The three-masted English ship pulled out of port and headed westward towards the New Land. Handkerchiefs are waved from the immovable land as the ship ghosts out of the safe harbor into the disturbing openness of the sea. Men, women, and children all had fluttery hearts as they set out on the journey. This treacherous journey would prove to be the last for many aboard the maiden journey of the Assiduous. Aboard the ship there were cries of “freedom” and  “hopefulness” from the multitude of men and women looking for a new life; masking the muffled cries of “despair” and “anger” from the criminals being relocated to the Americas.
All of the loyal passengers aboard were staring longingly at the shelter of the land they had just left, all except one man. He stood on the bow of the ship staring hungrily at the open sea. His formidable figure was teetering treacherously over the edge as he looked with child-like wonderment at the fast moving water, passing beneath the ship.
The roar of the wind in the man’s ears was broken by a surprising sound.
“Hello sir”
The man whipped around and saw the man who had just addressed him. He seemed to be an apparition, he had a trim white beard and a suit the color of the whitecaps. He moved as if every motion was carefully evaluated, he seemed as deliberate as the sea itself.
“Hello,” said the man in a cracking voice, immediately followed by a prompt from the man.
“The sea is quite fascinating isn’t it?, With its open surface, yet mysterious depth.”
He might as well have been describing himself, thought the man. He replied with a meek, “I suppose.”
“What is your name?,” asked the man, leaning forward.
“My name is Benjamin,what is your name?”
“I am John James,” he said proudly, “I am an English painter, I want to paint the famous American frontier.” He paused and then said, “Would you like to join me in my cabin for tea Benjamin?”
Benjamin paused seeming to think it over, “I suppose”  he said yet again as he glanced longingly back at the sea and followed the footsteps of John.
As John nudged open the door he quickly remarked with a smile, “It’s a bit hectic, as I am still settling in, I hope you don’t mind.”
The cabin certainly was hectic. Paint materials were strewn around the room, complimented with a wheezing mahogany bookcase that was sagging under the weight of the burgeoning book collection. John quickly freed up two reading chairs and a tea table by shifting an easel, canvas, and a tome of Hume.
The days upon sea would be long and monotonous had it not been for John. He led Benjamin through the works of the aforementioned young Scottish Hume, Plato, and the newly popular Jonathan Edwards and his “Christian Platonism”.
Countless hours were spent by both men in John’s cabin and on the deck. Besides the occasional amicable group of dolphins or the weary seabird there was nothing exciting on board for the men to do. There was a lot of cards and gambling on board as a result. One day there was a problem with the cards. A Belgian man had been found marking the cards. The crew promptly tied him to the side of the ship, promising him three hours. After a mere hour of ostracizing the crew let him down, for his joints were growing weary and sore. John and Benjamin debated this issue for hours in the cabin, Benjamin believed that it was a humane obligation to help a fellow man in need. John argued that the human conscience is weak, for it lends a hand to their fellow species.
“It goes against the natural selection that Darwin concluded!” With this line John persuaded the logical Benjamin to see it his way.
A month and three days into their journey the ship occupants saw some of the highest waves they had ever encountered. The broiling mountain-high waves thundered towards the boat. The Assiduous held true to it’s name however and patiently saw the storm through.
Four days later another boat was sighted. The mast was barely visible through the heavy fog that blanketed the quiet ocean. Everyone gathered upon deck as the crew hoisted a signal flag. It was unusually slow to respond. The flag was hoisted in jerking movements with long pauses, and no movement was seen on the opposing deck.
“It is clearly a British ship from the flag” said a pregnant woman. Everyone mumbled agreement and stared inquisitively at the ship. Excitement coursed through the veins of the passengers and crew, they would be able to see a different face for the first time in a month.
As the two ships glided broadside of each other everything was still. The fog still hung over the water and it seemed as if in a dream.  Upon closer inspection it was seen that the sail was in tatters and the ship seemed oddly abandoned. A small plea for help pierced the air.
“It came from their ship” said a burly man.
This fact seemed to bring the crew out of their reverie. They sprang to action and quickly boarded the other ship. Many people followed in their wake as they began to intrude upon the ghost ship. One of the men cried out to the others, they all gathered around him at the mast. A woman had her baby wrapped in a bundle of cloths, she was obviously extremely sick. One of the men leaned down upon her command and listened to the words that she softly whispered in his ear.
He recited it back for the growing crowd to hear, “Take my child, I beg of you, save Thomas.”
As he finished he turned back to the lying woman just as she let go of her last breath. Whispers began to grow to heated arguments as the crowd discussed the events. The pregnant woman crouched down and walked off purposefully with the bundle of cloth. Her footsteps echoed as she brought the child aboard the Assiduous. The crew searched the rest of the ship and found two dozen other peoples in the similar condition of the late woman that had hoisted the sail. The Assiduous quickly made headway, now carrying the load of one extra person. Benjamin and John expressed concern to the Captain about the child.
“It could be carrying a sickness onto our boat,” they argued. “We can all grow sick from this one child.”
The Captain wanted to hear nothing of it however, “We cannot simply throw a child overboard. We have no choice but to deal with the consequences.”
Benjamin and John went back to the cabin unsatisfied and with dread in their hearts. The passengers all huddled around the new addition to the Assiduous.
Within two days the crew and passengers were reduced to a sickly mass of bodies. The child had died within a few days upon receiving him. The foolish pregnant mother had done a funeral ritual for him. Now every passenger paid the price for the choice of the pregnant woman. The first passenger died six days after the encounter with the ship. The body count piled up quickly, so quickly that the bodies could not be disposed of correctly. The terrible sickness did not hold back upon anyone. Benjamin and John succumbed to the sickness later, for they had holed themselves up in the cabin like hibernating bears. They eventually were tagged with the sickness whilst Benjamin was forced to go in search for supplies. The ship was littered with skeletons, clutching each other for safety from the unrelenting killer.
***
A ship washed ashore in the Americas, the lettering upon the stern identified it as the Assiduous. Local peoples who ventured upon the ship saw the skeletons and the rags that they adorned. They did not dare to steal anything from the proclaimed ghost ship.
A close inspection of the ship would reveal one cabin with a multitude of paint materials, a derelict mahogany bookcase and a burgeoning book collection. Easels, canvas, and a tome of Hume were all complimented with the two skeletons sitting in the reading chairs, welcoming death with open arms. The centerpiece of the room however was dominated with a large canvas, upon that canvas was a beautiful painting. It portrayed a lightly colored ship floating in the mist, broadside of a dark ship. A pregnant woman was seen carrying a child upon the light ship, bringing darkness in her wake.