Sea Maiden 17 Quinlan and Sea Master Erotis by Robert Kline

Sea Maiden 17 Quinlan and Sea Master Erotis

Art and story by Robert Kline

With fumbling sufficiency Sir Edmund Roberts, gentleman naturalist and Sea Maiden questor, and Gnarly Dan, the pontificating old salt whose vessel of sea lore regularly plied the narrow but treacherous straits separating wisdom from absurdity, manhandled Halley’s patented diving apparatus back into the Gulf of Guytecas so Sir Edmund Roberts could continue his Sea Maiden observations.

Meanwhile, their captain, the beautiful and gloriously buxom Constance Daphne, intent on accessing sufficient funds to hire a ship and crew to hound the H.M.S. Baci and her mutineers to the ends of the earth, went north to Valdivia and the port of Valparaiso searching for an agent of her bank.

Temporarily scuttled was her hunt for the notorious pirate Naughty Nat and her departed husband’s stolen chapeau (used by his grandfather to shade Lord Nelson as he lay dying at Trafalagar.)

And so, Sir Edmund Roberts descended in his bell, sighted the third Sea Master and Sea Maiden pair and came to the surface morose and stunned with grief. Gnarly Dan was solicitous and unrelenting. “What’s afoot Sir? Why the sudden squall? Beggin’ yer pardon, maybe I can help. Lay it on the deck and we’ll nudge it about a bit.” Sir Edmund snuffed dryly. “I’m a naturalist, my good man, and death is as much a part of my work as the bloom of life- more so, often enough. Regardless, I have witnessed a sight to wound the heart of the hardest man: a handsome Sea Master ’in migration’ apparently from the Africa’s, has had his mate expire – she lay cradled in his powerful ebony arms, beautiful to the last and most serene in countenance. Oh, that I should die so content!”

Gnarly Dan frowned for a moment and then perked up. “Was her head back and her arms a hangin’ like twin anchor cables?” Sir Edmund nodded, “Indeed.” Gnarly Dan continued, “And tell me, yer honor, did she ever so lightly – like a ship’s cat testing wet tar – did she ever so lightly have just a corner of his tail held between her thumb and finger?” The naturalist consulted his sketchbook. “She did.” Gnarly Dan brightened and settled into a mellow laughter. “Dead sir! That’s a good ‘un! Stow yer tears, squire she’s more likely dead tired! Gone to heaven she has, but it warn’t her at the pearly gates!”

For a man in the tropics, Sir Edmund’s icy stare was commendable. At last, Gnarly Dan relented and explained. “we’ve seen a pool of Sea Masters and Sea Maidens these last two days, am I right sir? And they’s been doin’ their wedding dance, if you catch my meaning. A smart gent like yourself must have puzzled out by now that things is a sight different under the sea and what happens next is one of ‘em. You see, when a Sea Master gets the nod from there mate, he’s got to prove he’s worthy. And sir, I’ll not ask into the bedroom antics of yerself and Mrs. Edmund, but I’ll give you this – yer Sea Master don’t just fire a shot across the bow and then retire. His job is to bend every sail and take her on the voyage of her life and never mind if it takes a watch and a half to do it! So he does. Light sails and gentle breezes, then full gale and batten down the hatches. Maybe even becalmed a bit and then into the breach once more! Pounding waves and spindrift, long swells and rough chop, broadsides and rolling fire! No sir, the trip ain’t over ‘til yer Sea Maiden gets a kind of gloomy look and faints dead away. And that’s a fact!”

Gnarly Dan grinned like a stowaway. “They say little girls want to grow up and be like a Sea Maiden, but I tell you what, big girls just want to spend some time at sea with a Sea Master. You see, like a good sailor, yer Sea Master knows the longer the voyage, the sweeter the homecoming.”

Sir Edmund’s journal reads:
Sea Maiden and Sea Master sighted near the island of Quinlan (thus her name). He is magnificent, she beautiful but fatigued.
Maidenus Mortis Sublimis
Average weight, dark hair, dark skin.
Magnus Erotis
Muscular, dark hair, dark skin.
April 13, 1833, Gulf of Guytecas, island of Quinlan