Pirates of the Caribbean: Barbossa and the King's Messenger (Book 1)

Shipwreck Cove

Chapter Fourteen -- Shipwreck Cove

If you were to describe the channel called Devil's Throat, most seamen would tell you it is unnavigable. The legendary entrance to Shipwreck Cove lies through a narrow tunnel piercing the side of the extinct volcano that forms Shipwreck Island. This dark and hazardous passage defies the pilotage skills of all but the very best mariners. A ship must sail through it with all her canvas out in order to maintain steerage in the light breezes that fill the tunnel, but there is no room for error; an instant too long on the wrong tack will bring the ship straight into the craggy wall of the tunnel, and jagged underwater spires will tear at her hull until she founders and is lost.

Just before the Troubadour reached the entrance to Devil's Throat, Rufus told me he had obtained permission to send me up the ratlines to the topgallant yard for a better view of Shipwreck Cove, once we had passed through the channel. "Tes memorable," he told me. "Ye'll never forget yer first sight o' it." I pulled off my boots and went up the ratlines to my vantage point.

Captain Teague took the helm, and guided the Troubadour into the narrows. High above the deck, I tried to remain calm as we were plunged into darkness. We had extinguished nearly all of the lights on board, so that our ability to see in the dark would not be compromised. As we passed through the narrows, I extended my hand, clutching the mast with my other arm, and was able to touch the unseen wet moss hanging from the rocky roof of the tunnel, as several startled bats flapped past me. At length, it was possible to make out an approaching patch of light blue, signalling the end of the channel.

As the Troubadour emerged from Devil's Throat, the scene before me was spellbinding. The cove was encircled by a ring of steep mountains rising from the water to a great height where their peaks were crowned with sunlight. The height of the mountains blocked the sun's rays from falling upon the cove itself, which seemed to be mantled in a sort of perennial blue twilight. Within the cove were numerous tall structures composed of towering piles of wrecked ships, lit from end to end by countless torches whose reflections flickered like small golden stars in the sapphire waters below.

I gasped as I noticed a waterfall spilling down from one of the mountains far off across the cove. The distance was too great for me to hear the sound of the torrent, and the spray created an illusion of the water falling very slowly, giving the prospect a silent, dreamlike quality.

We moored the Troubadour in the deep waters of the cove, and were taken ashore on her longboats. Rufus insisted that I arm myself and keep my locket and Messenger badge with me. "Don't 'ee leave nothin' val'able wi' a mob like this lookin' fer a spree," he warned. "Keep 'un on yer parsone at all times."

A few days earlier, I had watched as Rufus and Teague discussed my request that Rufus sell me to Barbossa. Teague had appeared to be deep in thought, but he nodded his approval. I felt there might be other considerations that troubled him, but nothing was said. Rufus told me that we would have little opportunity for talk at Shipwreck Cove. We were to keep mostly apart, lest Barbossa suspect an accord between us.

Shipwreck Cove's main piers were of fixed height, with ramps leading down to smaller, floating platforms, which rode up and down with the tidal cycle. We disembarked on one of these platforms, and I was among the last passengers starting up the ramp, when I heard the voices of Barbossa and Rufus. Just in time to avoid being seen, I hurried to the side of the ramp and sat on the platform underneath it. The two men continued their conversation, standing at the edge of the pier.

"Ais, I been doctar fer Teague goin' on twelve year," Rufus was saying. "If I'm preserved through this last, I means t' retire. Teague's agreed t' take me ashore at Tortuga, though I goes as a pore man."