The full grown oak 5/9

The next few days soon got her used to the routine aboard the topsail schooner ‘Swan’. They traded along a coastline that was unfamiliar to her, but that didn’t stop her from trying to think of ways of escaping, as she did her work about the boat.

However, every time the Swan entered a port she was locked in her cabin and left there until they were out at sea again. In all other respects everyone treated her fairly, indeed the older sailors instructed her in some of the finer points of seamanship. She was taught knotting and splicing and once even helped the sail-maker mend a torn sail.

If the ship went through transport fogs, she never noticed and assumed that she must have always been asleep at the time. Except for the fact that she couldn’t get home, she would have been perfectly happy.

Then one night she was woken by the mate pounding on her cabin door. “All hands,” came the call and she turned out to find it was blowing a howling gale in the middle of the night. She helped furl the topsails and then went on with the rest of the crew to shorten the fore and aft canvas as well. The schooner didn’t seem to be in any great danger, but water was coming aboard regularly, swamping the lee deck at intervals.

The storm continued for three days before it blew itself out. During this time there was little for her to do, except stand her trick at the wheel and occasionally help re-stow the corner of a sail that had blown loose in one of the stronger gusts of wind.

At last the crew were ordered back on deck to tidy up the ship. Ropes that had come adrift from the belaying pins were re-coiled, the lower topsail was set, while the crew themselves brought out their wet clothing to dry in the sunshine.

The Captain and the first mate were talking together at the weather rail near the steering wheel. Jennifer Jane was rather surprised that the captain hadn’t ordered full sail at once, so that they could go back to their trading run as soon as possible.

“We’re probably lost again,” said one of the crew, noticing where Jennifer Jane was looking. He’d finished hanging out his wet clothes and was having a chat about life at sea. “We often get blown out to sea in bad weather and the navigation all goes wrong. Now they’ve got to make their minds up which way to turn to get back to land.”

Jennifer Jane had a quiet smile to herself. She’d recently seen a television programme about the difficulties of navigating long distances in the old days. If the world she was in was typical of the alternate world she was used to, then they wouldn’t know about the use of accurate clocks to determine longitude.

She walked towards the two officers, wondering if she could turn the situation to her advantage.

“I don’t want to intrude, but I have a feeling from the way you’re behaving that we might be lost!”

“What business is it of yours if we are?” replied the mate. “Crew stay for’ard, even you should know that.”