Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 4-7 2019 | Page 150

Ming Treasures
Korean International School, Chan, Ryan - 15
The sunlight shines upon me. The captain is calling my name. I woke up. This is how my everyday crew life starts. I
started off eating fish for breakfast. Fish is the main source of food for our crew because the sea is just right next to us. I
am only a young boy, so my work on this ship is not as hard. My main job on the ship is mainly cooking and cleaning.
In some days, I also need to fish. Our ship is now sailing to Africa. I have never gone to Africa before so this is my first
time going. Our aim to Africa is to give away the gold and silk we have. We are the opposite of pirates. We give away
goods and money instead of stealing or fighting for it. Me and the ship crews then start to sail to Africa. The captain said
it will take around one month to arrive in Africa.
For the first week, I was doing the same stuff over and over again. I cook breakfast, lunch, and dinner for all of the ship
crews. I clean the floor every day twice. In the evening, I get to relax and play games with some of my friends that are
also on my ship. Suddenly, my captain shouted “John, come over here!”, my name is John. I was so scared. I thought I
did something wrong. My heart beat like the thunder as I was walking towards my captain. He said, “You are not in
trouble, I just want you to try to be the watcher for this ship.” A watcher is a person that needs to be on duty on the
highest point of the ship, watching out for any enemies or dangers. I was so delighted. I have never been the watcher fo
this ship, so that was a whole new experience for me.
The second day, I started my new job full of excitement. I was informed to be in this duty until we get to Africa.
Everything went smoothly for the first few days until my captain said I need to pay attention for upcoming rocks. We
arrived at the place which has a lot of rocks in the sea. I am the one who is in charge to look out for the upcoming
rocks and need to inform the captain to spin the wheel. I was very stressed. The ship will crash if I didn't tell the captain
in time. It was really hard and sad for me to see my friends playing down on the ship while I’m up on the tower on
duty, but this is my duty. While I was watching my friends playing, I suddenly saw a big rock in front of our ship. I
immediately rung the bell. My captain turned the ship just right in time. I was very lucky and I would pay all my
attention when I'm on duty.
It was a peaceful day. I was on duty. I was paying all my attention to the sea. Suddenly, I saw a pirate ship coming
straight towards us. I froze as it was my first time see a pirate ship in my life. It was enormous and have a lot of
weapons. Although we are not pirates, we still have weapons to defend ourselves. I ran the bell to informed the captain.
The captain shouted “Incoming!’. Some crews set up the cannons, some crews ready their guns and bows, some ready
to take over the pirate ship. I was given a sniper as I'm on the highest spot on the ship. It was my first time handling a
gun so I was very scared to shoot. Our ship and the pirate ship met and we started firing guns and cannons. Some crews
jumped over to the pirate's ship and attack with swords.
I saw a crew got trapped by the pirates. I was scared to shoot but my crew was in trouble. I aimed at the pirate’s head
and shoot. Boom! The pirate went down and the crew is free. I got more confidence in shooting. I went to help my
crews. Boom! Boom! Boom! The Pirates went down. We went from losing to winning. Our confident pumped and we
all jumped to the pirate ship and fight all the pirates. We won! There was plenty of gold and silk on the ship. We took
it and decided to give it away to the countries that we will be visiting in the future. It was a great victory for us and also
the first victory for me. At night, we all gathered around and celebrate. The captain says I did a great job, I was
delighted and proud. That day will definitely be an unforgettable day for me.
Weeks after the victory, I was on duty as usual. I saw some land in front and I assumed its Africa. I checked the map
and confirmed that the land was Africa. I rang the bell and yelled “We are here! We are in Africa!” We all hurrayed and
cheered. We arrived in Africa, it has been more than a month from the last time I stand on a land. We met the leader of
Africa and we gave gold and silk to the locals. They invited us to the feast at