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PodCastle 348: Testimony of Samuel Frobisher Regarding Events on Her Majesty’s Ship CONFIDENCE, 14-22 June, 1818, With Diagrams
* Author : Ian Tregillis
* Narrator : Ian Stuart
* Host : Dave Thompson
* Audio Producer : Peter Wood
*
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Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, July/August 2014.
Rated R. Contains Violence (without diagrams)
Testimony of Samuel Frobisher Regarding Events on Her Majesty’s Ship CONFIDENCE, 14-22 June, 1818, With Diagrams
by Ian Tregillis
I joined His Majesty’s Royal Navy in 1808, and a man more grateful for the press-gangs you’ll never meet. To answer your question, Sirs, I spent four years in the service of
Captain Nares ere I beheld the tentacled Bride.
A brave and virtuous soul was the captain, never given to rage nor drink during my years with him. And upon my oath, never once did he take the lash to a sailor’s back without just cause before she arrived. But he changed the moment that accursed creature slithered upon the deck.
Begging your pardon, Sirs? I lost much of my hearing on the
last voyage of the Confidence.
Aye. I get ahead of myself. I’ll start at the beginning.