The Stolen Heart (37 page)

 

 

He looked at her with a serious expression. “The pirates stole my
ship, but you stole my heart, and that I can’t live without.”

 

 

“You’ve certainly stolen mine.”

 

 

He quirked one brow at her. “Do you want it back?”

 

 

She shook her head. “No, it’s all yours. In any case, I have two
now. Yours and baby’s.” She touched her stomach, and he placed his
hand over hers.

 

 

“Can I share it?”

 

 

“Of course. Everything I have is yours, and everything I have gained
has been because of your love, Jared.”

 

 

“I would have lost everything if it hadn’t been for you.”

 

 

She shuddered and drew him close to cradle him against her. “Don’t
even think about it.”

 

 

Jared kissed her tenderly, all his love and longing evident in the
blissful melding and joining.

 

 

For the first time he understood the phrase ‘one flesh’, for he
could not imagine a day or night without Almira by his side.

 

 

“But I do want to think about it, my love, so I never take what we
share for granted. I’ll thank God every day for all he has chosen to
give us, and all he will give us in the future. I love you, Almira,
forever and ever. You may have stolen my heart, but the gifts you
give are without compare.”

 

 

She stroked his cheek tenderly “And I will thank him and you every
day. You believed in me, and trusted me, when many others would not
have. Now I have my brother and father back, and we’re heading home,
where our baby will be born. What more could I ask for?”

 

 

“To be blessed with even more children, and thousands of more days,
and nights of joy,” he suggested with a twinkle in his eyes.

 

 

“Yes, please, Jared, my love.”

 

 

His large warm hands moved over her seductively, eliciting a gasp of
delight. “Ask and ye shall receive.”

 

 

“
Please
,” she panted.

 

 

“As much as you like. Always. Forever, my dearest love.”

 

 

 

AUTHOR'S NOTE

 

 

Since this is a novel and I have drawn on a vast array of sources, I
won't give an extensive bibliography of all my sources.

 

 

I shall simply say that anyone interested in pursuing their own
research on this fascinating period of history, and women and
whaling, can read Joan Druett’s marvellous books
Petticoat
Whalers
and
She Was a Sister Sailor.

 

 

This story was inspired by the tale of Obed Starbuck which I
discovered in the library of the Nantucket Historical Association.
He was said to be one of the most successful whaling captains of all
time, and had greatness thrust upon him from several different
directions. The first was upon becoming Captain. He had shipped out
for the first time at the age of thirteen, and on only his second
voyage on the ship
Hero
, commanded by James Russell, he had
shipped out as a mate (quite a rapid rise up the ladder in any
event).

 

 

When the
Hero
was taken by pirates in 1821 and the captain
and cabin boy murdered, he was taken into the pirates’ port of
Arauco, Chile. He managed to rally the crew and get the ship back,
and sailed over three hundred miles to Valparaiso.

 

 

It was upon this ship, according to some sources, that the survivors
of the
Essex
, attacked by a sperm whale, headed home to
Nantucket. The flag flown was a black one as they entered the
harbor. However, we have to take this with a pinch of salt, for I
have also seen several other ships mentioned in connection with
their rescue and return, including the
Surry
, the
Eagle
,
and the
Two Brothers
.

 

 

But it is interesting how Starbuck’s legend became elided with the
infamous story which became Melville’s inspiration for
Moby
Dick.

 

 

Obed Starbuck was the first captain ever to take in a huge haul of
oil, calculated at $50,000 worth from a voyage of less than fourteen
months in 1829. Once he had done it, every whaler captain aspired to
it, though with devastating results upon the whale population, which
has never recovered to this day.

 

 

Finally, he has been credited with the charting of over twenty
previously undiscovered islands in the South Pacific, including
Starbuck Island and New Nantucket. His fabulous home still stands,
and is the
Ship’s Inn
at Fair and School Streets if you
wish to stay there.

 

 

Since the name Starbuck was synonymous with whaling on Nantucket for
almost one hundred years, I hope the illustrious family will not
mind a rogue branch being tacked on!

 

 

Chase and Swain are two more of the great whaling families that hail
from that small windswept island out in the Atlantic, and the D and
S Starbuck Fleet will have a new captain soon, as Roland Chase gets
made up to Captain by Dare Starbuck, and meets a fascinating woman
who is his mate in every sense of the word.

 

 

And don’t miss Volume Four, in which Jared’s young brother Morgan
has a series of adventures which would make even the great Obed
Starbuck’s hair stand on end, and must risk everything for the woman
he loves.

