or... Not On This Ship!
by Tcheser
"What's that?" Captain John Ambrose, the burly battle-hardened commander of the square-rigged frigate H.M.S. Indomitable, asked a second time, having been almost certain that he must have misheard what his first officer had just told him and desiring most fervently to have it clarified for him.
"I beg your pardon, Captain, but..." First Officer Tom Paddington trailed off, clearly having trouble repeating the message he was there to convey.
"Come man, spit it out, you know that since the clerk caught the yellow jack I have been positively aswim in naval memorandums, legal correspondence, and reports on that blackguard Bonaparte's movements. I simply don't have all day to wait for you to make yourself heard," Ambrose urged Paddington to continue.
"Very sorry, sir, the problem is that there is a... woman on board," Paddington informed his Captain uncomfortably.
"A woman," Ambrose laughed "Did one of the guns sneak a little filly on board and hide her in the cockpit?"
"No, sir," Paddington replied, suddenly finding the ceiling of the great cabin very interesting, "she seems to be a lady and demands we take her to Minorca."
"A lady? She demands, does she! We'll see about that." Ambrose stood at once, scattering papers every which way. He was going to deal with this 'lady' himself, he decided and, throwing on his blue coat with its pair of twin golden epaulettes, he marched out of the cabin. Sighing heavily, Paddington hurried after him.
The lady in question, one Fanny Jackson, stood on the sanctified quarterdeck surrounded by the officers of the watch and more than a few curious crewmen. She was certainly a rare sight for a common seaman, being as well dressed as she was in a brilliant emerald green dress cut in the latest fashion. More interesting to the crew by far though, she was young and shapely, in her early twenties, and fair with long wavy red hair.
"Oh stuff and bother," Ambrose grumbled as he took Fanny in as he came up on deck by the companion ladder. Unlike his crew, Ambrose was less than enraptured by the woman. Although quite a rake in his younger days when he was but a midshipman, he was now a post captain and had a lovely wife back home to whom he was now doubly faithful. He made a point of staying out of bawdy houses, taverns after dark and less than savory districts. Really the last thing he needed was an unaccompanied young lady of questionable standing aboard his very vessel.
"Not your type, brother? I find that hard to believe," quipped Esteban, the Captain's particular friend and the ship's surgeon, as he came up the ladder behind him. Gazing at her as he had gazed at many an elusive seabird, he then wistfully asked, "Whatever will you do with her?"
"As always I will do my duty, which is all that can be expected of any man," Ambrose replied and then stepped toward the young lady before Esteban could further bedevil him with his dry wit.
"How do you do, Miss. I am Captain John Ambrose, commander of this ship. I don't believe I have had the honor," Ambrose greeted Fanny as civilly as he could greet a stowaway aboard his ship who was also a high born lady. This was uncharted water for him after all. He was used to guns sneaking whores aboard, but never a lady who might have connections that could very well affect his chance for promotion.
"My name is Fanny Jackson," the young lady replied without any indication that she was anywhere other than in her family's own drawing room. "You may know my Father, Count Wendell Jackson of Guildford, but seeing as you probably don't get out of Portsmouth and around to London much, I would be quite unsurprised if you did not."
Trying very hard not to bristle at Fanny's very obvious barb, Ambrose recalled what little he could concerning this particular situation from naval doctrine and tried to apply it here. "Miss Jackson, as lovely as this is to speak with you, I would be entirely remiss in my duties if I were not at this point to inquire as to how you came to be aboard this ship. At the moment I am under the impression you are a stowaway."
Still displaying no outward sign of contrition, Fanny told Ambrose straight out, "I boarded at your last port and concealed myself below because I was told it was headed to Minorca. There is a man there who intends to marry me and I am resolved to join him there whether my father likes it or not. I only exposed myself now because I heard that the ship was no longer going to touch at Minorca, and as I have said, it is terribly important that I get there in a timely fashion. So if you could please alter your course and make all necessary haste so that I don't keep my fiancé waiting."
Ambrose opened his mouth to reply but found the proper words simply escaped him. The overwhelming gall of this woman was so great, that the man who had boarded and taken a ship twice his own ship's size, led an armed uprising in Peru, and beheaded a pirate captain in the South China Sea with his off hand, was at a total loss. He turned to Esteban who was often of invaluable aid in situations not covered by naval doctrine. Unfortunately Esteban, a confirmed bachelor, was equally stymied by this young woman and could only shrug.
