Inherited Vengeance

"She Blows! Two points starboard! She blows!" The cry from the crow's nest alerted the crew.

"Bring us about, helmsman." The captain commanded, sighting through his telescope. "Lookout, mark your sighting!"

"Aye, Captain. She's sounding."

The ship heeled slightly and sliced through the sea's chop. With no new sighting, the Captain told the helmsman to heave to. The ship slowed and gradually drifted leeward. All attention concentrated on the sea, waiting.

"She blows, Captain! Calmed just off the port bow!"

The Captain found the quarry with his glass. The giant shape rested on the surface less than a thousand yards away.

"Ready the longboat, get on the halyards and four men on the yards."

He closed his glass and leaned on the rail. "Harpooners to the davits. Oarsmen. Stations."

The crew performed their duties flawlessly.

" She's sounding again!" The voice sounded tense, and tasks halted waiting on the next order.

"Work the halyards. Set a steady luff, helmsman."

An eerie silence, broken only by the soft slap of the sail and the creaking of the mast then an explosion from the stern and the force of the attack lifted the ship almost clear of the hull. The strained frame buckled the mast and the lookout and men on the yards were hurled into the sea. The long boat crushed several of the crewmen as iit crashed from the davit.

Tossed about like dolls, the Captain and the terrified helmsman, watched the shape rise out of the sea and crash onto the rear deck. One huge eye pinned him to the spot and in that moment, he was looking at death. The weight forced the ship under the waves and the sea poured down the hatches filling below decks.

Another huge surge and the Pequod II vanished into the sea, sucking her captain and crew with her.