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Sea Monster Ahoy!
December 2, 1880. Portsmouth, UK.
OTTAWA SENDS CONFIRMATION OF CHARYBDIS ACCEPTANCE, SEND INSPECTION REPORT AT EARLIEST CONVENIENCE.
Peter Astle Scott let out a long sigh as he placed the paper onto the table in front of him. It had indeed been fourteen long years since he had retired from the Royal Navy however, he found it hard to believe a ship like this could possibly exist outside of the reserve fleet. When he was contacted by the Canadian government requesting his services in the inspection of a Royal Navy ship, his enthusiasm about potentially getting back into the saddle was almost palpable. Retirement wasn’t all it was cracked up to be, fishing and hunting expeditions could only tamper his boredom to a point. The call back to action as the Captain of warship, even one of a Dominion, was something he couldn’t turn down. Of course, the handsome payment upon her arrival in Canada was just dessert.
Although if this old ship could make the journey across the Atlantic remained to be seen. Scott had been absolutely floored when he came aboard Charybdis, especially considering the ship itself had just returned from the China station in November. Scott had seen and served aboard his fair share of old ships, chief of most being HMS Terror before her ill-fated Arctic expedition under Sir John Franklin. She had been 26 years old when Scott had been aboard her and over the 4 years he served as her mate, she had been nothing like what he saw before him. He had arrived at Charybdis herself in late November and had been entombed in the ship ever since, evaluating every inch of her leaking, rotting corpse. It had been no wonder the Royal Navy had offered this ship as a gift; he would have spit in the face of any person trying to offer this as a seagoing command!
With the assistance of an overeager young Engineer from the Department of Marine and Fisheries, the pair had rapidly discovered the ship was a somehow still floating nightmare. A split bowsprit, barely functional boilers, funnel sheeting that closely resembled paper, a cracked 68 pdr gun barrel, completely fouled bottom, wood rot, fissured beams and to top it all off, paint resembling a long abandoned English farmhouse. How a Captain of the Royal Navy had allowed a ship under their command to fall into such disrepair was beyond Scott, although he wouldn’t have minded asking her previous Captain in person. His concerns to the Canadian delegate in London had fallen on deaf ears, he had insisted the ship needed to make the journey and Canada was willing to pay any expenditures to make that happen.
He would need to speak with one of the Dockyard managers ashore, the Canadians would want a time-frame and price tag for bringing this scow back up to a respectable state. As he stood and made his way towards the decks above, he could help but think, if Charybdis was indeed named for a mythical sea monster, she was the most pitiful monster he had ever had the displeasure to see.
HMS Charybdis, date and location unknown.
OTTAWA SENDS CONFIRMATION OF CHARYBDIS ACCEPTANCE, SEND INSPECTION REPORT AT EARLIEST CONVENIENCE.
Peter Astle Scott let out a long sigh as he placed the paper onto the table in front of him. It had indeed been fourteen long years since he had retired from the Royal Navy however, he found it hard to believe a ship like this could possibly exist outside of the reserve fleet. When he was contacted by the Canadian government requesting his services in the inspection of a Royal Navy ship, his enthusiasm about potentially getting back into the saddle was almost palpable. Retirement wasn’t all it was cracked up to be, fishing and hunting expeditions could only tamper his boredom to a point. The call back to action as the Captain of warship, even one of a Dominion, was something he couldn’t turn down. Of course, the handsome payment upon her arrival in Canada was just dessert.
Although if this old ship could make the journey across the Atlantic remained to be seen. Scott had been absolutely floored when he came aboard Charybdis, especially considering the ship itself had just returned from the China station in November. Scott had seen and served aboard his fair share of old ships, chief of most being HMS Terror before her ill-fated Arctic expedition under Sir John Franklin. She had been 26 years old when Scott had been aboard her and over the 4 years he served as her mate, she had been nothing like what he saw before him. He had arrived at Charybdis herself in late November and had been entombed in the ship ever since, evaluating every inch of her leaking, rotting corpse. It had been no wonder the Royal Navy had offered this ship as a gift; he would have spit in the face of any person trying to offer this as a seagoing command!
With the assistance of an overeager young Engineer from the Department of Marine and Fisheries, the pair had rapidly discovered the ship was a somehow still floating nightmare. A split bowsprit, barely functional boilers, funnel sheeting that closely resembled paper, a cracked 68 pdr gun barrel, completely fouled bottom, wood rot, fissured beams and to top it all off, paint resembling a long abandoned English farmhouse. How a Captain of the Royal Navy had allowed a ship under their command to fall into such disrepair was beyond Scott, although he wouldn’t have minded asking her previous Captain in person. His concerns to the Canadian delegate in London had fallen on deaf ears, he had insisted the ship needed to make the journey and Canada was willing to pay any expenditures to make that happen.
He would need to speak with one of the Dockyard managers ashore, the Canadians would want a time-frame and price tag for bringing this scow back up to a respectable state. As he stood and made his way towards the decks above, he could help but think, if Charybdis was indeed named for a mythical sea monster, she was the most pitiful monster he had ever had the displeasure to see.
HMS Charybdis, date and location unknown.
- RelativeGalaxy7
- Word Count: 530