by Ria Hill He remembered the splintering of wood, but it had been so long since he had heard a crashing wave he barely remembered what one sounded like. The smell of the sea was a memory. The air around his ship’s hull was silent, as still as it was saltless. In the shocking […]
by Fiona M. Jones I laugh to think how hard we fought over the Titanic. How carefully I’d mustered confusions, mists and timing; how Cyrin, late on the scene, gave that iceberg one final tweak of speed and direction, and reckoned the shipwreck hers. The long hours that followed, while we ripped it apart […]
by A.J. Van Belle I can’t remember when I moved into the lighthouse. Or why the beacon’s never lit. Model ships of glass, perfect replicas, sit on every surface in my circular kitchen. The nights are deep and the surf wild on the shoreline rocks. A storm whips sea foam against the windowpanes. The […]
by K.J. Watson A wave crashed on the shore. As it withdrew, the foam-flecked water left behind a ship’s captain. Another breaker deposited her wrecked vessel’s figurehead. Just my luck, the captain thought. Instead of rum, this has to wash up alongside me. The figurehead’s demonic eyes lit up. Seconds later, its ligneous body […]
by Dr Bob Warlock The boatmen smelled of sweat and animal fear. They pulled at the oars with all their strength but could not deliver the ship from the sea monster’s greedy current. Charybdis rose from the depths to meet them, razor teeth scraping against the hull. Her mouth flooded in anticipation of flesh, […]
by Jesse Highsmith I no longer hear the ocean outside my cabin door. In its place are sounds much more sinister—scratching, clawing, pounding. I try to rest my weary head, but distant screams echo from down the hall. They are me. Or rather, they will be me. My door is already misshapen, giving way […]
by Caoimhin Kennedy Amongst my gold, I sit in the hold of my ship. The rats scurry between my feet. Squeaking, feasting. I hear the cries of the searchers. Anxiety within me. I emerge from the darkness and see the lantern on the horizon beyond the broken spire of my mast. The voices carry […]
by Jessica Brook Johnson The tentacled being floated through space in a ball of ice. Smack! It hit the surface of a massive object. The ice cracked. The being was freed. Its tentacles tasted the object. Not food. The being’s stomach churned in hunger. It could not last much longer. It searched the object […]
by Chris Tattersall He had been blessed whilst his wife perished. Six days marooned; he knew the opposite to be true. He had been cursed with life. His yacht gone, his wife dead. Starvation threatened, and soon any meat would be inedible. He told himself it would taste like pork, apparently humans do. Saying […]
by Pauline Yates Tossed onto a reef by a rogue wave, our pirate ship shudders, and a sickening crunch sounds our death knell. Salt burns my lungs when I gulp water, not air, then I’m back on board with my crew, peering through fog that reeks of sulphur. “What’s that smell?” “The Devil’s breath,” […]