Celina Merice. Panama Red. Captain Reginald Goodwood. Planchet. Lefty Hamish McTavish. Honest Jake Fluke. Professor Julius Arbuthnott. 'Colonel' Courtney Rice.
The crew: Wu Ma, cook's assistant. Bartholomew Stew, cook. John Oxenham, ship's carpenter. Nermal, ship's cat. JEREMY, a goat.
The crew: Wu Ma, cook's assistant. Bartholomew Stew, cook. John Oxenham, ship's carpenter. Nermal, ship's cat. JEREMY, a goat.
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Chapter 5 Montserrat
After a few days of slow but uneventful sailing the Sprightly Maiden docked at Margarita Beach on the British controlled island of Montserrat. Our weary adventurers disembarked relieved to be back on shore surrounded by all the trappings of civilisation. 
After securing the ship they made their way to a tavern, booked rooms for the night and settled down in the tap room for an extended period of eating and drinking. Mostly drinking.
The town was awash with rumours and songs and it wasn't long before our heroes were up to date on current affairs with locals eager to regale them with (often lurid) tales of recent events on the island.
After plenty of food and ale and a good night's sleep our heroes awoke the next morning to find Jacobson (and the monkey) gone.
Deciding he'd probably headed for the capitol Plymouth they readied the ship to go there themselves. Honest Jake arranged for them to sail with a hold full of sugar so that they could make some money from the voyage. 
Out to sea again and a few hours later they rounded the southern tip of the island and made their way into the sheltered harbour at Plymouth finding a berth amongst the many merchantmen and Royal Navy war ships that crowded the bay.
Our heroes decided to pay a visit to the Governor in order to obtain letters of marque so that they would be protected by law if they happened to loot any Spanish ships in their travels. 
They met the Governor, the Honourable Sir Richard Turner, in a downstairs parlour of his expansive home.
Turner declined to issue the letters but encouraged the party to return when they had better proof of their prowess. 
After Turner left them our heroes decided to have a look around the Governor's home. The Professor and Honest Jake Fluke went upstairs to the offices and engaged the clerks in a long conversation about trade prospects in the area whilst Celina poked around in the cellars and on the top floor where Turner had his own rooms. She found an extensive library on the top floor and a barrack room in the attic designed to house quite a few armed retainers.
Lefty, Courtney and Panama Red went for a wander around the grounds and found some hidden graves and a secret door that led into the basement of the main house.
Our heroes returned to the centre of Plymouth to await nightfall and see if they could scrounge up more rumours. The gallows being erected in the market square promised a public spectacle in a day or two. Apparently some Spanish pirates were due to meet their maker.
Under cover of darkness the party returned to the Governor's mansion.
they spotted a few ruffians patrolling the grounds.
As our heroes worked out a plan of action their deliberations were interrupted by the arrival of the Governor's coach which disgorged a couple of henchmen carrying a trussed and gagged girl.
The girl was taken around to where the secret door was despite her struggles and our heroes decided it was time to act.
The coachman was dealt with swiftly and silently
and the horses were stampeded to cause a diversion which drew the guards away from their post.
The party moved around the mansion and peered into the cellar room where the girl was being tied to a table surrounded by mysterious robed people. She was evidently very frightened and the robed onlookers were evidently very drunk. They seemed to find the whole thing highly amusing.
As the henchmen left the room they were set upon.
Unfortunately the fight was a messy and noisy affair and gunshots from the henchmen alerted both the guards and the marines stationed at the main gate.
Lefty rushed into the cellar to rescue the girl and saw the last of the robed figures running through a concealed door into the main part of the house. 
As reinforcements closed in on the party it was time for some quick thinking to avoid disaster.
Honest Jake successfully bribed the guards and set them on the surprised marines. With the help of Panama Red the marines were soon incapacitated and everyone rushed into the cellar where Celina had managed to pick the lock on the exit.
Moving cautiously the party located the group of robed figures in the parlour where they had met the Governor previously.
As they watched through a crack in the door they saw the figures reveal themselves to be gentlemen from the town. They recognised Governor Turner, a vicar and a rich merchant they had spotted earlier in the market square.
Deciding these people were too much of a risk to confront our heroes decided to make their getaway trusting that the darkness and confusion would be enough to disguise their identities. 
As they turned to leave they were amazed to see one of the robed men was Jacobson.
With their heads filled with more questions than answers after the night's adventure our heroes returned to their rooms by the market square to plan their next move.
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Montserrat is a Caribbean island—specifically in the Leeward Islands, which is part of the chain known as the Lesser Antilles. Montserrat measures approximately 16 km (10 mi) long and 11 km (7 mi) wide, with approximately 40 km (25 mi) of coastline. Montserrat is nicknamed The Emerald Isle of the Caribbean both for its resemblance to coastal Ireland and for the Irish ancestry of many of its inhabitants
A number of Irishmen settled in Montserrat in 1642 and Gaelic is spoken by most of the inhabitant, both black and white. The colonists built an economy based on the production of sugar, rum, arrowroot and sea island cotton, cultivated on large plantations manned by slave labour. The Irish were also prominent in Caribbean commerce, with their merchants importing Irish goods such as beef, pork, butter and herring, and also importing slaves. Montserrat is known for its coral reefs and its caves along the shore. These caves house many species of bats. A species of tarantula simply called the Montserrat Tarantula is native to the island. 
The Honourable Sir Richard Turner 'Bloody Dick'
In the town of Brades there is a large set of suspended cages where Bloody Dick Turner displayed rebellious slaves and left them to die of hunger and exposure when he put down the rebellion of 1689. There is also the remains of the fire pit where the families of rebelling slaves were burned alive wholesale in front of their caged menfolk. Locals are disapproving of the punishments. Killing the rebellious men was fine but killing the women and children, the breeding stock, that was a waste and cost everybody a lot of money. Nobody understands why the plantation owners allowed that to happen. 'Bloody Dick' is not liked much by the inhabitants of Montserrat but the Crown views him as a reliable and loyal governor. 
NEXT Chapter 6: Black Sanchez
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