Jon Smithie
Tribune
Author's note--This story is inspired by King Diocletian's "Miss Berkeley's Voyage," which impressed me as being the best whipping story I'd ever read. For quite some time I've considered writing a companion piece to it, not because I think I can do it better, (I don't and I can't) but because my variations on the theme might be of interest to those who enjoyed "Miss Berkeley's Voyage." So, with King Diocletian's permission, let's go cruising with Laura Berkeley's younger sister.
MINA BERKELEY'S VOYAGE
Prologue
The loud rap at the cabin hatch startled Mina, who had become used to the tentative
tapping of the ship's mouse when he brought her food, or to empty her chamber pot. It was time for neither function, and she was only dressed in her shift. Holding her dress up to her neck to cover the cleave of her bosom, Mina opened the hatch a few inches.
A marine with a pock scarred face stood rigidly at the hatch. His eyes were hard and mocking, and glinted with lust as his gaze traveled over her bare arm.
“What is it . . . Corporal?” She asked. She took a haughty tone with him, for she did not care at all for his brazen look.
Men, she thought bitterly. Always driven by their arrogance or their lust.
“Compliments of the Commodore, Miss, and he requests the honor of your presence. I am to fetch you to his cabin. You are to come with me, Miss.”
So that's what all the bosun's whistles and shouts and activity on deck had been about the day before, Mina thought. The Commodore had boarded Defiance. Mina could only assume it was on her account. And of course the Commodore would have the story first from the captain and his officers. She felt a twist of nerves in her stomach.
But her voice was steady and forceful.
“My compliments to the Commodore,” She said. “I shall be very pleased to attend him. Allow me a moment, Corporal.”
Mina began to close the hatch, but the Corporal pushed back.
“Now, Miss,” the corporal said, “The Commodore's orders are to bring you directly.”
“Corporal,” Mina said. “I am not dressed! As certain as I am that you wish to follow the Commodore's orders to the letter, I am equally certain he would permit you some discretion in allowing a lady to dress herself decently!”
And with that Mina leaned against the hatch and forced it closed.
Of all the creatures that populated a ship, marines were of the lowest order, Mina thought. Arrogant, violent, altogether despicable! You must come now! The self important brute! Perhaps he thinks no more of me than of the poor convicts under his guard! Yes, I am sure he would drag me to the Commodore dressed only in my shift!
Her stomach flip flopped again as she tried to ease her fear and outrage and catch her breath. She resolved to not be afraid, but to tell the truth, come what may. She would ignore the ironic smirks and the mocking glances she anticipated from the ship's crew and the other passengers. She had no reason to believe that any of them felt a whit of sympathy for her humiliation and suffering at the hands of the odious Captain Writhby of the good ship--and well named too!--Defiance. Only the Reverend Mr. Hurst and Mrs. Hurst had comforted her at all, and even then, their comfort had consisted more of justifying the outrages that Captain Writhby had inflicted upon her—and not only upon her--than on supporting Mina in her travail.
It was three days since her chastisement, as the captain had mockingly characterized the atrocity that had been committed upon her person. The stripes had faded somewhat, but were still evident against the pale skin of her buttocks, and were still quite painful.
How she longed for this ordeal of a voyage to be over! How she longed for landfall in Australia! She closed her eyes and imagined herself standing Eve naked under a waterfall in a clear stream in some verdant, secluded patch of paradise in that land, letting the water sweep away her pain and humiliation, the memories of her closet sized cabin, this creaky, lurching ship, and all the cruel, heartless men who sailed in her!
Mina sighed, and then upbraided herself. After all, she could not help but remember, there were many on board this vessel who suffered far worse than she-- the convicts sentenced to transportation, who did not have the luxury of their own cabins, but were crowded below decks in a noisome, airless hold. Nor could those unfortunates look to the end of this nightmarish voyage for any relief of their sufferings, for Australia was naught but a prison to them, and a prison in which they would be put to hard labor. She spared a thought for the young woman who had suffered a chastisement far worse than hers, who indeed had suffered the cat, and who's wounds probably hadn't yet begun to fade. It was well, Mina reflected, that she herself had suffered a whipping, light as it was, for now she could testify personally to both the mental and physical anguish she had endured as a result of it.
Such reflections strengthened her resolve to remain unbowed in the face of a system that seemed designed to sacrifice all finer feeling, all the virtues of civilization. A system that was nothing more than a grinding mill to crush any and all Defiance! Well! God was testing her resolve, she decided. Would she simply wither away at the first tribulation? She vowed to herself that, with God's help, she would weather the storm with all sails set!
When she had thoroughly braced herself up, as they said aboard ship, she stepped into and pulled her corset up to her bust, and laced it, albeit loosely. She held the hem of her dress over her head and tunneled into it, wincing slightly as the fabric slid over her hind parts. I could use a wash, Mina thought, catching a whiff of her own rankness.
And more than a wash, Mina corrected herself as she checked her reflection in the dim light of the cabin.
She pinched her cheeks to bring some color to her face.
