Diary Entries Of A 14th Century Ship Captain

• Parker Reed, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2015

27th of June of 1350
It has been 3 days since I caught the plague. I must have smelt some bad air on the way to Rome from London. Maybe it was the guy who sneezed when I walked past him in the streets of Rome. “Why God, why punish us, we have done nothing”. Maybe God is punishing us for keeping the Jews. I just hope it will go before the 30th. Last night my first mate, Tommy caught the plague. My crew found out after he vomited when eating his favourite meal: Crepes! Tommy was sent to bed early. I just hope he doesn't die!

28th of June 1350
When I woke up this morning I saw a spot had appeared under my armpits. When I saw it I was like “what the hell is that?” Then I realised it was one of the symptoms of the plague. I am worried I won’t make it to the 1st of July.

29th June 1350
I feel myself growing weaker and weaker every hour. I don’t know if I will even make it through the night. Maybe I will be lucky in enough to survive until tomorrow night. I just hope I do because it is my birthday on the 1st of July. Just in case I will celebrate my birthday tonight.

1st July 1350, My Birthday
Last night Tommy Died. He fell into sleep forever while sleeping in his hammock just below deck. Now I fear even more that I will die. He was such a young kid. He didn’t deserve it. Last night was amazing even though I was growing weaker every hour and as I said before Tommy died. It is my fault. I didn't try at all to improve the hygiene, I really should have at least tried. The hygiene is so bad that filthy rats are all over the place. There are like 13 below deck and 5 above deck. They always race from one side of the ship to the other dropping their filthy “droppings” everywhere. Last night we celebrated until we all fell asleep drunk and exhausted. I am now so weak I can’t even get out of bed. I have told Jimmy that he will be the next captain of my ship if I die tonight. I just figured out how the plague spreads. I figured out it spreads through plague ridden fleas that bite rats then the plague ridden rats go onto ships and infect as many people as possible of the destination of the ships they go on. I must tell every………..