Grey Beard's Origin

As told by Bosun Greybeard at Deadmen Tales.

On July 24, 1684,the French explorer Robert De LaSalle set out for North America with a large contingent of four ships, and 300 sailors with their families to establish a French colony on the Gulf of Mexico at the mouth of the Mississippi River and challenge Spanish rule in Mexico.

Aboard one of the ships, "le Griffon," a 45 tonne barque armed with 7 cannon, was the family Greybeard. James, the father was ship's surgeon along with his two young son's, Han and Joshua. Jame's wife Marina had stayed behind to tend to the family farm.

Finally reaching shore they began to explore this strange new land.

As they pushed deeper into uncharted territory, fate stepped in as they surprised a band of Atakapa Indians; a fierce war-like tribe, rumored to even be cannibalistic.

The entire crew were slaughtered to a man, with the exception of Joshua, and his younger brother Han. Life was not easy for little Joshua or his brother at the hands of the Atakapa.

They were beaten daily and often not fed or given water. Yet, they grew into sturdy and fierce young men, both capable hunters and valued members of their tribe.

Joshua loved to wander alone, drifting down one of the tributaries of the Mississippi or walking it's banks hunting the tiny swamp deer or diving for shellfish. It was during one of these forays that young Joshua found himself at the delta of the mighty river, following its banks until he came upon a small shallow cove.

His well trained eye soon spotted several crabs skittering about on the muddy bottom, so he stripped down and slipped into the warm briny water, hand woven wooden basket slung across his shoulders. After about an hour, his basket full of crabs, he began swimming to the beach. By the time his feet found sand again, it was dusk and he could barely see the treeline approximately
500 steps in front of him.

Exhausted, the young warrior fell fast asleep on the soft warm sand, not hearing the faint cracking of foot steps on dry twigs just inside the jungle.

A shout, a sharp crack on his skull and a blinding light was all that Joshua remembered. When he finally awoke, he was chained to an oar along with several other men of various nationalities, some very dark skinned, some light, all emaciated from lack of food and weak from the physical labor.

The air was hot and stifling, rank with the stink of unwashed bodies. Joshua was once again kidnapped, this time by pirates, captained by none other than that most sinister and merciless she-devil, Belit.

The ship's name was the Tygress, and Joshua was now a galley slave.

Joshua spent many years aboard the Tygress, where he eventually gained the trust of Belit, working his way slowly up through the ranks until he attained the rank of Bos'n of the ship.

His real name faded into memory until he became simply, Bos'n Greybeard.