[RP] Port of London

Posts : 69 Join date : 2009-01-11

The Phoenix

A large man-o’-war could be seen, sailing, not far from the coast of the Kingdom of England. It was a large ship, strong and worthy for the greater seas, but now it was sailing close to the shore. It could be spotted first at Margate, then following the shores onto the Thames.

The sight of the ship itself held of anyone’s interest. No ship dared to sail close, as it feared the great amount of cannons aboard. This particular ship had up to 112 cannons. In the front, in the back and on either side of the ship. It was about 190 feet long and possessed two high masts, and a third, somewhat smaller mast, but do to this last one being mounted on the upper rear deck, it came to almost the same height as the other two. At the rear, there were large golden letters, spelling out the name of the ship “The Phoenix”

Constantly there were men running around, climbing up into the masts, cleaning the deck, changing the length of open sails. On these waters close to the shore, it is never wisely to sail fast, but still there seemed to be haste, as the ship went as fast as it safely could go.

The ship carried a flag in the highest mast, but it was not the flag of the Kingdom of England, it was the Dutch flag. It’s colors shining brightly in the sun of the late morning, the flag itself wavering in the wind as the ship kept going. It was a nice sight to look upon. When you were used to it or not, it kept being a beautiful thing.

At the rudder, there was a man. He was quite young, but he held the rudder in a tight grip, steering to the left and right in small movements, when it seemed necessary. At some times, he yelled something to the men within the masts, and they executed his orders, mostly taking in the sails more, as they had the wind in their favor, and they needed to mind their speed.

By the time they were at the port, there were no more sails out. It was all carefully rolled up and tied to the horizontal masts. The sailors gathered on deck, the man at the rudder made some large, skilful turns and eventually, the ship released it’s anchor in the port. Already, a small boat had sailed from the side, coming towards the ship.

The men came on board. It was the man responsible for the port, and the doctor, who had been called to urgently come to the ship as soon as it came into port. The man, who was first standing at the rudder, now went to the men.

Good morning both of you. I’m Alexander Castlemount, the first steersman of “The Phoenix”.

Thank you for responding to our message so quickly doctor. We are in great need of you, as the Captain has fallen ill. Let me accompany you to his cabin. The man made a sign to the man standing besides him to come forward. He turned to the other man. This is the second steersman. He will go through the administration with you.

Doctor, do you follow? He said to the doctor, afterwards leading him to the cabin of the Captain. Leaving his second steersman with the port administrator. Arriving at the cabin, the man waited outside, and the doctor went in to the cabin to investigate the Captain.

With a quite serious expression on his face, being it from doubt, thinking and worrying, the man waited in front of the door, until the doctor was done. There was quite some tension, as he didn’t know what would happen to the Captain. The man was his best friend and he had known him for many years already, from the first time he set foot upon this ship as young boy who wanted to become sailor, now being first steersman and advisor of the Captain.

When the doctor came out, the man stopped thinking and looked upon the doctor with a questionable face. The doctor shook his head, and the man knew it was not good. I do not know what the illness is, but I do know that it is not good. You can only hope and pray that he will get better, there is nothing more that I can do.

The man nodded. Thanks anyway doctor. After this, he leaded the doctor out of the ship to the deck, where the other man was already in the boat, ready to leave. The doctor left the ship too and the boat went back to shore. The first steersman spoke to the sailors.

An unknown disease has struck our Captain. We will stay in port until it is over, the good way or the bad way, we will see. I shall put the ship against the dock and lay the gangway out, and so it will stay for now. Everyone is allowed to sleep on the ship, the rest is your own concern, we must all take care of ourselves now.

Some time later, the ship floated not far from the dock and the gangway was laid out. Most of the sailors left. The first steersman went into his cabin, to think for a while.

Posts : 69 Join date : 2009-01-11

The Phoenix

Days pass by slowly now, as Alex sits in his cabin for a few days. He had only left the ship to look for food and once to look for a job. He had applied for Judge of the County, as he had the necessary knowledge and as he was one of the very few applicants, he was almost certain that he would be allowed, although he did had some words about the justice system, as he always found something that was not quite like how it could be.

The fact that he had that much knowledge, is thanks to the Captain. He had employed Alex as sailor, but let him more then enough free time to study, and he also took Alex with him to shore whenever they would make port somewhere. Therefore, Alex had seen loads of countries, everyone more beautiful then the last. And every time, the first stop would be the library, to look for rare books, which the Captain would then buy for him, so he could study further.

The nicest town was Venice. It was in Venice, in the library, that he had met another man, older them him, who was at the end of his studies, while Alex still had to begin. This man was Piero Stewart. Alex had always remembered his name, as he would always want to go visit the man in London. And now, when the Captain had fallen ill and he had to run the ship in his place, Alex had decided to go to London. The doctors where famous, the knowledge was great, the ideas were aimed for the future and he would be able to see Piero again, if the man would still recognize him after all those years.

Although, what happened this morning had stopped him from looking for Piero. This early morning, the Captain had been found dead. He had died peacefully in his sleep, that was a comfort, luckily, but still it was not good news. The ship sailed out to sea, just before the coast of London, and after a brief ceremony, the Captain was tossed overboard in the sea, to rest there for eternity. Then the ship returned to the port. Alexander would wait for the answer from the Count of Middlesex about his running for candidate for an office in the County. After that, he would see what was to do next, maybe then he could visit Piero, but not now. For now, he just remained at the ship, at his ship.

Posts : 69 Join date : 2009-01-11

The Phoenix

That morning, an answer had arrived from the Queen of England herself. He was quite amazed to see the seal of the Queen of England, closing a letter that was ment for him and him alone and he wondered for a while why he would receive a letter from her. Although, his answers were soon given when he finally opened the letter. It was an announcement in which he was appointed Judge of the County of Middlesex. He smiled upon looking at the letter as it was very good news.

When he had asked some of his sailors wether they knew why the Queen appointed him and not the Count, he quickly gained his answer again, from a smart sailor who had given his eyes a lot to see when he was on dry land. The Count had fallen ill and the Queen herself had taken his position for a while, untill he was better. In every case, he hoped that his futur employer would be better soon.

Now, there was not much work to do for now, but he had gotten his answer, so he could now happily leave his ship. This time, it would be to finally visit his old friend, Piero Stewart. He left his ship, left port and went towards the market square, to find the Stewart House, where he was to find his old friend back.

Posts : 1 Join date : 2009-05-04

Standing on the pontoon, Baptistin was bringing his fingers to his temples, he gently massaged them in order to stop his horrible headache which started few days ago. Crossing the English Chanel and Speaking English with the captain were more difficult than he expected. “You will receive the money when my personal effects will be safe, not before.” he didn't wait for the answer and left as quickly as possible the uncomfortable ship. He was impatient to find again the confort of the civilisation and discover the Most Gratious Majesty's Land.

[Sorry for the mistake, i am a french native speaker and i am learning english Wink

]

Subject: Re: [RP] Port of London Thu Aug 20, 2009 5:48 am

[i]Jean-Baptiste arrived finally at the port of London, after a long day of crossing. He wanted to take some holidays far from the beautiful province picardes of which he steered, to blow and took advantage of the miracles of the British country. The boat had moored in quays and the crew members of to put the footbridge. The governor came down and went to meet the population of London.[/i]

[b]Good morning! Somebody to make visited the city?[/b]

HRP Sorry, but I have not a very good English /HRP

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