The Pirate Ship

What our imaginations tell us about unknown events.

On this night of all nights, the moonless sky was as dark as it could ever be. The stars shone brightly in the heavens. Even the faintest of stars light years away could be seen clearly.

Seaman First Class Simon Anders had the midwatch tonight. And he took a few minutes to stop and gaze across the vast ocean receding from his ship.

His ship was the last in the convoy and he was glad that it was so he could look at an unobstructed view of the ocean without another ship in the view.

Simon was from a ranch in Texas and this is the first time that he has seen the sky as dark as it was this night. Most of the time he would have been asleep in his bunk. But this was the first time that he had the midwatch where the moon was not shining.

Standing there on the fantail of the ship, looking out over the ocean and seeing the brightest stars reflecting in the water was so relaxing. Simon could gather his thoughts and he could think of home.

Simon had been standing there for nearly twenty minutes when he thought he should move toward the bow of the ship.
“You are on watch stupid, you better get to it or the Quartermaster will catch you goofing off.” Simon said to no one but himself.

At the moment that he turned to start walking toward the bow of the ship, Simon thought he saw another ship trailing behind his ship.

He stopped and stared hard at the wake of his ship to the point where he thought he saw the image.

“No, there's nothing there silly. Your imagination is getting to you. Tired, yes, that's it, i'm tired.” Simon thought, then turned to go on with his routine.

Nearly everyone aboard the ship was already in their bunks. Only the night duty sections were still awake, in the engine room or the bridge.

Some of the ships cooks were in the galley preparing the morning chow. They will have to have breakfast as early as 0400. Sooner for some of the officers.

And in the communication compartment, the man in charge was listening to music on his headphones, constantly keeping his eye on the communication monitors.

Simon was the only one on the weather decks. He had the midwatch, midnight until four in the morning. He didn't mind it, because it gave him time to relax and during his breaks, he can try to finish his letter home before he has to continue with his watch.

As he walked the weather deck toward the foc'sle, Simon kept thinking about the faint image of another ship that he thought he saw trailing his. He was in a hurry to finish checking up on the bow and wanted to return to the fantail soon. The image would not go away.

Walking back toward the fantail of the ship, Simon heard the ships bell toll four times.

“Good, two more hours and my watch will be over, then I can get some sleep.” Simon thought.

As he made it back to the aft railing of his ship, Simon stared out past the wake of the ship to see if his imaginary ship was still there.

Staring hard and long into the dark ocean, Simon saw a glint of light. He stood there transfixed on the spot.

Suddenly, he saw a ship begin to appear out of the darkness. But it was not a modern ship. Not a Navy ship.

Simon could not believe what he was looking at.

“My God! That's a sailing ship!” Simon said aloud.

Simon looked in disbelief at the large sailing ship that was appearing directly behind his own ship. He wanted to run to the bridge and tell someone, but he stood there frozen.

Simon saw that the ship was directly off his ships stern. Barely one thousand yards away.

Suddenly, a bright flash appeared and a second later, Simon heard a loud shot. The sailing ship had fired upon his ship.

Simon could not believe what he was seeing, he closed his eyes and in an instant, he was slammed to the deck of the ship and knocked unconscious.

When Simon awakened, he was lying in one of the beds in sick bay. He felt the back of his head and felt a large bump.

“Oh good, you're awake. That must have been some shock to you Seaman Anders, to be that close to a meteor when it hits the water. It was a shock to all of us onboard as well. Skipper and most of the officers were in the bridge tracking it, we knew it would hit close, but not that close. How are you feeling?”

“Meteor? What happened to the sailing ship that was trailing us?” Simon asked.

“Pirate ship? You must've hit your head pretty good, pirate ship?”

“Yes, and it fired on us! I saw it. You must have seen it or heard it?” Simon said.

“Well Seaman Anders, the only pirate ship that has ever been near this part of the ocean was one that mysteriously sank one night in 1785. A few hours ago, our own ship was near the spot where it sank. Have you been reading pirate stories?”

“1785? That's impossible, I saw it. I saw a pirate ship. And it fired on us.” Simon said quietly.

“Well Seaman Anders, there were no pirate ships, no one fired on us. We all got good photos of the meteor named Atoka, which, if you're interested, is the name of the ship that mysteriously sank near here in 1785.”