There has been much talk in the drinking houses of the port area recently of a long lost treasure. So far as I have been able to tell the instigator of the rumour is one Remington Thursday, who ,perhaps rather naively sought out the assistance of the community of at least one of the less savoury bars in the recovery of the treasure. Needless to say, Mr Thursday has since been relieved of the documents that he had which indicated the whereabouts of the treasure. One can only suspect who might be behind these piratical deeds.
Those of us less driven by the demon greed have expressed concern over the apparent curse upon the aforementioned treasure, an ancient amulet, by all accounts; indeed by my own account for I am now the owner of this very item.
I had heard the rumours and being equipped for marine exploration chose to comb the seabed for the evidence lest the uncaring mercenaries were to avail themselves of it and unleash the curse without any thought upon what might happen. and so it was that early this evening I was working my way across the seabed near the wreck of a old sunken vessel, a vessel that I have noted and charted before. The ship lies upon its side on a ridge of seabed and I know not how long it has rested there. The sketch below, though rudimentary suggests how the ship might look to those observing it from the waters.
However, it was to my great surprise, that in the trench that falls away to the north side of the resting place of the ship, I spied a body, severely damaged and decomposed but held frozen by rigor mortis and decay and a state of serene repose. I can not but wonder about this state, I would consult with my more learned friends the good Doctor Mason and Mr. Hengest Whitfield whose knowledge of cadavers is unsettlingly rich. The very nature of that pose suggests to me a relaxed but intentional state at the time of death, this is clearly at odds with the alleged manner of death conveyed from the journal entries circulated by Mr Thursday; it is almost as if the young lady settled to await her death, but the very depth of the water would suggest that she should already have been dead before reaching the bottom, was she weighed down? A more worrying suggestion, did the amulet, that sustains the youth and beauty of at least one of the mythical accounts serve to sustain its most recent victim, was the poor wretch condemned to the deep and yet lived on shackled and weighted to the sea bed?
In any case, the body, now frozen in this eery pose, has clearly floated free of any bonds and drifted into the open. Upon the body I found an item of jewelry. I placed the item, quickly into the steel stowage compartment of my suit and, perhaps not before time, as I was soon joined by Miss Dagger, a lady who I have had no previous encounter with and who for all I knew could have been one of the pirates but who I later discovered to be of a similar mind to myself, motivated less by greed than by an intention not to let the competing scoundrels find it.
I signalled to Miss Dagger and we met to converse on the surface. I expressed my fear over the intentions of other parties and that one may find themselves similarly consigned to the depths if one was seen to stand between such scoundrels and their loot. We agreed that the best course of action would be to secure the amulet until its rightful possession could be established through the courts. Together we met with the mayor this evening and the amulet has been placed under secure glass in the offices of the Bow Street Runners. It will take a brave thief to steal it from there and I hope that this action will deter those with greed in their minds but I fear that they may still collude to retrieve the item with history repeating itself from the time of Phayllus' theft of the necklace from the Temple at Delphi.
I should perhaps note that, despite my reservations over this tale, when I removed the amulet from its steel pocket in my suit, I was aware of a faint "song", though it was not truly musical, I fear it is part of the curse foretold in the rumours and I worked quickly to place it into a sealed steel casket ready to present to the mayor. Furthermore, in keeping with the rumours, upon presentation to the mayor, he was unaware of any sounds, so it does not seem to affect men. Miss Dagger and I both heard the noise, and perhaps through my proximity, it left me quite dizzy, near nauseous before I was able to seal it. No further ill effects since I am pleased to say.
Tomorrow I will be contacting one of our good doctors with a view to raising the body of the poor soul and following an appropriate autopsy, convey her remains to rest.
Those of us less driven by the demon greed have expressed concern over the apparent curse upon the aforementioned treasure, an ancient amulet, by all accounts; indeed by my own account for I am now the owner of this very item.
I had heard the rumours and being equipped for marine exploration chose to comb the seabed for the evidence lest the uncaring mercenaries were to avail themselves of it and unleash the curse without any thought upon what might happen. and so it was that early this evening I was working my way across the seabed near the wreck of a old sunken vessel, a vessel that I have noted and charted before. The ship lies upon its side on a ridge of seabed and I know not how long it has rested there. The sketch below, though rudimentary suggests how the ship might look to those observing it from the waters.
However, it was to my great surprise, that in the trench that falls away to the north side of the resting place of the ship, I spied a body, severely damaged and decomposed but held frozen by rigor mortis and decay and a state of serene repose. I can not but wonder about this state, I would consult with my more learned friends the good Doctor Mason and Mr. Hengest Whitfield whose knowledge of cadavers is unsettlingly rich. The very nature of that pose suggests to me a relaxed but intentional state at the time of death, this is clearly at odds with the alleged manner of death conveyed from the journal entries circulated by Mr Thursday; it is almost as if the young lady settled to await her death, but the very depth of the water would suggest that she should already have been dead before reaching the bottom, was she weighed down? A more worrying suggestion, did the amulet, that sustains the youth and beauty of at least one of the mythical accounts serve to sustain its most recent victim, was the poor wretch condemned to the deep and yet lived on shackled and weighted to the sea bed?
In any case, the body, now frozen in this eery pose, has clearly floated free of any bonds and drifted into the open. Upon the body I found an item of jewelry. I placed the item, quickly into the steel stowage compartment of my suit and, perhaps not before time, as I was soon joined by Miss Dagger, a lady who I have had no previous encounter with and who for all I knew could have been one of the pirates but who I later discovered to be of a similar mind to myself, motivated less by greed than by an intention not to let the competing scoundrels find it.
I signalled to Miss Dagger and we met to converse on the surface. I expressed my fear over the intentions of other parties and that one may find themselves similarly consigned to the depths if one was seen to stand between such scoundrels and their loot. We agreed that the best course of action would be to secure the amulet until its rightful possession could be established through the courts. Together we met with the mayor this evening and the amulet has been placed under secure glass in the offices of the Bow Street Runners. It will take a brave thief to steal it from there and I hope that this action will deter those with greed in their minds but I fear that they may still collude to retrieve the item with history repeating itself from the time of Phayllus' theft of the necklace from the Temple at Delphi.
I should perhaps note that, despite my reservations over this tale, when I removed the amulet from its steel pocket in my suit, I was aware of a faint "song", though it was not truly musical, I fear it is part of the curse foretold in the rumours and I worked quickly to place it into a sealed steel casket ready to present to the mayor. Furthermore, in keeping with the rumours, upon presentation to the mayor, he was unaware of any sounds, so it does not seem to affect men. Miss Dagger and I both heard the noise, and perhaps through my proximity, it left me quite dizzy, near nauseous before I was able to seal it. No further ill effects since I am pleased to say.
Tomorrow I will be contacting one of our good doctors with a view to raising the body of the poor soul and following an appropriate autopsy, convey her remains to rest.
2 comments:
i admire your pure intentions and your daring do! i'm just glad the bauble in question will NOT be destroyed...such a thing should be under glass in a museum...
good work! spanish gold is so much easier to deal with!
~Capt. Red
What a thrilling recounting of your tale of adventure! I am very relieved that you are unscathed, and of mixed feelings about the preservation of the item in question. I suppose time will tell....
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