No other solutions having made themselves apparent, Ambrose turned back to Fanny and as gently as he could made his apologies, "I'm sorry, Miss Jackson, but you have heard correctly and we are no longer headed to Minorca this cruise. We have been dispatched elsewhere, but as we are going to water in the Azores, we can drop you off there and arrange for you to be taken aboard the packet and returned to England."
"No Captain that simply will not do!" Fanny snapped, "I demand you take this garbage scow to Minorca immediately!"
"Well, as I have said, I have orders. You will have to content yourself with the Azores. Perhaps you can arrange transport from there, but that is the best I can do," Ambrose informed the young lady as calmly as he could with his blood on the rise as it was. Were she one of his girls she would not be near as impertinent.
"No, I care nothing for your blasted orders! You will take me to Minorca!" Fanny exploded angrily and, seeing that Ambrose still had no intention of doing what she wanted, she spun around and slipped a sword from the scabbard of a very surprised marine standing nearby.
"Blimey, she's got my sword!" the marine shouted as Fanny swung it around sending officers and crewmen backpedaling away in a hurry.
"Will you do as I say now?" Fanny asked as she leveled the sword at Ambrose who, unlike the others, remained where he was.
Unamused, Ambrose shook his head. "No, I will not comply," he said, "And I am getting mighty tired of this," and then with blinding speed he stepped inside her guard, grabbed her by the wrist, and then easily wrenched the sword clean out of Fanny's delicate grip.
"Owwww! Unhand me, you great Brute!" Fanny wailed and struggled with him but to no avail. Having disarmed her, Ambrose pinned her hands behind her, and against his great strength there was no escape. Realizing the futility of her struggle quickly enough Fanny began to grow worried, but remained absolutely unrepentant, "So what are you going to do now?" she asked "You wouldn't dare harm me! You know who my father is. If you harm one hair on my head he'll have you pilloried and sent to Australia!"
Ambrose smirked and released her, "Well, Miss, that may have been the case initially, but when you drew a sword on me, and then demanded I take you where you wanted to go, you committed an act of piracy and treason."
"Piracy! Treason! I did no such things! I just wanted you to do what I wanted," Fanny stammered suddenly finding she was on far from solid ground.
"Be that as it may, by rights I could have you hanged until dead, father or no father. Is that what you want?"
Panicked by this talk of hanging, Fanny decided to change tack. "Please, Captain, there must be some other way we can deal with this. As you know, I am quite wealthy. Perhaps we can come to some sort of arrangement?"
Ambrose just shook his head again and then to Esteban he said, "I do believe she is now attempting to bribe a duly appointed representative of the King. What say you?"
"Yes, captain, that is entirely the way I see it," Esteban replied.
"Piracy, treason and now bribery," Ambrose ticked off the crimes Fanny had now committed as he turned her so that she could see the spar from where she might soon be hanging. "I am afraid I fail to see an alternative to the yardarm for this one. I suppose I might as well call for the Master-at-arms so we can get this over with."
Growing visibly pale and somewhat weak at the knees, Fanny fell to the ground and, groveling at his feet, she pleaded with Ambrose for all that she was worth, "Please, Captain Ambrose, I'm sorry, I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't mean for this to go so far. Please, there must be some way I can show you how remorseful I am. Please, Captain!"
"Unfortunately, Miss, no alternative comes to mind," Ambrose replied after having listened to Fanny's plea with as stony a countenance as can be imagined and then turned to Esteban. Having traveled for such a long time with Ambrose, Esteban could at times almost read his mind. He could tell his friend had no real desire to hang this young beauty from the yardarm, but until another satisfactory solution was put forth, he was under obligation to do so.
Thinking quickly, Esteban tried to recall alternative punishments he had seen handed down by the Captain. "Perhaps, Captain," he began slowly as he was still gathering his thoughts, "as the seas are so rough today, and as Mr. Paddington has gone to such efforts to pretty the ship's gingerbread which could so easily be damaged by the flailing of a weight swinging from the yardarm, we might try ship's discipline instead?"
"Ship's discipline you say?" Ambrose made a great pretence of thinking it over despite the fact that Esteban was certain that this was the alternative he had already been thinking but couldn't decently suggest. "No, I don't think that would be proper. Being bared, having her posterior treated in such a savage manner, and then having to live with such a shame, No I am fairly certain the young lady would much rather just be hanged."
