She kept her lips tightly shut. Eric still had his hand in her hair and he yanked painfully on her hair until she obediently opened her mouth. He th...n spit the beer into her mouth, she closed her mouth but didn’t swallow. “If you know what’s good for you,” he growled ominously, “you’ll swallow that without losing a single drop.” Shay was all to familiar with his threats, so she did. He spit-fed her beer until she could hardly hold her head up. She turned her head as he tried to give her. Fortunately, the mist was eaten up by the sun now, and soon the approaching ships could be seen from the deck. Almost at the same moment, flags showed on Caroline‘s halliards.“Caroline to squadron, Sir: all captains!” Midshipman Cameron reported.“Mr. Muir, kindly return to the deck and take over whilst I visit with the Commodore,” Thomas hailed.Moments later Muir was on the quarter deck. “At least they caught something too, Sir.”Thomas nodded. There was Bartleby with Thomas’s hat and sword.. * * * Eventually it was time, December 23, the day of the re-launching of the Miranda. The wharf was completed and the last crew on the job had cleaned up everything under Alan’s supervision and a tent would be erected later in the morning to serve as a bar. Lydia had been producing pottery for several weeks, sticking to decorative plates, bowls and vases initially and the first large plate she was really pleased with was gifted to Claire who hung it at the end of the hallway in view of people. We bought sandwiches and some cold drink cans and packed them along with the mat in Sarah,s giant beach bag for me to carry as we walked along the wooden walkway stretching along the sea front till we reached the little bay or cove nestled among the rocks, set up our picnic lunch on the wooden table already there and sat on the wooden benches to eat it washed down by the cold non alcoholic drinks. Afterwards we took off our clothes as there was no one in sight and sent for a leisurely swim in.