Legacy

Ahoy there! Landlubber’s an seaman alike, me name is Captain Michael Kilkarney  Me father came over from the old sod 50 years ago and settled in the Bahama’s.  A good and great fisherman was he.  I was almost raised on his boat, “The Kathleen”, named after me sainted mother.

My father taught me the business and me and myself learned it quite well thank you.  I inherited the boat and the business from me father, God rest his soul.  Yes tis true, me myself and I learned quite well and I myself am a most excellent fisherman and charter boat Captain.  I have many a year experience.

My favorite fishing spots lie near a few small uninhabited islands. Uninhabited that is, because they lie so low that in even a mild storm the water washed over them.    Still a few palm trees manage to grow on them.

These small islands lie just a few miles inside the so called Bermuda Triangle.  You know; the triangle so many allegedly weird things happen in, disappearance and the alike. I’ve sailed these waters many a year and never saw anything the least bit funny or odd.  Yet many, many wild stories persist, getting bigger each time they are told.  I always figured they were the biggest bunch of blarney I’d ever heard.  But it entertains the tourists and customers so I repeat them like they were fact.  Business is business you know.

Now and again when business was slow, I’d take me boat out and fish for just for me and myself.  Tourists were happy when they caught anything decent, but of course they all hoped for the illusive Marlin, some of which can reach a thousand pounds.  Most tourists desire them as trophies, but not me, I sell them for their meat at an on the dock price of ten dollars per pound.  So you see even one smaller, a 4 or 5 hundred pound one  can bring in very good money.  Certainly worth a days time and boat fuel.  Some days there were no prize Marlins to be had.  Once I caught two on the same day, probably never happen again

Anyway, now to the point of the day in question that this story springs from.  I’d been out still  fishing for Red Snapper, not a big money fish per pound, but easy to catch, plentiful, and tasty.  So a couple of dozen ten pound ones made the trip worth while, and on this day it was a custom order I was trying to fill.  If successful I’d get a bit of a premium over normal price.  Enough extra to buy a bottle of the finest Irish Whisky there was.  Usually I could only afford me and myself the cheap stuff for me nipping.

It was a fine clear day, not a cloud in the sky, and a mild cool breeze just made everything all so nice.  I’d already caught four and was feeling pleased with myself so I had a congratulatory wee nip, maybe two, but definitely not three.  I set there feeling good and minding me own business, when out of the blue it was there.

It you say, well I’ll tell you just what it was.  It was a three master old merchant sailing ship.  English by the look of her and 16^th century by design.  Yet it looked like the day it was made.  I figured maybe some movie company was making a movie.  It was under full sail and only a quarter mile off my port bow. Couldn’t figure out why I hadn’t spotted it sooner.

I just had to see what the deal was so I hauled up my fishing line and sped over to her.  Only took a couple of minutes to catch up as my motor craft was fifteen times faster than an old sailing ship.  I hailed the ship and they threw me a line.  I scrambled up the side ladder and was warmly greeted by some Limeys (pardon my words) with a heavy old English accent along with thee’ and thou’s and so on.  I justk new it was a bunch of actors and I figured maybe I could get a bit part for a little profit for me.

The Captain said to me, what kind of boat have you got that moves so fast with no sails. Okay, I’m Irish and I got me a good sense of humor, so I don’t mind if someone yanks me around a bit.

But before I could respond the ship gave a shudder, the sails started to tear and disintegrate, the wood started to crack and shrivel.  The blinking thing was going to fall apart.  I thought good grief; even a drunken Irishman could build a better replica ship. Now a drunken Irishman is a rare thing as we Irish hold our liquor very well, thank you.  Nevertheless it was obvious the blinking thing was going to sink, and the life boats were deteriorating also.

There was an island with a small beach only a half a mile away.  I pointed at it and said for your lives sake, beach it before it goes under.  That was immediately responded to as an excellent idea.  I hurriedly got back in me boat and headed that way me self.

I got there ahead of them and watched as that sailing ship slowly fell to pieces, but faith and begorra they beached her with five minutes to spare.  They all scrambled off and onto the beach.

There were about thirty of them and my boat could only tight packed hold maybe ten.  I could take some to port and get help and come back for the others.  Before I could tell them me plan, the Captain said your boat makes me wonder something.  I said and what might that be?  He asked what year it was and I told him.  He just about lost it, turned whiter than a sheet.

When he got his composure back he explained that in the year 1547 while sailing this area to pick up a cargo to take to England, a huge storm arose, the sky turned a very strange color and some kind of opening rent the sky and their ship was drawn into it.  The next thing they knew was they were in a strange place.

They encountered more strange water craft piloted by tall men with blue skin and silver suits. Scared the bejabbers out of them it did.  He went on to say however their fears were quickly put to rest as the blue skinned men were beneficent indeed.  The told us that we’d been drawn into an alternate dimension by a freakish anomaly.  They said they had the means to return us which made us happy.

Then they said they would like to teach us a few things about medicines, improved agricultural techniques and a few other things we could take back and use the knowledge to help our fellow man.  That seemed good to us and we were all good pupils.

It seemed to us all that learning took a couple of years.  They said that’s true in earth time, but irrelevant as we will return you to a time just an hour or two after you left.  That way we’d avoid the storm again.

Obviously someone made a grievous miscalculation in operating what ever device they used to transport us back.  Apparently back on earth the current age of the ship caught up with passage of time and deteriorated rapidly as if it had been here all along. That seemed reasonable, but it was boggling me mind, and I had to have some nips, four to be exact and that barely braced me for what happened next.  All thirty of them one by one and sometimes three or four at a time aged into withered old men in a matter of minutes.

I needed me another bracer, but before I could get me a nip swigged, they literally turned to dust and blew away in the breeze.

Nothing was left of them; and only a small pile of residue from their ship.  I noticed a few things gleaming in the residue and waded out a few feet to inspect.  I found some metallic relics of various kinds, some forks and spoon, a spyglass.  Apparently being metal they with stood the aging process intact.  The most important thing I recovered was the brass ships bell.  It was engraved Mary Celeste.

By this time I was too stunned to even think about a nip.  I went back to port with the salvaged items and told me tale.  I was laughed right out of the tavern before I could buy me a nip.  However, while the antiquities dealer down the street laughed at me also, he paid a pretty penny for those artifacts.  He said he loved my tale it was so typically Irish.  That bit of insult made me fell like giving him a five fingered Irish kiss right in the chops.  But being that the church wouldn’t have approved, I didn’t.

So how does this story end? Just like this, I made enough money off those artifacts that I didn’t have to take tourists out for a living anymore.  So I sailed me boat right out of the Bermuda Triangle area to calmer waters where I became a Sports Fisherman, just for me own entertainment.  Some days I just sit in me chair outside me fine beachside cottage and enjoy me nips as I please.