Captain Clonese's Story

• Caleb Gooding, Grade 4
• Short Story
• 2019

Once upon a time there was a fierce pirate named Captain Clonese. His goal was to plunder ships and kill anybody in his way.
One day he spotted the First Fleet. Captain Clonese screamed, “Attack!”
The cannon men started firing. All of a sudden, the sky went black as ashes and no one could see anything. A cannonball went flying into Captain Clonese’s ship. It started to sink.
Suddenly, a voice shouted, “Stand down!” Captain Clonese shouted back, “Never!" “Then you'll face the wrath of Captain Arthur Phillip,” shouted the guard. Captain Phillip yelled, “Fire the guns!” Bullets went flying everywhere.
Clonese yelled, “Prepare to be boarded." The swordsmen grabbed ropes and started swinging across to Captain Arthur Phillip's ship. The only thing you could hear was blood-curdling screams. Clonese came face to face with Captain Phillip.
“Well, well, well - we meet again Arthur."
“It's Captain Phillip to you."
“Don't you wish you hadn't refused the offer I made back when we were kids? But you made your choice and now you're gonna have to die.”
“Well, you'll have to get me first." Captain Phillip jumped into a wooden boat and sailed off. "You haven't seen the last of me, Phillip,” Clonese promised as he watched Phillip row away.
Clonese searched for Captain Phillip for years, but just when he thought he had run out of luck he saw Phillip, sailing across the seas in a beautiful boat called the Minercon. It carried many armoured men. They were clearly visible on the masts and in the crow's nest. As Clonese studied the ship, he glimpsed at least fifty men in the hull. Clonese soon realised that his ship's defences were nothing compared to Phillip's. Clonese jumped off his boat and drowned himself.
People thought Clonese was gone, but a small rumour kept emerging about people seeing him with their own eyes after he was supposed to have died. That mystery has not yet been solved.