"When my father arrives, I would like to propose to him that we don't hang the pirates but we pardon them." "Any man who proposes to pardon a traitor is himself a traitor." "I find his argument persuasive and I find yours wanting, sir." "You're so close to having everything you've wanted." "I came to help you get it." "I hear that one of the thieves assaulted another." "It was all in service of stealing a young girl intended to be ransomed to her father." "Her name was Abigail Ashe." "Lieutenant McGraw, my good friend Lord Peter Ashe." "Mr. Featherstone will announce to his shipmates tomorrow that he has joined a new crew." "Your crew." "He can't be on the ship right now." "It could spoil whatever chances we have to retrieve the Urca gold." "I am fully committed to the removal of Captain Vane from that fort." "You are talking about rendering Nassau completely unprotected." " I know." " What say you, Captain?" "Fire." "It would appear we lost track of time." " Fire!" " Fire!" "Take cover!" "Please." "Please, stop." "Surely you must realize this is a fruitless errand." "The time for conciliation is well past." "I must try." "Why?" "I'm the only one who can stop him, Pastor." "I'm the only one who knows why he's doing it." "__" "Your father said he would never let your proposal come to a vote." "I do believe he meant it." "Tell me what chance this has of success." "Be honest." "Ultimately there is tremendous support for every part of the package." "This entire battle is being waged over the pardon provision." "Without it, I could get this passed in a matter of hours." "The rest of it is meaningless without the pardons." "They're the only hope for redeeming Nassau." "I know, which is why we'll keep on fighting." "I know your father is a formidable adversary." "So am I." "What is it?" "A moment please?" "I'm going to make arrangements to leave for the country." "Leave?" "Leave when?" "Now." " Tonight." " May I ask why?" "This fight with your father." "The more public it gets, the more visible it gets, the greater the liability I will be for you." "Liability?" "How could you possibly..." "The lieutenant's ship arrived this morning." "Returned from the Bahama Islands." "I received word not long ago." "The rumors about me and my relationship with him have gone quiet the past few months he's been away and I'm concerned that when he returns people will start whispering again." "Let them whisper." "It's not the rumors that concern me." "It's the scrutiny that follows that." "And what that scrutiny might unearth." "So someone might discover you and he shared a bed." "I'm concerned they might dig past that and discover something far more damaging than that." "I can assure you, Mr. Gates' death is not one the captain took lightly." "When I arrived just after the deed was done," "I saw the look on his face." "The pain it caused him to do what he did." "But in that moment, he believed it necessary to preserve the hunt for the Urca and her gold." "Flint killed him?" "Yes." "And he's still captain?" "How?" "After a brief interlude, the men saw what I am hoping you will see." "That with the gold still sitting on that beach, he represents our best, perhaps our only chance of retrieving it." "Once this business with Vane and the fort is over, that is what the rest of us intend." "Rest of us?" "That's why I'm here." "You didn't want me with the men." "You're worried I'll challenge Flint." "Well, the thought crossed my mind." "But I'm hoping that once you have a moment to process all of this, you'll remember that you are the same man who when handed a blank page pulled from Mr. Singleton's corpse, stood by the captain for the sake of the bigger picture." "Then you'll realize you were right then." "And the same kind of perspective is what's called for now." "Enough!" "I'm going to see my brothers now." "Until I know what you're going to say to the men," "I can't let you say anything to the men." "He returns at last." "It's good to have you back, Lieutenant." " Sir." " Welcome home." "Three months." "Feels like twice as long." "Our campaign against my father and Whitehall has reached a most critical stage." "If you were able to secure the support of the royal governor in Nassau, it might just be the thing that turns the tide in our favor." "There is no governor in Nassau." "What do you mean?" "I understand the dispute arose over a bribe." "Money that Governor Thompson felt he was owed by a particular pirate captain." "That captain recruited others." "They demanded the governor leave the island at once." "Thompson refused, at which point a dozen armed men broke into his home, dragged his wife and nine-year-old son out into the street and slit their throats." "They let him live, so I'm told, so he would tell the tale and so that there would be no misunderstanding about who is running Nassau now." "Stupid fuckers." "By the time I left, men were beginning to occupy the fort." "Had I stayed another day, I'm not sure they would have let me leave with my ship." "But what is clear is this, right now, there's no law in Nassau." "I'm trying to