Pt 1

Jeffrey Tanner was the oldest son of William Tanner, a merchant captain from Deal
in Kent, and William's wife Elizabeth. As he got older, his father started taking
him on voyages, and Jeffrey learned the ins and outs of trade and of seamanship.

One day, while his da was negotiating with some business contacts in a dockside
tavern in Plymouth, Jeffrey got to talking with some sailors of the Royal Navy who
were on liberty, spending prize-money like water. A privateer crew was also present
and joined in the discussion. By the time his da had wrapped up negotiations
successfully and pried his son away from these sailors, Jeffrey had determined that
THIS was the life for him--a life of profitable patriotism.

His da was not exactly pleased with Jeffrey's new determination that they should
refit their sloop, the Century Hawk, as a privateer. While there was certainly no
denying the fact that, with a little luck on your side, a single cruise as a
privateer could prove more profitable than a whole year's worth of trade, there was
also no denying the fact that luck can shift as easily as the wind, one shot
between wind and water will sink a ship as easy as kiss my hand, and most
importantly, while the crew of the Hawk might be capable of fighting off a pyrate
attack long enough to escape (as any merchant vessel must be prepared to do), not a
man of the crew knew a thing about how to fight a ship OFFENSIVELY.

For months, Jeffrey and his da went back and forth over these arguments, until at
last his da agreed to help him get a berth as a midshipman in the Royal Navy....

Pt 2

Jeffrey was entered as a midshipman aboard the 32 gun frigate the Royal Oak,
William Bounder Capt. he became particular friends with another midshipman, william
carey, son of john carey Earl of Dover--a friendship which foundered, as did
jeffrey's navy career, when jeffrey and william were ashore at liberty, celebrating
having both passed for lieutenant, and both expecting to have their promotions
confirmed, after the Royal Oak's famous victory over a flotilla of 10 Turkish
corsairs.

the earl hosted a ball to celebrate his son's honour, to which william of course
invited his particular friend jeffrey william had two sisters, mary and abigail.
mary was being courted by william heveningham, high sherriff of norfolk; abigail
was quite taken with jeffrey, and he with her. they had been conducting a
clandestine courtship for a number of years, and on the night of the ball, jeffrey
and abigail decided to elope, but her brother caught them out, and drew steel on
jeffrey, forcing him to fight for his life, killing his friend just as the earl,
high sherriff, and a dozen guards turned the corner. a flurry of crossbow bolts
flew towards jeffrey, but abigail leapt in front of them, sacrificing her life for
that of her lover's.

through a dense fog, the earl, sherriff, and guards chased tanner across the
countryside right to the cliffs of dover, where tanner, in a fit of despair, threw
himself over the cliffs, to his intended death. deprived of their quarry, the earl
and sherriff proceeded against jeffrey's family: his father was arrested, his
mother and younger brother left to beg in the streets; the century hawk, his
father's sloop came under the command of its first mate who turned more towards
smuggling than honest merchanting.

pt 3

but despite his intentions, tanner's fall from the cliffs was not a fatal one, for
it was not rocks nor sea he struck, but the rigging of the Queen's Revenge, a
pyrate ship under the command of Grace O'Malley, pyrate queen. in the process, he
startled the ship's topsman, who dropped a bottle of rum he had pilfered from ships
stores, which smashed to bits on the deck below. tanner was not smashed to bits on
the deck below, having had his fall broken by the rigging, but he was momentarily
stunned, only regaining his senses just in time to defend himself from the enraged
topsman, who had dropped down from aloft to kill tanner in revenge for his lost
rum. despite his injuries, tanner managed to kill his foe instead, only to be
confronted by an angry grace o'malley, who gave him a choice: either be buried at
sea (alive) with the corpse of the topsman, or replace the topsman in the crow's
nest. tanner chose option b, despite being subject to attacks of vertigo every time
he went aloft. eventually, when a bounty hunter sent to capture the crew turned out
to be tanners cousin william dakmor, tanner found a new recruit to replace him in
the crow's nest, whereupon tanner assumed his present position as navigator,
serving subsequently in the same capacity to capt o'malleys former master gunner,
daniel mcgregor, when mcgregor became captain of the black rose.

during this time tanner began to drink to excess, if by "to excess" we can mean "in
quantities that would cause bacchus himself to say 'slow the hell down!'", in an
attempt to blot out the memory of abigail dying at his feet. his bartabs often
dwarfed the entire economies of the towns he visited. one tavern was actually
driven to the brink of bankruptcy by the weight of his bartab, to which he reacted
by buying the tavern at a severe discount, retiring from the sea to run it.

tanner enjoyed his retirement in his adopted village, until a certain lord
plysyk(?) nearly succeeded in using tanner as a lever to steal ownership of all the
villagers' homes and businesses. although plysyk's plan failed (due to the
unforeseen arrival and assistance of captain mcgregor), tanner could not let it
rest at that, and abandoned the tavern to seek revenge, the accomplishment of which
happened to bring him back in contact with the crew of the leviathan, under the
command of mavis merrit, with whom tanner had served under mcgregor. seeing it as
the hand of fate giving him a nudge in that direction, tanner stayed on as the
leviathan's navigator, embracing the pyrate's life once more.