Back home it was generally agreed that Mina and Laura Berkeley were the two handsomest women in all the country, but if only one prize could be given to the most beautiful in the land, Laura, Mina's elder sister, was the one who would win it. Mina was quite content to bow to that judgement. But she also knew, with a touch of both amusement and shameful pride, that at least one admirer of hers had come to blows over the issue.
There would be no contest now, Mina thought ruefully.
In any case, their father, and the governess who had primarily been responsible for their upbringing, (their mother having died bringing Mina into the world,) had always discouraged such shallow vanity in the two young women, and neither had set much store by her physical attractiveness. They had both been well educated and had followed in their father's footsteps in involving themselves in social issues, with the goal of improving the living conditions of the lower classes.
Father had campaigned specifically against the cruel and corrupt practices that were routine aboard Royal Navy vessels: Captains who lined their pockets by accepting bribes from suppliers who provided rotten meat, stale flour, and rank water; Pursers who cheated and embezzled the pitiful wages of the sailors; but most of all, the government officials, officers, and men who enforced the culture of brutal discipline. Keelhauling. The cat o' nine tails. He frequently quoted the saying that a flogging “Made a good man bad and a bad man worse.” He had served as a naval officer himself, before becoming a respected colonial administrator. Recently deceased, due to an illness contracted at his post in Australia, he would be missed by many who relied on his integrity and his sense of justice.
Mina sorely missed him, even though he was away for long periods during her childhood and adolescence. She remembered him fondly as a caring and attentive father when he had been home.
She had been traveling with family friends in the north of England when she received Laura's missive informing her of their father's demise, and of Laura's intention to secure a passage on a ship bound for Australia to set in order his affairs and to visit his grave.
Mina's sorrow at her father's passing turned quickly to determination to accompany Laura on the voyage.
But Laura's letter had taken nearly two weeks to find Mina, and despite Mina's best efforts to notify Laura of her desire to sail with her, the message arrived too late. By the time Mina arrived at the port Laura had specified in her letter, Laura had been a week into her voyage. It was nearly another month before Mina was able to take passage on a ship bound for that far off land.
Mina, now adequately, if not satisfactorily dressed, paused to send a wish out across the waves.
“Godspeed, dear Sister,” Mina whispered. “I hope your voyage has been happier than mine!”
Mina took a deep breath, and resolved to make her father proud. She felt an iron determination to acquit herself well in what would most likely be an unpleasant confrontation with the Commodore. But she had righteousness on her side! She remembered a line from the Psalms:
“The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?”
She opened the cabin hatch, and stepped out. She looked past the marine waiting impatiently at the hatch, and saw sunlight streaming through an open coaming, shining on the ladderwell leading to the main deck. She caught a whiff of sea breeze.
“Lead on, Corporal,” she said, feeling like David taking the field against Goliath.
MINA BERKELEY'S VOYAGE
Prologue
The loud rap at the cabin hatch startled Mina, who had become used to the tentative
tapping of the ship's mouse when he brought her food, or to empty her chamber pot. It was time for neither function, and she was only dressed in her shift. Holding her dress up to her neck to cover the cleave of her bosom, Mina opened the hatch a few inches.
A marine with a pock scarred face stood rigidly at the hatch. His eyes were hard and mocking, and glinted with lust as his gaze traveled over her bare arm.
“What is it . . . Corporal?” She asked. She took a haughty tone with him, for she did not care at all for his brazen look.
Men, she thought bitterly. Always driven by their arrogance or their lust.
“Compliments of the Commodore, Miss, and he requests the honor of your presence. I am to fetch you to his cabin. You are to come with me, Miss.”
So that's what all the bosun's whistles and shouts and activity on deck had been about the day before, Mina thought. The Commodore had boarded Defiance. Mina could only assume it was on her account. And of course the Commodore would have the story first from the captain and his officers. She felt a twist of nerves in her stomach.
But her voice was steady and forceful.
“My compliments to the Commodore,” She said. “I shall be very pleased to attend him. Allow me a moment, Corporal.”
Mina began to close the hatch, but the Corporal pushed back.
“Now, Miss,” the corporal said, “The Commodore's orders are to bring you directly.”
“Corporal,” Mina said. “I am not dressed! As certain as I am that you wish to follow the Commodore's orders to the letter, I am equally certain he would permit you some discretion in allowing a lady to dress herself decently!”
And with that Mina leaned against the hatch and forced it closed.
Of all the creatures that populated a ship, marines were of the lowest order, Mina thought. Arrogant, violent, altogether despicable! You must come now! The self important brute! Perhaps he thinks no more of me than of the poor convicts under his guard! Yes, I am sure he would drag me to the Commodore dressed only in my shift!
Her stomach flip flopped again as she tried to ease her fear and outrage and catch her breath. She resolved to not be afraid, but to tell the truth, come what may. She would ignore the ironic smirks and the mocking glances she anticipated from the ship's crew and the other passengers. She had no reason to believe that any of them felt a whit of sympathy for her humiliation and suffering at the hands of the odious Captain Writhby of the good ship--and well named too!--Defiance. Only the Reverend Mr. Hurst and Mrs. Hurst had comforted her at all, and even then, their comfort had consisted more of justifying the outrages that Captain Writhby had inflicted upon her—and not only upon her--than on supporting Mina in her travail.
