The Road to Purgatory, or How MacKenna Came to Be

[Havohej]

April, 1721 - Somewhere off the coast of Mexico
"SAILS!"

The Irishman turned on his hammock, groaning quietly as he draped one arm across his throbbing forehead. They'd executed precisely this trap a dozen times; the Quartermaster could handle it without him on deck. All they had to do was play the part of the crippled vessel lost adrift and let the well-meaning strangers get close enough to be boarded. It was a simple enough ruse, and with no flag flying their 'van Hoorn' Snow in distress was sure to draw in merchants from any of the various nations operating in the gulf. Just as he started to drift back to sleep, there came three firm raps against his cabin door; the Quartermaster had other ideas.

"That'd better be you, Dugan!" Only Seamus Dugan, fellow Irishman and Quartermaster of The Shameless Hussy, would pound on his door like that - anybody else would likely be swimming within the hour.

"Aye, Cap'n!" came the reply. "Spotter's got sails windward through the fog. Ye'd better come up for this one, Stephen."

Seamus had been sailing just as long as he had, so the captain didn't understand at first why he should be bothered after the night of revelry he'd enjoyed what seemed like only hours ago. Taking his pained bellow as a negative, the Quartermaster added, "She's flying the British Naval Ensign, Cap'n." QM Dugan turned and made his way back toward the stairs to await the captain's emergence, for he knew that the only man who hated the British more than himself was Captain Stephen MacKenna, master of The Shameless Hussy.


The Jacobites
Stephen MacKenna was born in 1692, not long after the end of the Williamite War in Ireland, the second child of two devout Irish Catholics - one of whom was a veteran of that very same war. The treaty of Limerick offered transport to France for anyone in the Irish Army and many accepted this offer. But Angus MacKenna was an Irishman through and through and he was highly distrustful of the Sun King and his motives. Because of this distrust, he was loathe to accept any French handouts without knowing what future price he and his family might have to pay for Louis XIV's "kindness".

Several of his fellow veterans discussed with him their plans of continuing the fight against England as merceneries in the armies of various European powers but, though his belief in the Holy Trinity was as solid as ever, the flight of James II after his defeat at Boyne had shattered his faith in a free, Catholic Ireland. With that faith, his resolve to fight the powerful army of William III had also left him. Seeking a fresh start altogether, he made plans to leave Ireland with his young daughter Deirdre and wife Heather who was with child. They would leave under an assumed name, claiming to be Protestants displaced by the constant fighting (Peter had thrice denied the Lord, once more from a lowly Irishman surely wouldn't anger Him too much!). By the time Stephen was born, the MacKennas had settled under the name Wennell in the recently-established Carolinas and with what money they'd been able to bring with them Angus Wennell established a modest tobacco plantation and lived in peace... for a while.

As with any colony, as years passed and the colonists came into their own they began to feel resentful of being ruled remotely from Great Britain. Here and there were minor bouts of unrest, each immediately put down by british garrisons. But with intercolonial trade, so too came intercolonial commiseration. As early as the mid-17th century, seeds of revolution had been planted and were being slowly, quietly cultivated. Given his past relationship with the British crown and its forces, Angus Wennell was easy for political agitators to spot even without knowledge of his military experiences. Even though he was firm in his resolve that he wouldn't bear arms unless it was in defense of a free Ireland, he sympathized with the self-styled American Patriots and made regular financial contributions to their efforts. It was these contributions that would later decide the course of his childrens' lives.


Americans
By virtue of their father's plantation, Stephen and Deirdre Wennell grew up with the finest edjucation available in the colonies at that time and what lies the English school teachers tried to fill their heads with were quickly put right by their parents. Similarly, though Angus feared going to mass at the local Cathedral, he and his wife corrected the Protestant teachings their children were subjected to in private, always careful to remind the younger Wennells of the English prejudice and treachery toward Irish, Catholics and Irish Catholics in particular that forced them to hide this way to begin with. And so it was that the Wennell family was able to live in peace in the New World, neither wealthy nor poor but always perfectly comfortable with their unassuming position in the community.

After his 14th birthday in 1706, young Stephen was given an opportunity to join the crew of a fishing sloop and learn the seas. He has always been born with overseeing the cultivation of his father's land and had made no secret of it. For that reason, Angus agreed - over the loud objections of his wife! - and Stephen became a fisherman. He took to his sealegs as though he'd been born to ply the waves and he learned the craft just as swiftly. With the Carolina colonies being fairly new, British naval traffic was frequent and this kept piracy to a bare minimum. Even so, there was the occasional disagreement but his captain was experienced and if the ship wasn't armed heavily enough to fend off an attacker, she was more than fast enough to escape danger. Stephen made certain to stay as close to the captain as possible throughout the four years he served aboard the fishing sloop.