Hearing all this and seeing a possible way out of her imminent demise Fanny jumped upon this idea with great enthusiasm. "Wait, please, if you would be so kind I would much prefer this ship's discipline, no matter how shameful!"
Ambrose remained stony but nodded "Well I don't know if your father would approve, but if it preserves Paddington's blessed gingerbread and you have no qualms about it, I suppose we could commute your sentence to ship's discipline."
That decided the trio then descended to the great cabin. Normally ship's discipline was carried out on deck, the defaulter strapped to a grating and whipped by either the head of his division or the Master-at-arms. Fanny however didn't know this of course and found the proposition of being physically disciplined by the captain more than intimidating enough. She had no idea that Ambrose intended to punish her in his own cabin to protect the modesty and the decency of the ship if not her own.
Having no real desire to truly hurt Fanny, merely to teach her a lesson, and ensure her compliance until they could put ashore somewhere, Ambrose intended on treating her more or less as he did his own daughters when they were naughty. Unaware of this however, Fanny was quite surprised when he took a seat in a straight backed chair, and rather unceremoniously pulled her over his lap.
"What do you think you are doing?" she squealed, and kicked her feet and flailed her arms trying to right herself.
"Seeing to your discipline, Miss Jackson. I did say it would be your posterior that would be paying the price for your crimes, did I not?" Ambrose replied as he held her firmly down over his lap and proceeded to give her a traditional hand spanking. Whap! Whap! Whap! The Captain did little more than upset Fanny's attire as the many layers of clothing muffled the impact of what should have been a fairly hard spanking.
Despite this however Fanny still whined, "Owww! Please stop!"
To which Ambrose replied, "Quiet you, we have only just begun, and the harder you make this, the harder it will be," as he paused to consider his next course of action. Examining the great plethora of garments Fanny wore he found he was going to have to either find a way to discipline her through them or perhaps remove them. Being a gentleman, neither solution seemed at all ideal.
Noticing the Captain's difficulty, Esteban offered to lend him a hand. "Please, John, let me assist you. Despite spending all these years at sea I was formerly an imminent physician by land and have come to possess at least a passing familiarity with the undergarments of the fairer gender," and with that he proceeded to rearrange Fanny's dress.
"No, you can't do that! It isn't proper!" Fanny exclaimed and tried to forestall the humiliation of being bared by a man who was neither her husband nor lover.
Esteban however wasn't in the least put off, now viewing her more as an overly petulant patient than a noble lady or even malicious mutineer. "Don't worry, my dear, I'm a doctor," he told her, and then expertly pulled up Fanny's voluminous skirt, loosened her corset, removed her petticoats, unbuttoned her chemise, and pulled down her pantalettes exposing her pale white and pleasantly rounded bottom.
"Thank you, Doctor," Ambrose nodded appreciatively toward Esteban, pleased that the perplexing array of fabric was no longer going to impede this disciplinary session. He then renewed her heartily deserved punishment and, now as completely and totally exposed as the Rock of Gibraltar, Fanny's noble bottom bore the full brunt of the Captain's big rough hand. It was an experience she wasn't soon to forget.
And then Smack! Smack! Smack! was the sound heard through the cabin's skylight and never was there a prettier sound. The crew agreed upon it unanimously. The little jumped-up harpy was getting what she deserved, and from what they knew of their Captain's stamina, she would be getting it for some time to come.
"No more, no more!" Fanny cried after perhaps the hundredth smack but the spanking continued.
Ambrose wasn't about to stop. She had insulted him, she had insulted the service, and she had committed acts that would have seen her hanged had she been a man. He was going to see that she was punished to the fullest of his abilities. Her round little behind was going to be so sore when he was done she wouldn't be able to sit for a week and hopefully the pain would help her remember her place. And so with hard, evenly timed blows he reddened both of her chubby cheeks in record time, his hard, callused hand hardly feeling a thing throughout the whole proceeding.
"I can't take anymore..." Fanny panted as tears ran unchecked down her face.
The Captain, still unconvinced, continued unabated and, feeling he had satisfactorily dealt with her cheeky little bottom, moved onto spanking her delicate upper thighs. Untouched until this point, the impact brought renewed vigor to Fanny's exhausted frame and made her buck and kick fitfully.
"Please, I'm so sorry I was disrespectful, I didn't mean any of it..." Fanny pleaded for mercy.
