Pirates Tom and Jack: The Lost Treasure – Part 3 of 3

709 words / 4 min.

Three black rocks rose from the sea like the teeth of some enormous creature. Captain Henry Storm did not sail straight toward them. The Heroic Breeze stopped well clear of the shoal, and the crew dropped anchor where the water was deep enough. Only a narrow boat could safely approach the coral line.

Tom stood by the railing, clutching the brass disc marked with three stars that Jack had just handed him. Beside him, Jack held the chart they had copied on Lost Island. “If we read it correctly, the Sea Crown lies between the second and third rocks,” Jack said.

“And if we’re wrong?” Tom asked. “That’s why we have the captain and Miro,” Jack answered. The captain overheard them. “And that is why no one jumps into the water simply because they are impatient. Courage cannot persuade the sea.”

First Mate Miro was the most experienced diver aboard. With two sailors, he prepared a boat, a safety line, and a simple diving bell that trapped a pocket of air beneath it. Tom and Jack remained aboard the Heroic Breeze. Their job was to watch the tide, read the chart, and give the agreed bell signals.

As the tide began to fall, Miro moved the boat toward the edge of the coral. Through the clear water, they could see the dark outline of a wooden hull. The Sea Crown was exactly where the chart had placed her.

“Two short rings mean all is well,” the captain explained. “Three quick rings mean return at once.” Jack nodded and gripped the small signal bell. Tom watched the water so closely that he almost forgot to blink.

The first dive went well. Miro returned with a brass plaque bearing the ship’s name. On the second dive, he found an iron chest beneath the broken deck. It was heavy and wedged between planks. The sailors fastened a rope around it, but as they began to lift, the chest caught on a beam.

“They’re pulling too hard,” Jack noticed from the strain on the rope. Tom was about to shout for them to pull harder still. Then he remembered the captain’s words from the start of their voyage: think first. “Stop!” he called. “We might break the chest!”

The captain signalled for the rope to be loosened. Miro adjusted its angle from the boat, and on the next attempt the chest slowly lifted free of the wreck. When it reached safety, the crew breathed out in relief. The tide was already turning. There was no time for another dive.

Inside the chest, gold coins, gemstones, and silver ornaments glittered in the daylight. Tom’s eyes grew wide. Beneath them, however, lay a leather envelope sealed with the mark of Fragrant Cove. The captain carefully opened it.

“‘This cargo is intended to repair the old lighthouse,’” he read aloud, “‘and to help the families of sailors who never returned from their voyages.’” The letter was signed by the captain of the Sea Crown. On the back stood the name of another witness: Morven of the Night Star.

Silence settled over the deck. Jack looked at the chest. “That’s why Morven waited. He didn’t want those people to be forgotten.” Tom picked up a coin, then placed it back among the others. “I thought we were finding treasure for ourselves.”

Captain Storm knelt beside them. “We did find treasure. We simply learned who it belongs to.”

When they returned to Fragrant Cove, they handed the chest to the harbour master in front of the entire crew. Part of the cargo went to the sailors’ families, and the rest paid for repairs to the old lighthouse. A few weeks later, its light shone across the harbour once more.

Tom and Jack stood on the pier as the first beam swept over the dark sea. In the distance, three stars seemed to glimmer for a moment, even though clouds still covered most of the sky.

“Do you think Captain Morven saw it?” Tom asked.

Jack smiled. “If he did, then he finally knows his chart made it home.”

The Heroic Breeze rested beside the pier. This time, the boys were in no hurry to sail again. Their three-part adventure was over, and an old promise had been kept.