imagine standing up before the lords and suggesting pardons for these people." "I'm having a difficult time of it." "The men responsible for this crime deserve to be punished." "But we cannot, we must not allow their actions to condemn the rest." "As a matter of political reality, our plan is dead." "Not necessarily." "Beg your pardon?" "The navy hasn't made its case yet." "The navy isn't going to make a case." "The navy will do whatever Parliament tells it to do." "We're in a time of war." "If the Sea Lords were to recommend a change of strategy, who would ignore them?" " The war has got nothing to do with it." " Doesn't it?" "Isn't a lawless Nassau a weakness that Spain could exploit?" "How would you do it?" "By offering our plan directly to the Sea Lords." "Making our case to them." " They'd hear you?" " Yes, I think they would." "Ahem, Lieutenant." "May I speak with you in private, please?" "Now." "It's clear to me now that what lies ahead is the road to ruin." "And I'm asking you to stop this right now before we've all gone too far to turn back." "What do you see, lad?" "Leeward tower just lost another 10 foot of her wall." "The dust is still clearing." " You don't like it?" " No." "No, no, no." "It's quite good." "But here's the thing... the crew's banner is a sacred thing." "It must simultaneously strike fear in the hearts of hardened men while inspiring and unifying all those who sail under it." "It must be something approaching perfection." "Any idea what direction that might be?" "Darling, I think we'll both know it when we see it." "Don't you?" "Charlotte." "Oh." "Never sailed with a captain this particular before." "We all have the same swords out there." "We all have the same guns." "But great art... has felled empires and therein lies all the difference." "I don't understand what that means." "No, but I do." "So not to worry." "While the rest of this island sits about gawking at the chaos of the day contemplating the end of the world, we would do well to use this time to prepare." "I'd like to be first men back in the water when the smoke clears with every detail accounted for." "Well, while we're on it, we still got details to sort of a much bigger size than all that." "Stores ain't procured, articles ain't signed." "I've seen the draft articles." "I'm fine with them as is." "But the men ain't." "They got some changes you and I ought to discuss." "Ooh, changes." "Yes." "You two making any progress?" "Slowly but surely." "I'm sorry, you were saying something about the articles." "It can wait." "That ain't letting up anytime soon." "Excuse me." "Fucking nightmare it must be up there." "You think he's still in it?" "Who, Charles?" "He could get out of that fort without being seen." "He's stubborn but he ain't stupid." "No, I'd say he's terribly stupid when it comes to being stubborn." "Given a choice between capitulation and survival," "I don't image that to be much of a choice for him at all." "He's in that fort, I assure you." "You think he'll make it?" "I think Charles Vane is something you and I survived." "What happens to him now is no longer of any concern to me." "This morning, you and Max." "You know what?" "I ain't got no right." "We'll get through it." "Always do, don't we?" "Steady." "Stand." "Ma'am." "Ma'am, are you hurt?" "Help me." "Walk on." "Walk on." "It's all right." "I see a way through this." "A way towards the end which we have all been seeking." "Thomas, he sees only the principle." "The right." "It's inspiring." "It can be intoxicating." "It's why I love him." "But you, you see the world as it is." "You see its truths and how to navigate them." "How to bend them to your will." "It's why I love you." "Men like Thomas need men like you." "To protect them from the world." "And that is what I am asking you to do." "The danger is simply too great." "Anything that has ever been worth doing has been worth doing in the face of a little danger." "I have been the subject of enough ridicule and innuendo to know the difference between a little danger and mortal danger, and I'm telling you that what you and Thomas and I face right now is the latter." "What's been going on in this house isn't just some affair." "No." "No, it isn't." "But since when did you care what people think?" "This isn't a question of scandal." "It isn't a state of mind." "They hang men for this." "Don't be naive." "When they have political motive, they use it as a pretense to hang men." "Don't treat me like I'm someone else." "I know what London is, too." "Alfred Hamilton does not want those pardons issued." "He has committed himself to doing everything in his power to prevent it." "And when he finds out what's been going on in this house, he will use it to ruin us." "Even if he were to find out, he wouldn't use it against us." "Now who's being naive?" "It would be just as embarrassing for the earl as it would be for any of us." "Do you really think he wants that?" "You are underestimating him." "He will find a way to exploit it." "Why take the risk?" "For the sake of the pirates of Nassau?" "Miranda, I saw it." "I was