But still the Captain continued without delay. Covering nearly one entire cheek with his hand he laid it on hard and fast just as he always instructed his gun crews to do when they were in battle. Having little time to brace herself or prepare for the next smack, Fanny found herself in an unending, state of pain and recoil, barely able to catch her breath and her bottom burning intensely.
"Oh, please, I'm sorry I was disrespectful to you... and to your ship... I was selfish and childish... and out of line," she whimpered completely broken.
Then finally Ambrose, after delivering what must have been several hundred swats, stopped spanking her. "Alright, Miss, stand up, I believe that will do for now." He told her and on shaking legs that barely seemed to support her Fanny stood up and hastened to rub her positively incendiary posterior. It was bright red in most places, but darkened almost to crimson in some spots, and threatened purple in others.
At this point Esteban leaned over and whispered to Fanny, "I believe it would now not be amiss to thank the Captain for disciplining you in this manner."
Despite the atrocious pain in her bottom Fanny knew Esteban to be correct. Her eyes still full of tears and a hand on either cheek she then did just as the good doctor suggested "Thank you, Captain," she said earnestly to Ambrose "My father has clearly been far too indulgent with me, but that is no excuse however for my behavior, and I see now that I have needed that for some time. I am now and forever in your debt for setting me straight in this manner. I also promise from this day forth I will be the very model of decorum."
"Very good, Miss," Ambrose replied. "We can therefore consider the matter settled, needn't speak of it again, and as I promised I will see you safely to the Azores."
"Thank you again, Captain Ambrose," Fanny said with a quick curtsey that ended in a grimace of pain.
Noticing this Ambrose motioned to Esteban. "Doctor, would you please do what you can for Miss Jackson's injury, and then put her in the care of the gunner's wife."
"It would be my distinct pleasure," Esteban replied offering the now most chastised Fanny his arm as he guided her forward to the infirmary where he promised her that one of his special salves would put her on the mend almost immediately. A simple matter he assured her.
That matter settled, Ambrose rather morosely returned to the running of his ship. Having been in the navy since he was a boy, this held no mystery or uncertainty for him whatsoever. How he was to note what just happened in the ship's log however was another matter entirely.
by Tcheser
"What's that?" Captain John Ambrose, the burly battle-hardened commander of the square-rigged frigate H.M.S. Indomitable, asked a second time, having been almost certain that he must have misheard what his first officer had just told him and desiring most fervently to have it clarified for him.
"I beg your pardon, Captain, but..." First Officer Tom Paddington trailed off, clearly having trouble repeating the message he was there to convey.
"Come man, spit it out, you know that since the clerk caught the yellow jack I have been positively aswim in naval memorandums, legal correspondence, and reports on that blackguard Bonaparte's movements. I simply don't have all day to wait for you to make yourself heard," Ambrose urged Paddington to continue.
"Very sorry, sir, the problem is that there is a... woman on board," Paddington informed his Captain uncomfortably.
"A woman," Ambrose laughed "Did one of the guns sneak a little filly on board and hide her in the cockpit?"
"No, sir," Paddington replied, suddenly finding the ceiling of the great cabin very interesting, "she seems to be a lady and demands we take her to Minorca."
"A lady? She demands, does she! We'll see about that." Ambrose stood at once, scattering papers every which way. He was going to deal with this 'lady' himself, he decided and, throwing on his blue coat with its pair of twin golden epaulettes, he marched out of the cabin. Sighing heavily, Paddington hurried after him.
The lady in question, one Fanny Jackson, stood on the sanctified quarterdeck surrounded by the officers of the watch and more than a few curious crewmen. She was certainly a rare sight for a common seaman, being as well dressed as she was in a brilliant emerald green dress cut in the latest fashion. More interesting to the crew by far though, she was young and shapely, in her early twenties, and fair with long wavy red hair.
"Oh stuff and bother," Ambrose grumbled as he took Fanny in as he came up on deck by the companion ladder. Unlike his crew, Ambrose was less than enraptured by the woman. Although quite a rake in his younger days when he was but a midshipman, he was now a post captain and had a lovely wife back home to whom he was now doubly faithful. He made a point of staying out of bawdy houses, taverns after dark and less than savory districts. Really the last thing he needed was an unaccompanied young lady of questionable standing aboard his very vessel.
