Friday, March 23, 2012

Avast...

...and yo ho ho me hearties! I know it has been a while since I have posted anything. I will beg your forgiveness and understanding as I am having much fun with classes this semester. For those of you who know my recent history of classroom experiences, this semester is a veritable pleasure as compared with previous efforts.

Now in an effort to maintain some continuity here, it is my duty to report on the current state of affairs in my life. The short version is the hatches are still battened and the weather decks are cleared. I have been manning all posts continually and thus far the crew has not given less than 110% efforts. The navigation systems are still knocked out leaving us to navigate by sun and stars. The problem however is that the overcast conditions prevent a clear bearing on the sun and only a few limited peeks at the stars, during the few calming moments in the weather, have allowed for bearing fixes but not sufficient to plot a course. I have been attempting to ascertain if the ship is still in a founder or if the trade currents have finally taken hold to move the ship free from this cursed quagmire. Alas, all attempts to correlate the few position fixes that have been obtained have only revealed that the ship is being tossed to a fro with in a confined area of the sea. 
The ship is still provisioned however rationing has been implemented to double the length that the stores will last. With no sign of change in the weather and nary hint of landfall to be spied, these precautions must be taken. As yet the hull remains reasonably water tight, the few leaks remaining at a very manageable induction rate which the bilge pumps are keeping up with.
Moral among the crew has been showing the signs of strain lately. Some deckhands were found to be quarreling about rations and duty rotations. The Quarter-Master puts things aright before events took an unfortunate turn and all parties involved have been placed on restriction with extra duties. I fear that if this cursed becalming does not break soon, the hear of the crew may break in its place.
A plan has been formulated to begin attempting to manually shift the ship and find the trade belts but as yet has been deemed to risky to implement. It may become the only resort left to us if our situation does not change soon.