there." "Thomas was right about its promise." "And once the pirate issue has abated, it'll need help to rebuild." "Help from people like us." "You're suggesting we go there." "A restored New Providence Island will need a governor." "Who better qualified to oversee the building of the New World than Thomas?" "With these pardons, we can accomplish that and leave London behind." "I've known Admiral Hennessey since I was a boy." "He's the closest thing I have to a father." "Let me raise the plan with him." "Seek his counsel." "There's no risk in that." "This is too important not to try." "Fire!" " Reload the cannons." " Reload!" "Reload!" "Quickly, boys, quickly." "Let's go." "Let's go." "Two-six, heave!" " Heave!" " Fire!" " Two-six!" " Heave!" "Cease fire!" "Cease fire!" " Cease fire!" " Cease fire!" "Prepare to move ashore." "Ready the longboats." "The courtyard wall's destroyed." "A breach in the northwestern corridor." "Seaward-facing batteries are gone as are most of the westward guns." "How many did we lose?" "Seven." "Another nine injured." "How long do you expect?" "Before the men are massing themselves on the beach to begin their assault?" "Two hours." "Maybe less." "Larson." "Take her back to the cell." "Make sure she remains safe while I'm gone." "No one is to touch her." "Understood?" "Aye." "While you're gone?" "Where are you going?" "No matter how many of his men we kill, he can find more." "Eventually they breach and we die." "So you're leaving?" "It's too great of a force to defeat if we attempt to fight the body of it." "Only way to beat it is to cut off its head." "I had the misfortune of being in his presence when Mr. Underhill received word of your proposal to form a partnership to sell his goods on your ships." "He said no." "But it was the manner in which he said no that is most promising." "I don't understand what it is he hopes to achieve by..." "His anger, I believe, was due to the fact that he wanted to say yes." " Ma'am." " What is it?" "Ma'am, an errant shot from the warship hit a set a stores outside the southwest gates." "Set it ablaze." "How close to the Intrepid's storehouse there?" "A few hundred yards, ma'am." "The problem is it's been freshly stocked with..." "With powder, I know." "Inform Mr. Lawrence he needs to move his powder stock to my warehouse here immediately." "And ask Virgil to take five men to help put out that fire." " Any sign of capitulation?" " Ma'am?" "Captain Vane, has he made any signal to surrender?" "No, ma'am." "You're dismissed." "What the fuck does that mean?" "He wants to say yes." "You desire legitimacy in the eyes of London." "But you cannot have it until you find a way to ship something other than stolen goods." "The landowners want greater profits." "But they cannot have them until they find a way to ship their products out of the port of Nassau free from the danger of the pirates." "There is a partnership to be had here." "I can broker it." "And there is only one thing standing in the way." "If you were to appear to divest yourself of your association with the crews on account..." "You are unbelievable." "All I'd have to do is give up the fence and you can make all my dreams come true." "You're a smart girl, Eleanor." "And though I know you're standing there, parsing this, trying to identify how my interests diverge from yours here," "I suspect you're not finding it." "And it's because it isn't there to be found." "You want me to prove to Underhill that I can be his partner?" "That I can be trustworthy?" "Then you have to prove the same to me." "I have spent a lifetime exposed to your self-serving lies." "They're the manure from which I sprouted." "And if I can identify the specific motive or not," "I still come to expect that stench anytime you darken my door." "Find Mr. Silver for me, if you please." "Captain." "You've explained to your men their responsibilities here?" "Aye, they know your plans to recover the gold must be kept secret and silent." "If it were to be discovered by another crew, they could become competition for its retrieval." "You know how to keep a secret between three men?" "Shoot two of them." "What kind of fool tries to keep a secret amongst 100?" "The faster we retake the fort, the faster you'll be back on the water en route to the Urca with my men in your service." "Even if the information were to be divulged that the gold is still to be won, even if another crew could discern its specific location, even if they could refit rapidly enough to get out there ahead of you," "they'd still be facing a warship standing between them and their prize." "Adhere to our plan, you will have your gold and I'll have my fort." "What are you doing here?" "I need to speak with you alone." "You need to leave here right now." "I will see you when I am able." "I have come upon some information which changes things for you." "You must not move against that fort." "Miranda, you don't understand what's going on." "I understand why you need that fort." "I understand why you need that gold." "I understand why you need this island." "I understand it all