"Not your type, brother? I find that hard to believe," quipped Esteban, the Captain's particular friend and the ship's surgeon, as he came up the ladder behind him. Gazing at her as he had gazed at many an elusive seabird, he then wistfully asked, "Whatever will you do with her?"
"As always I will do my duty, which is all that can be expected of any man," Ambrose replied and then stepped toward the young lady before Esteban could further bedevil him with his dry wit.
"How do you do, Miss. I am Captain John Ambrose, commander of this ship. I don't believe I have had the honor," Ambrose greeted Fanny as civilly as he could greet a stowaway aboard his ship who was also a high born lady. This was uncharted water for him after all. He was used to guns sneaking whores aboard, but never a lady who might have connections that could very well affect his chance for promotion.
"My name is Fanny Jackson," the young lady replied without any indication that she was anywhere other than in her family's own drawing room. "You may know my Father, Count Wendell Jackson of Guildford, but seeing as you probably don't get out of Portsmouth and around to London much, I would be quite unsurprised if you did not."
Trying very hard not to bristle at Fanny's very obvious barb, Ambrose recalled what little he could concerning this particular situation from naval doctrine and tried to apply it here. "Miss Jackson, as lovely as this is to speak with you, I would be entirely remiss in my duties if I were not at this point to inquire as to how you came to be aboard this ship. At the moment I am under the impression you are a stowaway."
Still displaying no outward sign of contrition, Fanny told Ambrose straight out, "I boarded at your last port and concealed myself below because I was told it was headed to Minorca. There is a man there who intends to marry me and I am resolved to join him there whether my father likes it or not. I only exposed myself now because I heard that the ship was no longer going to touch at Minorca, and as I have said, it is terribly important that I get there in a timely fashion. So if you could please alter your course and make all necessary haste so that I don't keep my fiancé waiting."
Ambrose opened his mouth to reply but found the proper words simply escaped him. The overwhelming gall of this woman was so great, that the man who had boarded and taken a ship twice his own ship's size, led an armed uprising in Peru, and beheaded a pirate captain in the South China Sea with his off hand, was at a total loss. He turned to Esteban who was often of invaluable aid in situations not covered by naval doctrine. Unfortunately Esteban, a confirmed bachelor, was equally stymied by this young woman and could only shrug.
No other solutions having made themselves apparent, Ambrose turned back to Fanny and as gently as he could made his apologies, "I'm sorry, Miss Jackson, but you have heard correctly and we are no longer headed to Minorca this cruise. We have been dispatched elsewhere, but as we are going to water in the Azores, we can drop you off there and arrange for you to be taken aboard the packet and returned to England."
"No Captain that simply will not do!" Fanny snapped, "I demand you take this garbage scow to Minorca immediately!"
"Well, as I have said, I have orders. You will have to content yourself with the Azores. Perhaps you can arrange transport from there, but that is the best I can do," Ambrose informed the young lady as calmly as he could with his blood on the rise as it was. Were she one of his girls she would not be near as impertinent.
"No, I care nothing for your blasted orders! You will take me to Minorca!" Fanny exploded angrily and, seeing that Ambrose still had no intention of doing what she wanted, she spun around and slipped a sword from the scabbard of a very surprised marine standing nearby.
"Blimey, she's got my sword!" the marine shouted as Fanny swung it around sending officers and crewmen backpedaling away in a hurry.
"Will you do as I say now?" Fanny asked as she leveled the sword at Ambrose who, unlike the others, remained where he was.
Unamused, Ambrose shook his head. "No, I will not comply," he said, "And I am getting mighty tired of this," and then with blinding speed he stepped inside her guard, grabbed her by the wrist, and then easily wrenched the sword clean out of Fanny's delicate grip.
"Owwww! Unhand me, you great Brute!" Fanny wailed and struggled with him but to no avail. Having disarmed her, Ambrose pinned her hands behind her, and against his great strength there was no escape. Realizing the futility of her struggle quickly enough Fanny began to grow worried, but remained absolutely unrepentant, "So what are you going to do now?" she asked "You wouldn't dare harm me! You know who my father is. If you harm one hair on my head he'll have you pilloried and sent to Australia!"
Ambrose smirked and released her, "Well, Miss, that may have been the case initially, but when you drew a sword on me, and then demanded I take you where you wanted to go, you committed an act of piracy and treason."
"Piracy! Treason! I did no such things! I just wanted you to do what I wanted," Fanny stammered suddenly finding she was on far from solid ground.
