《Black Purpose》 Letter To the honourable Governor Christopher Clitherow, I am happy to report my safe arrival in Hong Kong, as well as a vocal and vigorous satisfaction with our wares from the locals. I foresee a profitable future. With our delivery settled, I will spend a week completing business on the mainland before setting sail for home. Indeed, by the time you receive this, I am back at sea already. All in all, my voyage can be marked a complete success. The Company is well on its way to being China¡¯s lifeline to civilisation. A curious update: do you recall the HCS Neptune, lost two years past? Our prediction it ran aground may have been accurate. A pair of blues came to me yesterday to tell me they¡¯d found remains on the Southern side of Pratas. I¡¯m not familiar with the isle, but the proximity to the same reef that has damaged hulls since our arrival in the region cannot be ignored. One of these remains is an intriguing journal; dozens of bamboo strips stacked to make pages, bound into a book. It is half the size of the Bible, with a dozen pages of words carved into the wood. A peculiar thing! The words have not lost legibility, though it almost certainly took a dip. The sailors explained the Chinese make these and tie the strips vertically, as befits their writing. This book had its strips tied horizontally, which made them think it belonged to an Englishman; the owner identifies himself as one of the Neptune¡¯s crew. I have included it with this letter.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. This is why I write. Certainly the descriptions of porpoise, pelicans, and spiders will be of interest to the biologists, but there¡¯s more which snagged my attention. Read through and see what you make of the religious figurines he mentions. I don¡¯t recognise them based on his description, which infuriates. Hoping this might be one of my elusive shen. Poor chap goes quite mad by the end, of course. I don¡¯t expect every blue-jacket to be of strong mind, but this one seems to have been betrayed by his profligate imagination. At a certain point, starvation has clearly set in; I couldn''t read any further. It may be of interest, were someone able to parse it. I look forward to discussing when I return. Your servant, William Hawthorpe First Entry First entry We are following a black purpose. Smit says it is a dollfin but fuck him. Never heard of a doll¡¯s fin, but all of us have seen a purpoose before. Take a sailor over a sciencist any day!The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Cap has given me her old journal to write in. Says I need to practice me letters. Think it is punishment for the fight last week. Not fair. Fun to carve though. Whatever it is, the fish is friendly. It squeals when we wave from the rail. Smit says about behaviors and habitats but Derrs told him shut up. The fish is our little friend. Wait til I catch him and fry him up. Yum! Second and third entries Second entry Don¡¯t know what to write. Spent today in the crow nest. Cap hiding me away. No point being up here. Derrs and Ewan are at the helm, just trying to fight the tide. Some storms are fun, not this one. Maker painted a big fat purple bruise over the sky and it has rained for a week. Wish Cap had called up to me. Report, Ren! Yes, Captain! It is raining, Captain. Carry on¡ª!Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Third entry Purpose has charmed me. He is a happy bugger, and he¡¯s done well to follow us. Seen birds follow ships but not fish. The way he moves looks like he¡¯s dancing. In the moments when the winds calm we crowd the rail and he stands up out of the water almost as tall as a man. We cheer him on. His skin is inky, like pitch. His lines disappear in the foam. We want to take our minds off the wet and the wind, the way the compass lies, the way we keep finding every reef in this godforsaken sea. We have almost scuppered twice. It¡¯s nice to watch the dance.