Jennifer Jane takes to the air 2/4

"Help, help!" called Jennifer Jane as soon as she could. Thank goodness Dad had made her learn to swim before he allowed her out in her canoe.

"Heave to, dinghy away," came shouts from the big sailing boat.

Jennifer Jane swam towards the dinghy and was soon being hauled to safety. Sure enough, her rescuers were goblins, though they were dressed differently to any other goblin's she'd seen. They all looked alike, with blue and white horizontally striped jerseys and red stocking caps with a tassel hanging down their backs.

The dinghy came alongside the brig. Jennifer Jane scrambled up and was given a blanket to keep her warm, then she was led towards the stern of the boat whilst the dinghy was being brought back on board.

"Fore tops'l braces let go and haul," bellowed a voice, making Jennifer Jane jump, "well the lee sheet, belay that."

There were such a lot of goblin sailors running about that she was quite bewildered.

"Here she is, Cap'n," said the goblin who had been walking with her along the deck "but she looks a bit young for a witch to me."

In front of Jennifer Jane was a rather stern looking goblin, dressed in a blue jacket with brass buttons and a peaked cap with a badge, which had the letters 'DJ' embroidered on it in gold thread.

"You're not a witch, so what ever were you doing on a broomstick out here in the estuary? Speak up now, young lady, or you'll find yourself in serious trouble. Clapped in irons and bread and water for a week, I shouldn't wonder."

"Please, sir," said Jennifer Jane, "my name is Jennifer Jane and I found Abigail's old broomstick and thought I would try and fly it to see my friend Barnacle Bill. Then I saw your lovely sailing ship, so I came to have a look and that's when I fell in the water. Thank you very much for rescuing me," she added.

"So you're a friend of Charles William, are you? Well, luckily for you, we're on sailing trials and we'll be going back to the boatyard in an hour or two. Then we'll see if we can get you home somehow. In the meantime, you'll have to stay with us and see how to be a real sailor."

Jennifer Jane was taken below and given a set of goblin sailor clothes while her own were being dried.

"That's better," said the Captain, when she came back on deck, "at least you look like a proper sailor now. Now then, this is the latest addition to the Davy Jones trading fleet and we're just making sure that all the gear works properly before we take delivery from the boatyard."

"I think this must be the brig I saw being built," said Jennifer Jane.

"She's really a brigantine," said the Captain rather grandly, "we have fore and aft rig on the main mast, which gives us good ability to windward and a square rigged foremast for trade wind sailing."

Jennifer Jane said that she had done a little sailing in her Father's dinghy, so the Captain let her steer for a bit while he stood close by in case she made any mistakes.

"Well done," he said eventually "but we'll have to let the bosun take over now, because we’ve got to beat back to the yard and that can be a bit tricky if you're not too sure of your vessel."

The brig turned round and began to zigzag against the wind, slowly sailing back up the river.

"Ready about, helm alee," called the Captain.

'Just like Dad's dinghy, only much bigger of course and a lot slower to go from one tack to the other,' thought Jennifer Jane.

"Slacken that loo'ard running back stay," shouted the Captain. One of the sailors hurried along the deck but he was too late and the main boom swung over and hit one of the ropes holding up the mast. There was a terrible cracking noise and the main mast broke just above the deck and slowly fell forward, bringing down the foremast as it went.

The lovely new brig lay still, with all the gear littering the decks and trailing in the water.

"A right hurrah's nest this is," said the Captain, "I told the rigger that running back stays were no good on a vessel this size. Well, serves him right. Now he'll have to re-rig us and do the job properly."

One of the goblins sent up a distress rocket and the crew started to tidy up the fallen masts and sails as best they could while they waited for someone to come and rescue them.

"Can't you motor back to the boatyard?" asked Jennifer Jane.