because I was there the day our lives ended and all of this began." "But I have been devoted to you since that day." "I have been loyal and protective and fucking committed to you since that day, and I am asking you to come with me so that I can save your life." "There's an opportunity here today." "An opportunity that may not present itself again." "If we act right now, we can prevent a catastrophic loss to the Empire." "We can make England stronger tomorrow than she is today." "We can save Nassau and all it takes is for us to do a very reasonable thing." "Military pardons?" "I know how it will be perceived, sir." "I know how it looks for me to even raise the subject with you here." "But this is too important to be deterred by dangers imagined." "And if I have learned anything from you, it is that it is moments like these that are the precise measure of a man's courage." "Good God." "You perceive the danger about this to be imagined." "I told you when this began to be careful of those people." "To be aware of just how sharp and unexpected the knife would be if you discounted that danger." "I'd thought you'd heard me, son." "I heard you, sir." "But I've come to see that you and I were wrong about him." "Lord Hamilton isn't someone we should be wary of, he is exactly the kind of man we should be listening to." "On the day I was made an officer, you pulled me aside." "You told me how proud you were of me." "You told me that a measure of a man is in the moment when he is confronted by himself." "By opposing voices in his head, both arguing that they are right, but one has to be wrong." "To know the difference in that moment, that is what makes an officer." "What makes a man." "Well, I see the difference here, sir." "I know it." "He arrived just before you did." "And he told me what you did." "After he invited you into his home, trusted you to assist his son and daughter, and you flagrantly violated that trust." "Sir, I don't know what he told you, but..." "Yes, you do." "I would like to defend you." "I would like to remind myself that every man has his flaws, his weaknesses that torment him." "I would like to help you recover from yours." "But not this." "It is too profane." "It is too loathsome to be dismissed." "This is your end." "Sir, please let me explain." "Be grateful it didn't happen on the gallows." "You thought I wouldn't hear what you'd done?" "In my own house?" "That not even the faintest whisper of it would reach me?" "Now, this ends quietly, permanently, and in the manner of my choosing." "You are summarily discharged from service." "No charges will be drawn against you provided you leave London quietly and are neither seen nor heard from again." "If either the earl or I feel that this bargain has been breached, the charges brought against you will be swift and unyielding." "Where's Thomas?" "They came." "The earl's men." "It happened quickly before I could do anything to stop it." " They took him." " Took him?" "Took him where?" "Bethlem Royal Hospital." "He is to be committed there, owing to his uncontrollable grief over having learned of my affair with you." " Our affair?" " That is what the story will be." "I have been given until nightfall to vacate this house." "And then you and I are to disappear." "I have friends in Amsterdam, Paris, Brussels." "I can get you set up comfortably." "Perhaps at some point, I can figure out a way to get you back here." " I'm not leaving." " James." " We're gonna get him out of there." " We can't." " You watch me." " You think you're angry about this?" " I'm beyond that." " I am enraged!" "He is my husband." "Before they took him away, he made me promise him... that no matter what happened next, that you and I... would take care of each other." "The danger here is real." "Thomas is gone." "And now you and I must leave this place." "We need to get you moving." "When we get to the harbor, I'll arrange passage for you." "Anything you need that you don't have, I'll see sent to you." "In the meantime, my friends will ensure that you're taken care of." "We won't be with your friends." "We're not going to Paris." "Or Brussels or Amsterdam." "Then where are you going?" "Open the crate." "Pass 'em down." "Pass 'em down." "Idelle said you were looking for me?" "To your knowledge, have any of Flint's crew made their way up to the brothel since coming ashore?" "Not that I'm aware of." "Back from a lengthy journey and not one of them has felt the need to have a go?" "Preparing for battle." "Perhaps they have set pleasure aside for the moment." "Mmm, or maybe they was told to stay the fuck away from here." "To prevent them from divulging a secret." " Charlotte." " Don't." " What?" " You're crowding me." "I understand this is very important to you, but I can't work like this." "You have regular custom with the men of Captain Flint's crew, yes?" "It's all right." "Just one." "He won't let the others near me." "Has he paid you a visit yet since his recent arrival?" "No, but he will." "Can't stay away for long, that one." "If or when he finally decides to visit you," "I'd like to know