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Backstory competition runner-up 3 |
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Written by Captain Obvious
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Friday, 09 December 2005 |
And so we're on to our third runner up. I feel the need to remind people that the runners-up are in no particular order, they're all joint for their place in the winners. Congratulations to ddmagnan for this one, he's won himself a beta access key!
Victor Magnan was born in the French Colony of Quebec in New France during the winter of 1695. His father, Xavier, was a French trapper whose family had come to Quebec in 1633. It had recently been returned to France by England in the Treaty of St-Germain-en-Laye. His mother, Tauromee, was a Huron Indian squaw whose village his father had befriended in his travels. The majority of the village had been killed by the Iroquois before she was born. In 1702, during yet another war between France and England, Victor’s father was killed during an English raid while out trapping. This left them no means of support so Victor’s mother got a job as a barmaid in Quebec. Victor also helped her clean up to earn a few extra coins and so they managed to eek out a living. He came to love working at the tavern despite the hard work and meager pay. Sailors often came in to spend the wages they had earned at sea. They seemed rich to poor Victor with their spendthrift ways. He also became enamored with their tales of travel and adventure. Never having learned the trapping trade from his father, Victor had little in the way of job skills. His father had taught him some marksmanship and rudimentary tracking skills, but not enough to make a living at it. So he began to dream of becoming a sailor.
Over the years he befriended Devante, a young half-Spanish and half-English sailor who often patronized the tavern. He sailed on the Nightingale, an English merchant galleon of 500 tons whose home birth was New York. In 1708, after he turned 13, the next time Devante visited he asked him to inquire with his captain, Captain Waldgrave, about hiring him. Devante agreed and the next day returned with the reply. Since Devante would vouch for him, Captain Waldgrave agreed to let Victor work on the ship as a cabin boy. He wouldn’t earn any pay but after he proved his worth he could work as a seaman and would then earn a wage. Even though it saddened him to leave his mother alone, she encouraged him to go and so he did.
The first couple of years were difficult. Being a cabin boy was hard work and not getting paid made it a thankless job. He often regretted his decision to come and thought of home and his mother. His friendship with Devante and the rest of the crew helped him get by however. Things got better at the age of 15 when he had proven himself enough to become a seaman and join the rest of the crew. Once he was part of the crew and earning a wage he came to love the sea and being a sailor. Many years passed and before long he began to dream of being the captain of his own ship. Until that day he passed the time becoming a better sailor and wasting his hard earned money during shore leave. It was during this time that he acquired a strange habit from Devante, smoking cigarettes. Devante had acquired it from his father, who had been a Spanish sailor. Smoking cigarettes was unique to Spanish sailors and had not caught on with the rest of Europe. So his smoking often earned Victor some strange looks in port. It was also during this time that he earned his nickname. He always came to the aid of his fellow crew while in port, no matter the odds. Be it a tavern brawl or a mugging he proved that he was afraid of no man and no situation. He believed that you lived life to the fullest and did want you thought was right no matter the consequences. This foolhardiness in the face of danger is why the rest of the crew began to refer to him as Mad Dog.
Captain Waldgrave was not a risk-taker. He generally made safe low-profit runs between the North American colonies. The Caribbean was too dangerous a place, even if there were great profits to be had. However one day in the spring of 1720, he received a tip from a friend. The city of Plymouth on Montserrat currently had a major demand for luxury goods and any captain bringing them could make a fortune. Encouraged by the crew he decided to make the journey.
Other than a few storms, the majority of the trip was uneventful. That is until near the end when a Spanish privateer came into view. Almost all of the Nightingale’s cannons had been removed in order to allow more weight for trade goods. Captain Waldgrave felt it was necessary to help make the long trip more profitable. Unfortunately it put the Nightingale in a difficult situation. The Spanish privateer was a well armed ketch captained by Diego Vargas. Not having much experience with combat situations, Captain Waldgrave and his crew were unable to escape. Being outgunned, once within cannon range the Nightingale surrendered. Instead of spending his pay during shore leave in a Caribbean port, Victor and the rest of the crew were now being taken as prisoners. Depressed and pondering his future in a Spanish cell, fate had one more surprise. On the way to the nearest Spanish port, an English sloop-of-war engaged Captain Vargas’s ship. The battle was fierce and both ships took heavy damage but in the end the Spanish ketch was crippled. Captain Vargas’s first mate and the crew sailing the Nightingale had sailed away during the battle. After the battle was over, Victor and the rest of the crew were released. They were told they could help repair and sail the ketch back to port. However before repairs could be made a mighty storm was upon them and they were forced to abandon it. So the crew of the Nightingale and the Spanish prisoners all had to make the journey back to port together on the sloop-of-war. As he heads to a Caribbean port with Captain Waldgrave weeping silently beside him over the loss of his ship and cargo, Victor once again ponders his future. Maybe he can sign on as merchant captain or perhaps even a privateer and fulfill his dream.
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