Bess
Bess
sailor
sailor
Meet Bess Riley!
So, we come to Bess Riley, the woman responsible for protecting Charles on more occasions than he would like to admit. Bess is a woman who will not be told who she is or what she can do; she is more than capable of captaining her own whaling ship and she does not need any man holding her hand.
To be fair, if any man tries to treat our Bess like a delicate little flower, they may find themselves at the pointy end of a harpoon or taking an unexpected swim! If she is feeling generous, she might haul him back in but that would entirely depend on whether he saw the error of his ways!
She may, or may not, share certain character traits with one of the authors, but that could just be hearsay.
Background
Elizabeth (Bess) Riley was born in the fishing town of Northhampton, to Thomas Riley (known as Old Riley even when he was not old!) and Charlotte (Lottie) Riley. Bess was only 6 years of age when her mother unfortunately died whilst giving birth to the Rileys second child, a boy also named Thomas, who lived but a few hours. Life was hard for poorer fishing families and the loss of Charlotte and her son caused a long period of grief for both Old Riley and young Bess.
Not knowing how to raise a daughter without the guidance of his dear wife, Old Riley did the next best thing in his humble opinion, he raised his daughter as he would have raised his son had he lived. Bess grew to be fiercely independent, resilient, and, like her mother, incredibly intelligent and articulate. Old Riley will never say it, but he could not be prouder of his daughter, and he knew what she would have been unhappy with a life stuck looking after an old fisherman like him. After losing his wife to childbirth, he did not want that for his daughter and made every effort to scare off any suitors. Bess did not need the help and she was more than capable of telling would be admirers where they could ‘sling their hook’ to.
Education
Until the age of six, Bess was taught to read and write by her mother. She spent so much time at sea with her mother and father that a school based education was not a viable reality and in the fishing villages, most girls did not receive a formal education anyway. Her mother, Lottie came from a family who were disappointed in her choice to marry Thomas Riley and when she died, Bess’ maternal grandparents were of the opinion that Charlotte had brought her misfortune upon herself and saw no further need to have anything to do with either Bess or her father.
As a father now raising a small girl on his own, Old Riley was forced to either take her to sea or leave her onshore with others in the village. Whilst she was young, he did leave her with a local woman but Bess was determined even as a child and soon she was joining her father on the Beaumont. She became a fine sailor in her own right and was an expert in knot tying and the use of a harpoon before she even reached her teenage years. Although not skills normally taught to a girl, Bess would quite happily throw a harpoon at anyone who said that to her face. Her harpoon skills became a thing of legend following an unfortunate incident at the age of 15 when she threw one with uncanny accuracy into the lower regions of a passing fellow who tried to ‘deflower’ her. It turned out that he was the son of someone vaguely important and Bess and her father went to sea for an ‘extended fishing trip’ until it all blew over.
A rumour was circulated that the troublesome pair had died at sea and after a while things returned to normal and no one bothered the young Bess Riley again, until the appearance of a clueless, English reporter in the form of Charles Wickham.
Bess is confident that her father will never forgive her for marrying Charles. He would probably even have preferred the Russian captain, Sarov as at least he would know how to handle a ship! .
Forever Lost at Sea
Forever Lost at Sea
Until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore, you will not know the terror of being forever lost at sea.” – Charles Cook
Charles Wickham is bored with writing the same old stories for a small-town newspaper and wants to find inspiration for that one story that will make his career. A spur-of-the-moment decision to investigate the mass beaching of a group of whales leads Charles on an adventure that may be more than he bargained for.
After meeting Hideo, the mysterious only survivor of a Japanese whaling ship tragedy, Charles is drawn into a world where the monsters that lurk in the old tales are much more real than anyone would ever believe. Alongside Bess, a woman who defies the expectations of the era , and a Russian sea captain who has lived in the world of folklore and myth for longer than anyone could imagine. The crew hunts and confronts an ancient creature evil lurking in the icy waters of the North Pacific. Charles has found the story that will make him a renowned author… if he survives long enough to write it!