 

 

 

AUTHOR'S AFTERWORD

 

 

All of my novels are a product of both inspiration, perspiration,
and many years of my own historical studies. In the case of my new
series,
The Starbuck Saga
, however, I need to give particular
thanks to the wonderful staff at the Nantucket Historical
Association for all of their patience and enthusiasm as I launched
into unknown waters and undertook the research for these novels.

 

 

It was a delight to spend time on your beautiful island, and I truly
feel like one of the extended family who love and treasure Nantucket
and its heritage.

 

 

Once I began the research for this novel, and discovered just how
many women actually
did
ship out with their whaling
husbands, my idea of a girl who boards a whaler to follow the man
she loves did not seem ridiculous any longer.

 

 

My heroine is only atypical in that she disguises herself as a man,
as compared with the lion’s share of the women from about 1818
onwards who tried to maintain a normal domestic life with their
spouses and children for up to five years at a time as their men
chased those floating goldmines, sperm and right whales.

 

 

The decimation of the whales is of course deplorable, and in no way
condoned in this novel. But we have to recall that the people back
then were very much a product of their times, and we cannot always
expect them to behave in a politically correct manner of which we
would approve. Likewise my characters.

 

 

However grim the decimation of the whales turned out to be (and
continues to be if the headlines about Japanese whaling are to be
believed), tribute does need to be paid to the men and women
pioneers tracked across the west, taking land which belonged to the
indigenous peoples, and decimating the buffalo and other wildlife
and natural resources along the way.

 

 

The struggles and sacrifice in the whaling industry produced
top-quality lubricants for the great machines of the industrial
revolution, and illumination for homes, schools, and offices in
pre-petroleum and paraffin days.

 

 

It is fortunate for the whales and ourselves that fossil fuels were
discovered and utilised roughly mid-century, gradually making
whaling a thing of the past.

 

 

The whale also provided the raw materials for many cosmetic
products, as well as the precursor of plastic, so-called whalebone,
which is really the baleen (the filters in a non-toothed whale’s
mouth), and not the bone of a whale at all.

 

 

The Native Americans living on Nantucket in the seventeenth century
used every part of the whale, much the same way as they did the
buffalo. It is a pity they were not able to pass on all of their
knowledge and wisdom when they taught the early Nantucketers how to
drift-whale (take advantage of the whale carcasses which washed up
on the beach, or live whales which were unlucky enough to come in
too close to shore).

 

 

It is also a pity that women were primarily responsible for driving
the whales to near-extinction simply for the sake of fashion. I
would urge everyone today to do what they can to protect all animals
by using beauty without cruelty products.

 

 

I do not wish to glamorize the killing of the whales in this series,
but to point out that these women defy our stereotypical assumptions
of weak and feeble women of the nineteenth century.

 

 

They traveled the world, traded, navigated the ships, and even took
huge risks to save their ships when the men would not. They actually
even commanded the whaling ships when emergencies arose. They met
with other cultures, and lived and loved.

 

 

The journals they have left behind show a remarkable romantic
attachment to their husbands, many of whom they met, married and
shipped out with in a matter of only days or weeks.

 

 

The whirlwind relationship aspect of their lives also fitted
perfectly with my feisty heroine, and again shows that truth is
indeed stranger and more compelling than fiction at times.

 

 

I've made some suggestions for further reading for anyone who wishes
to learn more about these pioneering women of the sea, and the
wealth of incredibly detailed journals that they kept.

 

 

All of the incidents and stories in this book are taken from these
and other first-hand accounts. The only fiction is my stringing the
tales together into a cohesive whole to form a credible (if somewhat
busy because dramatically condensed) life at sea for my imaginary
hero and heroine.

 

 

In this novel, Dare’s cousin Jared faced anything but an idyllic
voyage, perhaps slightly more in keeping with the reality of the
truly harsh conditions these pioneers had to endure.

 

 

For the next novel, I think we shall head from the Atlantic, toward
Africa and the Indian Ocean instead.

 

 

As always, I love to hear from my fans through
www.HerStoryBooks.com

 

 

 

MORE TITLES BY AUTHOR

 

 

If you enjoyed this book, you may like another novel by Jacinta
Carey.

 

 

Journey of the Heart

 

http://tinyurl.com/Journey-Heart

 

 

The Stolen Heart

 

http://tinyurl.com/The-Stolen-Heart

 

 

Voyage of the Heart

 

http://tinyurl.com/Voyage-Heart

 

 

The Wildest Heart

 

http://tinyurl.com/Wildest-Heart