Chapter 213: Treasure of a mundane variety
To Woodrats obvious disgust, the next two ships they explored contained nothing he considered to be treasure. The first was a tall three-master tilted at a 45 degree angle, making it difficult to explore. The dark cargo hold was the domain of salad and a large tentacled creature that stayed in the shadows. By unspoken agreement both sides agreed to ignore the other, and they moved to the higher decks. Ozzy tossed a chain and hook into the far rail and they climbed the deck like it was a mountain. Reaching the door to the small hallway where they would find the cabins on the top deck, Ozzy pulled the door off its hinges and Woodrat scampered inside, only to come back out with a disgusted look on his face. "She's been looted by someone. Pirates most likely. Someone has scrawled 'Yvingi is a louse!' on the wall of the captains cabin, and every last thing was stolen."
Ozzy pointed at a long, black chain hanging down from the top mast. "That's a lot of chain. Why is it still there when the rest is gone?"
Woodrat looked up to where it was hooked at the top of the mast and hung down the length of the mast some excess spilling down the slanted decking. He tried to think of how the ship would have been rigged. "Most likely one of the main chains, running from the top of that mast down to the bowsprit and acting as the forestay. A chain like that is never moved, and can last for years and years, it's smoke reinforced by countless sailors. After a time, a chain like that becomes more solid and have a life of their own, pulling smoke into themselves as the ship moves. Good chain, but heavy, and what would we do with it?"
Ozzy looked up to where the chain was attached. "Seems a shame to leave it." He made his way to where the long chain was dangling down, and tugged on it. It felt like the wood gave a bit. Making sure he wasn't going to be buried in chain, he pulled hard and steady, until something cracked, and the long chain fell down to the deck. It was incredibly well made, each link three inches long with a shiny, black finish. He could feel the huge amount of smoke that each ring contained. Definitely something to keep. He threw loops over his shoulder until he had it all, and then slide down the deck and jumped from the ship.
Woodrat looked at the chain. "Good work. But what are you planning on doing with it?"
Ozzy started walking to the next ship. "Well, it occurs to me that we need a ship."
"You powers of observation astonish me, Mr. Ozzy. Yes, we do indeed need a ship. The Splinter is in need of a bit of work, but I thought we could enjoy a holiday and do some therapeutic looting before we began to put her back together. Which brings us back to my point of why you think a twenty-five-foot long twin-huller needs two-hundred feet of main chain."
Ozzy waved to the graveyard of ships. "I think we need a bigger boat. Why not go looking for one? Surely we can find something here that will be bigger than that overbuilt raft. Nothing against the old ship, sir, but she lacked space for cargo and was too small for hunting sharks. A very convenient size for sharks hunting us though. They could come at us from most any side."
Woodrat followed Ozzy's gaze across the charred sargasso weed and the crumbling ships. "Aye. Let's do it. We can find something a little bigger and repair it with all the smoke heavy wood from our wreck. The work will go faster if I use what's left of her and the spirit of the ship will move with the wood. I have a lot of my breath in that ship. Hate to lose it. But you're going to get awful tired of packing things back and forth if you keep acting like a packrat, even as strong as you seem to be. " Ozzy just shrugged and continued on. Packing things really wasn't a problem for him, but he missed his bag.
The next ship solved that problem. It was a large, one-masted schooner that Woodrat proclaimed to be a whaling ship. She carried two large ship's boats, one of which was in good condition. The boats would be used to get close to a whale, and harpoons with chain stuck into the whale. Some boats would use large chunks of wood on the chains, and towing them would tire out the whale. Daring coxswains would simply let the whale drag their boat, a much more dangerous adventure. Ozzy lifted the boat and dragged it off the ship and onto the charred surface of the weed. "This will be easy enough to pull across the island. We just load up our chest and wood and take it all with us."
If Woodrat had doubts about the plan, they went away when his mate had no trouble pulling the loaded ship's boat along with them. The whaler, like the ship before, had been sadly bereft of loot, with the captains cabin empty of everything but an old carpet, but Ozzy had found some things in the galley that he dragged along. The first of which were two battered flensing hatchets. Their wood was old and dark with the blood and smoke of many whales. Woodrat put an edge on them for Ozzy, and showed him how a wood wright could force the smoke into the wood and honed the blades razor sharp. It would save him smoke if he didn't have to remake his weapons each day, and save time if they were attacked.
He also salvaged a table with a thick butcher's block for a top, the wood scarred from many cleaver strokes. An odd contraption was attached to it. Woodrat had seen them before, but the galley of a ship was a cook's domain, not a carpenter's. He knew they used it to chop meat, or vegetables for soup, but the memory was hazy.
"And what treasure is that thing?"
Ozzy smiled at him. "I'm pretty sure it's a sausage grinder. I've never seen one made of wood, whalebone, and shark's teeth, but I bet it will work just fine. You'll see. We're going to need to do some fishing first before i give it a try."
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