Chapter One

That Cursed Black Banner

HMS ESSEX, A BRITISH WARSHIP, swayed and rocked along slowly through the swells of the northeastern Atlantic in late March 1803. It had been enshrouded in a blanket of fog and an easy wind for over six hours. With the approach of nightfall, the setting grew more dismal.

A lookout shouted from atop the rigging. “Ahoy below! Something off our port quarter!”

All eyes turned to that direction, but nothing could be determined.

First Officer, Lieutenant Richard Welch, called out to the seaman. “Do you still see it?” Richard, twenty-six, had held this post for the past five years. He had joined the navy at fourteen as an ensign.

“Nay, sir! Nothing now!” the lookout’s voice rang out over the hushed waters. The creaking and groaning of the ship, and the splash of its wake could be heard clearly rocking back and forth in the swells.

Tensions mounted as moments passed. For more than one reason, such a sighting brought heightened apprehensions. Much talk and gossip among many of the superstitious seamen, of a mysterious ghost ship, had spread fear among the crew.

“Dark shape off ourstarboard bow!” the lookout shouted.

“Can you make it out, man?” Richard called back.

“Not yet, but it comes closer!”

All the crew on deck saw the dark shape draw nearer. The silhouette continued to approach, passing within fifty feet of their ship. It resembled onl