About this story
You report to Captain Anthony, who keeps his wife hidden aboard against custom, and whose first order is a strange, immediate trust: wake me for anything, however small. By your first midnight watch, a voice outside his cabin is already asking whether the new second officer can be trusted.
How it opens
Your new second-mate certificate felt less valuable each morning another shipping office refused it.
Rain darkened Tower Hill while clerks accepted applications that never produced an answer.
Shipping Master PowellYou have found my private door, young man, though not yet a reason to use it.
Shipping Master PowellHelping officers find berths can be made to look illegal when gratitude changes hands.
Choose
A former shipmate said you sometimes help a new officer start.
I have a valid certificate and no captain willing to test it.