tingled. We set course and Tromsø became my last port for this time.

Leading FF Ella under the Tromsø Bridge, with strong currents between the buoys and a strong current that pulls southwards, is probably the boat technical highlight of this trip for me. Coordinating that the mast must hit as much as possible in the middle of the middle light of wood in the lower edge under the bridge, as well as following boat one in the currents gave me a level of tension I have rarely felt before. To then also play Kim Larsen’s song “This is my life” on speaker in the cockpit, at the same time as his eager soul sent messages and wanted to follow when we arrived at the port, it was just completely WILD.

1. I hit with the mast just below the middle light
2. I managed to feel the boat through first the current between the buoys.
3. I also felt Ella in the southbound current right after the bridge, at the same time as I had a relatively good overview of depth, because the entrance to Tromsø marina is relatively shallow.
4. The man with his eager soul came and brought me home to visit him.

I became really ill when I came ashore after 10 hours of sailing which ended in the evening darkness. Dizzy, rocking all the time and the light in the shops was as if you put 1000-meter headlights for a car 5 hm from my eyes … Really disgusting and strange. I felt weird, this is completely normal .. The lights in the shops are normal, the ground, the floor and the ground on land do not rock … It was me who was weird in that context. But I’m generally well used to it, and no one but his eager soul knew who I am, in that part of the country, so that was very fine.

I had some wonderful days visiting, where I literally came back and in contact with Bakkejorda again. Cuddle me! The return to the future was completed on September 18, birthday weekend for my oldest son and change content in the bag to start my internship period of 10 weeks Monday, September 21st.

This is my ticket away from Lillehammer in the form of approved further education after finishing my internship, which allows me to apply for many different jobs and apply north 🤩

My life’s back to the future is now a reality; CHECK ✔

Never give up your dreams, they will be real. I know, I’m living ​​mine 💜

Until we read again;
Ship o’hoy from the Tubbie Goddess

A stormy week in Tromsø

We have been storm-locked in Tromsø for over a week. It has been a great experience and even though the snow has fallen on the peaks surrounding us we are far from tired of this city, it is still time for the crew of FF Ella to head in the southern direction. On our northbound journey we didn’t have near as a great experience of Tromsø. Back then it was snow everywhere, the harbor here is crazy expensive and everything was closed due to the corona situation.

Sailing here, was close to impossible due to the growing finds featured by the leftover from the storm Sally far far away from here. Therefore we engined our way through the fjords enclosing Tromsø city. We had put an add online to beg any good soul to provide a safe harbor for us to ride out the coming storm and within hours we had a great offer from a good guy. He had a spot in the down-down bay that was sitting unused for the coming weeks. We realize that these kind of harbor-lets don’t have the most positive recognition among harbor-masters but he obviously must have accepted cause we are still here a week and a half later.

The winds have calmed down and today is the last supposed day of rain for as long as the forecast can tell, meaning we will have some great sailing weather for the coming week. But firstly it is time to reflect on our visit in town.

Arriving, the Goddess left us straight away. She had arranged a few days on solid ground before flying south to start her new job inland. We were however offered a ride to the bar where her friend works and was offered a couple of beers to celebrate some pretty great weeks at sea. On our way back we got to experience walking in Tromsø by night and although not the biggest city on earth it do offer most of the perks of larger nests. A great variety of shops and bars, hotels, university, walking streets parks and restaurants.

The people we have met has proved to be very friendly and helpful. A week ago we met the Captain, Captain Per, of a catamaran and was offered a daylong hire to crew on a tour with five fishing-tourists. It, of course, sucked for recruit Balto to stay back in the boat all day, but he managed well as we navigated an 8 meter wide catamaran safely for the first time in our lives. It was a our second great experience of our stay.

