Benutzer:Yunes124/Eliza's voyage

Die Geschichte lesen und verstehen!

Part 1: A new life

My name is Eliza Austin. I was born in Brighton, which lies on the southern coast of England. I grew up there in a happy family with two older brothers. We played together a lot, and I was always proud of being as strong and tough as the boys. We had many adventures, and I was never the one who became scared first. But the good times were over much too soon. When I was 25, we lost both our parents in a terrible fire. After that I couldn't stand living in England any more, and so I decided to look for a position abroad. And I was lucky: Lord Winton offered me a job as governess to to his children on his sugar plantation on Barbados.

In April 1730 I left England to start my new life in the Caribbean. Our ship was the Lady Margaret and we sailed from Bristol. I had heard stories about terrifying storms on the Atlantic Ocean, but our journey across the sea was quiet and peaceful.

Five weeks later our long voyage was almost over, and our ship was waiting near a small island. It was then that the pirates chose to attack. In the early hours of the morning I was woken by terrible shouts and the sound of cannons and guns. I looked through the porthole and I saw the pirate ship sailing under the flag of the 20 brutal Captain Blackheart.

We all knew about the pirate attacks that often took place in the Caribbean at that time.

However, I knew what I could do. I had brought some men's clothes with me. Perhaps they would save my life - well, my training as a governess surely wouldn't. So I quickly put the men's clothes on.

Part 2: The first pirate

Suddenly the door flew open and a girl ran in screaming. She was so scared! Her eyes were huge and her face was so white that she looked like a ghost. It took me a moment until I recognised who it was: Carol, a young girl who was hoping to find work in Barbados too. Just like me, Carol was travelling alone, and I had been happy to find someone to talk to. And so we had slowly become friends during the voyage.

Carol had grown up in the country in Wales. She came from a family of poor farmers, with too many children to support. Her parents didn't have the money to send her to school either. But that had never stopped Carol from having big dreams. When she heard that there were jobs in Barbados, she didn't waste much time. Although she didn't know anyone there, she took the ship as soon as she could pay for the ticket. Carol impressed me, and I promised to help her if I could.

Now a pirate was following Carol into the cabin. When he turned around and noticed me, he had an evil look on his face.

"You'll come with us, man," he shouted to me, "I'm sure our captain will be happy to meet you two." I can't explain it, but suddenly I was very angry and not at all afraid for myself. All I wanted to do was protect Carol. I picked up a glass that was on the table and threw water in the pirate's ugly face. Then I pushed him as hard as I could, and he hit his head against the table as he fell to the floor.

But before I could run, the door opened a second time, and another pirate walked in. Oh, the horror! It could only be Blackheart!

Part 3: A terrible punishment

He looked awful-a tall man with black hair, black eyes and yellow teeth. Blackheart's clothes were all black too. He was holding a sword and a dagger.

I expected him to kill me right away, but he just seemed amused by the scene. As if he wanted his prisoners to resist in order to show that nobody could beat Blackheart.

"This one will walk the plank," he said with a horrible smile to the pirate on the floor, who was slowly getting up again. He pointed at me.

"Everyone knows that I only love two things," he continued. "One is gold, and the other is when men try to fight me. Then I can think of special punishments for them. I'll enjoy watching the sharks eat you later, boy. Arrh!"

Of course I kept my mouth shut. I didn't answer him because I was too afraid that my voice would give me away. They are not going to like it if they find out that I've tried to fool them, I thought.

So Blackheart's men took Carol and me away and put us in a cabin with the other prisoners. We had no food or water for hours. There was no hope left, and I expected to die there and then. So I said to Carol. "If you should survive all of this, please write to my brothers about what happened here."

Until then she had been brave, but that was when she started to cry. Finally, they came and took me to the deck and led me to the plank.

I was terrified, but I didn't want to show it in front of Blackheart and his crew. I looked down. I could see the sharks. They were swimming in circles. They were waiting for me!