Chapter Nine

Captain Russell Rustenburg was a great sailor. With fifteen voyages to remember he had gained a lot of experience in dealing with encounters at sea which includes pirates invasion, shipwreck, cold, hunger, thirst, and isolated Islands. At the age of forty five, he had learnt more than ever that the life one enjoys is more prized than anything he or she possesses. This fact had been the undoing for some who had clutched too long to their cargo and would not let go.

Of all of a sailor’s fears, shipwreck and pirate invasion were the worst. Both had the capacity to steal away lives and property, the former being more dangerous than the second, for in that case, the entire boat was lost. The latter was more painful as it is something that could be easily avoided. It causes great pain when you see your fellow man take away what you have just because he has a gun in hand and you don’t.

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It was the first morning of the third week, more than halfway through the voyage, when the captain i