Being a female seafarer has a lot of disadvantages, not the least being most captains and most crews, wont take us serious. You are looking at no ordinary female, mates. I’ve managed to overcome prejudice and ignorance from most of you louts by cunning, perseverence and Luck!

Aye, Lady Luck. She’s played a large part in me life. Sure as I'm here tellin' ya, it was a lucky accident on me last voyage that the bum of a navigator got stinkin' drunk and fell overboard. In need of a replacement the Cap’n realized, after a bit of "feminine" convincing, that I had talents for charting and navigation. Yes, Lady Luck. She’s me personal companion. Aye, but I’ve jumped ahead of me story and Aquinel wouldn’t like that.

I was just a wee lass when mum skipped out, to put it nicely, and left me to fend for myself. I never knew my father. Oh, there were plenty of uncles. Me mum? Well, when you know nothing better, you accept what you have. Sooooo mates, it was at a very tender age that I found myself alone and a mite scared in a god-forsaken harbor town. I knew I wouldn't live the life of a street beggar, or worse. But there were no opportunities for much else in Tortuga. I had to get off that island!

Chance is the fool’s name for Fate. Luckily, Fate first showed his face in the form of a privateer, Captain Aquinel. He befriended yours truly one night at Billy Bones. Or should I say, I befriended him after gettin' caught making his pockets lighter. Being a jovial sort, he didn't hold a grudge and took me on as cabin “boy” when his ship left port the next fortnight. The Mariah was part of a fleet scourin' the Carribean for pirates and booty. *laughs* He called me Caer cuz of me remindin' him of his little sister back in Holland.

It was Aquinel who learned me to read. He encouraged me to studyin' charts and maps, not that I needed much encouragin’. Ah, the feel of the parchment with its fancy markings and strange drawings... Them maps called to me like a siren calls to a sailor. I learned the sextant and the compass, and how to read weather better than any gull. You can knock me out cold one place, take me somewhere else, not that I recommend you do this, and all I have to do is look at the night sky and I'll know where I am. It’s a comfortin’ feeling, that knowin'.

Yep, it was Cap'n Aquinel who gave me the chance at a decent life, and I came to think of him as a father. He’s long gone now to Davey Jones’ locker. More's the pity. I’ve learned much from the sea ~ some horrifying, some beautiful. It’s the only REAL home I’ve ever known.

Welcome aboard!

Banner was a gift from my cohort in piracy, Victoria Aedui.

Avatar, photos of Morgan Adams and sound files are from the movie, Cutthroat Island released in 1995, a somewhat cheesy pirate movie that you either hated or loved. I loved it.

TRIPLES with EMMA