what he has to say about the Urca gold." "You haven't heard?" "Everyone's saying it wasn't there." "They ran into a man of war instead, managed to nick that ship." "Yes, I know." "Just indulge me, will you?" " Mr. Rackham." " Mm." " A word." " With me?" "Thank you, love." ""Thank you, love?"" " What's this?" " We need to talk about these articles." "And I thought it best if we could have the conversation just you and I." "All right." "What's the matter with the articles?" "A few things." " Max..." " Let me stop you there." "Yes, it's unorthodox to entitle a woman to a share of the profits, but this is clearly a special case." "That particular woman is a font of prostitutional intelligence." "And believe me, if I could see a way to replace her, I would." "But at the moment, she is worth far, far more to this crew than the share it costs to have her." "I understand, but you must understand that's not an easy thing to sell men on a new ship used to a certain way of doing things." "Are you saying you can't sell it?" "No, I might be able to with a great deal of cajoling." "The problem is Max's share ain't the only item the men took issue with." "Fuck's your problem?" "The crew have elected to set sail." "Yeah?" "Small prize nearby." "Probably not much by way of profit, but an easy prize to consummate our new arrangement." "That's good news, then, yeah?" "So again, fuck's your problem?" "There was a complication in the finalizing of the articles." "Opposition from the men on two particular issues." "Shit." "I knew this was gonna happen." " It's the whore's share, ain't it?" " It is." "Resistance to the idea of formalizing her interest in writing." "It's the second of the two issues I find more troubling." " What's that?" " You." "It would appear that while the crew seems able to forgive or at least forget my part in the Mr. Hamund situation, they are aware that you were the prime mover behind it and they are less willing to forgive it or forget it in your case." "They don't want me nor the whore?" "It was put to me that they will accept one or the other, but not both." "Fucking hell." "How are we gonna get her to keep turning out those leads when she finds out she ain't getting her own share?" "What?" "It's only temporary." "Till I gain their trust." "Sooner than later, I'll be able to make the case to them directly." "And you'll be back sailing with us like this never happened." "You chose her." "They gave me a choice, but it was no choice." "Had I gone the other way, they'd be stewing about how I value my relationship with you over securing their leads." "It would have cost me their trust and then the captaincy." "Most assuredly soon there after." "This is what is best for both of us in the final analysis." "We will sail at the head of this crew, it just requires this sacrifice in the short term to ensure it." "Anne?" "Anne?" "Perhaps it would help if we went back to the beginning?" "You said you were captured by the navy." "You said you escaped their custody, made your way back here, but you didn't mention the means by which you managed that escape." " Why are you here?" " I beg your pardon?" "Why are you the one here defending him?" "Oh, yes." "I suppose it must come as some surprise given the state of things when last we saw each other." "But it's become clear to me that a crew requires two men to function." "One to tell them what to do and another to tell them why they should want to do it." "In Mr. Gates' absence, the latter role was unfilled." "And I thought I could fill it." "How the fuck did you manage that?" "I tried to tell you once, I'm a hard man not to like." "And at the end of the day, and all else being equal, liked is just as good as feared." "We like him." "You thought Flint killed both me and Gates and then you queued up to be the next to fill the post." "I don't know if you're either very dangerous or very stupid." "Possibly a bit of both." "But I am certain I will avoid the mistake you both made." "I don't believe in him." "To me, he is a means of securing a very valuable prize." "No more, no less." "Which is why I need to know... when asked by the men, what will you tell them happened on the bow of the Walrus that night?" "How did you end up in the water?" "You keep focusing on how I went in." "Perhaps you should be more worried about the thing that took me out." "I can see how the men could've been taken in by you... with what they've been through." "But know this... had I been here," "I doubt it would have been this easy for you." "Sooner or later, you need to release me." "You have no choice." "And the longer you delay, the more likely I might choose to take it personally." "I would say I have some choice." "Not while he's here you don't." "We like him, too." "You must understand, though you perceive my actions in recent weeks to have been taken with little regard for your welfare, the truth is exactly the opposite." "All of my attempts to regain control of this place have been with an eye towards protecting you." "You really have no idea what this is about, do you?" " Eleanor." " You left