Happy Thanksgiving!
Hi there. I think I'm coming down with something. I haven't been feeling too great. No, that's why I haven't posted in a while. Or is it? Hmmm...
Hi there. I've been sick for months and months. Terrible, really. Had the doctors stumped. Ended up calling it "Martin's Syndrome". Symptoms include being a little sick for a day and saying it's lasted for the previous few months.
I'm not going to try to sum up all of the events that have happened in the past few months. That would bore you to death. Instead, I'm going to describe my commute to work as if it were a tale of the briny deep.
Six bells rang on the morning watch. Vittles were light for breakfast, and naught was packed for the day's tea. I said a blessing in my heart for those I left ashore, hoping I shall see them again. The crisp fog lay over the sea like a fine head of hair. The wind was with us, however, and we were able to navigate swiftly.
Given the morning measurements, our longitude indicated that the mighty Wixom currents were near. We knew that these currents have stopped many a ship, but we had no choice but to sail them. Many men of finer valor have attempted to circumnavigate the currents, only to find themselves lost. The sea does strange things to a man's orientation.
We approach another ship very soon. This is not unusual, as we were on a well known trade route, but the manner of her sailing was quite peculiar. Several times would she straddle the median of the current, flashing her colors as if to indicate a desire to change her heading to the port side, dropping her sails to slow her rate. Then, after we were forced to take precautions against colliding with the vessel, she would raise her sails and proceed as though with full vigor. This repeated several times. To ensure the safety of my crew against the strange madness, I ordered my ship around the starboard of the awkward vessel. This is much frowned upon in terms of naval protocol, I know, but I saw no other remedy.
We began to see land around seven bells. The past half of an hour seemed to be consumed quickly, yet this did not sooth the drudgery I felt from the sea. We followed other ships along the trade route. A novel navigational pattern has been adopted here, wherein ships would travel in a circle and break off in the desired direction when oriented as such. For example, a ship with an occidental heading would enter the circle and, if the captain wished for her to be cape bound, would travel the circle counter-clockwise until her heading was southward, and then would break from the circle. I find it a useful method to alleviate the congestion here, as several trade routes merge at this very location by nature of tradition and of the currents, but I see often that other captains cannot properly understand the method of navigation. This has caused several near collisions for me. Today's journey, however, was safe.
I arrived at my destination safely and with all my crew as able bodied as when we launched. I send a missive back home to announce my safety to my loved ones. The day has only begun.