It is the summer of the year 1738 and there is treasure to be found. Well, rumors of treasure to be found that is. When one follows ‘the lifestyle’ like mine even the rumors of treasure means that there is something to be looking for. It has been a month since my father died and I had inhaeritted his crew and his beautiful ship, but I had still not been able to get a decent score. I can sense that my crew is growing wrestless and hungry for treasure. I remember when I was a child my father would take me on these wonderful adventures with his loyal crew. I would wait dutifully for him to return to the ship with whatever treasure he would acquire. Before my father died he had given me two maps of the Machias River where there have been rumors of glorious treasure that was hidden by Black Sam and Paulsgrave Williams. It was said that their hideout was at the mouth of the river but there is little to nothing that remains of their stronghold, since there have been many people looking for their hidden treasure. No one really knows what happened to Black Sam and Paulsgrave Williams. They seem to have just disapeared without a trace when they went out looking for more treasure. Since they have not been seen in years everyone has assumed that they died at sea.
Now before my father died he told me stories about where this treasure was hidden and that it was his biggest dream to be the one who finds the unfindable treasure. He had a couple of maps of the Machias River that he would study in order to find the best way to get to the river from where we were. Once we had gotten to Machias he used the other map as a way to narrow down where the treasure may be. He had crossed off areas of the map where he had figured out where the treasure was not. He discovered that the treasure would not be on the main shore but on one of the islands in the area, since the islands are more quiet and less people to go snooping around. He was able to narrow down the location of the treasure to three different islands in the area. The three islands are Salt island, Hog island, and Round island. The way he was able to narrow down the island is by bringing his crew and I all around to the different islands to go searching for the treasure. We have been looking for this treasure for as long as I can remember. I think that my mother’s death is what drove my father to go looking for this particular treasure. He not only needed the distraction but he also needed to feel like he had not thrown his life away completely by choosing this lifestyle. I am not really sure if he wanted this life for me, his only daughter, but this is the life I was born into. I was the one who chose to follow in my father’s footsteps. This life is the only life that I have known and eventhough my family is gone I am still here continuing their legacy. Unfortunately, my father died before he could explore the last three places on his map but I guess this is where I come in to finish what he started.
The crew that I inherited from my father has been the crew of this ship ever since I can remember. Eventhough I am a woman the crew has the utmost respect for my father and that carries on to me so we have a mutual respect for each other. It may be strange for them to have a woman as their captain, but they have never betrayed my trust and I have never led them wrong. Since my father’s passing we have been able to get small scores, here and there, but there seems to be a lack of supplies in this remote area. The waning of supplies is causing the crew and I to become more anxious as we search for this hidden treasure. After my father passed away the crew and I took some time to mourn for him so we hunkered down on Round Island for a while before we continued our search for the treasure. My father made sure that the ship was well stocked up on supplies since my father knew that searching for this treasure would not be easy or a quick trip. However, it has been a month since he passed and we are just now finishing our search on Round Island and we still have two island to search our supplies were starting to look very thin. We either had to find the treasure fast or we would have to make a supply run. The crew and I have discussed about the different options that we had if we did end up having to make a supply run. We have the option to go to farther down the Machias river so we could stop at the East Machias Village to get supplies. We could also pull into the Irnarme Cove to see what the Machiasport Village had to offer. The downside of doing the supply run at the Irnarme Cove is that it is fairly close to Salt Island, which is the next island that we are heading to, so if anything were to happen during the supply run it may cause us to not be able to search Salt Island. After considering our options we decided that the safest option would be to head into the East Machias Village if we needed supplies. That way if something bad were to happen on our supply run we would not jeapordize our treasure hunt or my father’s dream.
Since Round Island and Salt Island are right next to each other it is easy to move the crew and the ship to the other island. The trip to Salt Island only takes us a couple of hours so we still have the majority of the day to start our planning and if there was still light in the sky we could continue our treasure hunt. There is a nice clearing by the edge of the Island that is closest to Round Island where we decide to set up camp. The crew and I set up an enclosure so that we would be protected from the elements. The enclosure is made up of logs, branches, leaves, and bark so that we can be protected from the wind. It may be summertime, but this far north it is always cold for someone who is not from the area. I decided to start a fire so we can keep warm while we talk about our plan for searching for the treasure.
“Alright men, it is time for a plan,” I state. “What is the most efficient and reliable way we can search this island?”
“I’d say splitting up would get the job done,” the cabin boy, James suggests. I really should not refer to James as ‘cabin boy’ since him and I are the same age. I would say that he is more of a cabin man by now eventhough he may have started as a boy. I think my father picked him up thinking that I should be around more people my age considering I grew up with him and mother and the rest of the crew. James and I grew close not only because we are the youngest people in the crew but also because it turns out we make a pretty good team. While we were growing up on the ship we were the smallest people, so we would always be asked to fit into small spaces when someone needed to get something where grown men could not reach. When we were older and were helping out in my father’s raids we always had each other’s back. We did not even need to use our words to communicate all we need is our trust in each other.
I respond, after a moment “I agree that splitting up would be an effective way to search the island. Does that work for everyone else?”
The rest of the crew nods in agreement.
