V Antelope

They spotted the barquentine floating with her sails in irons, late in the afternoon. Of course there was very little wind, they themself had resorted to motor sailing, much in protest from Bobby who would always worry about consuming too much diesel oil. But there was enough breeze to at least fill the sails, there is no need for a ship of that size to be becalmed. She could catch the higher winds with her tall rig.

The barquentine lay high on the water, and was clearly a modern build, with a swooping stern and a sharp bow. Designed for speed, while having also a fat belly to accommodate a spacious interior. She carried a deckhouse from main till mizzen. With the helm station being on top of the deckhouse in front of the mizzenmast.

“Let’s have a closer look.” Captain Jacobson told his boatswain, who was at the helm of the Narwhal. A slight nod from him was all he answered his captain with, and he steered towards the much bigger ship.

When they got closer, they spotted the name Antelope on her stern, in swirling letters, with the home port being Amsterdam, the Netherlands. But her white hull appeared dull and carried greenish spots, from algae growing on it, not well cleaned as you’d expect of a super yacht her size, they were normally polished to a mirror shine. Also, the deck was strangely calm, one would normally see several crew members or guests going about, but here was no-one.

Usually they didn’t prey on ships this size. The owners were too rich and usually had too much influence in the world. Which would spark a more thorough investigation of law enforcement. Also, they might even be armed, but if they travelled worldwide as super yachts do, that is mostly too much paperwork.

Small yacht owners could only complain to the local police, and they usually couldn’t care less, sometimes they claimed with the insurance company, but as long as the pirates spread out there business over a large area, the insurance companies wouldn’t notice it in their statistics and hopefully wouldn’t start an inquiry of their own.

A person appeared on the Antelope. "Hello there!".
-"Ahoy!" Captain Jacobson called back. "Are you in trouble?"
"We can't get our engine going anymore."
Captain Jacobson side eyed Bobby, who responded with a frown and a nod..
-"Want our engineer to have a look?"
"Yes, please!" Came the hopeful call back.

A few lines were trown, and the Narwhal made fast alongside the Antelope. Bobby, Captain Jacobson and Jack climbed aboard the bigger ship.

"The man who they had spoken to raised his hand in a greeting gesture. "I'm Jay, Captain of the Antelope. And I wish I could proudly say welcome onboard". He ended with a shrug.
-"I'm Peter, these are Bobby and Jack, they'll have a look at your system." Captain Jacobson introduced his little group.
"Maybe you can get your engineer to show me what is the problem?" Bobby asked.
-"We don't have an engineer onboard. It's only four of us, now anyway. I tried to keep up, but I don't have enough knowledge." Jay answered.
"Only four?, what happened?" Captain Jacobson asked, while looking around at the deck. Seeing that it wasn't much cleaner then the hull, but everything was tidy and appeared to be in working order.
-"I'll tell you in a minute. Let's show the engine room first." Jay responded.

With Bobby and Jack exploring the engineroom. Jay and Captain Jacobson, went to sit on the aft deck of the Antelope. "Rose are you around?" Jay called out. "Yes captain?" Came the swift reply from a girl appearing in the doorway.
"Do we have anything to drink left for our guest?"
-"We got grape juice, or grape juice." Rose answered with a sarcastic tone.
"Well, grape juice then please." Answered Jay with an equally sarcastic tone and a smile. "We're out of everything else, already for a few weeks." He explained to Captain Jacobson.

With drinks poured, Jay started his story. The Antilope was build in the Netherlands. Ordered to some very unique specifications by a very wealthy businessman. But when the hull and rig were finished, and a test sail was done to see if the Antilope could reach the required 30 knots of speed, "Which she exceeded!" Jay added proudly. The owner suddenly decided that he wanted to have the interiour done elsewhere and put a small crew onboard to sail her across the Atlantic. Jay explained that they were to get their final destination while under way. But when they arrived first in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It turned out that the bank account we had got for stores and supplies was empty. And the owner or anyone around him we couldn't contact.

Some of the crew decided to disembark then and there, and fly home. The four of us stayed behind, hoping the get payed in the end. I've a lawyer friend chasing things down in the Netherlands, but he thinks I'm responsible now, legally speaking. But I don't want this ship, I don't have the money to keep her, but I've no idea how to get rid if this thing too.

