Date: Sat, 16 Jun 2012 07:09:52 +0200
From: Amy Redek <adultreading@gmail.com>
Subject: Fighting Pirates. Part Fourteen.

  This story is for persons of eighteen years or over.  All comments, good
or bad, are welcome and all will be answered.

   Part Fourteen

     We were up at first light and an hour after dawn, our sails were
raised and anchors weighed and we began my third voyage in search of
plunder. It was only when I began to write up the ships log did I realise
that this day was my twenty first birthday but thought it best to keep it
quiet.

     We gave France a wide berth as we sailed south and didn't meet any
other ships except for one of our naval frigates until we reached Madeira.

     Here we stayed for three days, taking on fresh water and fruit as well
as their great wine and having our pow-wow with William. Then it was the
Caribbean to be our next stop.

     By my calculation, we were about three days out from Antigua when we
spotted three ships coming towards us. Signals shot up the halyards of the
Wasp and we, as did the other two, acknowledge the order and as soon as the
signal to execute was flown, the Drone and Hornet turned to starboard as
Wasp and Hive went to port.

     They were French ships and seeing us move outwards, they fell into a
line astern and fully expected us to sail on and give them broadside for
broadside as we passed, but they were wrong. They were moving with at least
half a mile between them and so William's plan was to perform a figure of
eight because of the distance between them. We closed in and gave the first
French ship eight broadsides and only received three in return and we then
swung round in a circle and did the same again, leaving a dismasted and
thoroughly shot up ship before swinging round again to take on the second
ship.

     We could see that it dithered for it didn't know which way to turn and
suffered the same fate as the first. The third ship only took two
broadsides before hauling down their colours. What a fabulous start to our
voyage in taking out three French ships. The first one had been crippled so
much that we only just had time after boarding to transfer her cargo and
the few surviving members of crew before she sunk. The other two we were
able to shepherd on towards our destination of Antigua and get them safely
into the shelter of the town's guns.

     We took two more in the next two months but we got badly hit in the
next encounter. We had closed in our usual formation and exchanged two
broadsides before we got close enough for the grappling irons to be thrown
and I led our boarding party and killed two men before gaining the opposing
poop deck and taking on the other captain. It was a good fight but he was
much too overweight and quickly lost his strength and eventually his sword
and at that point, surrendered his ship to me.

     Sorting out the remaining Frenchmen still alive from our boarding took
some time and with a head count found that we'd lost three of our men. I
left Mr Fletcher to clear the decks of the dead and sort out a crew to sail
her back to Antigua. I went back over onto the Hornet to find out what
damage we had taken and how many men we had lost from the two broadsides.

     I went down to my cabin first and poured myself a drink when Merrick
knocked on the open door.

     `Yes Merrick?' I asked.

     `We...we've eight dead on the gun deck sir,' he said.

     `So?' I said, taking a mouthful of wine.

     `One ...one of them was Midge sir.' How I managed to swallow that
mouthful of wine without choking, I don't know.

     Be a man in front of the crew, William had said.

     `Have...have our dead laid out on the foredeck,' I managed to say,
`and I'll be out shortly. Close the door as you leave please.'

     `Yes sir,' he said and quickly left. I stumbled over to the bed and
laid down and cried. Midge, my little Midge was dead, no longer to be in my
arms and kissed. No longer to be here with me in this bed, to fuck me and
be fucked in turn.

     It took me nearly half an hour to compose myself before going out on
deck to see our dead laid out in a row. I could see what was left of Midge
near the middle and had to raise my eyes from the sight of his half body
lying there. I went to one end and stood by the rail and said a short
prayer before they heaved them over the side. I turned away when this was
being done and saw that Merrick was crying, but for whom? I then went
across to our prize and said the same prayer before they too were put over
the side.

     `Signal from Wasp sir,' ensign Tarrant called out as I mounted out
poop deck. `Take...prize...back...to...port.'

     `Acknowledge. Helmsman! Bring her about. Ahoy Mr Fletcher! Follow us,'
I shouted out as he saw me and waved back that he understood.

     I cried each night before I fell asleep exhausted in the five days
that it took us to get to our port. Having only about three hours sleep a
night, when we were safely there and at anchor, I slept for nearly a
straight twenty four hours.