“Okay, since we are all in agreement we should split up into five pairs in order to search the island. This island is not much bigger than Round Island so it will take more time to search, but I expect that we will be done by the end of the week. If anyone finds a freshwater source let me know so we can refill our supplies. The same goes for any food items.” I pause for a moment trying to think of anything I forgot to mention. I glance up at the sun to see how much sunlight we have left and it seems to be starting to set. Better wrap up the night and get a good night’s rest in before continuing our treasure hunt, I think to myself.
“When should we start, Captain?” my first mate, Thomas asks. Thomas was like a second father to me so it made sense to keep him as my first mate.
“First thing in the morning. Let’s eat and rest up for the evening so we can continue our treasure hunt when the sun rises in the morning. How does that sound, crew?” I suggest, suddenly starting to feel the aches and pains of a long day of traveling and planning.
“Sounds fine by us, Captain!” The crew happily yells, in unison.
The next morning after we all ate breakfast we started our hunt for the hidden treasure. The ten of us broke up into pairs and went our separate ways and decided to meet back at the camp when it started to get dark. James and I paired up without even needing to say it. It was always so nice to have someone who you could rely on to have your back. We decided to start looking by starting close to our campsite while the rest of the crew took off in different directions. We knew that there had to be some sort of marker to locate the area that the treasure was hidden. The marker could be anything that ranged from a strange looking rock to a birch tree. However, my father taught me everything there is to know about the different markers that people of our lifestyle use so I was confident that we would be able to find the marker. The crew, James and I searched all day and did not find a single marker, not even a false alarm marker. However, the five groups were able to cover about half the island over the course of the day which means that we can finish tomorrow so we can travel to the final island, Hog Island.
Thomas and his partner were able to locate a small fresh water spring that was not very far from our campsite so we were able to refil our water supply, which was a relief. Some of the other crew members were able to find blackberries and blueberries and some small rodents that we were able to eat. We may not have been able to find any treasure but at least we were able to find food and water so we would not have to make a supply run.
The next morning after breakfast we broke off into the same pairs again so we could finish searching the island. It was a few hours after midday when we finished searching the rest of the island. We found nothing when it comes to treasure. We did find more food supplies, which was nice. By the time we were back at camp the sun was low in the sky and our stomachs were rumbling. Since Hog Island was farther away than Salt Island and Round Island were we would need a full day to travel there. We decided to throw something together for dinner and camp one more night here and set sail just before dawn so we did not have to sail during the night.
The next day after we had traveled and set up camp it was dark out so we just decided to eat and then start fresh in the morning.
Since Hog Island is the biggest island of the three I assume that in order to be able to thoroughly search it we will need at least a week or so. We used the same pairs method that we used on Salt Island. During our search on Hog Island there were several days where we went out searching and found nothing.
However, on the fifth day, after a few hours of searching and finding nothing James and I hear a yell that sounds like it is not too far away from us. We give each other a glance and we start running towards the yell. When we arrive at the source of the yell we stop, halted by the scene. I feel my heart stop, the air leaving my lungs, and my jaw dropping, as my eyes land on the sight of Thomas. He is on the ground, slumped against a tree with his hand grasping his shoulder as blood spills from a spear that is lodged in his left shoulder.
“Thomas!” I exclaimed, rushing towards him, “What happened?”
“I found something,” he groaned, gesturing towards a cave entrance that seemed to have been claimed by nature long ago. “There was a tripwire that I missed. I don’t think that the spear hit anything critical, I’ll be okay. Go find that treasure and look out for traps.” he warned.
I was crouched down by Thomas trying to think of something to do. “You two go. I’ll stay with him to make sure he does not lose too much blood. Remember I do have some medical background,” The cook, John assured me. In the rush, I didn’t even notice that John was right there beside me propping Thomas up.
“Thanks.” I nodded knowing he was in good hands and got up to enter the cave with James at my side.
As we walked through the cave we were on the lookout for any other unexpected traps that may be waiting for us. As we approached the middle of the cave I felt my foot catch on the ground. As my hands slaps the rocky cave floor I feel the slap of rock shift beneath them immediately distracting me from the sting.
“Are you okay?” James asked, crouching down next to me.
“Yes, I’m fine. Look at this slab of rock. It moves.” I assured him, as I lifted up the slab of rock. Underneath the slab of rock there was a large wooden box that looked very old.
“Is that?” James asked, eyes wide with excitement.
He did not even need to finish his sentence. I knew what he was asking. “It must be.” I replied, my voice came out in an excited, nervous, whisper.
I tried opening the chest but it was locked. I grabbed the dager that I always have on me and finagled the lock until the chest finally opened. Inside of the chest was the most amount of money I have ever seen and rolled up a piece of paper. I looked at James with excitement in my eyes. “This is the hidden treasure my father spent his life looking for and now here it is!” I exclaimed.
James grabbed the piece of paper and unrolled it. His eyes widened, “There’s more where this came from.”
I looked over his shoulder to discover that the piece of paper he was holding was a map to other treasure locations throughout the island. Black Sam and Paulsgrave Williams were very busy men.
“Well it looks like we have some more treasure hunting to do!” I exclaimed with a smile, feeling very content that we have fulfilled my father’s dream and now we will all never have to worry about money again. “Let’s get back to the crew!”
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