Ahead of the Press Publishing

After completing the task of transferring Rudy’s wartime fortune from French banks to a company Rose has established in Bombay, they are freed from immediate worry. Although Rudy’s health and his repeated denial that he can never again captain a ship continues to worry her, she is determined to prove to his crew that he will again be the man he was. Unexpectedly, Rudy provides the means for her to put a plan into action when he purchases a steamboat in her name which he christens the Lady Rose. Making it clear he will not command a steamer from the fact he has no experience with steam-driven vessels, he nevertheless senses his desperate inner need to return to the sea. If he is to find himself again, it will be there. Failing that test, they will both be faced with the harsh reality that the man he once was is gone, forever. While completing the purchase of the steamer, they see an old derelict in the harbor. Identifying it as a slave ship from years ago when human beings were transported across the ocean to the Southern States, they are inexplicably compelled to go aboard. Acutely sensing the spirits from the past haunting the ship, Rose requests to be left alone in the hold where she can open her mind and commune with the essence of these tortured beings. Although meaning to be gone no more than an hour, she finally emerges a day later, changed in ways she cannot explain. One things has become clear to her, however: if Rudy’s crew from the Reprobate do not pass her muster aboard the Lady Rose, she will dismiss them all. At Rudy’s insistence they hire a Scotsman named Richard Bruce as captain, as well as two men to operate the machinery. With the expectation the crew will learn the ins-and-outs of a steamer, they set out on a leisure cruise without a timetable or a set destination. Although there are lighter moments aboard when Rudy teaches Rose to swim and a leisurely time spent ashore, ultimately the voyage does not have the desired result and as his depression deepens at finding his courage wanting, they encounter a Mawr Storm: a horrific maelstrom that threatens the boat and the lives of all aboard. Separated from the crew when the topside hatch is covered with debris, it falls to Rose and Rudy to manage the Lady Rose. Suffering grievous wounds and a marked tragedy, the pair are nearly overcome when a rowboat breaks loose and threatens to crash through the side of the boat. Using dead weight as ballast, they manage to cut the craft free but troubles continue to threaten their lives as the wild wind and waves come close to destroying what they have fought so hard to preserve. When Rudy is finally overcome, Rose is left alone in the pilothouse with the full realization it is her strength alone that will either save – or sink – the boat named in her honor.