A tale of the highseas for my nephew Tommy

Savannah Georgia

Back in the days of the wooden merchant ships that would harbor near ports of Savannah the local pubs would be the place to drink and meet a lady of your fancy.

The hormone raging boys and field hands would head to the docks to meet the ladies while the Captains of the large Gallon ships including the "Pirate ship's" were looking to secure a new mate to sail the seven seas.

Just a little bit of the ankle showing along with the wondrous smile of this pretty woman (serving hops and moonshine) would have the boys wanting to entice and gain her interests in them.

What male wouldn’t want to talk to a fair-haired maiden in a pretty dress wearing colorful beads that adorn her neck?

The captain of the wooden Pirate ships (sitting in the corner of the pub) would nod his approval of the boy to the fair haired beauty of many smiles if he sized up the boy as a strapping male with muscles that could pull up the ropes for the white sails for his ship sporting the skull and crossbones flag.

With that nod of the captains head, the maiden would place a knock out powder in the boys drink. As the boys wobbled and stumbled she would lead them to the back supply room of the tavern to rest on a dirty cot with a stained pillow.

The ground powder of the knock out drug would eventually close the boy’s eyes and while unconscious the boys would then be carried from the pub to the ship by a black, patch-eyed crew-member.

(It was unpaid manual labor for sailing against the boys will, while the lady of the pub with the wondrous smile would receive her gold coins and a pat on her ass from the captain of the Pirate ship.)

She wasn't a harlot. She was just a woman that needed to make money for her family. A woman of greed. No heart.

They say those boys shanghaied would often returned to the same port of call ( if they were lucky and if they didn't walk the gang plank) after several years of sailing on the high sea with no gold coins for their labor and only bad memories from working the wooden ship sporting the black flag and cross bones.

As learned from history, If the boys sailed with a generous captain, they were left with silver and gold coins jingling in their pocket for a beer in the pub or maybe even a plate of hot food in some port located in some desert islands of the south seas. ( I can see the bare breasted Ho la dancers wearing grass skirts.) Otherwise, the boys were left with bruised spirits and as poor as a lonely ship mouse hiding behind a barrel of rum.

With the wisdom learned on those lonely days of adventure on the high seas along the storms that brewed in their minds from their kidnappings, the boys traveled home to those love ones that they haven’t seen in a long time...their families.

I guess with hormone change resulting from the absent of food and beatings for their forced labor, the boys didn’t seem as interested in the pubs and the bars and the whores that reside around whiskey, beer and wine.

My guess is that they went home and found a girl of some substance or went on to finish their education. Maybe they became a merchant sailor so they could be the captain and sail the high seas and capture all the gold coins and jewelry for themselves.

No one really knows but they learned a lesson of the high seas.

Uncle Dennis