Give me a windy day with the white clouds flying

[captainhornblower]

Who: Everyone who volunteered to help build the ship and/or anyone who has gotten dragged into it since.
What: CARVING THE BODIES. (aka "building the ship")
When: October 17th until October 22nd, from 8 in the morning until evening. (Your character is not required to be there every day all day.)
Where: On the beach, not far from one of the docks.
Summary: The construction of the ship and bonding during the work or between breaks.
Rating: PG to PG-13

The lumber gathered, the tools set out, and the plans copied several times over for distribution.

It's time to turn the mass slaughter of the trees from the forest into something fitting for the Royal Navy. ...Even if there's no Royal Navy here. Because that doesn't really matter.

Major points of the to-do list:
construct block and tackles, belaying pins, etc.
build the hull
caulking or just coat everything with epoxy and tell the Navy boys its caulked
divide the decks
build the masts
set the rigging
attach the sails
construct two quarterboats

Comments

[all7seas]

"Kennedy's your first mate, I shouldn't wonder." Jack stared moodily out to sea. The initial pain and shock of Leonard McCoy's loss had worn off, but there were little reminders here and there. Always little reminders of what it was like to be left behind by a best mate.

[captainhornblower]

Lieutenant.

But there was no Navy here. No King. No Admiralty. He was... something like a privateer here, much as he hated the thought. 'First mate' was probably more accurate than 'first lieutenant.' But it would never be that in his mind. He was a captain of the Royal Navy, damn it.

Still, he found his voice, strained by the thought of what he'd always planned and what had never been, "Yes."

[all7seas]

That fact actually gave Jack a little hope. Kennedy wouldn't turn on him or do him wrong, would he? No. Archie Kennedy could be trusted near to one hundred percent. Not predicted quite that accurately, of course, but certainly trusted. It was almost like having an agent of his own aboard this Britannia of theirs, and that suited him. At least he would share with the pirate the goings-on of that still-in-progress boat, and that was saying something. So much of Luceti's boat building had been kept secret from the pirate.

Which...was sort of ridiculous, considering he lived three stones' throw from the docks where most of Luceti's fleet was currently kept.

A sharp change of tack:

"Moro give you any trouble felling those trees?" The giant white wolf was known to be viciously overprotective of Luceti's forests. Jack's year-long boatbuilding enterprise had involved at least one close call with her and a lot of secretive harvesting in the aftermath.

[captainhornblower]

"Moro? No. Not to my knowledge."

He remembered hearing about spirits in this world, and he was willing to bet Moro was one of them. Just what he needed, he supposed. Some sort of irritated magical being to hound him. God forbid this place let off once. After all, just because there had not been trouble so far did not mean there would not be trouble in the future.

"Should I expect trouble?"

[all7seas]

"Trouble of the giant killer wolfish sort? Dunno. I suppose that depends on your luck."

A pause, and Jack took advantage of his flask before continuing: "She guards the forest, though for some odd reason she gave Thunderaxe a load of dead wood for his projects. Apparently that were to prevent the live wood from bein' cut, but what use is an old dead log for a mast?"

[captainhornblower]

"A dead log for a mast?" Hornblower shook his head slightly.

Granted, 'giant killer wolfish sort' had him thinking. Had him wondering and preparing. That did not sound like the sort of thing to try and handle. But if it came, it came.

[all7seas]

Jack stood up, then, brushing sand from his breeches and peering into the now-empty flask.

"Been planning more heroical things of late?"

[captainhornblower]

The word caught his attention more than anything else.

"No, Captain Sparrow. Merely trying to..." What was he trying to do? "Trying to keep busy."

[all7seas]

"So have I. Winter's coming." There was more than enough to do for pure survival on that account. "Right. I'm off to look for her. Or--if you please, Mister Hornblower---to run futilely about my tidy little cage for a spell."

[captainhornblower]

Hornblower was silent for several moments. Then, finally, rather quietly, he said, "I hope you find her."

[all7seas]

With a grunt of acknowledgment, Jack abandoned that little portion of the beach and went striding off to the south.

There was so much to be done. The Joanna wanted a full careening at the next full-moon tide. The Beaver Moon. There was still firewood to be carted to Cullen House, and something had to be done to keep the water tank from freezing up and food and rum still needed to be stocked up for winter.

First things first, though. Jilly needed to come home safe. And while he walked, Jack could ponder the nature of futility and freedom.