Midwife of the Blue Ridge Read Online Free PDF Page A

half rations—victuals and water.”
    “Aye, Cap’n.” Josh Stark nodded in agreement.
    Mr. Stark kept the crew on their toes, making use of the idle
    time to maintain fi rst- rate condition and keep the ship tight. The
    ship’s mate saw the bilge pumps engaged and the corrupt water
    collected in the bottom of the ship purged. He had the caulker
    seal every leak with oakum and tar, and the sailmaker fi nish
    mending all three sets of sails. Tackle, blocks, and rigging were
    all examined and repaired. To minimize infestation, today all
    bedding was aired and the sleeping berths sweetened with a
    swabbing of vinegar.
    A groan went up from the crowd when MacGregor snapped
    the book shut and slipped his precious spectacles into the breast
    pocket of his jacket. Daylight faded completely and it was a
    strain to read by lantern light.
    Someone called for a song and the Duffy twins began to tune
    their instruments. The good- natured brothers had boarded with
    Midwife of the Blue Ridge 25
    nothing more than the shirts and the fiddles on their backs, and
    never needed much encouragement to oblige their audience.
    Moira Bean, a robust Glaswegian washwoman, stepped up to
    join the fiddlers with a powerful voice. After two bawdy songs
    and one soulful ballad, Carlyle signaled Pebley, the boatswain, to
    begin dousing the ship’s lights. Fire was the
    ever- present and
    most deadly danger aboard. It was Mr. Pebley’s duty to see every
    lantern extinguished and collected, save one lamp to illuminate
    the compass and one for the watch.
    The passengers hurried to settle their sleeping places below
    before Pebley called for all lights out. They collected their pallets
    from where they hung along the rail and took turns shuffl ing
    down the hatchway stairs to tween deck.
    Located between main deck and the cargo hold, tween deck
    quartered all passengers traveling on indenture to the Colonies,
    providing both space for their berths and storage for any bag-
    gage they’d brought aboard.
    The captain never ceased to wonder at the endurance of these
    desperate pilgrims. His own tiny cabin was a luxurious retreat
    compared to the cramped quarters of the tween. Carlyle knew he
    could not suffer even one night in that airless pitch black, sand-
    wiched between strangers, privy to his fellows’ every grunt,
    groan, snore, and fart.
    Tween deck measured a scant five feet six inches from fl oor to
    ceiling. Most of the emigrants housed there could not stand fully
    upright. Baskets, wooden chests, and canvas sacks were stuffed
    into every available nook and crowded the narrow aisles. Ventila-
    tion was poor at best, and in the event of rough seas with hatches
    battened down, fresh air was non exis tent. On those days, the stench
    of vomit and latrine buckets could be particularly hard to bear.
    Will Carlyle had weathered hurricanes with the force to split
    sails and snap a mainmast in two. His ship had been boarded
    and ransacked by pirates. He’d twice been washed overboard and
    lived to tell of it. Able to endure the worst of a seaman’s life, the
    26 Christine
    Blevins
    captain still avoided going down to tween deck at all costs—and
    so did Maggie Duncan.
    Carlyle smiled. There—she stands her post like clockwork . . .
    Maggie dawdled at the portside railing every night. Will Car-
    lyle sympathized with her plight, but he could not have the beau-
    tiful young woman distracting the watch. As it was, half the men
    aboard were besotted with the well-rigged healer, and the other
    half stung by her rejection of their coarse overtures.
    Though a pretty woman aboard usually spelled trouble, Cap-
    tain Carlyle considered Maggie Duncan to be the most valuable
    passenger his agent had recruited. Unlike many of his peers, Car-
    lyle understood that be it tobacco or laborers, the quality of the
    cargo determined the amount of profit he reaped at voyage end.
    Will Carlyle maintained a solid reputation up and down the Vir-
    ginia coast as a merchant who