Lead and Gold
It is springtime, and the “Likedeeler” have problems. A huge fleet with two new ships is searching for them. On the thirteenth of March ships sailed from Lübeck. They met ships from Hamburg and formed a huge fleet. This huge fleet is now sailing to East Frisia. The Hanseatic League wants to destroy the “Likedeeler” utterly.
The “Likedeeler” are good sailors. They can sail better than the sailors of the Hansa. But they don’t know the two new ships yet. One is called Bunte Kuh (Brindled Cow). Its captain is Hermann von Nyenkerken. The “Likedeeler” know the Dutchman von Nyenkerken. He is a good sailor. The question is: Who has the better ship, Klaus Störtebeker or Hermann von Nyenkerken?
The huge fleet is headed for Heligoland where the “Likedeeler” are. Here are Gödeke Michels and his men. Here are the “Red Devil” and his men.
After a long time the ships of the Hansa arrive at Heligoland. Tomorrow there will be a big sea battle between the “Likedeeler” and the fleet of the Hansa. If the “Likedeeler” win, they will be able to go on naval raids. If the fleet of the Hansa wins, the “Likedeeler” will die.
On the evening before the battle a fisherman comes to the Sea Tiger. He wants to cook his soup for dinner, but the wind is too strong. May he light a fire next to the ship out of the wind? The capt’n says yes.
On the morning of the battle the weather is fine. The wind is strong. The ships will be able to sail well. The “Likedeeler” sail in the direction of the Hansa fleet. In a short while they see the enemy. The ships come closer together.
The battle begins. The ships start their maneuvers, but all of a sudden the captain can’t maneuver his ship anymore. There is a problem with the rudder, and the ship can no longer do any maneuvers.
“By death and the devil!” shouts the captain. “What‘s the problem? Pitt! Hein! Check the rudder. What is the matter?”
The two sailors look at the rudder. They see the problem, but they can’t do anything. The problem is that some one has poured lead into the rudder. The fisherman, who cooked his soup in the evening, wasn’t a fisherman at all. He was a spy for the Hansa. He poured lead into the rudder. Now the Sea Tiger cannot maneuver.
The Bunte Kuh is sailing closer. The men on board are throwing stones at the Sea Tiger with their staff-slings. The “Likedeeler” are throwing stones back. The sailors of the Hansa’s ship are shooting with their crossbows. The “Likedeeler” are shooting back. Then the Hansa ship arrives alongside the Sea Tiger. The men throw grappling hooks onto the ship’s deck and pull the two ships together.
“By death and the devil!” shouts the captain. “The Hansa won’t bring any men on board my ship! We’ll take the fight to them. We’ll board their ship. Men, prepare to board!”
The “Likedeeler” board the Bunte Kuh. They want to fight. They want to seize the Hansa ship. But there is no one on deck. The “Likedeeler” look at each other. What is wrong?
Then a net falls from the rigging onto the “Likedeeler”. They are captured. This is the end of the “Red Devil” and his crew. The Hansa’s men board the Sea Tiger and capture all of the sailors. They capture Götz, the cabin boy, too.
Dang! What will happen now? Götz asks himself.
The Hansa fleet sails for Hamburg. Many “Likedeeler” are in chains. The captain and more than seventy of his men are prisoners. The Hanseatic League has won, but they haven’t defeated all the “Likedeeler”. Gödeke Michels and his men have escaped.
But Klaus Störtebeker and his men are sailing to Hamburg on board the Bunte Kuh. They are prisoners, not guests. They have no nice cabins but are sitting in barrels, just like Störtebeker put the <<moneybags>> of the Hansa into barrels whenever he captured them. The <<Likedeeler>> will die. They know it, for the Hanseatic League says that they are pirates. Götz is afraid. He doesn’t want to die. He doesn’t want his head to be struck from his shoulders. He wants to go back to California, but he doesn’t know how.
The captain says: “I’m sorry, boy. You shouldn’t have come. You should have stayed at Marienhafe, where you could read and write. But it’s not over yet. Perhaps I will be able to make a deal with the Council. We’ll see.”
