After the hurricane...

[scourgeofpiracy]

Most of the crew are dead, and those that aren't are keeping their distance, as far as possible, paddling away on whatever wreckage they can find.

He can't blame them. Nor, he finds, does he have much of a will to paddle himself. Not now.

So, sitting on a plank that was conveniently there, James Norrington floats.

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[bringmethatnpc]

It isn't unusual to see bits of flotsam and jetsam in the water -- driftwood mostly, the odd glass bottle, whatever the sea happens to pick up and carry as the tides ebb and flow. But every man who has been at sea long enough to develop calluses on his hands knows the signs of a wrecked ship, and when a shout goes up from the crow's nest atop the main mast of the Edinburgh, all hands rush to divert course and scour the wreckage for survivors.

Captain Bellamy jams his hat upon his head as he hurries out of his cabin, and his voice booms over the other shouts of the crew. "Here, you lot, reef that topsail and look sharp about it, before t'wind picks up again! Carver, get some of those blankets out! And make ready the longboat!"

He reaches the port-side rail, leaning over -- and cannot stifle an oath when he catches sight of the royal blue coat on a body floating face-down in the water.

"Jesus, Mary and Joseph...."

A moment later, he is bawling at the crew to get a move on, get that longboat launched and get the survivors aboard it on the double.