"I know some people." Started Captain Jacobson slowly. "Who could help you get rid of this ship, and pay you for it."
-"Legally all correct?" Jay asked.
"Maybe not technically.."
"Cap. I don't care, I just want to get home at this point. Doubt we ever get paid." Spoke one of the other crew of the Antilope, who had joined the conversation on the aft.
"I think so too, chief." Jay spoke with a glow of desperation in his eyes.
"I can trade you her for four tickets home. I'll bring you to a convenient port too. If you want more, I have to go speak to people. But this I can offer here and now." Captain Jacobson made his bold offer.

Jay looked at Captain Jacobson for a moment, then he looked at his crew. Non spoke, but then the one identified as chief slowely nodded.
"Okay, you bring us to an æroport and give us tickets home, in exchange for the ship." Jay offered his hand. And Captain Jacobson accepted it, "Yes".
"Then we got a deal." Jay said.
And while they still shook hands, from deep inside the ship a rumbling sound came, and a generator burst to life.
"Seems like Bobby got her purring." Captain Jacobson said with a smile.
The others just laughed, relieved.

Jan de Jongh, Bobby, Jack and Aleksey. <and 2 others not yet named>. Took over the Antelope. While the four original crew members moved their stuff over to the Narwhal.
"Bring her to our bay, but first make her disappear." Instructed Captain Jacobson.
-"We'll do, see you there."Answered Jan.
"In about a week I think."

While Jan and the sailors figured out the rig, and how to control it. Bobby wen't into the helm station and pulled the power supply of all the communication equipment, everything that had or could have a transponder. The ATIS of the VHF and MF/HF. Also the AIS got turned off. The inmarsat satellite stations with their LRIT proofed to be a bit trickier as the stations had an internal battery. But after that, was found those where disconnected too. For good measure, Bobby turned the GPS and Radar off too. Just everything that emited or received an electronic signal of any kind.
Aleksey had found a pot of white hull paint and rigged a bosun's chair over the stern to cover up the ship's name and home port on the hull. Within an hour the Antelope had stopped to exist, although it would take a while before anyone noticed, if they were looking at least. As it was common practice for super yachts to turn off things as the AIS to give their high-profile owners a shred of privacy.

"How did you end up a Stewardess on the Antilope?" Asked Captain Jacobson to Rose, who was at the helm of the Narwhal.
-"I went to nautical school, did a specialization in sailing. As in sailing by wind power. But I couldn't get acquire a trainee spot on the merchant fleet. There are more students than available spots at the moment, and I got unlucky I guess. But after two years of waiting, I couldn't afford to pay the university and my apartment anymore, and the cashier job in the supermarket was making me sick. So when the opportunity came to go actually sail, as a stewardess, I grabbed it."
"Ah, that's too bad you couldn't finish your school."
-"Yeah, I was hoping to earn enough on the Antilope to re-apply to the university and try again. I want to sail. But that didn't turn out too well."
"So, are you looking forward to going home?" -"No. I stopped the rent of my apartment, sold the furniture and stored some memorable items with a friend. What I have here with me is all I got.
"No parents to go to? Or other family?"
-“My mother left us for some Instagram hot boy who didn’t want her kid. My father sought the answer in a bottle but he found a coffin instead."
"That sucks."
-"yes"

Rose clearly wanting to change the subject: "What do you actually do with this boat?"
-"We sail cargo for trade with the Narwhal." Captain Jacobson answered tactfully.
"Isn't she a bit small to sail cargo?"
-"No, we don't get high volume cargo. Just small stuff, anything we can get that might sell for a profit."
"You got a big crew too, for a ship this size."
-"Yeah, if it was just sailing yes, but for cargo operations it is nice to have a few extra hands. And with high value cargo, it is good for some extra protection too.
"What kind of cargo do you sail?" Rose asked while raising one eyebrow and looking sideways at Captain Jacobson.
He looked back for a moment before he answered.
-"The illicit kind."
"You are smugglers?"
-"Occasionally."
"Drugs?"
-"No never, I want nothing to do with that shit, or the cartels." Captain Jacobson answered sharply.
"Good. Occasionally you say. So other times you have regular cargo? Sorry I'm just curious."
-"Not much regular cargo, to be honest. Most of the times we acquire the cargo ourselfs."
The conversation was quiet for a moment as Rose eyed a buoy with a pair of binoculars. "Y-2. Just as expected." She mumbled.
"So what you are saying is that you are pirates." Rose her voice sounded serious, but when Captain Jacobson looked at her face, there was a twinkle in her eyes, and a smile on her face.
-"Yes mylady. Raiders of the sea, free to sail wherever we please, scaring honest people while liberating them of their richnesses, and redistributing their wealth among ourselfs."
"Cool, don't worry. I won't tell anyone. Just grateful you got us off the Antilope."

