‘God save thee, ancient Mariner!
From the fiends, that plague thee thus!—
Why look’st thou so?’—With my cross-bow
I shot the ALBATROSS.
~from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
I made a new friend today, dear galleons. Born in the freezing winds of Copper Harbor, MI to a family of miners, he worked in the copper mines from the day he turned 16 to the day he walked out of the town forever at the tender age of 19 after a particularly vicious spat with his father. He traveled west, eventually landing a job on the Kate, a whaling ship owned by the up-and-coming Dawson and Douglass Whaling Company in Victoria, British Columbia. There, in that cold Canadian port, he got his first glimpse of the unforgiving grey sea.
And she’s been his mistress ever since.
Galleons, meet Ernest P. Fitzroy, first mate of The Drowned Maid:
He is the best thing I have ever found in a thrift store, hands down.
As we get to know each other (namely, as I ply him with the finest of spirits), I’m sure I’ll have many tales of Ernest’s past adventures to share with you all.
Epistula Rasa 