ELIZA LOOBY took first place in the 2024 Wangaratta Young Writers Award year 5/6 story category with this piece.

The competition was jointly run by the Rotary Club of Wangaratta, and the Rotary Club of Appin Park Wangaratta.

ooo

HERRING squished the soapy sponge between his fingers. Kneeling on his grazed knees, he scrubbed the deck of The Rubber Duck with much strength. His dark red hair was damp with sweat, and the dust and grime blotched his cream-coloured shirt and black jeans. He looked up for a short moment to eye his captain.

"Scrub HARDER! The cleanest ship on the ocean shall be MINE!” Captain Brute’s voice of pure cruelness and arrogance demanded. He leaned menacingly over Herring, pointing his sword at the innocent young boy while stroking his coffee-brown, bushy, overgrown pirate’s beard. "Stop being a SLIMY BLOBFISH! Go to your cabin NOW, since you are OBVIOUSLY in the way of the USEFUL crew! They are ACTUALLY referred to as REAL WORKERS!”

Brute went on scolding the other poor members of the crew with ferociousness. They cowered to the armoury, where they hid from their ghastly captain, who they hated and loathed.

Herring had gotten used to the captain's vile, malicious personality that was shown most towards him. His father (Raven) used to be a high-ranked pirate, and his mother (Sheila) was the captain of The Rubber Duck before a ship called Cannonball (whose captain was previously Brute) attacked The Rubber Duck and took over, leaving Herring’s parents in a dungeon. Brute wanted nothing to do with the previous captain’s son.

Herring sauntered to his room glumly, throwing the sponge into a nearby barrel, which nearly toppled over from the forceful kick he gave it soon after.

Herring looked at the moon out of his room’s porthole while sitting cross-legged on his navy-blue crocheted blanket that draped over a mattress as hard as granite. His small space lay scattered with chipped seashells, snapped coral, maps of the sea, and most importantly, the marine life records and sketches of the Storm Seas and its magnificent wildlife. He always had time to recite every detail of a sight he’d seen and put pen to paper to draw it. Because when you are the only child on a ship with 20 bad-tempered older pirates, there’s nothing to do and no one to talk to.

And his 11-year-old self still felt as lonely as ever. Herring hadn’t met many people that would talk to him in a reassuring, kind voice - not the raspy, mean growls and shouts of most pirates. Except for the Maid, who Herring thought didn’t even talk. He looked down at one of the documents. The grey-headed albatross.

He stared with a smile, rereading the name STORM written in the corner. Storm was the one seabird that visited outside his porthole every time a sea storm was on its way. Her appearance was able to warn him of any threat before it was too late. Herring’s focus drifted back to the wilderness outside the layer of glass, where humpback whales breached, and seabirds glided and fished.

The ocean’s force collided with the ship. The waves knocked wildly into the vessel’s carefully-arranged wooden planks. The bottom of the ship was blanketed with algae and barnacles that scratched on rocks and occasional icebergs. Herring’s heart rattled, like it always did in storms. Every storm that raged over the waters cast a threat because one lightning strike, one oversized wave, one ferocious gust of wind that could manage to upturn a boat could end it all. But that was why the ocean he sailed on was called the Storm Seas.

And Brute would not give a thought about pirates who drowned. That was when an idea rushed into Herring’s head, like the salty seawater swamping the boat. Herring could challenge Brute for captain, then sneak Sheila and Raven out of the cells, and his wise mother could be captain again. It had always been a thought that occurred every now and then when he felt his strongest. But when he felt vulnerable, the idea faded like the sun dipping below the waterline. But today courage flooded his mindset.

"I can take him down. I can make every crew member's life better. But Captain Brute would never fall before my feet without putting up a fight, Herring thought. And I can fight him. Swords would definitely be useful, since he isn't a fan of heroic speeches, or anyone talking to him at all.

Herring sunk into the crocheted blanket, dreaming of the fight. When he awoke the next day, the images of fists and swords flying frantically around in his head were enough to make his strong determination shrink a little, creating space for a game plan.

So, he started writing on a fresh parchment with a fountain pen from his parent's accessories. He’d been handed them when they were dragged to the ship dungeon by Brute and No-Leg Lenny, while Toothy had been wildly convincing Brute to let them go. Herring decided to use Toothy and tell him to lie to Captain Brute. Toothy would tell Brute that the storm wasn’t close and to not worry about taking cover.

'Would that be a safe plan?' Herring wondered. He scrunched up the paper. A sinking feeling formed, and he started to wring his hands nervously. The little pirate looked out of the porthole, suddenly seeing Storm watching him curiously through the thick, transparent glass. Her googly black eyes were following Herring’s movements with interest.

A plan involving Storm formed suddenly! Herring raced out of his cabin, dodging the other pirates, and apologizing to the Maid, who he accidentally knocked into. Finally, he found Toothy with No-Leg Lenny. Lenny tapped irritably on her metal legs, while Toothy confronted Herring with a sly smile.

"I know you are up to something. Can I help?"

Herring nodded vigorously then leaned closer to Toothy, who was already listening eagerly. "OK listen," Herring whispered, peeking to check that Lenny was still aimlessly tapping her fake legs. "I need you to tell Captain Brute that the storm is not close, and to stay outside in the lasting sunshine. Make it casual!" Herring knew that Toothy didn’t particularly like Brute, but it was always a possibility that some pirates would be conspiring with Brute or another evil captain on the Storm Seas about something terrible. Herring had no choice but to trust Toothy on this one.

