...The timbers creaked even pierside; canvas or cloth would have taken too long so we gave the deck a bamboo cover made of thin strips. The sails had taken just over two months to weave with a work crew of eighty. The rope we had fashioned was used through out the vessel, the more ragged rope was used in the holds; and the finer ropes were used for the sail rigging. The ships wheel was not so much a matter of pride but religious hope and was therefor adorned with sea shells and shiny pebbles; basically anything that had washed ashore was said to have found its own way to the shore, so to would the ship with such a wheel. Superstition had become an odd and perverted form of hope. The bending of the keel, accomplished through steaming was observed by each and everyone of the survivors; we turned each notable improvement to the keel into a festival singing songs and searching for any type of intoxication possible. The creaking of those planks seemed to be the ship speaking of its own impending doom. Any that stepped foot upon the deck might effect its mood and not just anyone would temp the future fate of the vessel by stepping upon it. That ship was the first real sight of hope we had yet mustered and no one wanted to cast a shadow over it.
Posted on: Mon, 30 Jun 2014 08:37:30 +0000