     I then moped about as Mr Fletcher saw to the repairing of our ship and
everybody kept well out of my way as I just seemed to keep snapping at any
stupid questions I was asked. We'd been at anchor in port for a week now,
and I was sitting in my cabin alone, dinner only half eaten but two bottles
of wine drunk when young Merrick knocked and entered.

     `Er, captain sir,' he stammered. `Could I possibly have a word with
you?'

     `Yes Merrick, you can. Sit down and have a glass of wine,' I slurred
for I think I was half pissed.

     `Er, thank you sir,' he said as he sat down and I slopped some wine
into another glass and passed it over. I think he needed it for he gulped
half of it down in one go. `Well, on behalf of all on board sir, we...we
sympathize at the loss of Midge. We all liked him, none more than yourself
sir.' His face was red and he gulped down the second half of his wine
before continuing. `Well I know more than the others of your loss sir,
so...so... er, well, I'm prepared to offer myself to you sir, if you know
what I mean. For solace as it were,' he finished lamely and looked down
into his empty glass. I took this from him and filled it up again, sobering
up at what he had just said. I passed the full glass back to him as I
thought over what he had suggested.

     `Thank you Mr Merrick, but no.'

     `But sir! We don't like you acting like this. Please let me help
you. To help you get over the loss of Midge,' he pleaded. I started to get
up to say no again but then sat back down again for I felt myself getting
an erection. This was the first one since that day that Midge died and it
made me uncomfortable. I looked over at the young man who I'd once
chastised for getting men to fight over his backside. I could see a
pleading look in his eye and wondered if he'd taken the bollocking to heart
and not let another member of the crew fuck him. I know he'd slept with
Midge for hadn't he said that. I got the feeling that now he was an
officer, he couldn't very well let any members of the crew fuck him up the
backside anymore and maybe he was desperate for a bit of cock as I now
felt, feeling my prick really get hard inside my trousers.

     `Thank you Merrick. Well you've seen me naked on the foredeck having
my bath, but I've not seen you take advantage of it,' I said.

     `I would do so if you so ordered sir,' he replied.

     `That I would never do nor would I ask you to take your clothes off
now, unless you want to that is.' I got up and went over to the my bed and
took my clothes off for him to see me naked and I got onto the bed and
waited to see which way he would jump.

     He had watched me and saw that I had a big hard on and he gulped down
the last of his wine and gave me a shy smile and stood up and took his
clothes off. He was a bit on the skinny side but revealed a nice healthy
organ that was sticking out from between his legs and he gave me another
shy smile as he saw me looking at it and he got onto the bed with me.

     `You do me an honour Merrick,' I said as I reached down and took hold
of his prick and began to move that soft skin of flesh up and down over the
muscle beneath. `Don't be afraid to touch me,' I added, and his hand came
down and he almost flinched as he took it in his hand and began to move it
in the same way as I was doing to him. `Have you ever taken a prick in your
mouth?'

     `Yes sir,' he said, his face close to mine on the pillow, our hands
still moving slowly on each other.

     `Merrick. If and when you are in this bed with me, drop the sir and
call me Jim,' I said softly.

     `Yes si...er, Jim, his face going red again.

     `Now take me in your mouth then and help me out,' I said and lay back
as he shifted his body down the bed and I closed my eyes as I felt his
breath first before his hot mouth closed over the head of my cock and he
began to suck on me. It was obvious he had done this before for his tongue
began to rove over the head and his teeth nipped me gently as he sucked
while he worked his hand up and down on my shaft.

     I groaned because I was getting waves and waves of pleasure riding up
from my balls and through my stomach as he worked on me and I took a quick
look to see his head bobbing a little as he worked on me and I soon began
to tense up as I felt myself coming and he knew too for his lips tightened
round the head of my cock as I came in a shower of shooting stars, pumping
my hips upwards, sending my sperm deep into his throat.

     A great warmth flooded through my body and I felt myself relax for the
first time for nearly two weeks.

     `Keep it in your mouth and turn your body round,' I said rather
hoarsely as I moved onto my side and he shuffled his body round till I had
his throbbing prick in front of my nose. His foreskin was tightly stretched
over the head of his cock, making the eye stare back at me, wide open. I
licked my lips as I looked at it and took the base of it into my fingers
and found it was hot and I blew into that open eye and felt him shudder
before I opened my mouth and took him in. I heard him give out a gasp round
the head of my cock that was still in his mouth and I began to work on his
shaft as I sucked and tongued him. He must have been as desperate as me for
it didn't take long before he came quite copiously into my mouth and I
found that he wasn't as spicy in taste as Midge had been. I took it all in
before breathing hard through my nose, swallowed it and then licked and
squeezed the last drops out of him.

