Synopsis:
Johannes van den Ijssel is, at age 16, very young to be accepted as a shipmate on the ‘Prins Willem’; a large freight ship owned by the Dutch East India Company. He is very proud that he gets to sail on a gold transport, although the gold is not the most valuable thing on board to Johannes.
***
It was a cold, hard winter. The kind of cold that when you stand outside, you feel the tip of your nose get stiff and the tears in your eyes almost freeze up. There was no ice on the water, so the ship just sailed on along its’ course. Johannes didn’t mind the cold, he loved being on deck. This was his first job on board of a ship this big, with such an important load and he felt like he was on top of the world.
Two days before they had set sail, his dad had taken him to a bar and had toasted to his new job: “My son is becoming a man today! Next week he will be a shipmate on the ‘Prins Willem’ of the Dutch East India Company. Let’s drink to that!” Everyone had toasted and celebrated with them. He hadn’t told his dad what kind of freight they were shipping. He had been sworn to secrecy and even if he hadn’t he knew his dad would never agree to let him go along on a gold fleet.
But Johannes wasn’t afraid. Not even half of the gold fleets were actually attacked and even if they were, part of the crew always survived. If they were ever attacked, he just had to be the cleverest one. After all, he had spent so many good hours inside studying, while he could have been playing with the other boys. His dad had always found this strange. But Johannes had a goal. One day, he wanted to be a merchant for the DEIC, instead of a mere shipmate. And when he was, he would be able to ask Greetje to marry him.
***
“Johannes! Why aren’t you mopping?” The bosun was yelling at him from the upper deck. Johannes woke up from his daydream and got to work. There was nothing to look at around here anyways. They were sailing out on the North Sea and about 5 hours after they had left all he had ever seen was water.
Working hard got him warm and by lunchtime he was already sweating in his clothes. They sat down for a hot lunch in the cabin and Johannes was so warm he took his vest off.
“Hold on to your clothes there young man!” one of the older sailors warned him. “Someone else might be needing that with this cold and once it’s gone, it’s gone. It’s finders keepers on board, kid.” The man was smiling at him from across the table and then stuck out his hand. “Hermanus is the name, but you can say Herman.” The man winked as he said it and showed some of his black and rotten teeth. It wasn’t a pretty smile. Johannes took his dirty hand and shook it firmly. “Johannes Van den Ijssel sir.” He said, a little insecure. The smile disappeared from Hermanus’ face. “Now, what did I tell ya?” he looked straight at Johannes with a serious look on his face. “H..Herman…” Johannes corrected himself.
“And how old might you be, young boy? Cannot be eighteen yet, can it?
“No sir…Herman, I am 16 years old now.”
“Now that’s a good age to be starting to learn the trade. I am sure you’ll be a bosun by the time you’re thirty! You will with my help! Stick with me boy, and I’ll show you the ropes.” Johannes was glad to have found a friend.
His dad might have thought he had finally become a man, Johannes still felt like a little boy. Except when he had a chance to go into the captain’s quarters. Not only did he feel important when he got a chance to go into the only decorated space on the ship, it also gave him a chance to sneak a peek at the painting of the captain’s daughter Geertruida. Secretly, Johannes had been in love with Geertruida (Geertje) for a while. But he knew her father would never let her marry a simple shipmate. He wasn’t even a sailor yet. But it didn’t hurt to dream.
Geertruida had long blonde hair and big blue eyes. She was as Dutch as they come and because her dad was a captain, she was always dressed pretty. But unlike the other rich girls, Geertruida was actually nice and friendly. Johannes could think about her all day.
***
As the days went by Johannes got more and more comfortable on the ship. He started to get to know the routines and the other sailors and since he worked hard and never complained, they let him be in peace. Herman told him as much as he could when they had a chance and he was learning fast.
“Johannes, I need you to bring the captain lunch in his quarters.” The bosun told him one day. “Yes sir!” Johannes jumped up and ran to the cabin to get lunch for the captain. The cook wasn’t done yet, so he had to wait in the cabin for a while. He didn’t mind, it had been raining all day and his clothes were wet and cold. The cabin was nice and warm, so he had a chance to dry his clothes. “You got you a good strong pair of sealegs yet boy?” the cook asked him after a while.
“Sealegs?” Johannes forgot all modesty and blatantly answered the cook. He didn’t seem bothered by his remark and just went ahead and continued. “Look, I work hard to make good food here, don’t want some chickenleg shipmate to trip at the first wave that hits this ship and spill my food. You got that boy?”
“Yes, sir!” Johannes had by now learned to respond to orders with ‘yes sir’ no matter who they came from. He picked up the platter, which indeed, was heavy, and started walking towards the door slowly. He never saw the cook standing behind the stove shaking his head in distrust.
***
It took a while but Johannes got to the Captain’s quarters without spilling anything. The big platter took up both his hands so a new problem arose. How to knock on the door?
“You waiting for the door to open itself kid?” It was Hermanus behind him. Johannes had been standing there indecisive for about a minute now, and he had a feeling Hermanus had been standing there the same amount of time, just watching him and enjoying his clumsiness. “Well…” he started with an unsteady voice. “Here you go boy, I’ll knock and then I’ll get out of your way.” And so he did.
The captain let Johannes in and asked him to set it up on the table. He was still working on something in the other room. Johannes felt like he’d just won the lottery, because this meant he could look at the picture of Geertruida. However, while doing that, he forgot about setting the table.
