Anne Dray's Arc

Chapter 5 of 28

The strait opened at dawn, and the treasure ship sat there like a fortress. Anne watched it through Claire's spyglass. Iron plates ran the length of its hull. Her warship carried old cannon, cast for lighter work. She had thirty-one paid men waiting for gold. She had no way to break that hull. A single broadside would bounce off and leave her exposed to its guns. Emily crouched at the forward gun and ran her hand along the barrel. She was the exiled shipwright who had joined Anne to strike back at the Crown, and she knew Crown iron better than anyone aboard. "They built that plating in the royal yards," she said. "I know the seams. Straight fire won't crack it. But there's a weak line where the plates meet the rudder." "Then we don't fight the hull," Anne said. "We take the rudder." Grimjack limped up from the wheel. The old navigator had sailed these waters before Anne was born, and the captains ashore still trusted his word. He tapped the compass at his chest. "Current runs hard through the narrows. Put us close behind their stern and the water does half the work. But close means their marines can board us first." Anne looked at her crew. Rough men, few killers. She made her choice. "Claire. Take the top with your best shooters. Clear their deck before they clear ours." Claire was already climbing, musket slung, three men behind her. From the mast she called down ranges. Grimjack rode the current in tight. The treasure ship's guns roared and threw water high, but the angle was wrong. They could not aim down at Anne's low stern approach. Emily worked the long forward cannon herself. She loaded it heavy and waited. "Hold," she said. "Hold." The rudder swung into her sights. "Now." The gun kicked back hard. The ball struck the seam she had marked. Iron split. The rudder hung loose and dragged. The treasure ship could no longer steer. It swung broadside to the current and fouled its own guns. Marines rushed the rail with grapples. Claire fired from above and dropped three before the lines caught. Chris led the boarding, grapple in hand, and the paid crew poured across after the gold. The fight on the deck was short. The Crown sailors had trusted their iron hull, not their swords. By midmorning Anne stood on the treasure ship with her red banner run up its broken mast. They had the ship whole. But the hold held less gold than Anne had promised, and word would run fast now. The Crown would not lose a treasure ship quietly. Its fleet would come for the one who took it. Anne had her proof for the free captains. She had also painted a larger target on her own back, with a debt still short in the hold below.