     `Okay,' I said as I took my mouth of the head of his cock, `you can
come up here now.' The head of my cock suddenly felt cold in the air after
being in his hot mouth and he moved up and lay down beside me. I put my arm
up under his neck as our bodies came close together.

     `Have you ever kissed another man?'

     `Yes si...er, Jim,' he said and so I leaned into him and he closed his
eyes and we kissed. It wasn't a bad kiss and I reckoned that he could do
better.

     `Thank you Merrick. I find now that I really did need that release,' I
said and looked into his eyes that were now open and saw a similar look in
them that Midge used to have. Christ, I thought, the boy loves me, and then
he went and almost confirmed it.

     `That and this is lovely...Jim,' he said nestling himself closer, his
eyes not leaving my face. `Ever since you found out about me, I've dreamed
of this moment. Of being in your arms and being kissed by you, and...'

     `And?' I prompted.

     `Of...of having you put yourself into me and...and fucking me.'

     `Then give us a little bit of time to recover and we shall make that
dream come true,' I chuckled, `and then to put icing on the cake, you can
then do the same to me.'

     `Oh Jim,' he said with a sigh and relaxed in my arms and let me kiss
him again. He spent the next hour just stroking my face, chest and arms as
if to prove that I was really there and it wasn't a dream and soon I was up
and hard again. He could feel it too for it was now pressing up against the
side of his stomach but he waited till I told him that it was time for the
rest of his dream to come true.

     We parted and he rolled onto his front and rose up as I got behind and
between his open legs, seeing his backside for the first time. As white as
Midge had been black, firm and compact I felt as I ran my hands over both
bare cheeks, parting them to see the brown puckered target that I was to
aim for. With my left hand holding his hip, I used my right to guide the
tip of my cock to the right place and felt him tremble when it touched
him. My body held it there as I brought my right hand up to his other hip
and then eased my body forward and watched the head of my cock begin to
push the flesh inwards and then to see it start to move inside him.

     He gave out a grunt as my cock widened him even more at the pressure I
was applying and then the head slipped in and the rest of me followed it
and as my thighs came up against his, he let out a big sigh and I now felt
his inner heat completely surrounding my cock. It was home. My cock was
back in the tightness of another person's backside and I even had a small
shiver run through me when I realised that I'd just shoved my cannon up my
gunnery officer's arse. I stifled the laugh that I could have made at this
and concentrated on giving him a really good fuck and just hoped that he
would give me one just as good.

     I pistoned myself in and out of his tight backside and loved every
minute of my thrusting and could feel the pressure building up in my balls
and then I gave him a salvo of my seed. Well a broadside really, for it
must have taken at least ten violent rammings for me to get rid of it all
in his backside. I came to a stop, panting heavily and leaning on his hips,
my cock still twitching inside him as he also squeezed me from the inside.

     I pulled out to his groans and flopped over onto my back.

     `There's a cloth and water somewhere over there,' I said, waving
vaguely across the cabin. He got the message and got up from the bed and
went and fetched both over and washed my cock before getting back onto the
bed. I smiled at him. `You're turn now,' and he moved so that I could get
to my knees and I felt his trembling hand hold my hip and then that thrill
of the head of a cock nuzzling my back entrance.

     What a relief to once again having a prick slide up into my backside
even if it was only Merrick's. I felt that he had trembled too as he began
to put himself into his captain, but now he was there, inside me and gave
me a pretty good seeing to. He wasn't as good as Midge in this respect but
it was still a soothing massage to my insides and what the fuck, a fuck is
a fuck.

     I let him wash himself after he'd pulled out and he was soon back in
bed with me.

     `You do realise Merrick that we can't do this too often, not with you
being a junior officer,' I said.

     `I know, er, Jim,' he replied, stroking my chest and arm. `But if at
any time you need some relief...'

     `Understood. Now we've got till four before you go on watch.'