It was three days since her chastisement, as the captain had mockingly characterized the atrocity that had been committed upon her person. The stripes had faded somewhat, but were still evident against the pale skin of her buttocks, and were still quite painful.
How she longed for this ordeal of a voyage to be over! How she longed for landfall in Australia! She closed her eyes and imagined herself standing Eve naked under a waterfall in a clear stream in some verdant, secluded patch of paradise in that land, letting the water sweep away her pain and humiliation, the memories of her closet sized cabin, this creaky, lurching ship, and all the cruel, heartless men who sailed in her!
Mina sighed, and then upbraided herself. After all, she could not help but remember, there were many on board this vessel who suffered far worse than she-- the convicts sentenced to transportation, who did not have the luxury of their own cabins, but were crowded below decks in a noisome, airless hold. Nor could those unfortunates look to the end of this nightmarish voyage for any relief of their sufferings, for Australia was naught but a prison to them, and a prison in which they would be put to hard labor. She spared a thought for the young woman who had suffered a chastisement far worse than hers, who indeed had suffered the cat, and who's wounds probably hadn't yet begun to fade. It was well, Mina reflected, that she herself had suffered a whipping, light as it was, for now she could testify personally to both the mental and physical anguish she had endured as a result of it.
Such reflections strengthened her resolve to remain unbowed in the face of a system that seemed designed to sacrifice all finer feeling, all the virtues of civilization. A system that was nothing more than a grinding mill to crush any and all Defiance! Well! God was testing her resolve, she decided. Would she simply wither away at the first tribulation? She vowed to herself that, with God's help, she would weather the storm with all sails set!
When she had thoroughly braced herself up, as they said aboard ship, she stepped into and pulled her corset up to her bust, and laced it, albeit loosely. She held the hem of her dress over her head and tunneled into it, wincing slightly as the fabric slid over her hind parts. I could use a wash, Mina thought, catching a whiff of her own rankness.
And more than a wash, Mina corrected herself as she checked her reflection in the dim light of the cabin.
She pinched her cheeks to bring some color to her face.
Back home it was generally agreed that Mina and Laura Berkeley were the two handsomest women in all the country, but if only one prize could be given to the most beautiful in the land, Laura, Mina's elder sister, was the one who would win it. Mina was quite content to bow to that judgement. But she also knew, with a touch of both amusement and shameful pride, that at least one admirer of hers had come to blows over the issue.
There would be no contest now, Mina thought ruefully.
In any case, their father, and the governess who had primarily been responsible for their upbringing, (their mother having died bringing Mina into the world,) had always discouraged such shallow vanity in the two young women, and neither had set much store by her physical attractiveness. They had both been well educated and had followed in their father's footsteps in involving themselves in social issues, with the goal of improving the living conditions of the lower classes.
Father had campaigned specifically against the cruel and corrupt practices that were routine aboard Royal Navy vessels: Captains who lined their pockets by accepting bribes from suppliers who provided rotten meat, stale flour, and rank water; Pursers who cheated and embezzled the pitiful wages of the sailors; but most of all, the government officials, officers, and men who enforced the culture of brutal discipline. Keelhauling. The cat o' nine tails. He frequently quoted the saying that a flogging “Made a good man bad and a bad man worse.” He had served as a naval officer himself, before becoming a respected colonial administrator. Recently deceased, due to an illness contracted at his post in Australia, he would be missed by many who relied on his integrity and his sense of justice.
Mina sorely missed him, even though he was away for long periods during her childhood and adolescence. She remembered him fondly as a caring and attentive father when he had been home.
She had been traveling with family friends in the north of England when she received Laura's missive informing her of their father's demise, and of Laura's intention to secure a passage on a ship bound for Australia to set in order his affairs and to visit his grave.
Mina's sorrow at her father's passing turned quickly to determination to accompany Laura on the voyage.
But Laura's letter had taken nearly two weeks to find Mina, and despite Mina's best efforts to notify Laura of her desire to sail with her, the message arrived too late. By the time Mina arrived at the port Laura had specified in her letter, Laura had been a week into her voyage. It was nearly another month before Mina was able to take passage on a ship bound for that far off land.
Mina, now adequately, if not satisfactorily dressed, paused to send a wish out across the waves.
“Godspeed, dear Sister,” Mina whispered. “I hope your voyage has been happier than mine!”
Mina took a deep breath, and resolved to make her father proud. She felt an iron determination to acquit herself well in what would most likely be an unpleasant confrontation with the Commodore. But she had righteousness on her side! She remembered a line from the Psalms:
“The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?”
She opened the cabin hatch, and stepped out. She looked past the marine waiting impatiently at the hatch, and saw sunlight streaming through an open coaming, shining on the ladderwell leading to the main deck. She caught a whiff of sea breeze.
“Lead on, Corporal,” she said, feeling like David taking the field against Goliath.
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