WRECKED

~ Iain Kelly

‘The ship, Sir, she’s listing badly!’

‘Thank you, Lieutenant!’ As if he needed to be told, as he tried to maintain his balance.

Damn that reef, and that fool of a helmsman.

‘She’s still taking on water, Sir, they can’t stem the flow. Should we abandon ship, Sir?’

They both knew what it meant for him – disgrace, his Naval career over, his reputation in tatters.

On the other hand, he would be alive.

‘Lieutenant, ensure the rum supplies are transported to the rowboats.’

‘Will there be enough room for all the men, Sir?’

‘Priorities, Lieutenant.’

One thing was for sure, he would need a drink..

Copyright Anne Higa

Written for Friday Fictioneers hosted by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields (more details HERE). The idea is to write a short story of 100 words based on the photo prompt (above).

I’ll be honest, I have no idea what this is a picture of, but I saw a gushing water and a bottle in a bucket – and I’ve recently been reading the excellent ‘Hornblower’ books by C.S. Forester, so adventure on the high seas was what came to mind!

To read stories of 100 words based on this week’s prompt, visit HERE.

For the month of April I am taking part in the A-Z blogging challenge, and am posting about my State Trilogy novels each day, including plots, themes, characters and the writing and publishing process. So if you’ve read the books, or haven’t but might be interested in them, I hope it will be of interest to some of you. All the posts published so far can be found HERE.

Published by Iain Kelly

39 year old writer, avid film viewer and book reader, employed in the media industry as a television editor.

75 thoughts on “WRECKED”

  4. Ha, ha, love this! Priorities, indeed – and spoken with absolute authority. What fun it would be to revisit Horatio Hornblower, a happy recollection, read some of them many years ago. 🌷

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    1. I read the first O’Brian many years ago and can’t remember why I didn’t read anymore after that! Perhaps after Hornblower’s adventures come to an end, I’ll revisit.

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  19. I recently re-watched the Hornblower TV series and also re-read many of Alexander Kent’s “Bolitho” books, so this sounded very true to life back in those days!

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  27. Oh my, I almost went this way with my story, Iain. Recently, December, 2019/January, 2020, I was on the Costa Luminosa cruise line.There was a lot of conversation about tthe Costa Concordia one evening at dinner. LOL
    Now, there was a self-serving captain. We wondered about our captain the entire cruise.
    Shades of realitiy in every word of your story.
    Be Safe … 😷 🙏🏻 😊 Isadora 😎

    Liked by 1 person

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  31. Love the way you told story. A mix of anxiousness and assertive action. A time to do and not to think, yet thoughts thoughts playing such an important role at the moment. Extremely well written. Loved it.

    Liked by 1 person

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