Chapter 5 Hamburg
They encountered strong head wind as they headed down the coast of Denmark and
both ladies and some of the crew were overcome by seasickness. Fortunately the
strong wind lasted for only one day before they were in calmer waters but it
still remained against them so it delayed them by several days. Gradually
Beatrice found she could walk a little better but it was still very painful to
sit especially and there was no such thing as a cushion on this boat. Jaz did
his best to find a pile of canvas but even so that was still relatively hard.
She had begun to balk at some of his instructions on the second day but soon
reverted after Jaz, seeing it as his duty, pulled her boy's pants down and gave
her a couple of hefty whollops with his hard hands. He started to teach her the
use of a palm and needle to sew canvas but her progress was extremely slow. She
had never before done anything like that for herself. Jaz was patient when he
saw she was actually trying.
Three times a day, two men came and fucked her. At first she found it utterly
disgusting but as the days wore on she became inured to it. Jaz fucked her
several times each day too and while she didn't enjoy that either, found her
body responding in a way she didn't expect. She slept in his bunk with him and
did the same watches as he did. Mostly she was able to keep out of the way of
the other men but occasionally she was called on to haul a rope of hold
something. Generally it was the sewing she did. Repairing sails. Repairing more
sails. It seemed a never ending job. She was a little better at splicing, at
least with the smaller ropes but all the crew could do that so there were fewer
of those jobs.
Emma passed her time sorting through the boxes of paper work in Rory's cabin
trying to get some order from the chaos. Nothing seemed to be filed in any
particular arrangement. In reading the documents she began to get some idea of
the arrangements for the shipping of cargo and the documents that were needed
for each country and port. Rory had only a vague idea of some of the things.
"The agent does all that," was a stock reply. Yet he was fully conversant with
loading arrangements, where each cargo had to be in order to retrieve it with
the least fuss and yet not affect the loading level of the ship itself. Emma
tried to make sense of some of the agents notes. Some seemed unduly high. There
just didn't seemed to be a set of rules.
When she was able, she spent time on deck talking to the crew. All seemed to
like her. She talked to Beatrice too but conversation was more stilted. Neither
could get used to the change in rolls.
After eight days at sea they finally sailed up the Elbe to Hamburg and tied up
against the quay. Emma was below dressing in a frock when two uniformed
officials came aboard. She heard angry voices above her and hurriedly finished
touching up her hair. Stepping on deck, she found Rory and the German officials
gesticulating in some argument, neither really knowing what the other wanted or
said. Looking the picture of loveliness, all eyes went to her when she stepped
forward, curtsied and greeted them in fluent formal German. They returned the
greeting with salutes and heel clicking. Emma apologised for her accent which
was more southern Germany and they smiled and politely remarked it was much
better than her captain's. She asked their position and purpose and was told
they were from the tax office and they had to ascertain the value of the goods
being landed. They asked her position and a knowing smile spread across their
faces when she indicated she was the captain's private secretary.
She suggested to Rory that a bottle of whiskey might not come amiss and after
they had drunk one round negotiations got under way. Rory just sat back for most
of the time. He couldn't understand a word of what was said, but it all seemed
very jovial and good natured and progress was made. Occasionally Emma would ask
him a question on the amount of this or that but she had the manifest to hand
and they went through that quite quickly. In under an hour it was all over and
the amount of tax was set. The lowness of the figure surprised Rory but he kept
a straight face.
With more deck side pleasantries, and curtsies and heel clicking the officials
left.