We have of course, walked the streets a whole bunch. It is a nice place to just walk around, despite also offering some elevation whenever your turn your no out of the city center. We went back to that bar we visited the first night one evening and what do you know, another round of beers headed our way. To top it off we met the sister (and father) of previous recruit Morten back on FF Harry a couple of years ago and Gin&Tonic was a fact. Morten’s sister invited us to share two entire bottles of Sake back in the boat and what-do-you know – we had to spend the entire next day ridding ourselves of a pretty numbing hungover.

Skipping ahead a couple of days the storm really hit Tromsø for real. We were still a few nautical miles north of where the worst of the storm hit, but we had to deal with quite a few strong winds and some heavy rain. FF Ella handled it as a queen and we had no problems, except starting to run out of movies to watch. Another problem was starting to rise; the crew was for real starting to need a deep cleaning and we settled around the problem solving table once again.

Balto loving to wait out storms.

The solution proved to be found on the internet. We discovered that aside from a whole bunch of gyms and other sportly facilities, Tromsø have recently built their very own miniature water-world. Despite its compact size the place offered everything from saunas and steam-baths to hot tubs, slides, an outdoor pool and a full Olympic sized pool. Once again we had to leave recruit Balto behind to watch the ship while we went on adventure, but we have never returned cleaner to the boat, ever. I believe the last time I was swimming anywhere was back on Malta over a year ago. A bit strange maybe for someone living their life onboard a boat. This is however Arctic waters and I think I can speak for both Captains when saying that we prefer warmer waters.

See you later Tromsø!

As mentioned, the snow has started to cover the mountains around us, meaning we are sort of running out of time if our goal is to escape the worst of winter. But is it? We’ll see. For now we are recharging all batteries and getting FF Ella shipshape for departure. All I know is that there is no other storms in the horizon, but they tend to come quickly. Let’s just find out where we end up next.

Captain Jack

Under the Northern Lights

We topped our tanks of diesel and had a great evening with visiting recruit Marirus and his Juliet in Øksfjord. Next morning while Captain Simen was still sound asleep we started on our voyage toward Tromsø where the Goddess is supposed to fly out from sometime this week. The day was among the best we’ve ever had onboard. The sun required t-shirts, sunglasses and happy faces. Although there was no wind and we had to engine our way, passing the island of Loppa and the infamous Lopphavet, which supposedly offer some hard to handle weather at times. We know nothing of this which the Goddess can swear to as she took a bath in the dinghy, towed behind the mother ship.

By the time sunset was on the schedule, we had anchored in a small bay with an open view to the Barents Sea outside. Dinner was made and also the decision to continue due to an uncertain weather-report of strong winds both to our North and South. We don’t kid around when it comes to weather, besides the crossing we had to do wouldn’t be much pleasant in rain. Therefore, once we had re-attached the anchor, we set course into the night. The moon is skinny these days, and offered an amazing view of a starlit sky above us as we made our way through plankton-sparkling water. Then, out of the darkness around us, the most amazing Northern lights set fire to the sky in green, purple and all in between. It continued into the night as we found a small harbor, and we could rest after a 13 hour voyage, leaning into the Troms part of Troms and Finnmark county.

We made the choice to sail directly to Tromsø. The forecast for the coming week is building up toward some serious indoor-time. According to the weather gods we are welcoming a new great flood this week, and needless to say this do not comply with great enjoyment at sea. As we sailed toward town, or engined, I should say, as we had headwinds and currents against us the entire day – we got a message from a great guy named Rikard, offering us a place to put our ship since his boat would be gone for the coming weeks. We gladly accepted since we, to be honest, is on the super-budget part of this journey.

This is our second visit to Tromsø, and the city is proving to be much better without snow and everything closed down due to pandemics. When we arrived, we were met by Morten, the doorman that has offered to take the Goddess to the airport, also offered the two Captains a couple of brews at the bar he makes his living. We like beer and let Balto stay behind to contemplate by himself for an hour or two.

We have already had time to do a bit of sightseeing and are rapidly approaching the coming days of rest onboard. There is also a few plans to clean up the ship, ourselves and get some new fixes in order before we continue. But I am also looking forward to reset and prepare for the continuation of the expedition next week.

Captain Jack