"Bobby, what was actually the issue when you first boarded the ship? With the power being out and all?" Jan asked.
The Antilope was ploughing through the waves. They had managed to get all fore-and-aft the sails up, and were cruising along at 18 knots. A speed they never could make on the Narwhal. Jan had decided to make a big detour towards their secluded bay, just in case.
Bobby, relaxing in the other helm chair, answered, "Just a clogged fuel filter. It even had an indicator on it showing red. How's she handling?" He asked while guesturering towards the wheel.
"Like a dream! Just as any sailor would want their ship to sail. She's swift. I can turn her sharply, even at this speed. She's feels very stable, like she can easily handle more sails. We got the spars yet to rig, and the gaff-tops aren't hoisted. So those 30 knots they spoke off. I think she can manage easily. How's the design downstairs?"
-"Well designed, I like the Yanmars. They can push her along nicely, too. The electrical plant is layed out for quit the substancial load. For all that super yacht stuff that isn't on yet. The tank capacity is adequate. And all equipment is from the top brands. With the timely cleaning of filters, it's a good engine room to manage." Bobby took chug from his grape juice. "What do you think the Captain wants with this yacht?".
"I guess, ask Armani if he got any cousins who are in yacht brokerage? And sell it?"
-"She's a sweet ship though, it saddens me to let her go." Bobby sight.
"Well then you buy her from the Cap." Joked Jan.
-"I don't have that amount of coin, lol. We could keep her as a group."
"what would we do with her then?"
-"Good question, I don't know Jan. Not yet."

Captain Jacobson launched against the deckhouse on the windward side of the Narwhal, he finally got his hands on a copy of the Lord of the Rings. And on deck in the afternoon sun he was enjoying the pages, he last saw as a child. Rose was at the wheel again, she had shown keen interest in sailing the Narwhal. The others of the Antilope where nice too, but mere passengers. His crew also was comfortable around Rose. Although Michael had spoken some stern words to his captain about spilling about what business they where in, And Jacobson had to admit he was right.

"Course change coming up. Get ready on the sheets!" Rose called out. There was a slight delay, hardly noticable, where the crew waited to see if anyone would counter or aprove. Jacobson felt their eyes on the back of his head, but he kept his gaze on the pages. And then crew acted, he smiled.
"Bosun, we'll turn to leeward at the mark, make it a broad reach" Informed Rose, indicating that she would make an aproximiatly ninety degrees turn around the buoy that was coming up.
When the buoy passed the midships, Rose turned the wheel, and in a nice arc the Narwhal turned down wind, the sailers knew what to do, and slacked the sheets without any input. "Steady" was all Rose said, when she had her new heading. Sheets where secured, sails trimmed and the Narwhal moved along. Captain Jacobson was a happy man.

There where just two nights to go before they made it to Oranjestad on Aruba, where they would drop the crew of the Antilope off so they could get home. That night when Jacobson was just in bed with his book, Rose showed up next to his bunk. "Can I join you." She simply asked. Peter couldn't deny that he'd like that very much, and moved over a bit. They spend half the night talking about nothing, untill they both fell asleep.
The next morning, they woke up because the boatswain barged in to ask the Captain something, and turned around instantly when he saw Rose there. "Oh for fuckssake couldn't you two wait till we got to the Last Drop and get a room!" Rose couldn't help but laugh, when Jacobson hid her under the blankets. When Michael left, he pulled her out of bed, and his finger rested on her ring for a moment. "That's a nice ring you got there, is that a bee?"
"It is, but if you want it you'll have to kill me, pirate." She answered with a smile.

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