The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle

Jaggery arms himself and Hollybrass with muskets and pistols. Against Charlotte’s will, he drags her to the deck. There, Hollybrass calls all hands, prompting the crew to run yelling up to the deck with their own weapons—aside from Zachariah, who is unarmed—only to stop when they realize Jaggery is pointing a musket at them. A tenth man, who is missing an arm, steps forward, and Charlotte recognizes him as the stowaway: Cranick, the man whom Jaggery beat so badly that his arm had to be amputated. Cranick declares Jaggery to be unfit as captain and demands a trial, vowing to get justice at sea where he could not on land. Jaggery then shoots him, causing him to collapse onto the deck, bleeding profusely. The rest of the crew leaps back in horror.

Jaggery commands that the rest of the crew drop their weapons; they comply. All of them back up except Zachariah, who comes forward to administer care to Cranick. Jaggery tells him to leave the shot man be, but Zachariah insists that the man has a right to care as a human being. Jaggery assents, and Zachariah inspects Cranick and confirms that he is dead. Jaggery then commands that the body be rolled overboard, refusing Zachariah and Hollybrass’s pleas that the dead man be given last rites. When neither Zachariah nor Charlotte obey Jaggery’s command to open the gate to drop the body, he does it himself, then tells Charlotte to choose one man to suffer punishment on the crew’s behalf. When Charlotte refuses, Jaggery tells Zachariah to step forward.