“Boy, whatever do you think you are looking at?” it was the captain’s voice and it wasn’t friendly. Johannes figured he had nothing to lose anyways, so he said: “I was looking at this marvelous painting of your daughter, sir. The artist has done a good job capturing her, all though nothing compares to her real beauty.”
By now the captain had moved in front of him, watching the painting as well, his back turned towards him. Johannes’ words made him turn around on the spot. “WHAT, did you say? I do hope a poor shipmate like yourself doesn’t cherish any..”
“BANBANGBANG” someone knocked on the door hard and rapidly. “ENTER” the captain said, as he turned his face towards the door.
“Captain, we have spotted the Carvallo Spanish Pirating ship. They are about an hour away from us if we keep sailing full speed. What shall we do?” It was the bosun and his look was serious. The captain told him to get all the Officers into his quarters now, so they could have a small council.
Johannes didn’t get any orders so he started cleaning off the table. This enabled him to listen to many ideas and watch the panic getting bigger as people yelled things like:
“Their ship is more powerful.”
“We need to protect the freight.”
“Let’s ram them.”
“I say: open fire.”
None of these ideas seemed to please the captain and for a while it became utterly silent in the room.
Johannes even surprised himself when at last he said: “Captain, I have an idea.” All this time he had been staring at the painting of Geertruida on the wall. If he saved this ship, he would surely be a hero.
Everyone was quiet in an instance and 24 heads turned towards the young boy. The captain had seen what he had been looking at and was curious to know what silly idea this boy would come up with.
“Captain, what would you give the man who has the winning solution?” His bravery amazed himself.
The captain played along and said: “I would give him silver.” He looked at Johannes and saw he wouldn’t convince him with just silver. Before he made another offer, he said: “First I would like to hear that ‘winning’ solution.” And so Johannes spoke:
“I shall get into the water and drill holes into the side and bottom of their ship, surely they will sink.”
The Officers all started yabbing at the same time and there was a deafening chaos going on in the room.
“SILENCE!” the captain yelled. He had thought about it for a second and he realized he would have to offer the hand of his daughter, before Johannes would actually jump.
“I shall give you silver, gold, a sword and a gun, if you do so make the Spanish Galleon sink.” The captain said in an official way.
“Captain, would you give the hand of your daughter if I swam and sunk the Carvallo?” The captain had been prepared for this question and to everyone’s surprise said: “Yes, I would give the hand of my daughter to whoever sinks that ship right now.”
***
Johannes didn’t think twice, this was the chance of a lifetime. He would instantly be a hero, be rich and he would get to marry Greetje. He quickly said a prayer before they helped him off the ship and soon he took off swimming. The water was icy cold, but the thought of marrying Geertruida kept Johannes going at full speed. All the officers, the sailors and the captain anxiously watched him from deck, trying not to be too suspicious as Johannes swam closer and closer to the Spanish ship.
***
Soon Johannes reached the ship and started drilling and as much holes and as fast as he could. After a while the captain saw the Spanish ship slightly tip to the side. Johannes had noticed too and knew he might be dragged under if he stayed too long. Besides, he was getting cold and stiff. So with all his courage and strength he started swimming back to the ship. As he came closer, the captain told all his men to get into the cabins and await orders. No one knew how long it would take Johannes to reach the ship and no one would see him coming. The captain patiently waited in his quarters with the bosun.
“Captain?” The bosun asked after quite some time had passed.
“Yes, Adrianus?” the captain answered calmly.
“Shouldn’t we go and see if we can get Johannes out of the water?” The bosun kind of liked the boy and knew he had taken an enormous risk. He had to be taken out of the cold water, otherwise he would either drown or die of pneumonia soon.
But the captain said: “The boy was so eminent on finding his bride, I believe he has found her.” He had never intended on taking him back on the ship. The boy had been so cocky as to expect the hand of his daughter, how dare he ask! No, this boy had sealed his own fate. The captain had decided.
***
The bosun felt differently and had quickly made his excuse to the captain. He rounded up a few men and as they got on deck, they could hear poor Johannes calling out.
“Please, please! Get me up! Get me out of the water! Please!” his voice lacked any spirit or force, he was close to exhaustion.
The men threw out a rope but Johannes had been in the cold water so long, his muscles weren’t functioning anymore. One of the men bravely lowered himself into the water and helped Johannes onto the deck.
They laid him down on deck and started pulling off his wet clothes. ”Let’s get the poor boy inside!” The bosun called.
Inside, they covered him in blankets and the men took turns lying close to him to give him some body heat. Young Johannes was so cold he couldn’t stop shaking. Only the thought of his dear Greetje could keep him going. One day soon, Greetje would be his. Johannes closed his eyes as the men were helping him. He saw her right there, just an inch out of his reach. He knew she would be his soon. “Greetje…. Greetje….” He called out weakly in his sub consciousness.
“Oooh, boy, he’s delirious now.” The bosun said.
Johannes didn’t hear him. Whether the captain really truly kept his word or not; Johannes was on his way to Greetje. A smile appeared upon his face and he slowly stopped breathing.
***
The next morning the bosun and the men gave Johannes a proper sea burial. The bosun said a prayer and a few nice words about this poor young boy. All of the other men said their goodbyes, except for the captain who never came out of his quarters. They dropped him into the cold North sea, to slowly float away into vast and unending happiness, where he could be with his bride forever.
***
And the Spanish Galleon? It was never seen again by anyone sailing the North Sea….
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