Chapter 3 - First Sighting (Patreon)

3 days after leaving Lisbon and Thomas was already having serious doubts about this idea, for the first 24hrs they had fared well with a great wind, but since then the men were having to take turns in rowing the ships for a few hours in order to make any headway.

“A storm is approaching,” said Elton his gruff voice pulling Thomas out of his thoughts,

“How can you tell,” asked Thomas,

“The wind has gone on open oceans that is not a good sign,” replied Elton,

Thomas grimaced, Elton noticed,

“Don’t worry these ships are strong we should be fine,” he said

“I hope so,” murmured Thomas,

A few hours later, Elton’s prediction came true, the wind was furious

“How on earth can we sail in this,” asked Thomas

“Quite easily,” said Elton grinning, “We turn into the wind, go with it not against it,”

“What is that” asked Thomas, looking out at sea, “I thought I could see land,”

Elton squinted into the impenetrable darkness, “Maybe,” and he signalled to the helmsman to turn the ship, looking behind he checked the other ships were still there,

“Any ideas what it is,” said Thomas feeling a small sense of excitement

“No, I can tell what anything is in this blasted storm,” said Elton gruffly

Thomas acknowledged that politely

Slowly and carefully the fleet of adventurers made their way closer to the land, as they got closer Thomas was fairly certain they were several islands, a sentiment that Elton echoed out loud,

Elton looked over the left-side of the ship,

“The sea is shallowing, lower the anchors we will take the boats onto land,” he said to the crew, many of whom looked rather relived by that announcement.

By the time they had successfully unloaded the ships of people and animals the storm had begun to settle, but nonetheless Elton had ordered they make camp as far inland as they could.

The storm broke as sun began to peak over the horizon, its rays warming the drenched and exhausted camp,

Thomas looked over the bay and was relieved to see most of ships intact, they would probably need to repair sails but that was minor. Looking around himself he could see the beach they had crossed the night before, turning he scrambled up a hill to get a better view, he could see several other islands off in the distance; an archipelago, Thomas assumed, turning 180 degrees he looked out across the island.

It was thickly wooded with a couple of other mountains sticking out, turning back he looked down and he could see the rest of the camp was starting to get busy as the inhabitants stirred.

Thomas made his way back down to the camp and found Elton issuing orders,

“Set up a tent, we can use it store any food supplies we find, and another tent to store non-food supplies,” he said,

“Morning,” said Thomas

“Morning,” replied Elton looking slightly more cheerful than he had he night before,

“I am going organise a party to have a look around the island,” said Thomas,

Elton nodded, “That is a good idea, see if you can find anything that looks like food, and check out the trees, we can resupply whilst we are here,”

“I wonder what this island is called, if it has a name,” said Thomas,

“We have not seen anyone yet,” said Elton, “It could be completely new and unnamed,”

Thomas quickly gathered together a group of 20 men, including one of the cartographers and set off towards the foot of the mountain. Up making it to the foot of the mountains the expedition quickly found a pass through the mountains, as they travelled Thomas was mildly disappointed to not see anything that looked like food, however it was mixed with excitement, one of the cartographers and confirmed that they were a lot further away than they had thought, he reckoned they were almost 650 miles from Lisbon at this point. They climbed through the mountains and by the time the sun had set had reached the peak, Thomas stared out across the island, taking in the view in awe.

“It is amazing,” said one man, John Thomas remembered his name to be,

“Truly a whole new world,” said another man, named Robert, “Hard to believe no one has ever found it before”

“Yeah,” said John “Makes you wonder what else is waiting out there,”

“Could be anything,” said Thomas jumping down off the rock he had been standing on,

“Aye Sir,” said Robert, “Treasure hopefully,”

“Hopefully,” grinned Thomas, “Although a new island is a good start,”

“Blooming good start,” said another William, who was looking at the trees, “One with blooming good wood at that,”

Thomas looked at him,

“I am a carpenter Sir, I know good wood,” said William,

“Really,” said Thomas walking over,

“Aye, this will build good houses and ships if it came to that,” said William,

“Would it be worth felling some,” asked Thomas, “And take it with us,”

“Absolutely ,” said William, “It will come in use, if we find somewhere without supplies,”

Thomas nodded, “We can work on that when we get back to camp,”

The following morning they packed up and continued on, as they rode over the peak of the mountain the entire stopped to admire the view,

“The Wood Islands,” said Thomas abruptly,

They other men turned to him,

Thomas grinned, “Let us call them the Wood Islands,” and urged his horse on,

As they rode down the slope coming back towards the sea, when Robert shouted,

“Hey check this out, apples,” he said pulling his horse to one side,

Thomas rode over eagerly, and much to his delight he could see a dense patch of apple trees,

“Excellent,” he said turning to the cartographer Mohammed, who he believed was from the Holy Lands, “Can you mark this on your map,” he asked

“Certainly,” replied the man, “An excellent find,”

“It really is,” said Thomas feeling relieved, “Hopefully they are edible,”

The expedition returned to the camp, the following day to find that Elton had been quite busy organising everyone,

“Wow,” said Thomas riding over, “You have busy,” he said grinning,

Elton looked up at him, “Ah good, you didn’t run into anything unfriendly,” he asked,

“Nothing,” replied Thomas, “I think we are the first people to set foot here,”

Elton nodded, “Did you find anything useful,”

Thomas grinned, “Yeah lots of Apple and Plum trees, plus the wood looks like it could be useful, yourself,”

“Fish, lots of fish, the bay is filled with Tuna,” said Elton, “We catching and drying as much as possible, it will be good to have a store,”

“Well we don’t know when we will next make land,” agreed Thomas,

“Take some of the women up to the trees tomorrow, we will pick and dry as much as we can store,” said Elton,

William rode over to them, “I can collect together some men and fell some trees to turn into barrels to store food on the ships,”

Elton thought about it, “Do it,” he replied, “Also collect wood they can be used in future landings,”

William nodded,

Thomas dismounted and walked next to Elton,

“This has been a good find,” he said

“An excellent find,” replied Elton, “It could provide a useful port for future expeditions,”

Thomas looked out over the bay, “I wonder what is next,”….