The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle

Jaggery furiously demands an explanation for Charlotte’s climb, and she tells him that she intends to join the crew. Jaggery orders her to change into her old clothes and return to her cabin, but she refuses. When Jaggery tells her that her father wouldn’t approve, Charlotte says that she knows her father best, and that he would. This flusters Jaggery, who finally agrees: he tells Hollybrass to mark Miss Doyle as lost in the log and put Mr. Doyle down as a sailor, vowing to drive “him” as hard as any crew member. From that day on, the crew accepts Charlotte as their own, forgiving her betrayal and teaching her their ways more patiently than Charlotte’s teachers ever did. Although the labor is difficult, she soon takes to it.

Jaggery has Charlotte stay in the forecastle with the men, clearly intending to humiliate her, but the men do their best to give her privacy, putting a sheet up around her hammock. She overhears much of their gossip and complaints about Jaggery, particularly his tendency to stay under deck most of the time. One night, Foley points out that Jaggery only comes out when it’s Charlotte’s watch. Morgan follows up on this by theorizing that he is waiting to catch Charlotte making a mistake so that he can put her in her place. Charlotte says she doesn’t intend to make a mistake, but Fisk warns her that Jaggery doesn’t, either.

One day, the ship’s gib becomes tangled. This is a difficult repair, as the gib is at the very front of the ship. Jaggery orders Charlotte to do this; Grimes attempts to volunteer but is rejected. Charlotte goes onto the bowsprit, where the frightening seahawk carving briefly catches her off-guard. She successfully cuts the rope free, but in doing so slips off the bowsprit, hanging onto it with her arms as the ship keens and dunks her into the ocean. She eventually pulls herself up and makes it back to the deck, where Grimes hugs her. Jaggery scolds Charlotte for her sloppiness, prompting Charlotte to scream at him and tell him that she’ll get him arrested when they reach land. She then spits on his shoe. Jaggery turns and leaves without another word. Afterwards, Grimes has her practice handling knives.

Two days later, the sky begins to darken. Charlotte spots a red bird on a branch in the water and points it out to Barlow, who tells her that the bird has been pushed out a thousand miles from its home in the Caribbean. Charlotte, shocked, asks what sort of wind could do such a thing, and he tells her that it’s a hurricane—a word Charlotte does not recognize. Barlow tells her that word among the crew is that Jaggery wants to skirt the edge of the hurricane in order to increase the speed of their trip—even though this could just as easily destroy the ship.