"Got it!" Toothy whispered back, exposing his unmissable toothy grin once again. "Wait!" he murmured. "Would you like to see your parents again?"

Herring tilted his head at him. "How?" he asked.

"You'll see," Toothy replied, then he scuttled away out the door and onto The Rubber Duck’s ship deck, where he met Brute. Herring crept closer to the cabin door and pressed his ear against it. What he heard went to plan and he reached for some sardines from his pocket.

"Ahoy there, Captain Brute! I was just fixing da masts!” Toothy said.

Brute lifted an eyebrow. "Go on..." he sighed gruffly.

"Well, I was checkin’ da weather, and da storms look quite a while away," Toothy replied, keeping his cool, unlike Herring had expected.

"Right-," Brute started, until a ferocious, "ARRRRRRRGH BLOOMING BARNACLES!" roared out of his mouth. Herring threw a sardine at Brute, and it landed perfectly in his beard. Storm rocketed after it, attacking the captain to retrieve her dinner. She clawed at his head, gradually pushing him towards the edge of the deck. With joy, Herring raced out to help push Brute overboard. Pirates emerged from corners of the armoury, running to help Toothy, Herring and - most importantly - Storm. They worked together, finally forcing Captain Brute overboard. SPLASH!

Brute struggled and thrashed around in the Storm Seas like they were swallowing him up. "HELP! Get me back on the ship! Captain’s orders!" And that was when a sharp, shiny shark fin started gliding quickly towards the frantic pirate.

"I will go live in the dungeons!" Brute insisted, flailing wildly. "Just whatever you do, DON’T LET ME BE EATEN BY THE SHARK!" His arms and legs flopped around while the shark circled him hungrily. The grey, stormy sky began to rumble with thunderclaps, and Herring looked down at his captain, amused.

Everyone looked at each other, then threw down a rope to haul Brute back aboard. But before they did, Herring had something to say. "I won’t let you back aboard until you promise to give my mother, who you know as Sheila, the position of The Rubber Duck's captain back. And my father, Raven, can go back to being my father and a pirate. They both shall never be locked up again. What do you say?”

The frown that Herring and the whole crew were given by Brute was by far the dirtiest on the Storm Seas.

Storm came to gently perch on Herring’s shoulder. “Squawk?” she squawked, joining the pirates waiting for the answer.

"FINE," snarled Captain Brute, who was now officially just Brute. "And you - seaweed brains," he pointed at Herring. "Your blasted parents are in -"

Then out of the misty clouds behind Herring came Raven and Sheila.

"Mother! Father!" Herring screamed, seeing his parents' faces for the first time in almost two years.

"You're alive!"

"Of course we are!" Sheila cried, tears spilling out of the corners of her dust-lined eyes. They crouched beside Herring.

"We knew you'd get rid of him, Shark!” Raven said, brushing dirt off his aged face and ruffling his son’s hair. Herring still hadn’t forgotten the nickname 'Shark' over the past time without his parents. No-leg Lenny stood proudly behind them. Herring gave her an appreciative smile. He couldn't believe that she'd let them free after being the pirate who locked them up.

That was what Toothy had meant when he asked Herring if he wanted Raven and Sheila back! He’d gotten Lenny to set them free.

"Brute is currently being circled by sharks," Lenny squeaked, watching the fins.

"Yes, we know!" the crew groaned, hauling Brute aboard. The ship’s former captain lay wet as a shag on the damp and rotting ship deck. He coughed and spluttered sea water as the sea spray showered him continuously. A lightning strike splintered through the darkening sky where the clouds had blocked the sunshine and any stray rays of light.

"Ahoy, there," said Herring, climbing on top of an upturned wooden crate. The crew gathered and listened respectfully. Sheila and Raven stood on either side of their son with proud smiles worn on their faces. Brute came to stand grumpily behind them with an embarrassed frown and purple, shivering lips. Judging by the looks of him, Herring guessed that Brute had a desire to throw every pirate on The Rubber Duck overboard into the dark blue, stormy ocean with hungry sharks and poisonous jellyfish. Herring looked away from the fuming pirate and back to the eager crowd.

Sheila gingerly picked up the Captain’s sword, as sharp as a narwhale’s horn, and grasped it with a grateful smile. Taking a deep breath, Herring said something that he’d always known and believed. "I'll say something now that I hope will influence all of you. No, not a speech, just that... everyone - even Brute - deserves to know that every single pirate on The Rubber Duck has a good side, and you are all free to do what you want to do with your future. No-one on this boat will ever hold you from your dreams again."

From then on, Sheila held the official captain’s sword and went back to living in the luxurious captain’s headquarters with Raven and Herring. The sea storms over the Storm Seas thundered on each week, casting their grey shadows over the ship (which wasn’t bad because it meant that Storm would be hanging around).

The beautiful ocean lived on in harmony with the crew while they tended The Rubber Duck with continuous care, restoring its beauty. Herring helped all the pirates, including Brute, with their health and wellbeing, as well as sharing his drawing and paintings and teaching them how to care for his delightful feathery friend named Storm.