Alleged Cruelty
The incidents of a captain’s alleged cruelty onboard the barque Cowslip are samples of a much larger phenomenon taking place on 19th century tall-masted sailing vessels. On the high seas, far from civilization, a ship’s captain was the solo decision-maker of justice. Sometimes his decisions and treatments of crew were unfair and tainted with personal dislike.

Nature of the Story
The basis for the following illustrated short story are actual events reported in 19th century newspapers. Rather than telling this story in the third person I decided the story would be more interesting narrated in the first person from the perspective of the ship’s spirit (Cowslip). The slang phrases are bold and colored in the text to help identify them for the reader. Most of these words and phrases are self-revealing as to their meaning, but if you need to double check the exact meaning the definitions can be found in a section at the back.

Sample of Slang Filled Text
...Oh pickle me daisies the disputes I had to witness. Bear in mind, my story is among one of thousands of such yarns that spun out in places where the crows fly backwards to keep the dust out of their eyes. As I’ve told you before, in these locales the captain sometimes serves up a rump form of justice that pales in compare to the laws on dry land. He was similar to a curbstone broker; however, in some cases, he was issuing Missouri bankrolls for his justice currency...

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