"Be that as it may, by rights I could have you hanged until dead, father or no father. Is that what you want?"
Panicked by this talk of hanging, Fanny decided to change tack. "Please, Captain, there must be some other way we can deal with this. As you know, I am quite wealthy. Perhaps we can come to some sort of arrangement?"
Ambrose just shook his head again and then to Esteban he said, "I do believe she is now attempting to bribe a duly appointed representative of the King. What say you?"
"Yes, captain, that is entirely the way I see it," Esteban replied.
"Piracy, treason and now bribery," Ambrose ticked off the crimes Fanny had now committed as he turned her so that she could see the spar from where she might soon be hanging. "I am afraid I fail to see an alternative to the yardarm for this one. I suppose I might as well call for the Master-at-arms so we can get this over with."
Growing visibly pale and somewhat weak at the knees, Fanny fell to the ground and, groveling at his feet, she pleaded with Ambrose for all that she was worth, "Please, Captain Ambrose, I'm sorry, I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't mean for this to go so far. Please, there must be some way I can show you how remorseful I am. Please, Captain!"
"Unfortunately, Miss, no alternative comes to mind," Ambrose replied after having listened to Fanny's plea with as stony a countenance as can be imagined and then turned to Esteban. Having traveled for such a long time with Ambrose, Esteban could at times almost read his mind. He could tell his friend had no real desire to hang this young beauty from the yardarm, but until another satisfactory solution was put forth, he was under obligation to do so.
Thinking quickly, Esteban tried to recall alternative punishments he had seen handed down by the Captain. "Perhaps, Captain," he began slowly as he was still gathering his thoughts, "as the seas are so rough today, and as Mr. Paddington has gone to such efforts to pretty the ship's gingerbread which could so easily be damaged by the flailing of a weight swinging from the yardarm, we might try ship's discipline instead?"
"Ship's discipline you say?" Ambrose made a great pretence of thinking it over despite the fact that Esteban was certain that this was the alternative he had already been thinking but couldn't decently suggest. "No, I don't think that would be proper. Being bared, having her posterior treated in such a savage manner, and then having to live with such a shame, No I am fairly certain the young lady would much rather just be hanged."
Hearing all this and seeing a possible way out of her imminent demise Fanny jumped upon this idea with great enthusiasm. "Wait, please, if you would be so kind I would much prefer this ship's discipline, no matter how shameful!"
Ambrose remained stony but nodded "Well I don't know if your father would approve, but if it preserves Paddington's blessed gingerbread and you have no qualms about it, I suppose we could commute your sentence to ship's discipline."
That decided the trio then descended to the great cabin. Normally ship's discipline was carried out on deck, the defaulter strapped to a grating and whipped by either the head of his division or the Master-at-arms. Fanny however didn't know this of course and found the proposition of being physically disciplined by the captain more than intimidating enough. She had no idea that Ambrose intended to punish her in his own cabin to protect the modesty and the decency of the ship if not her own.
Having no real desire to truly hurt Fanny, merely to teach her a lesson, and ensure her compliance until they could put ashore somewhere, Ambrose intended on treating her more or less as he did his own daughters when they were naughty. Unaware of this however, Fanny was quite surprised when he took a seat in a straight backed chair, and rather unceremoniously pulled her over his lap.
"What do you think you are doing?" she squealed, and kicked her feet and flailed her arms trying to right herself.
"Seeing to your discipline, Miss Jackson. I did say it would be your posterior that would be paying the price for your crimes, did I not?" Ambrose replied as he held her firmly down over his lap and proceeded to give her a traditional hand spanking. Whap! Whap! Whap! The Captain did little more than upset Fanny's attire as the many layers of clothing muffled the impact of what should have been a fairly hard spanking.
Despite this however Fanny still whined, "Owww! Please stop!"
To which Ambrose replied, "Quiet you, we have only just begun, and the harder you make this, the harder it will be," as he paused to consider his next course of action. Examining the great plethora of garments Fanny wore he found he was going to have to either find a way to discipline her through them or perhaps remove them. Being a gentleman, neither solution seemed at all ideal.
Noticing the Captain's difficulty, Esteban offered to lend him a hand. "Please, John, let me assist you. Despite spending all these years at sea I was formerly an imminent physician by land and have come to possess at least a passing familiarity with the undergarments of the fairer gender," and with that he proceeded to rearrange Fanny's dress.