Captain Frazier of the barque 'Allondale' now moored astern of the 'Red Witch'
waited on the quayside. He and Rory had sailed together in their youth and now
met up whenever their paths crossed. The dour Scot expected a long wait. The
same officials had spent the whole morning on his ship the previous day and one
of his crewmen spoke a smattering of their language. Half smiling to himself, he
heard the altercation between the crew and the officials. "Rory's going to go
through it today," he thought, "Why can't they send people who can understand
English!" When the noise suddenly stopped he looked up and was surprised by the
sight of an attractive young bitch bobbing and smiling at the officials. He was
even more surprised when the officials responded with the salutes and heel
clicks. Instead of moving on the a bar, he waited. They group disappeared below
only to reemerge a short time later when hatches were removed and the officials
peered in. The girl was still with them and seemed to be in charge. Everyone
seemed to be smiling. Most unusual. Seeing another girl in seaman's clothes on
board he wondered what Rory had been up to. Were they really crew? The girl in
the dress with the officials certainly didn't seem like one and the other might
be dressed for the part but didn't act as if she knew what she was doing.
Perhaps Rory was keeping a couple of whores for himself and the crew. Perhaps he
could use them and save himself the expense in a brothel?
Now hatches were being replaced. Surely the inspection couldn't be over. It was
little more than an hour since they went on board. On his vessel they were there
for most of the day. There was that girl again, bobbing and smiling. There were
the two officials also smiling and clicking their heels. And now they shaking
hands with Rory who imitated their heel clicking and now they were coming
ashore. It couldn't be. German officials didn't work like that. They took their
time, they drank a good deal of whiskey, they argued over prices and amounts.
What was going on. He would find out. When the officials were gone, he could go
aboard the 'Red Witch'.
Rory greeted his friend with slaps on the back and they retired to his cabin
where he introduced Emma. Emma's handling of the tax men had surprised him too.
"I knew you could read German," he said to her, "But you seemed to speak it so
well and have all the mannerisms."
"My grandfather used to bring his friends from Germany over to stay from time to
time and my grandmother who was from Germany, made them formal occasions so I
had to know how to greet them."
"Well, whatever you did lass," Frazier drawled in his broad accent, "You got
them off the boat far quicker than I did. They were with me for the best part of
a day."
"And I think we got away with paying less tax." Rory quoted the figure he had to
pay to which Frazier "Aye, you did that Rory, I've ter pay over twice that much.
I carry a bit more than yer, but not that much."
For an hour the two friends chatted and caught up on the latest news. Frazier
enquired how he came by the other girl in his crew but Rory didn't give much
away on that score only saying she had foisted herself on him. The subject was
dropped for the time being.
"I was on the way to the agents when I saw them board you, you coming along
there too?" Frazier asked.
"Yeah, but I have a couple of other calls to make as well. We'll take Emma along
she may be able to help us with that slimy slug, Klaus Keinzer. Klaus Keinzer
was the agent who organised the cargoes in Germany, one of the few who spoke a
little English but always he seemed devious and they were certain he overcharged
them. "I'd better take someone along to see she gets back safely. Hamburg's no
place for a woman on her own."
Emma chose 'Razer' as her 'bodyguard'. He was a huge, mean looking man with a
scar across one cheek but Emma had always got on well with him. Razer looked a
little out of place as he walked behind the two captains who were dressed in
their best outfits and Emma in her best dress. He didn't care, he looked what he
was, a bodyguard. He was proud to have been chosen by the pretty miss.
Klaus Keinzer's office was a dingy building not too far from the waterfront with
a two roomed, sparsely furnished office. A middle aged male secretary sat at a
high desk in the outer room. Klaus greeted them with a limp handshake and then
asked the secretary in German for the special contract for the English boats.
Emma wondered what was special about this contract but didn't let on that she
understood. The contracts in the German language were passed to Rory and Frazier
for their approval. "I expect you would like me to translate for you," the agent
said and then went on to give them a very liberal interpretation of the wording
and leaving out some of the details which he knew they would have disagreed
with. Rory handed his to Emma who at this stage had not been introduced. Klaus
had just expected her to be the captain's plaything and was along for the
outing. He was surprised when she started reading it and was obviously going
through it line by line.
Just as he was about to comment he was taken aback by a vehement outburst from
Emma. In his language she called him all the low down devious scum bags she knew
the terms for. The outburst went on for several minutes before the secretary
interjected, "Fraulein, please. That is the language of farmers wives."