                                                            *

     It was another week before our small squadron entered the harbour,
without a prize ship. I watched them anchor and saw a small boat pull
alongside the Wasp just as the ship came to a stop. I couldn't make out who
it was but after a few minutes, the man was back and I saw William climb
down into the boat. It was then rowed over towards us and I guessed that
he'd just been told about Midge. I stayed on the poop as he came aboard and
was greeted by Mr Fletcher.

     `Jim!' he called up to me. `Your cabin if you please.' He disappeared
from sight and I left the poop and went down and along to my cabin and went
inside and shut the door.

     `They've told me,' he said coming over and taking me in his arms,
holding me tight. `I'm so sorry.'

     `Thank you William,' I said, my voice muffled by his shoulder. `I'm
all right now, and didn't cry on deck.'

     `That's good Jim,' he said giving me a kiss before releasing
me. `Let's have a drink.'

     So we sat there while I told him of what and how Midge died and then
he told me of his fruitless search for any more ships. I also accepted his
invitation to go to his ship and stay for dinner. He didn't need to add
anything else.

     I gave Mr Fletcher the minimal of orders for I found he was quite a
capable officer and the ship was in good hands and I went in William's
jolly boat off to the Wasp. We went aboard and into his cabin and there I
saw Dinky.

     `Oh Captain Jim,' he cried and rushed over and put his arms round my
waist and hugged me. I hugged him back without any words for we both knew
of whom we were thinking.

    `Dinky, get us a drink please,' William said, and I was released as he
went to pour us out some wine. We sat down and sipped at our glasses. `Jim,
would you object to me sending Dinky ashore to, well, find you a new cabin
boy?'

     `William, there's no need,' I said.

     `Oh yes there is! For the first couple of weeks you were moping around
but have picked up a bit in the last week. Which leads me to think that
you've had some cock from somewhere. I want you back at your peak and if
that means you having another cabin boy to replace Midge, so be it! Dinky!
I want you to go ashore and find another cabin boy for Captain Jim.'

     `Yes Captain sir! I know of a couple but will check them out first
that they are clean,' he said with a smile.

     `One that you can play with at odd times no doubt,' William said
dryly.

     `Massa knows me too well I think,' he said with a laugh and left us
alone.

     `Jim. I know what and how much you need company in bed at night, as
much as I do. Therefore I am urging you to take on another for company for
a happy captain will create a happy crew. You are now my second in command
and I can't have you thinking of other things at a crucial time. Now that's
enough talking on that subject except to say,' and he gave me a grin,
`let's go to bed and help relieve the tension in both of us.'

     To that suggestion I had no argument and quickly stripped off and got
onto his bed and watched him undress, still marvelling at how fit and
strong he looked when he was naked. He looked powerful too when he was
clothed and standing up on the poop deck, but divested of his clothes, he
looked really magnificent. Only then could you see how majestic he was, a
colossus of a man, and one that I loved and had the heart stopping fact
that he loved me too.

     He was scarcely on the bed before I was paying homage to his
phallus. Hard and erect in my hand as I bowed my head and kissed the
exposed head of his cock before sucking on him. Just for a moment because
my stomach was churning and my back passage was itching for him to fill and
soothe the nerves that were screaming for his heat and power inside me.

     I cried out my love for him as his tool opened me up like the petals
of a flower revealing themselves to the rays of the sun. It was heaven to
have him back there behind me, reaming my insides with his throbbing iron
bar of a cock. I liked fucking another up the backside and didn't mind
fucking a woman, but this was for me, perfection itself in having it done
to me.

     The extra joy was being able to feel the penis swell that little bit
more and to feel the seed spurting up higher into me that any cock had ever
reached, to feel it cream around inside and, in some cases, still feel it
ooze out of me a couple of hours later to remind me of the thrill I had of
having it put there.

     Then there was the oral aspect of it. To hold an erect prick in your
hand, feeling the pulse and heart beat of the owner. The silky feeling of
the thin covering of skin that moved so easily up and down the shaft. To
make him shiver when your teeth nibbled up and down and hear the gasp when
he felt the heat of your mouth as you took it in and clamped your lips just
under the ridge of the head.

     The balls too were a pleasure to take into the mouth and roll them
round and suck on, knowing that here was where the seed you wanted was
grown and it only took a little bit of manipulation to make them fight
their way up the narrow tube to shoot out of the eye for you to taste, roll
around over your tongue before swallowing. Sex with a male was far more
satisfying than that with a woman I thought.

