Shadow of a Life Read Online Free PDF Page B

sailed in seas and storms like that many times
before. The rain stopped and the fog was starting to clear so my
mother took me to the upper deck to get some fresh air. About
midday, one of my father’s crewmen started yelling. Apparently,
when the mist cleared they realized we were headed right into the
path of another ship. As we sailed closer the crew noticed that
this ship had its sails down and was flying a white
flag.”
    “ A white flag? What does
that mean?” I interrupted again.
    “ It means the same thing on
a ship as it does on land. If someone’s waving a white flag it
means they surrender, or that they’re peaceful,” she
answered.
    “ Oh. Gotcha. You can
continue now.”
    “ Yes, ma’am.” Sophia winked
at me. “We stopped a short distance from the ship and were then
able to read its name— The
Aurabelle. None of the crew recognized it,
but it appeared to be a merchant ship of some sort. A lifeboat was
lowered into the water from the Aurabelle and some of their crew
paddled toward us. They stopped and yelled to my father, saying
that the storm had damaged their ship and they were taking on
water. Father, being the good man that he was, graciously welcomed
them aboard the Mary
Celeste . They had a woman with them and
Mother quickly took care of her, offering a blanket and tea. The
captain of the Aurabelle introduced himself as Jeremiah Goodwin. He told
father they were sailing from Portugal to the Caribbean. There was
no reason to suspect anything to be amiss so his story wasn’t
questioned further, and soon all the crew of the Mary Celeste had gathered
to hear the tales of this seemingly jovial man.”
    Here, Sophia paused and took a deep
breath. Her countenance darkened as she continued with her story.
“It wasn’t long before Jeremiah revealed that their ship was
actually in fine shape. He and all of his crew—including the
woman—pulled out guns and announced that they were taking command
of the Mary Celeste and her cargo.”
    I gasped. “You mean they were
pirates?”
    Having studied the mystery
of the Mary Celeste for most of my life, I knew there were many theories as to
what happened to her crew. Some thought there’d been a great storm,
others believed there to be an undersea earthquake of sorts. Some
crackpots insisted the crew had all been abducted by aliens. Even
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a story about his own theory before he
became famous for writing stories about Sherlock Holmes. Piracy had
been suggested at the time, of course, but it was quickly
disregarded. Apparently that was a bad idea.
    Sophia continued. “I doubt
the word pirate ever even crossed my father’s mind when he let
Captain Goodwin and his crew on board the Mary Celeste . After all, pirates did
most of their dirty work hundreds of years before I was even born.
They were definitely a rarity at that time and in that
area.”
    “ What happened after they
pulled out guns?” The tone of my voice was rising. By that point in
the story I was on the edge of the couch hanging on every word
coming out of Sophia’s mouth. Could all
the crew of the Mary Celeste have survived? If Sophia lived to be eighteen,
what happened to everyone else on board?
    “ Everyone was stunned. No
one knew what to do or what was going to happen. I remember my
mother clinging to me, but I think at the time I was oblivious to
what was going on around me. My father’s crew was made up of loyal
men, and when Captain Goodwin tried to tie up my father they
retaliated and attacked him. Shots were fired. My mother screamed,
and I cried inconsolably. When the smoke cleared, two of Father’s
crewmen were lying dead on the deck. Captain Goodwin’s entire
demeanor changed. He was enraged. He forced my family and the rest
of Father’s crew onto his lifeboat. Just before they began lowering
the boat with all of us into the water, the woman yelled for him to
stop. Turns out she was Elsa Goodwin—Jeremiah’s wife. She and her
husband whispered to