A few days later they arrive in Hamburg. The “Likedeeler” go to prison. There they will await their trial.
The “Red Devil” talks to the City Council. He says that he will give the city of Hamburg a chain of gold if they release him and his men. This chain will be long enough to reach around the city of Hamburg.
The City Council refuses. When the “Likedeeler” are dead, the Hanseatic League will be able to search for their gold. They won’t need the captain. He and the other pirates will die.
For a few months the “Likedeeler” are in prison. They learn that they must die. The executioner will strike their heads from their shoulders. Then his assistant will take their heads and put them on posts all along the river to serve as a warning to other pirates.
Then, on the 20th of October, the time has come. The City Council gets the “Likedeeler” out of the prison. They go to the island of Grasbrook in Hamburg’s harbor. There the executioner is waiting for them. There death is waiting for them.
On the island of Grasbrook Störtebeker talks to the City Council. The councilmen don’t want his money, they want his head. He is still the captain and tries to rescue his men.
“Please don’t kill my men. I’m the leader, kill me, but don’t kill the others. I’m the captain; the others do what I say. Let them live and just kill me.”
The councilmen say nothing. All the men in the Hamburg City Council look at Klaus Störtebeker. He looks at the City Council. Then the mayor says, “They are all pirates. They will all die with you.”
“Then kill me first, please. After I’m dead I’ll walk past my men. Please don’t kill the men that I walk past.”
All of the councilmen laugh. The mayor says, “If you have no head, you can’t stand up and walk … but all right, if you can do that, we won’t kill the men you walk past.”
This is like in Frau Bezeredy’s story! Thinks Götz. I want to tell her that she is right. The captain really said this. But now I have to die as a pirate. I’ll never see Frau Bezeredy, my friends, my family and Staci again.
“I have one more request”, says Störtebeker. “The cabin boy isn’t a “Likedeeler”. We pulled him out of the sea. He hasn’t stolen anything, he hasn’t killed anybody. Please let him go.”
This was not in the story! I was not in the story. Is this story a different story now?
“All right”, says the mayor. “But he must watch so he will know what happens to pirates. Afterwards he may go.”
Oh no! I know what they will do. The other sailors won’t be allowed to go. I won’t be allowed to go, I will die, too. What the mayor says is false. It’s a lie. The councilmen are lying, they are not just.
A man brings Götz to the side, where he can see everything clearly. Götz, the councilmen, the other “Likedeeler” and the people watch. Störtebeker kneels down and puts his head on the block. The executioner lifts his ax and strikes Störtebeker’s head from his shoulders.
Störtebeker falls to the ground. He doesn’t stand up. The people shout: “Störtebeker! Störtebeker! Störtebeker!” The people don’t want the famous pirate to die. He is a hero to the people. The people surge forward. They want to get to the pirate. They break through the barriers. There is great confusion. The city guard tries to maintain order but succeeds only with great difficulty.
“No!” cries Götz.
He tears himself away from the man who is holding him. He runs to Störtebeker. The captain is dead. Then Götz takes the necklace with Saint Vincent’s relic from the “Red Devil’s” lifeless hand and picks it up. He runs in the direction of the river.
A man seizes Götz by his shirt, but the shirt is old and tears. Götz runs and the man is left with only an old shirt in his hand.
Götz runs through the group of sailors. He runs past them. He runs past the first sailor, past the second, past the third …
The people are still shouting: “Störtebeker! Störtebeker!”
Götz runs past the sixth, past the seventh, past the eighth …
The executioner runs after him. A sailor sticks his foot out, and the executioner stumbles over the foot and falls to the ground.
Götz runs past the ninth, past the tenth, past the eleventh …
Then he has passed the group and sees the river Elbe. Götz jumps into the water. He wants to dive deep under water and swim away. All of a sudden a wave comes and takes him with it.
Dang! Where did a wave come from in the harbor? Götz asks himself. Then everything goes dark.
©2012 Robert Harrell