     William was a rampant lion that night, taking me four times before
dawn and I was once again happy in his bed and he was exhausted. Dinky was
gone for two days and nights before returning with a bright looking lad
saying that he was one year younger than he was. I was in William's cabin
at the time and liked the boy on sight.

     `His name is Tuk,' announced Dinky, putting his arm around the boy's
shoulder.

     `Did you fuck Tuk?' William asked and both the boys giggled and even I
had to laugh at this question the way it was put.

     `Of course. I had to find out if he would be suitable for Captain
Jim. I even let him fuck me,' Dinky said with a smirk.

     `Okay,' William said with a laugh. `It did come out rather funny. Now
Tuk, are you prepared to work for Captain Jim here?' he asked, waving his
hand at me. Tuk's big black eyes looked me up and down and he nodded his
head.

     `Doesn't he speak?' William asked Dinky.

     `Oh yes Captain. He speaks good English but I told him to keep his
mouth shut.'

     `Jim, we'll keep him here for a day or two while Dinky shows him his
duties as a powder monkey and what you will require of him being your cabin
boy.' I couldn't disagree with this for his duties on the gun deck were
very important and Dinky would be the best person to show him.

     `If you say so William. Well I better return to my ship if we're
sailing in two days time. We've still got some stores still to load. Look
after him Dinky,' I said as I left the cabin.

     `Yes sir Captain Jim,' he called out after me.

                                                            *

     I found out two days later that Dinky had indeed told him of all his
duties after that of being a powder monkey. How to serve the Captain at his
table and pour the wine and how to react when in bed. Here, Tuk first
fucked Dinky while William watched and then William got onto the bed and
fucked Tuk. Tuk then had to suck Dinky and later, when William was up
again, he sucked and chewed on William's erection and passed as being a fit
bed mate for me.

     Tuk was sent over to our ship one hour before we sailed so I never had
a chance to speak to him till late afternoon when we were clear of the
islands and could leave the deck.

     `Well Tuk,' I said. `Have you settled and found where everything is?'

     `Yes indeed Captain Jim sir. I speak to Cookie. Funny man that. Has
pigtail and talks funny. He say he have special dinner for you
tonight. Flied Lice? What is that?' I laughed.

     `You'll get used to him. So go and get my fried rice and I hope it's
duck tonight.'

     `Fuck tonight? Of course Captain Jim,' he said as I laughed again and
pushed him out to get my dinner. At least I saw that he had laid the table
correctly and the wine bottle was open and so I poured myself out a
glass. Tuk came in with a tray and several dishes on it.

     `Cookie say fuck duck it's chicken tonight,' he chuckled as he sorted
out the dishes and served me. It was very good and I made a pig of myself
at the table and also in bed that night. I waited till he'd cleared things
away and had returned to the cabin before I got undressed and tossed my
clothes at him to fold up and put to one side. I let him see me full
frontal, naked and with a steaming hard on and was pleased to see his eyes
light up and lick his lips. I got onto my bed and lay on my side and waited
for him to take his clothes off.

     He was playing with me for he began to take his shirt off very slowly
revealing his black chest and then turned to drop his trousers and I
watched him bring the cheeks of his bum together to make them look like
ripe hard plums. Then he turned round to let me see his black cock up and
ready for action and I'm sure it was bigger than Midge's had ever
been. That I would find out in a few minutes time.

     He got onto the bed and immediately bent down and took the head of
mine into his mouth and began to suck on me.

     `Not too much Tuk,' I groaned at the way he was using his tongue
around the head of my prick. `I'd rather use it the other way first.'

     `As you say Captain Jim,` he said, lifting himself up off me, a smile
on his face. `You have a big weapon which I'd like to have you use.' He
moved up the bed and to one side to let me get up onto my knees to allow
him to move and get ready for me. There wasn't really any difference
between him and Midge. Black skinned, slim of build, same sort of smile,
which wasn't apparent from the angle I was at. Nice tight cheeks of his bum
and about the same size and texture I felt as I ran my hands over them.

     I felt him give a shiver at my touch and then a tremble as I parted
the black cheeks of his bum and put the head of my cock to his back
entrance.

