I have left for Bloodshot Cove for reasons of which you need not wonder. I tip my hat to the young Earl Flanagan as I pass down my position of Captain to him. Do not worry for me, I am but a ghost. You never knew me. I am but a dream in the eyes of the Shameful Eel.

That had been nearly three years ago, back in 172Earl Flanagan stood out on the bow of his ship, holding a compass in his hand, it’s cool metal reminding him of what lay ahead. Twenty-two years old was too young an age for a man to die. For seven years Earl had sailed on this very ship. As he stood out at the front of the ship and watched the sun set behind the edge of the sea, he heard footsteps from behind.
“Captain!” came a shout from the mast of the ship. “Captain, the men have assembled in the gunport. They wait for your word.”
These words hit Earl heavily and his heart sank. He slowly turned to face a plump man no taller than five foot eight who sported a long black beard matted in an occasional grey, which curled into crude knots every few inches. The man’s name was Burdock, and to some he would be considered more experienced than even Captain Flanagan, yet he was his first mate and most trusted advisor. Earl took a deep breath,

“I was never one for motivational speeches Burdock; you know this,” he said curtly. The fat man grinned.
“But ye were one for stirring the pot when need be. Be honest, Earl. These men knew what they were getting themselves into when they signed up for this.” These words brought a smile to the Captain’s face. It was no use worrying about losing lives when such prosperity lay waiting just a few knots in front of them.

“You understand that there is more to this quest than just gold and pretty women, now don’t you?” Earl inquired with a smile.
Burdock let out a jolly laugh and looked into the distance with a long stare.

“I know what he meant to you, Earl. Shady Pete found this ship, and he gave us all a name for ourselves. But his reasons for leaving us are his own. At least we have the Eel.”
The Shameful Eel was the vessel that the Flanagan’s crew had sailed on the seven seas for many years. Before Earl was promoted to Captain he had been saved from being orphaned, and was adopted at the age of fifteen by their previous leader, the famous pirate, Shady Pete.
“Then let’s get to it!” Earl announced with excitement. “If they want a show, then I’ll give them one!”

As the two crossed in the lower deck, they were met with a surprising sight. The sound of men laughing and raucously celebrating reached the Captain and his first mate as they entered the gunport. The crew slammed mugs of ale on barrels of gunpowder and danced to the music being made by shipmate Jerry Pronger, who even Earl admitted was a skilled guitarist. Flanagan met Burdock’s line of sight from the corner of his eyes. A frown of disapproval crossed the Captain’s face and boiled his blood.
“These fools dare get drunk before such an important moment!” Earl muttered, “Why I haven’t seen ---”
“They are merely drinking away their fright Captain,” laughed Burdock, cutting him off. “I have seen you in the same position at one point you salty son of a b****.”
If it weren’t for the old sea dog’s honesty, Earl would have been worried at times that he would be on the end of a cutlass, or worse, walking the plank into a circle of hammerheads. A mutiny was out of the question, however, or at least out of the minds of the intelligent crew mates. It was one of the only details Shady Pete had left the denizens of the Shameful Eel with before he set off to the Bloodfort hideout. Hastily scribbled on parchment, Pete had left his last requests for the crew to follow before leaving them. Or at least it was thought to be hastily scribbled, but everyone knew that Shady Pete was not particularly book smart and had received his nickname for having more experience in the streets. The crew of the Eel was spending a night in a tavern near Hawaii called the Crossrow Inlet when Pete had slipped out into the night like a fox and stole an Indian man’s sailing vessel.
It was a time when pirates sailed the Caribbean with little resistance, plundering ports between Panama and the Bahamas. But now big news was reaching shores in Great Britain and the Americas that pirates such as Blackbeard and Calico Jack had finally been apprehended. With the British Royal Navy on the prowl for pirates like these, no sea was deemed safe. Except for one. Shady Pete had saw an opportunity for swashbuckling in the deep Pacific.
“The age of piracy has come to its end in the Caribbean my boys.” He had once said with a twinkle in his eye to Earl and the crew. It was with these words that he proceeded to inspire them with tales of endless gold and beautiful women on the other sides of the Americas.
“It is a place with endless crystal blue waters, adventure, and an opportunity to make a name for yourselves!” he would say, stroking his bushy beard with one hand and grabbing at the air with the other. How could the crew of the Eel say no to such a chance? But that was exactly what it was, a hopeless chance. After a year of sailing around the Americas and enduring the most brutal trip men could have seen in their lifetimes, they had reached the Crossrow Inlet, and Pete had simply abandoned them like it was nothing.