"Yes, it is," Emma snapped back, "And that is the language he and you should
understand! This so called special contract is a farce. Only designed to fleece
us." She turned to Klaus who was still pale from the verbal onslaught, "Tell him
to get a proper contract or have him write a new one or we will find a new
agent. Over the years our business has brought you in many marks and can
continue to do so but only if you give us a fair deal. Your slimy dealing days
are over." Before the assembled gathering she held the contract up and tore it
in half. "Even if you halved the price, we would be a rip off." She tore it in
half again. "We will negotiate at a quarter of the price."
Rory had never seen this side of Emma. Neither he nor Frazier knew what was
going on. Their senses though told them she had found something radically wrong
with the contracts that she was not going to allow. Emma turned to Rory, "You
have other business to attend to and this may take a while, will you give me the
authority to negotiate this contract on your behalf? I do not want to see you
taken for a ride by this man." After a few questions and answers Rory agreed and
signed a paper the agent insisted on giving Emma power to sign the contract.
The clerk had produced a new contract. Emma read it. It was a fairly standard
document without any prices added. "Herr Keinzer, I think we should discuss this
in your office. Razer, please wait outside the door. If I yell come in and twist
this man's bollocks until they pop and the squash them in the floor." Again her
uncouth language was deliberate. She knew Klaus would understand. She knew Razer
would delight in the opportunity. She thought the glimmer of a smile appeared on
the Scottish captains face. Turning she lead the way into the inner office.
"Leave the door ajar," she snapped at Klaus as he followed her in. "Now let us
start to go through this and the costings in a civilised way," she added in a
more reasonable tone.
Klaus started to apologise but Emma waved him to shut up. "You tried to make an
extra few marks for yourself and didn't expect it challenged. Now were have to
agree on terms knowing we each understand each other."
Half an hour later, she emerged and showed the newly signed contract to Frazier.
The price was well under half of the earlier one. Frazier watched as Klaus spoke
to his clerk who produced a metal box and counted out five marks and gave them
to Emma. Turning to Frazier she said simply, "That is for me bringing him the
business."
Frazier asked if she would negotiate for him. "It will cost you a sovereign,"
smiled Emma. The Scot demurred at this so Emma went on, "If I reduce the
contract price to less than half, you pay me five sovereigns." Again Frazier
spluttered and offered her the one sovereign but Emma stood firm. "Sorry,
captain, that offer is no longer on the table. It's five sovereigns if I reduce
the price to under half or you negotiate on your own." All this was said
quietly. Only Razer was in earshot.
The captain didn't need to be a mathematician to work out that five sovereigns,
although a high price was far, far less than the price her would save on the
contract if she did as she said, reduced it by half. Eventually he agreed. Emma
made sure Razer knew as well so there could be no backing out. She took the
contract into Klaus and in under five minutes had the price reduced to a few
marks under half. Frazier signed then grumbled at have to pay five sovereigns
for five minutes work.
"Captain, when you sail a ship neatly alongside the quay, do people say, 'it
only took him minutes to do than so we won't pay his Captains wage?' No, they
say, he has great experience. It took him several years of training to do that.
I didn't learn the language in five minutes either."
Frazier looked at her and said, "Miss you are one hellava lass to cross. Collect
your money from my ship when you get back." With that he stalked off.
Razer watched the scene. Emma went back in the office and after a short argument
Klaus came out and produced a further five marks from the cash box as her
commission. Emma formally thanked him and called to Razer, "Come, we're going
shopping." She tossed him three marks and set off.
A hour or so later when they returned to the ship, she had bought clothes that
were more suitable for shipboard life and Razer sported a brightly coloured
bandanna. "Don't run away," she told him, "We have a call to make on the
'Allondale'. Rory looked at her quizzically when she dumped the clothing on the
bunk but before he could say anything she said she would tell him later, she had
to collect her commission from Frazier and didn't want him to get away without
paying. Again Frazier grumbled at the price but ended up paying her fee.