     `Please be gentle with me for this first time Captain Jim,' he asked
in a low voice, and he was still trembling as I placed both hands now on
his hips to hold him steady as I moved mine forward and felt the resistance
of his sphincter muscle but it didn't stop me. I widened him enough for the
head of my cock to move in and then I felt his body heat surround my cock
as I fully penetrated and slid right in till I could go no further. As I
nestled myself against his bum cheeks, he exhaled his pent up breath and I
felt his body relax. `Lovely Captain Jim,' he crooned as I began to fuck my
new cabin boy and bed mate.

     He gurgled like I often did when he felt me come inside him, grinding
our bodies together as I continued to shoot my stored up sperm into his
backside. He was a good lad to fuck and I hoped that he would be able to
satisfy me too in the same way.

     I pulled out and lay back to allow him to get off the bed to get the
water and cloth and wash my still hard prick. He got back onto the bed with
an eager gleam in his eye and I smiled at him as I turned over for him to
get behind me.

     `Be gentle with me this first time,' I said, quoting his words and he
laughed as I felt his prick move in between the cheeks of my bum and find
its way without being held and had him enter me. He was bigger that Midge
and I loved his cock filling me and feeling it throb as he slid right in
and held me firm as he began to fuck me. He was good, but all too soon he
was holding me tight as he came inside me, pumping away with his hips as I
felt his seed coat my insides.

     `Oh Captain Jim. This is so wonderful,' he said, gasping for breath as
he leaned over onto my back. `I promise to do all that you say and will
look after you.'

     His fucking was nearly as good as William's and his pulling out of me
was a real loss. He quickly washed himself and was soon back in bed with
me.

     `I'm going to like being with you Captain Jim,' he said as he cuddled
up to me. `Can I kiss you too?'

     `Only when we're here in bed,' I smiled and accepted his kiss and
returned it as well.

     We fucked each other again later that night and inside of a month he
was completely devoted to me.

                                                            *

     We spent the next twelve months scouring the Caribbean and only took
four ships in as many encounters. We also had one loss. Captain Knutley and
the Hive.

     In every encounter you expect to get at least one broadside yourself
when attacking another ship with your own. It was a quirk of fate that one
shot, just one of the broadside the Hive took. The ball must have
penetrated the magazine and ignited the powder stored there. We were
following quite close behind her and I saw her receive about ten balls and
then she just erupted in front of us.

     One massive blast of flame shot up just forrard of the poop deck,
sending flames, timber and smoke plus some bodies high into the air. Not
only did the blast go upward, but outward too. Flame and wood flew out as
the ship broke in two, the stern quickly tilting upwards and disappearing
beneath the water with the other half of the ship following it very
quickly.

     We hove to and lowered the jolly boat but only found four survivors,
these being the second officer and three top men. The rest were either
killed in the explosion, drowned or had been taken by sharks which abounded
in those waters.

     The ship that had sunk Hive suffered the same fate though not by an
explosion but being battered to a wreck by the other two ships. I know the
gunners were eager to avenge the Hive but she sank before we could salvage
any of her cargo. I think that Captain Blake got a bollocking from William
later for continuing his firing and therefore depriving us of prize money.

     But worse was to come and that was only a couple of weeks later. We
were patrolling in the southern waters of the Caribbean, hoping to pick up
any ship coming from the mainland and heading for Martinique with gold and
silver.

     Wasp was in the van and spotted a sail and closed in to attack with us
following. It wasn't until they reached the point of exchanging gunfire
that we saw the flag run up and realised that it was a pirate ship. It had
been a sultry afternoon and the weather was threatening and just after two
broadsides had been exchanged, we were hit by a squall and a heavy downpour
of rain which gave us a very limited horizon. Contact was lost for nearly
three hours until the squall past and there was no sign of the pirate ship.

     We were still all in view for we had kept to our original course and
when we could see Wasp, and William's ship could see us, signals went up.

     `Hove to's the signal sir,' an ensign called out to me and before I
could give the order to acknowledge, `another sir. Captains to flag.'

     `Acknowledge,' I said, `and get the jolly boat swung out ready,' I
said to my first officer.

     It didn't take long for the three ships to get close enough to each
other for our jolly boat to be lowered and I went down and had myself rowed
over and saw that Drone's boat was just behind us.

     `Well done,' I shouted to my boat's crew with us getting there first,
and I was quickly up the ladder and over onto the deck.

     `Bad news Captain Dawkins,' were the first words I got from the first
officer, and he had tears in his eyes. `Captain Foster is dead.'

                                                            *