Mutiny by John King

Ship Battle by 88grzes on DeviantArt.com

Shipwreck. Barbados. Rudder splintered o’er the shoals. Keel cracked n’ bleedin’ water.

Royal Navy’s colors close behind.

No matter.

Me cutlass be out, carvin’ the scuttling crew.

Nick, ye mutinying bastard. I’ll be in gaol so long as you’ll be in hell.

The screaming turns ye.

“Avast, Thom, you bilge-rat” says ye, drawing steel.

Grape-shots burst the deck around us. This confusion of sky and sea and bone.

Your blade is a butt-end, which ye drop o’erboard.

I jump smoking gaps between planks. Ye swing a belaying pin, which I lop your hand off for.

Next goes your head.

Tied to the Tide by Minda Stephens

Drown deep, my Love by MoonLightSpectre on DeviantArt.com

I stand against the mast of our wrecked ship, tied to the tide.

She’d surrendered the battle, called me the “subjugator of all who ride the waves.”

I escaped the San Juan prison with the booty, sailing for the soft green meadows of home.

Then the tide turned.

Was it worse losing the treasure, or losing it to a woman who calls herself a pirate?

No matter now, for yonder she breaks the horizon; white sails and yellow hair a flyin’.

My bloody wounds call the great finned monsters, and the tide is rising.

The tide is, the tide, the …

Eye Failed by Katherine Parker

Pirate by Glumych on DeviantArt.com

“Mind the jib!” Urgot the One-Eyed bellowed from the watchtower, a telescope in one hand and the guardrail in the other. “The chase be on!”

His crew stomped the deck, curved blades cutting salty air as they whooped and hollered.  The dark body of their victim came clearer into view with each passing moment, lying heavy in the sea with her belly full of gold.

“She’s taken anchor!” he cried, triumphant, “Prepare to boa—“

The figurehead screamed as Urgot the One-Eyed was thrown from his perch, the hull of his ship crushed by land.

“Shoulda used mah good eye!”

Cabin Boy’s Plight by The Despot

The Sinking by frog648 on DeviantArt.com

“Discipline,” shouted the captain, “is essential! Three days in the crow’s nest.”

Better than flogging, thought Jim, until the nausea started. Every wave swung Jim in a dizzying arch. He curled up, retching. “Damn the captain.”

Shouts below. Jim peered over the lip.

A ship swung broadside, releasing grapeshot. Gunwales splintered. Sails shredded. Decks ran red.

Another salvo. The ship listed, sank, swallowing captain and crew.

The sea approached. “Save me,” Jim prayed.

The hull crunched on coral, suspending Jim a fathom above water.

The attacking ship sailed off.

“Come back,” Jim called.

It didn’t. Not all prayers are answered.

Crackers of Doom by Tom Lucas

Pirate Parrot by Aeyolscaer on DeviantArt.com

The rival ship was thundering toward them. The captain, his gloriously plumed parrot perched on his shoulder, addressed his merry marauders.

“Kill them all. And be sure to grab all of their crackers,” he said in his peculiar singsong voice.

The men rumbled. One brave soul raised his hand. “Sir? We are ready to fight, but we have some questions.”

“There is no time. Crackers await!”

The parrot fluttered his wings and took to the air. The captain’s limp body, a crudely stuffed effigy, immediately fell to the deck.

“Called it,” said another.

Soon sabers and talons would cut deep.

Call You What? … Spell that. by Jeff Hurt

Moby Dick by scumbugg on DeviantArt.com

I knew why they’d come. Albino skin makes me a target. I’m twice the size of others of my kind. It makes me a challenge.

A nasty scar, stretched along his face and down his torso. Greying temples beset his dark eyes. Lunacy behind those eyes. I had seen men like him before.

Battle begins.
Searing pain.
Steel pierced flesh. My flesh. …
My turn.
Thrashing my massive fluke, I broke free, destroying their craft. I tore off the leg of the scarred man, swallowing it whole.

His screams echoed through Big Blue for miles.

Doubtful I’ll see him again.

Blood by Name, Blood by Deed by Joshua Begley

Pirate Duel by WouterBruneel on DeviantArt

There. Richard saw it, the key to victory. War erupted around him as his crew fought the mutineers, but his attention stayed fixed on his first mate.

“You’re too gray, too weak to be captain anymore, Blood.”

Richard smiled and concentrated on his footing. The ship pitched and yawed on the waves. Blood and body parts rolled on the deck. One false step and it was all over.

The first mate went into his pattern, two feints and a slash. Richard stepped into the slash and ran the mutineer through.

“Blood by name, blood by deed, Captain.”

“Aye,” Richard said.

‘Til Death Do Us Part by Naomi Butterfield

Chains by MikaZZZ on DeviantArt.com

“So calling me the ball and chain rings true!”

McGrath bellowed his anguish. “Why, Mary?”

Her cutlass sang into its sheath. “I’m a better leader than you and you know it. You stopped listening, McGrath!”

He lunged forward, but the shackle held and he fell.

She knelt. “To the plank? Or would you prefer I made this quick?” He made a grab for his knife. She had it faster, opened his jugular, his gurgled expiration.

“Quick, then.” She palmed his eyes closed. “Him spat from the sea, his salt to return. Ashes to silt.” She sniffed. “I’ll miss ya, Love.”

Spoils of War by Phil Boyle

Amplexus Pirate by ShawnCoss on DeviantArt.com

Tarl Graytooth shifted uncomfortably as a splinter from the damaged deck stabbed his back.  That was the least of his worries as his left arm dangled loosely, gobbets of blood slowly drying into red balloons that hung from his stained shirt.  Alas, the battle was worth it; there was food aboard again!  The bloody chunk of meat left a trail of juice in his beard.  Fine cuts of meat could be gained from the chest and shoulders.  Better still the fatty thighs.  But the best, ah, the dessert of meats, was the dead pirate’s calves, which tasted just like veal.

The Garrulous Privateer by Glenn Romanek

Out to Sea by Sandora on DeviantArt.com

“Die, villain, die! Die by my trusty buccaneering blade! HA! HA! HA! Lost your head, huh? Ha! Ha! Ha! Now YOU, Blackbeard, scum of the Spanish Main. Swish! Swish! Ha! Ha! Lost your beard, huh? Now your toupee! Ha, ha. One swish. Blacky, dear Blacky, thy slow antique broadsword down stroke matches not my lightning Damascus steel beauty booty. Now, Blacky, prepare thy self for the devil’s realm. With a refrain I forget I– THRUST HOME! Damn. So-o-o … YOU, thee, thou art THE JOLLY DODGER! Off with thy mask, Jolly. Off with it! Zounds! Errol Flynn!”