After days of nothing but sea, salt and blazing sun, it seems almost unbelievable. I can feel the mood on board improve with each league that passes. ‘Fresh food by the time this day is out,’ declares Sam Chi, picking up the smell. ‘They have fruit by the cartload out here. The ground is thick with it.’ ‘Pineapples would be good,’ says Bosun Stevenson, with enthusiasm. He is pale compared to the rest of us, who are now dark brown with the constant sunshine, but he seems a lot better. He is spending more and more time up on deck sitting in a chair borrowed from the Captain’s cabin, with his feet well padded and raised on a cushion. ‘Red, aloft with you, if you please,’ says the Captain. ‘And relieve Teuku on watch. Here, take my glass. I want to know when you spy a church tower. It should have a cross or a bell. It’ll probably be white-washed as well. The missionaries seem to like that style.’ I tuck the telescope in my belt and set off up the ratlines, hand-over-hand, towards the crow’s nest.
What do You think about The Smuggler's Curse (2016)?
