The Sea Hawk Page #5

If you think it would do any good,

I'd be glad to speak to the Queen.

To tell her how kindly you treated us

and that we don't want you punished.

That's very kind of you indeed.

I think I can stand the punishment,

but I'm very grateful for your concern.

I wonder if you can imagine

how much it means to me.

No, I haven't any notion.

When I saw you first...

I thought you were like a statue.

Beautiful but cold.

Then I watched you

when you saw the slaves...

and the statue seemed to come to life.

I thought perhaps

you'd forgive me one day.

Capt. Thorpe, I have forgiven you.

Is forgiveness all you feel?

Have I led you to believe anything else?

Not by anything you've said...

but I thought I saw something

in your eyes.

No, you're mistaken.

I'm sorry.

You're mistaken.

Perhaps that's as well,

since I'm going back to sea.

- What?

- We'll be gone quite some time.

Are you leaving soon?

Within a week or so,

just as soon as the Albatross is ready.

The roses look different

when you hold them.

In the garden of a convent in Peru,

there's a beautiful statue.

The nuns call it

Nuestra Seora de Las Flores.

That's how I'll always think of you,

as my lady of the roses.

Look sharp here! Get on with your work.

- Where are you bound, mate?

- I'm blessed if I know. Pass it along here.

- You taking on sailors?

- See Mr. Pitt, top of the gangplank.

Lieutenant, here's another one

coming up to sign on.

Pass it along here, boys.

Come along.

Pitt will assign you

to your duties and your quarters.

Michael Sweeney,

and I'll give you my best, sir.

- Jones, sign him.

- Thank you, Captain.

Tuttle, I didn't expect

to see you back so soon.

- I'm a sailor, Captain.

- And a right good one.

Just the kind we need on a trip like this.

Report to Mr. Pitt on the upper deck.

Next.

Eli Matson.

What are you doing on board here?

Captain, if you don't mind my asking,

but I suppose after what I done...

there ain't no place for me

on the Albatross?

I might find a berth for you as a cabin boy.

There's always a berth for a good man...

particularly when he's learned

how to obey orders.

Captain, there ain't no man on earth

I'd rather serve under.

- I'll make it up to you. Thank you, sir.

- See you do.

- Name?

- Samuel Kroner. Topman, First Class.

- Age?

- 42.

- Last vessel?

- The Dorsey, sir.

- Papers?

- Didn't bring them with me, sir.

I wasn't ready to sign

till I knew where you were shipping.

You weren't?

Don't a man have a right to know

what he's signing on for?

Not on board this ship, he hasn't.

My men follow without questions.

Get ashore. Next.

And I said to myself:

"This isn't the usual preparation.

This voyage is something different."

That's all I could find out, Your Lordship.

Not a man in his crew

knows where he's going.

Kroner, Thorpe's destination

is of vital importance.

We'll have him watched from now

until the day he sails.

The money will be placed at your disposal

by my steward.

Very good, Your Lordship.

Then this pirate is free again to plunder

where he chooses, in spite of the Queen.

Or perhaps for the Queen.

Hereafter we shall do better

to rely on our own devices...

than on the assurances of a clever woman.

Surely she would not neglect

to inform her Lord Chancellor...

of the nature

of such an important voyage?

Her Grace did inform me...

that Capt. Thorpe is undertaking

a trading expedition up the Nile.

I pretended to believe her.

Does that reassure Your Excellency?

Forgive me, milord,

if any suspicion crossed my mind.

His Majesty King Phillip

has implicit confidence...

in your loyalty to his interests.

His Gracious Majesty and I

have an interest in common.

A ruler friendly to Spain

on the throne of England.

Like you, Lord Wolfingham?

Don Alvarez, we serve others best...

when at the same time

we serve ourselves.

Sure you have enough information

on these waters?

Every bay and inlet for harboring a ship,

soundings accurate, not a reef missing.

That's what I want.

I'll send for it on Wednesday.

I'll have it ready for you, sir.

You can rely on me.

I don't want any printing on the chart,

you understand? No names at all.

No names. Very good, sir.

- Good day.

- Good day, Capt. Thorpe.

I'll have it ready for you Wednesday.

- How do you do, gentlemen?

- Are you the chart maker?

- At your service.

- I am Lord Wolfingham.

This is Don Alvarez de Cordoba,

ambassador from King Phillip of Spain.

I am honored, Your Excellency and milord.

I've been boasting to His Excellency

about English chart-making.

I'm anxious for him

to see samples of your work.

Perhaps some charts

you are in process of making?

Certainly, sir.

Would His Excellency

prefer navigation charts or maps?

The charts, please.

My government may wish

to compare them with their own.

Very good, sir.

If you will notice, sir, all my charts

are drawn on the very best parchment...

and mounted on the finest linen.

The numbers every half-inch

along the coastline...

indicate the depth of the ocean in fathoms

at that point.

This is very interesting.

I just finished that

when you gentlemen came in.

Here is a section

of the west coast of Africa.

You will notice it is worked out

with such detail...

that a navigator can sail through

waters unknown with perfect safety.

- Yes, indeed. Excellent work.

- Here are some straits.

Tricky to navigate, and if I may say so,

tricky to chart.

What do the constellations

at the top of the map signify?

Purely a decoration, milord.

I take the constellation that has its zenith

over the charted territory.

Every seaman knows them.

Just like the Southern Cross

over the Strait of Magellan.

Merely a conceit of mine

so that people may recognize my work.

- Quite an original idea.

- Thank you, sir.

This figure

with the dagger pointing down...

- is Orion the Hunter, is it not?

- Yes, Your Excellency.

Then Your Excellency has some knowledge

of astronomy?

Not as much as I should like to have.

They say that even our fortunes

rest with the stars.

You see, gentlemen, the orbit of Orion

is approximately this narrow path...

between the equator

and the 10-degree parallel.

The constellation appears to move

overhead as the earth turns on its axis.

Obviously, the section of land you are

seeking must be somewhere on this belt.

And from your memory of the chart...

it appears this strip is too long

to be an island...

not large enough to be a continent.

Therefore, we may deduce

it is an isthmus.

The only isthmus running

east and west under Orion's orbit...

is this connecting link between

the two continents of the New World.

Gentlemen,

here is your charted strip of land...

the isthmus of Panama.

Fifty sacks of rice, 50 pounds of raisins,

30 pounds of cocoa...

eighteen hogsheads of vinegar,

50 jars of wine...

Thank you, Mr. Pitt.

I have some rather urgent business

in London, so you'll take charge.

Isn't that rather a sudden decision,

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