the tale of James Sweet and Janus Zweelt

James and Janus both feared and respected pirates came from opposite poles. James was an only child brought up by a wealthy Welsh family who owned countless cotton, sugar and coffe plantations. He was brought into the world with a silver spoon, and he had a easy childhood with the hope of taking over the family business, and one spring at the age of 17 he joined his father on a voyage to the new world, to his families plantations.
Janus on the other hand was born in Amsterdam, youngest of 9, to a miner and his wife. His parents died from TB when he was 4, which forced him and his siblings into 5 years of crime and hardship, where 2 of his brothers and a sister died from starvation. The family was in dire straights and on Janus's 9th birthday the police came for what was left of the family. By a brave sacrifice, Zed, Janus's oldest brother gave his life so that that Janus and his other brothers could escape, by fighting of 5 dutch police killing 2 only to be shot in the heart. Janus saw his brothers death, and this momentary pause saved him from being taken hostage by slavers, but the rest of his family was not as lucky, he was alone and pledged that his brothers life was not lost in vain that he will save his family. So Janus walked towards Belgium then France stealing along the way. By the age of 10 he found his chance to find his family by joining the French navy as a washboy.
When James finally got to his family plantation he found it in ruins. His father quickly turned around his galleon only to be ambushed by the slaves who rebelled to take over the island. They took James, his father and all the boats crew and dumped them in the celler, so that they could torture them. James and his father were tortured for days on end, till finally the slaves took the comandeered galleon for their own, killing most of the prisoners leaving James and his father chained to the rocks around the bay to die. Soon after before the tide could engulf them James's father died of his tourture wounds as soon as he said his last word to his son 'For the sins i have commited....., son i pray for your soul..... i was wrong, i am a fool, do not follow in my wake.....' The birds swooped down to rip open his flesh and feed on his eyeballs all James could do was watch and wait for his own demise, the scavengers waiting impatiently for his death. However it was not to be, he survived till the tide came in and the water was drifting above his shoulders, when suddenly his rope came loose, the rusty metal buckle attached to the rock broke. (he wares this buckle round his neck to remind him of his fathers mistakes but also his love). James was alive but still gravely wounded, luckily he managed to gather the energy to rip his rags he wore and tie up his wounds to quell his loss of blood yet, it took him many months to fully recover. He was stuck on this island for 2 years before the next boat came.
Janus at this time was making a career in the French navy climbing up the ranks due to the help of his fearless reputation and zealous courage by 14 he exceeded all expectations to become midshipman of the famous 72 gunner 'Hallebarde' even at such a young age he was revered by his fellow ship mates and for 16 months he took every battle with fierce vigour and rose through the ranks to become a 4th Lieutenant, the captain in this time the great Louis Van Halle retired from service and a new captain a young Jan Zweet only 29 took command, however this only lasted 3 months, as the first mission Jan was sent to escort a diplomat to Orleans when he was ambushed by 6 don 32 gun hornets, after an epic battle where 4 don ships were destroyed and 2 taken capture, the battle was won, however Captain Zweet was betrayed by the escort ship that had hidden a secret load, before anyone could do anything to stop it the 'Hallebarde' was on it way to the depths and the seamen dropped to a shark infested hell. The 2 don ships were recaptured and only Captain Zweet, Janus, 2nd lieutenant Dreams and 2 further Frenchmen survived imprisonment by sneaking away on a longboat to a nearby island for safety.
James was 19 surviving on the food he could find from the plants and few animals that were still alive after the slave revolt burned down all they could find, but through hard work and brinks of starvation James pulled through. Now an experienced hunter and gatherer he learned to appriciate the world around him and felt no anger for the slaves only a sense of guilt for what he and his family forced apon them, the idea of karma firmly in his mind from his schooling, maybe he was wrong to follow his dream in becoming a world renound entrepenuer. It was a dry day in the height of the dry season he knew from experience not to worry but it haddn't rained for a month and his water supply was dwindling so luckily he spotted a ship docked just off the coast on the north and cliffed side of the island. James dived into the partial bay norrowly avoiding the rocks, and swam to the boat. As he climbed onto the deck he was supprised to find that it was full of Spanish mercinarys and before he knew it he was bound in irons. For months all he knew was the life of pain and torture untill one day they were on course for Harbour Island where he thought he would finally be traded, however before that could happen the don ship was in a battle and it got hit, the cannon ball smashed into the side breaking the chains holding James and causing a hole the size of a wild boar in the side of the boat, quickly James jumped through the hole before the ship sank, an hour later the battle was over James quickly jumped into a unsuspecting long boat and hid under the ropes. Soon there was another explosion and 5 men jumped into the boat and took off, right up untill the boat touched land James successfully hid from the crew in the boat which included Janus Zweelt and the infamous Captain Jan Zweet.

so concludes part 1 of the story

Wow, that was awesome! I'm gonna have to pull out my rusty pencil and give it a go. Good job Janus!

very good, indeed!

Good Job Janus!!! ./clap