This book is old and it has no cover. The size of the book is ten by five inches big. Its color was a disgusting, yellow because of it's age. Funny enough, it was found in grandfather's study. On the inside, front page, the copyright was 1785. The year this book was found was 1985, which made this book two hundred years old. Surprisingly, this book weighed about five pounds. A fine silk, ribbon, bookmark opened the pages up to an old photograph. The picture was of an old treasure chest that was on the top of a pile of gold, pieces of eight. The book was searched through and no title could be found, but, the name of the author was written below the copyright; the one and only famous Davy Jones.
The place where Tyler moved was a town called Maple Hill Village in Florida along the coast. It was half the size of a large city. Professor Chem's study consisted of a dim light in the middle of the room. He had his desk facing the door. He also had ten built in bookshelves and a world map. The desk for Tyler was small but it worked for schooling.
Tyler
After they moved to their twenty-six room mansion, Tyler had something to do except unpack his belongings.
Since Tyler loved pirates and the ships they sailed, he was overly excited to move by the ocean again. "The Flying Dutchman" was one of his all time favorite ships. Just after they moved, they heard reports of sightings of the actual ghost ship Tyler loved. Ten miles away, there was a wharf where the ship had been sighted. When it was seen, it was only during the night time and late evening. Laughing, moans, music and even singing could be heard floating eerily across the water. However, not everybody could see the ship because only people that really believed in pirates could see it.
Tyler did not know he would eventually go on the biggest excursion of his life, on this ship, with the ugliest pirates imaginable. On his excursion, he would travel to the Gulf of Mexico, to the Caribbean Sea, then to the Netherlands. He would also be taken captive.
"The Flying Dutchmen" was originally owned and built by a man named Davy Jones.
Before Tyler moved to Florida, he had lots of fun in his acres and acres of woods. Tyler liked to make wooden swords but after awhile they would break. On his thirteenth birthday he actually got a steel sword with a sheath and belt but he did not know what to use it for.
When Tyler was 11 years old, he still lived by the ocean in Mobile Alabama. He use to jump out of his bedroom window at midnight and go down to the ship harbor by the wharf. Tyler saw and heard pirates talking about when they were going to raid the little village of Tulon along the coast of Alabama. It was that night at 12:00 a.m. October 7, 1983, when they saw "The Flying Dutchmen" enter the harbor of Mobile, Alabama. He saw great horror come over the pirates faces. One of the pirates screamed and said the name of the ship and all the pirates scrambled to hide in different places. One went where Tyler was sitting but when the pirate saw him he grabbed Tyler by the shirt and asked him what he was doing there. "You should be home in bed, Lad, lest you die here and now, now go home." Tyler wanted to ask about the ghost ship he had just seen, though. He asked the pirate, "what is that" as he pointed to something glowing bright green on the water. The pirate said, "Sit down and I'll tell you about it." The pirate began, " It was a dark, gloomy night. We, well, me and my crew were raiding a little monastery just off the coast when that "Flying Dutchmen" came into the harbor. It had on her, sea weed and torn bloody sails and big cannon ball holes in her side. Her deck was a mess with dead, wicked looking cutthroat pirates, but there was another thing wrong with the ship. None of the pirates were Davy Jones. We sunk that ship to her resting place. I think, right now, Davy Jones is coming back from the dead depths of the sea. What do you think, Mate?" It took the pirate two and a half hours to tell that awful story. Now he told Tyler to really go home lest he die. The pirate said, "Before you go, my name is Blackbeard. You might see me again." So Tyler went home but never at midnight again did Tyler venture near the wharfs.
Blackbeard
The pirate that Tyler met on the wharf was named Blackbeard. He lived in the same town as Tyler, though on the northern side. Blackbeard lived with the poor people in that section of town, with his crew, on top of an Irish pub. Blackbeard was originally from Scotland but came over on a Russian prison ship with other Scottish men. He was released when they came into the harbor of Toulon. Blackbeard was not really a friend of Tyler's, because they had just met at the wharf.
When Blackbeard first joined the crew on the Jolly Hopper in 1963, his original name was James Cage. The captain of the Jolly Hopper, Captain Hobbin, chose to name James, Blackbeard becaue of his dark black beard.
Blackbeard always wore old cargo pants filled with dynamite and an old sailor's shirt. He wore a red bandana around his head and was often seen running around Miami in his bare feet.
The ship that the Jolly Hopper and its crew sunk, The Flying Dutchman, is only visible to those who really believe in pirates. The pirates who inhabit this ghost ship are never visible to anyone while they are on their ship. However, when they touch firm, dry land, they appear in full human form.
One night Professor Chem, Tyler's grandfather, was sleeping in his bedroom as he had just fallen asleep. He found himself dreaming about a journal with the writings of Aztec life. All of a sudden, he was reading the place where it was talking about what was happening in the Aztec War with Cortes. The journal changed into a picture and the professor saw the killings of blood thirsty Aztecs and Corteses men stealing Aztec gold. "Cortes will be rich," said the professor in his dream. Professor Chem was seeing the bloodiest war and the most killing with swords going through the bodies of the Aztecs, when the book closed, with a slam, which startled Chem out of his dream!
Professor Chem, after he awoke, was sitting up in bed thinking where this book was or what happened in it. He had just slipped off to sleep when the same dream came and it was peaceful. Chem dreamed of the peace the Aztecs made with Cortes, but that wasn't all. The dream went on for about another hour when he went off into a dreamless sleep. When he awoke, in the morning, he didn't remember one thing from last night's dreams.