"No, you can't do that! It isn't proper!" Fanny exclaimed and tried to forestall the humiliation of being bared by a man who was neither her husband nor lover.
Esteban however wasn't in the least put off, now viewing her more as an overly petulant patient than a noble lady or even malicious mutineer. "Don't worry, my dear, I'm a doctor," he told her, and then expertly pulled up Fanny's voluminous skirt, loosened her corset, removed her petticoats, unbuttoned her chemise, and pulled down her pantalettes exposing her pale white and pleasantly rounded bottom.
"Thank you, Doctor," Ambrose nodded appreciatively toward Esteban, pleased that the perplexing array of fabric was no longer going to impede this disciplinary session. He then renewed her heartily deserved punishment and, now as completely and totally exposed as the Rock of Gibraltar, Fanny's noble bottom bore the full brunt of the Captain's big rough hand. It was an experience she wasn't soon to forget.
And then Smack! Smack! Smack! was the sound heard through the cabin's skylight and never was there a prettier sound. The crew agreed upon it unanimously. The little jumped-up harpy was getting what she deserved, and from what they knew of their Captain's stamina, she would be getting it for some time to come.
"No more, no more!" Fanny cried after perhaps the hundredth smack but the spanking continued.
Ambrose wasn't about to stop. She had insulted him, she had insulted the service, and she had committed acts that would have seen her hanged had she been a man. He was going to see that she was punished to the fullest of his abilities. Her round little behind was going to be so sore when he was done she wouldn't be able to sit for a week and hopefully the pain would help her remember her place. And so with hard, evenly timed blows he reddened both of her chubby cheeks in record time, his hard, callused hand hardly feeling a thing throughout the whole proceeding.
"I can't take anymore..." Fanny panted as tears ran unchecked down her face.
The Captain, still unconvinced, continued unabated and, feeling he had satisfactorily dealt with her cheeky little bottom, moved onto spanking her delicate upper thighs. Untouched until this point, the impact brought renewed vigor to Fanny's exhausted frame and made her buck and kick fitfully.
"Please, I'm so sorry I was disrespectful, I didn't mean any of it..." Fanny pleaded for mercy.
But still the Captain continued without delay. Covering nearly one entire cheek with his hand he laid it on hard and fast just as he always instructed his gun crews to do when they were in battle. Having little time to brace herself or prepare for the next smack, Fanny found herself in an unending, state of pain and recoil, barely able to catch her breath and her bottom burning intensely.
"Oh, please, I'm sorry I was disrespectful to you... and to your ship... I was selfish and childish... and out of line," she whimpered completely broken.
Then finally Ambrose, after delivering what must have been several hundred swats, stopped spanking her. "Alright, Miss, stand up, I believe that will do for now." He told her and on shaking legs that barely seemed to support her Fanny stood up and hastened to rub her positively incendiary posterior. It was bright red in most places, but darkened almost to crimson in some spots, and threatened purple in others.
At this point Esteban leaned over and whispered to Fanny, "I believe it would now not be amiss to thank the Captain for disciplining you in this manner."
Despite the atrocious pain in her bottom Fanny knew Esteban to be correct. Her eyes still full of tears and a hand on either cheek she then did just as the good doctor suggested "Thank you, Captain," she said earnestly to Ambrose "My father has clearly been far too indulgent with me, but that is no excuse however for my behavior, and I see now that I have needed that for some time. I am now and forever in your debt for setting me straight in this manner. I also promise from this day forth I will be the very model of decorum."
"Very good, Miss," Ambrose replied. "We can therefore consider the matter settled, needn't speak of it again, and as I promised I will see you safely to the Azores."
"Thank you again, Captain Ambrose," Fanny said with a quick curtsey that ended in a grimace of pain.
Noticing this Ambrose motioned to Esteban. "Doctor, would you please do what you can for Miss Jackson's injury, and then put her in the care of the gunner's wife."
"It would be my distinct pleasure," Esteban replied offering the now most chastised Fanny his arm as he guided her forward to the infirmary where he promised her that one of his special salves would put her on the mend almost immediately. A simple matter he assured her.
That matter settled, Ambrose rather morosely returned to the running of his ship. Having been in the navy since he was a boy, this held no mystery or uncertainty for him whatsoever. How he was to note what just happened in the ship's log however was another matter entirely.
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