Liberty 1784: The Second War for Independence Read Free Page A

her hull, Will moved toward it. He had an idea. It was desperate, but what did he have to lose besides his life?
    When the inward rush of water slowed, Will took a deep breath and dived underwater and through the hole. He brushed against the wooden side of the hole and felt pain as his skin was scraped, but nothing stopped him. His lungs ached from the exertion and his own weakness, but he forced himself to stay underwater and not to surface where he could be seen. In agony and with his vision turning red, he pushed himself away from the slimy hull of the dying ship.
    He could hold his breath no more. He rose to the surface, gasped and gulped welcome fresh air. He quickly looked around. There was pandemonium on board the sinking Suffolk and on the shore beside her. The hulk had broken in half, spewing prisoners and dropping guards into the river. Gunfire crackled as guards shot at prisoners floating in the water. The two halves of the Suffolk were on their sides and breaking up into smaller chunks.
    A good-sized piece of her deck floated by and Will grabbed at it. He held onto it and sank below it. There was a pocket of air and he sucked it. He could feel the current taking him downstream and away from the shore. He was free of the prison ship, but for how long? He willed himself to make no movement, no splashes, nothing that would attract attention. He wanted to be a part of the slowly moving planking.
    He drifted. The sounds seemed to fade away. He realized that he was naked. The rags he’d once called clothing had fallen apart in the river. He was cold and it dawned on him that he would freeze to death before he drowned. He was already having difficulty feeling his legs and his grip on the planking was weakening.
    His makeshift raft bumped against something and he looked out from under. He’d collided with a small and decrepit wooden dock and was well within the city of New York. There was no one on the dock. Will decided he had to take his chances and get out of the water. With the last of his strength, he ripped off a piece of sodden and rotting wood to use as a knife. He would use it on himself before going back to another prison ship.
    Will’s chances of escaping were negligible. He was a naked, weak, and cold rebel in a Tory city. He was gaunt and his long hair and beard made him look frightening. His wooden knife was a puny weapon that probably wouldn’t break a man’s skin, much less kill him. He laughed bitterly as he thought about using it to commit suicide. He climbed on to the dock and rested on his hands and knees. He vomited water on the dock. He was doomed. A kitten could take him prisoner.
    “What you gonna do with that little bitty thing, rebel?”
    Will turned towards the sound. He was so disoriented that a man with a wagon full of hay had gotten within a few feet of him. Almost idly, his mind in a daze, he noted that the driver was a Negro.
    “You from that ship that sunk up there, ain’t you?” The Negro laughed. “Them English is going crazy tryin’ to catch everybody.” He gestured to the pile of hay. “You want them to catch you?”
    “No,” Will managed to say through shaking and blue lips. He was too tired to even try to cover his nakedness.
    “Didn’t think so. My name is Homer and I ain’t Greek. Now get your skinny ass up there in the wagon and cover up under the hay. And don’t make no noise, either.”
    Will did as he was told.
    * * *
    A few hours later, Will was in paradise, busy scrubbing himself with soap made from ash and dirt after being drenched with buckets of sun-warmed river water. Not even his prolonged swim in the Hudson River had removed more than a year’s worth of filth. Nor had it done anything to his long and matted beard and hair, which Homer first cut off and then shaved. When they were done, Will was raw all over, but he was clean.
    Homer pointed to a welt on Will’s left buttock. “What the devil’s that?”
    Will laughed wryly. “The bastard British