There were several things most of the crew had on their to-do list for today. Get rid of Quacken, deal with The Don, and don’t get eaten being the foremost things on the list. Unsurprisingly none of them had left a spot for “get chucked at high velocity across an entire bloody strait” in their personal checklists.

Of course life didn’t care about that, and had pencilled it in anyway. So they became one of the elite group who had the rare sight of The Whopper Of Streyts from overhead. (A lot had seen it from below of course, and some poor souls had probably made the mistake of looking up, but the less said about that the better I think we can all agree.)

As the ship soared in a terrifying arc, back over the water a ways, before hitting the oceans surface, and skipping like a stone over the surface of a pond. They could see land ahead, when you’re approaching it at that speed it is hard to miss, as the ship bounced through their second, bone jarring bounce. The crew were used to putting their sea legs to good use, but they had to admit that after this they definitely suffered from airsickness.

Poor Ed Land curled up in a whimpering ball below the cabin stairs, it wasn’t that he was afraid of heights per se, but he liked to be in control of how high said heights were, and as you’d expect from any man who spends an inordinate amount of time up in the rigging, he was not a fan of uncontrolled descents, and definitely had no desire to make a habit of them.

Throughout the entire ordeal Captain Acab never left the wheel, The Wellerman was his baby, and if she was in trouble he would be with her through it all, even if it damn well killed him. He was aware that she was everywhere on the ship, but the wheel was where he felt most connected, so that was where he stayed, even though he had to lash himself to the pillar in order to do so. If this was going to be his final voyage with her, he was going to make damn sure it was a good one no matter what it took.

Ed looked up, lookouts instincts forcing the words from his mouth, despite the fact that they were definitely pointless in the circumstances.

“LAANNNDDD HOOOO” he shouted.

“WE KNOW” the crew bellowed back, and wondered if they should promote him, and rename him Captain Obvious. Now poor old Ed felt like a right lemon, but some things are force of habit, and that can be hard to break.

They were leaving a tremendous wake behind them, as they passed over the oceans surface at speeds nobody should even consider attempting in a wooden vessel. (Seriously folks do not try this at home, even if you somehow figure out how to make a deity launch you at high speeds in a ship I sincerely advise you to decline the idea. Deities are majestic creatures worthy of respect, not a way to save time on a trip. That and they may just decide to smite you for even asking.)

The Wellerman made it through a fifth bounce, one more and they would be close enough to shore to swim, they were going to make it back alive. This was a revelation to most of them, who had pretty much figured on that not happening from the moment they set out on this damn voyage, but they had to try.

They were slowing down as they made their sixth bounce, but they didn’t stop there, they were so close to the beach they could practically feel the sand in their shorts, as The Wellerman came down for one final bounce, then everything was sun, sea, sand, and ouch, as they hit the beach just above the tide-line, and tore a furrow up the shore.The Wellerman doing a spirited impersonation of a plough as she churned up the beach. Then settled on shore practically at the promenade, with a terrific THUNK.

************************************************************************

A crowd gathered around the shore, ready to lend their aid. These were people who had grown up by the sea, and they knew that when a wreck happens you go to lend your aid. True ships didn’t usually come ashore at all, let alone at such velocity, but this was The Wellerman.

The mayor had tried to keep it a secret what mission she had set out on. As you can probably guess, that particular plan was about as watertight as a sieve though. Within the hour everybody knew what was going on. Within two everybody knew The Princess was with them, and within three they knew every detail of the plan, including a few that were not, in fact, part of the plan at all. You know how gossip works.

Before five minutes had passed they were down on the shore ready to lend their aid. But in reality at least in part because it would make interesting gossip for months, and after that a good tale to tell the grand kids around a fire one day. It’s not every day a ship practically docks in the town center after all.

That isn’t to say they weren’t helpful, the elderly had been through many a rough voyage, and had learned a fair bit of first aid over the years. They were the first to arrive on scene, much to the shock of the younger residents, most of whom had never seen them go beyond the speed of an amble. This was different though. Some of them had sons, daughters, or even grown up grandchildren on board, the rest knew “our Agnes’s eldest is on there.” So even if they pretended to hate each other the rest of the time, (or even more scary were best friends face to face, then mortal foes behind each others backs, for times like this they all pulled together. As they got closer to the ship, not a soul on board stirred.