David Golemon: Leviathan

"I demand to know what is happening, Captain," Sir Lionel asked as he arrogantly stepped into Peavey's line of sight.

"Not now, sir!" Peavey shot back, not too gently shoving the man aside.

"I will report your boorish behavior, I assure—"

"Remove this man from my command deck!" the captain ordered, never taking his eye from the spyglass.

"Why, I never—"

"Now!" the captain shouted, turning away from the sight of his two escorts as they attempted to run interference for his larger ship.

The red-coated royal marine escort moved Sir Lionel forcefully away from the captain. Engersoll didn't need to be manhandled, so he avoided confrontation, silently and calmly joining the group of men. The Warlord 's first officer stepped up to the two men and whispered at close quarters.

"Port Royal has spotted a vessel five miles off. This… this ship has been spied several times in the last two days, and now appears to be making a move on our position."

"A single vessel?" Sir Lionel asked incredulously. "This is the Royal Navy, sir, no single vessel, not even one of their mighty ironclads could hope to stop us from our goal!"

The executive officer did not answer at first, but instead looked to where his captain stood ramrod straight, watching the seas of the open gulf to the south.

"The vessel that has been following us is unlike any we have ever seen. We're not even sure if it's a ship at all," he said feeling uncomfortable. "There is ridiculous talk that it's some kind of sea—"

"Mr. Rand, Port Royal is attacking at maximum range. Report ship's readiness!" the captain said loudly while still maintaining sight on the horizon.

Warlord 's second in command just looked at the two politicos, half bowed, and then moved off to his master's side.

"All stations report battle ready, Captain!" he said, as he had been informed a moment before that all seventeen of the cruiser's thirty-two-pounder cannons were ready for action.

"Very good. Even though our sister ships of propeller, paddlewheel, and coal would be most welcome here, I figure we old sailing men can give the American Navy what for, hey, Mr. Rand?" The captain took his eye away from his glass for a short moment and winked.

"Yes, sir, we'll show them what the Royal Navy is capable of."

"Tell our gentleman guests they can stand at the stern railing and watch Port Royal and Elizabeth engage our new adversaries. They'll have quite a shock realizing that the Confederacy has a new friend on the high seas."

"Yes, sir," Rand answered without enthusiasm or further comment as he turned and made his way back to Sir Lionel and Engersoll.

Just as the three men stepped to the rail, they saw the flash of powder long before they heard the reports of the large guns of Elizabeth and Port Royal . Then, over the surface of the gulf, the loud popping came to Engersoll's ears. It was unlike what he imagined naval gunfire to sound like, even at this extreme distance.

"Both frigates have opened up their port-side guns. That means they must have caught the enemy off guard and crossed the T, a formation allowing them to bring the guns of both ships to bear," Rand explained as he watched. "A fatal error by the American, if that's who he is."

"But why can't we see the American ship?" Sir Lionel asked.

"Well, they are more than likely over our horizon. We should be able to see them—"

A sudden, tremendous explosion lit up the blue southern sky as HMS Elizabeth vanished in a matter of a split second behind a solid wall of flame and smoke. All three men watched in astonishment as the sound finally reached them. Warlord shook beneath their feet as Rand started shouting orders. He spared a glance at Captain Peavey who stood stock-still, the spyglass slowly lowering to his side. Lieutenant Rand shouted to bring the ship about.

This order finally moved Peavey to action as he turned angrily toward his number one.

"Belay that order, make for the coast at all possible speed, we must—"

Without seeing the initial or even the second cataclysmic action, the sound wave of another explosion almost knocked Peavey from his feet. As he straightened and turned from his spot on the wooden deck, the mushroom-shaped cloud of red and black was rising from the spot where Port Royal had been just a moment before. In a matter of two stunning moments of elapsed time, two Royal Navy frigates had vanished without having the chance to reload their guns. As Peavey regained his feet and raised his glass, he could see no sign of either ship save for the debris and smoke still rising in the clear air.

"We have movement aft at five thousand yards and closing!" The call was shouted from high above in the rigging.

Engersoll tried desperately to spy the enemy vessel, but he failed at first. He gripped the handrail and then raised his right hand to his brow and strained to see.

Peavey shouted out orders and reversed his earlier command to run for the coast.

"My God!" Sir Lionel cried. "Look at that!"

Engersoll turned to the spot Sir Lionel was pointing to as Warlord turned hard to starboard to bring her main guns to bear on the suddenly visible target.

At a mile away from Warlord , Engersoll finally spied the enemy that had just cremated three hundred men in a matter of moments. It truly was a sea monster. The wave it created was spectacular as it charged the British warship. Three hundred feet into the air the wake rose, as water was pushed aside by a force no man aboard could have ever imagined.

"Come on, come on, turn, damn you, turn!" Captain Peavey pleaded with the slowly moving Warlord as she lethargically leaned over to bring her main armament to bear on the approaching juggernaut.

"God in heaven," Engersoll said as a massive gray tower rose from the sea, splitting the ocean like a sharp knife, sending foam and spray hundreds of feet into the air.

They all watched from the quarterdeck as the full view of the glistening tower came into sight. Engersoll's jaw clenched as two massive, semi-rounded bubbled windows appeared on either side of the great enclosure. Then he saw with dawning horror that rising from the streamlined tower's uppermost area and sloping to its monstrous round bow were large gleaming spikes, arrayed like the giant teeth of a great serpent in three long rows arching from bow to tower. As they watched, the beast accelerated to an incalculable speed.

The Royal Navy seamen watched slack-jawed as the strange apparition started to sink back beneath the sea.

Rand looked to his captain, who was standing in shock and not moving. His spyglass slipped from his hand and the lens shattered on the deck.

"Open fire as your guns come to bear!" Rand shouted, immediately taking command from the captain.

The massive thirty-two-pound rifled cannon started to open fire as they sighted on the strange monster. Rand was pleased to see the first three explosive rounds strike the beast before it went too deep. However, his joy was short-lived as this seagoing nightmare kept accelerating, shaking off the killing blows of the most powerful guns in the British fleet. Rand saw what was going to happen as clearly as if it were already history. He turned and grabbed for the ship's wheel, assisting the helmsman.

"Port, turn to port!" he cried.

It was an order that would never be carried out.

As the underwater creature approached, the swell of ocean rose around them, taking the great battle cruiser to a height that should have allowed the submerged giant to plow harmlessly beneath her. Instead, the 175-foot-long Warlord was rocked violently from beneath, struck so hard that her main mast splintered and came crashing onto the deck, trapping and killing Captain Peavey beneath the broken tonnage.