Beyond the Ocean’s
Edge:
A Stone Island Sea Story
“No, sir! Not that, sir!” Hotchkiss was nearly beside himself in his
fright, and it fast approached a full panic.
Odd, that such a slight distraction could affect Pierce’s friend that
way. Isaac had always been the cooler of
them.
Hotchkiss
continued on. “Ed! You didn’t see
it?” The use of his captain’s first name
on deck attested to the first lieutenant’s growing apprehension and maddening
confusion.
“See
what, Isaac, my old friend?” Pierce
recognized his shipmate’s state of mind and did not correct his lapse of
quarterdeck etiquette. Clearly, a more
personal and comfortable approach was needed.
“The
stars! The stars, Ed! We weren’t just looking up at ’em. We were amongst them. There was the sea, and then there wasn’t. An’ the stars were below us as well! And we were there, right among them, like we
were the stars themselves, or the moon, or….”
“I’m
sure you saw what you’ve described.
Unfortunately, I chanced not to see it, although I have had a strange
feeling of timelessness.”
In
the first of the Stone Island Sea Stories, author D. Andrew McChesney takes the
reader Beyond the Ocean’s Edge.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, during the Peace of Amiens,
Royal Navy Lieutenant Edward Pierce and the crew of HMS Island Expedition
sail in search of an island that can’t be found unless you already know how to
get there. Sail headlong into mistaken identities,
naval battles, strange truces, dangerous liaisons, international intrigue,
superstition, and ancient prophecies.
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Sailing Dangerous Waters:
Another Stone Island Sea Story
The Gallician
frigate had come out of the fog from windward, and had fired its first
devastating broadside into the Tritonish frigate from near point-blank
range. They paralleled each other, mere
yards apart, and made no effort to alter course or maneuver for an
advantage. With more sail set now, the
schooner forged ahead and rapidly closed with the frigates. “Ready the port battery!”
“Aye
aye, sir!”
“Helm,
steer as to pass between them!”
“Aye
aye, sir!”
“Sure
madness, Edward!” warned Hotchkiss.
“But
a method to it, Isaac! When I give word,
we must put into the wind, and as our guns bear, concentrate fire on the Toad’s
starboard quarter. Let us then fall off
the wind and repeat with the starboard battery.”
“Aye!” Hotchkiss nodded with understanding.
Fully
awake and alert, his senses at their sharpest, Pierce watched the battling
frigates grow larger. The damp night air
whipped past, mingled with spray thrown up by Island Expedition’s hurried dash through the sea. Despite the apprehension in his gut, Pierce
felt alive.
Pierce
and the men of HMS Island Expedition want nothing more than to return to
their own world and England. Will the ship
and its valiant crew find the way back through dangerous waters, and once again
touch their homeland’s shores? Will
Pierce be united with his beloved Evangeline?
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Darnahsian Pirates:
The Third Stone Island Sea Story
A final broadside
roared from the port battery, sending twelve-pound shot and massive clouds of musket
balls and jagged pieces of scrap metal―langrene―into the Darnahsian
Pirate vessels. Splinters buzzed through the air. Lines snapped, their freed
ends slicing like whips. Mooring bitts, fife rails, handrails, and other deck
furniture disintegrated. Bits and pieces of what had been human beings
splattered the bulwarks and deck. “Get those lines across!” Grappling hooks soared from the
schooner’s port side and lodged in the pirate’s hull and rigging. The lines
were drawn tight, and the two vessels lashed together. In the bows, the Kalish
warriors continued their ungodly howl as they unleashed volley after volley of
arrows into the amassed pirates. At Sergeant Lincoln’s order, blue-coated
marines stepped to the rail, avoiding the seaman securing their guns. When he
gave the word, they raised their muskets as one, and at the command, “Fire!”
let loose a volley into the exposed enemy on deck. Then they fixed bayonets and
prepared to board.
“Boarders away!” yelled Pierce, springing
for the rail.
Having returned to England and
reuniting with Evangeline, Edward Pierce once again sails beyond the ocean’s
edge, accompanied by his beloved and two additional vessels. At Stone Island, they despair to find her
father absent. Pierce now embarks across
dangerous waters, leading a combined naval expedition charged with rescuing
several Vespican governors held for ransom by the Darnahsian Pirates. Among them is Harold Smythe, Evangeline’s beloved
Papa.
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revised/updated 03/05/2023 DAM
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