me." "After mother was killed in the Rosario raid, you left me here." "What kind of a reprehensible shit does something like that to a little girl and then asks her to trust him again?" "Your mother's loss was almost unbearable to me." "I must confess that in that moment, the only way I could think to carry on was to immerse myself in business." "And to remove myself from this place." "From her memory." "And for that, I am sorry." "Bullshit." "It wasn't about Mother." "It wasn't about an oversight." "You left me here because I wasn't your son." "Yes." "I was focused on the work and I saw no future in which a daughter would have a meaningful part in that." "But, Eleanor, look how wrong I was." "Look at what you've accomplished here." "Pirate crews... repurposed as merchant shippers and showing profits." "You have proved the conceit possible." "You are making real what was for decades a fantasy." "The idea that this place can be transformed, made profitable, redeemed from within and on its own terms?" "You are doing this without any help from me, nor from Whitehall, nor from anyone in London at all." "It is entirely of your own making." "And it is miraculous." "One day, years from now, someone in London will sit down, light his pipe and tell his children of the unlikely success story that was Nassau." "And he will say it all began with a woman who decided to make it so." "You have proven me so very wrong." "And I could not be prouder of you for it." "Miss Guthrie?" "Miss Guthrie?" "I have Flint here." "It would be best if we could be alone." "You can use the parlor upstairs." "Everyone out." "Now!" "While you were gone," "Captain Vane and his men slaughtered another pirate crew in the bay." "There are whispers it was to avenge an offense against Eleanor Guthrie." "There are also whispers that it was to steal a hostage being held by that crew." "A girl who is now held in that fort." "A girl who would be in harm's way if you were to launch your attack." "You pulled me away from my men out of concern for a girl?" "The girl's name is Abigail Ashe." "Peter's daughter?" "You need to obtain her from Captain Vane." "Alive and unharmed." "And you need to return her to Carolina, to her father." "I understand you have feelings over the girl's welfare, however..." "And when you return her, you're going to explain to Peter what it is you are trying to accomplish here." "A Nassau that can self-govern, pardons for your men, and a stake in their own future." "What you want." "What Thomas wanted." "What we all wanted." "And he is going to help you achieve it." " He's gonna help me?" " Yes." "And how exactly is he gonna do that?" "Thomas knew no one more skilled or effective at maneuvering an agenda through Parliament than Peter." "If he wanted to convince them to support your vision for this place, he could do that." "You know he could do that." "We tried it before, it didn't work." "It was a different time." "There's no Alfred Hamilton now." "There's no war with Spain now." "Peter was faced with both those things and almost succeeded." "Without them, it is well within his reach." "Miranda, Peter Ashe isn't the man that you remember." "Six months ago, he hanged four men in his harbor for possession of pirated goods." "This is not a man that we can negotiate with..." " that I can negotiate with." " Of course you can." "Because you will have just presented him with his only daughter." "Safe and unharmed and without conditions." "And you will have reminded him that you are still the man who sat in Thomas' salon and spoke of virtue and reason and forgiveness." "That found inspiration in him." "And you will remind Peter that somewhere in his heart, so is he." "This is too important to put all our fates in the hands of one man." "Especially a man so committed to seeing me and everyone else I know hanged in his harbor." "There is no other way to achieve what you want to achieve..." "Yes there is!" "It is sitting on a beach filled with Spanish soldiers," " and I'm through delaying." " There is no other way once you're willing to tell the truth about your intentions here." "I think that I've made my intentions very clear." "No." "You've been anything but clear." "You say you fight for the sake of Nassau, for the sake of your men, for the sake of Thomas and his memory." "But the truth of the matter is, it isn't for any of those things." "What the fuck do you think I am fighting for?" "I think you are fighting for the sake of fighting." "Because it's the only state in which you can function." "The only way to keep that voice in your head from driving you mad." "What are you talking about?" "What voice?" "The one telling you to be ashamed of yourself... for having loved him." "You were told that it was shameful." "And part of you believed it." "Thomas was my husband." "I loved him and he loved me." "But what he shared with you... it was entirely something else." "It's time you allowed yourself to accept that." "The only thing I am ashamed of... is that I didn't do something to save him when we had the chance." "That instead I listened to you." "__"