Then, just before his 19th birthday in 1711, he took the money he'd earned at sea and what he'd saved up from the stipend his father still set aside for him and he purchased a small schooner of his own. As crew he took on a few young friends he'd made at sea but the bulk of his crew was composed of Africans from his father's plantation who could demonstrate nautical, fishing or fighting experience. Aboard Stephen's ship, they'd be treated as free men and paid, so long as they pulled their weight; after a year of service they'd be free to stay or leave (though this offer was made with all parties knowing just how well freed slaves were treated in the English colonies). Through the years, as Stephen's experience grew, they caught more fish, made more money and grew into larger vessels. They survived countless fights with the most desperate sea-faring brigands and eventually became quite efficient at both nautical and hand-to-hand combat. Though men did die, none of the freed Africans aboard Stephen's fishing boats ever chose to leave.

[Havohej]

Treachery Discovered
In the summer of 1718, a shipment of cotton arriving at Southend on the Thames was inspected and several documents were discovered. These documents contained financial records of an as yet unheard of resistance movement in the southern colonies; among the transactions accounted for were several donations from one A. Wennell of North Carolina. These men were tried in absentia before a London court of law and in as much time as it took for a royal dispatch to cross the Atlantic, British troops were kicking in doors from Maryland to South Carolina. They burned homes, confiscated goods and slaves and destroyed crops. They took into custody the men named in the suspicious documents and, after a reading of the charges and verdict, hung them in the public square for the crime of treason. The bodies were left hanging until they rotted, as an example to all who would oppose the rule of George I.

After being at sea for two months, Stephen was hailed by his old captain on his way in to port and lucky it was that the man was able to reach him in time! His former mentor told him what had happened and that the British had men waiting on the docks for "the Wennell boy's ship" to come in so they could apprehend and interrogate him, which would probably be followed by his hanging as well. Stephen was in shock. His first mate, Seamus Dugan, was quicker to react; Dugan set a course of action wherein Stephen would enter the city in secret aboard their old captain's sloop while he took their own boat in. He would tell the British that Stephen had been killed by pirates and his body consigned to the deep and that he was now the Captain and owner of the Wennell boat. Provided the British didn't sieze her anyway, he and the crew would then go about business as usual until contacted by an emissary or Stephen himself.

Stephen was taken to see his mother who had been put up by other citizens sympathetic to the Patriots' cause. When word of the English purge got out, their banker had managed to set aside a portion of the family's monies and while it was very little consolation, it at least helped Stephen to ensure that his mother was provided for. His sister Deirdre had by this time been doing quite well for herself as a broker of luxury goods in the Bahamas and was in little danger. The Wennell name, however, was ruined in all of Great Britain, so while he would have preferred to carry the news of their father's passing to her in person he sped a message to her with the warning that if she were going to trade with the British, it had better be under their ancestral name - MacKenna.

With further business as a fisherman in the colonies impossible, his family's lands in both the Carolinas and Ireland confiscated and the flames of hatred and rage burning in his soul Stephen MacKenna had only one option left.


April, 1721 - Aboard The Shameless Hussy
Captain MacKenna emerged from below deck and accepted the spyglass his quartermaster offered, turning toward the east to see the corvette approaching cautiously through the light fog blanketing the water and he did indeed recognize the blood red ensign of a British naval officer. He handed the spyglass back to Seamus and turned away from the rail. One hundred men, crouching behind the gunwale in concealment, stared back at him expectantly. They were not disappointed.

Eight hundred yards away, young Engish sailors' chests tightened in startled fear at the bestial roar echoing across the waves from the crippled snow they thought they were about to rescue.

"Hoist the colours!"

[Havohej]

((I'm no expert on things nautical, so if there're any inconsistencies in the above, I apologize. Though it's long, I hope it's not a chore to read! Any comments are welcome, there's a comments thread for it on the Nine Winds forum here. You'll need to register (preferably using your main in-game name), but all upstanding members of the PotBS community are welcome there. We hope to use it to not only increase communication and cooperation within our society but also hope (at least, I personally do) that it may help as a catalyst to increase roleplay on Antigua again - I haven't seen an RP drive mentioned on the forums in quite some time!

Enjoy!))

[iamdayip]

I have read them all, and besides of being interesting, i have no idea where the tale is going to.
But i liked it.