Shiver My Timber

Description

The year is 1643.

Far from England, in the colonies of the New World, English men and women are rattled by the news of a war between the King and Parliament. But for the residents of the Caribbean island of St. Erasmus, the war back home is the last thing on their minds.

For years now, the Caribbean has been plagued with rumors of a ghost ship haunting her waters. The H.M.S. Euryale was a proud schooner in His Majesty's Navy until she was betrayed in a treacherous deal with the Devil and was doomed to sail the Spanish Main forever, a pirate ship of the most merciless kind.

Throughout most of the Caribbean, the Euryale is thought of as nothing more than a ghost story. She is said to vanish in broad daylight, to navigate treacherous waters in the dead of night, to attack with a fury that is both unnatural and inhuman. No real vessel can accomplish such feats. No true ship sails under a flag dyed red with blood.

But the people of St. Erasmus know better.

They've seen the Euryale sail past the harbor on moon-lit nights. They know the Wild Hunt rides at midnight on All Hallow's Eve. They've met ghosts, battled monsters, seen the dead rise from their graves. They stay out of the forest at night and take care never to offend the Fair Folk.

They've witnessed the Devil when he's come for their souls. They know all too well what happens when a foolish traveller adds a name to his Black Book.

To a newcomer to this fair island, these tales seem little more than folk legend. It is easy to take them as the imaginings of a superstitious people, far from home.

But sometimes stories can be more real than you think.