It was a crisp night out at sea and Kirkland really wished he hadn't gotten himself placed on lookout duty this evening. The crow's nest provided little protection from the cold wind and it cut right through him. He sighed, he was supposed to have company but his shipmate and friend had decided to play hooky this evening.

"Look what I got." He heard his shipmate finally showing up and turned his head to see Silas crawling over the edge of the crow's nest. Kirkland wasn't all too excited until his eyes landed on the bottle of gin.

"Where did you get that?" He asked.

"The admiral's cabin," Silas admitted unremorsefully.

Kirkland smirked. "You sneaky bastard, you're going to get us sent to the brig."

Silas smiled deviously. "Not if we drink it and throw the bottle into the sea."

Kirkland grabbed the bottle out of his hand, twisted off the top and took a big drink. He relinquished the bottle to Silas and watched him take a big gulp.

"Your lucky the Admiral is a moron, I've seen you drunk, it's not hard to tell." Kirkland took the bottle from his friend and hastily swallowed three gulps before gasping for air and wiping his mouth onto his jacket sleeve. "I still think a few hours from now we will be in the brig." He honesty told his friend.

"Ha, it's not every day you get to drink some good gin, even if you have the coin for it. I'll go to the brig for a month, to not have to drink that piss, shit ale they give us." Silas spite out a loogie and Kirkland hoped some poor fuck wasn't standing on deck below. Silas reached over and took the bottle right out of Kirkland's hand.

The pair hadn't known each other long, just since the ships launch a little over a year ago but they had become good friends over the course of that year. Both Kirkland and Silas had signed up for three years and after a year, they were both regretting that decision. Since Kirkland was a small child he had a deep love for the sea and wanted to travel to the world by its oceans. That's why he enlisted, however, he had found he had a hard time with authority. Most sailors would testify that it was good fortune to end up on Admiral Edward Montagu's flagship. He had never lost a battle, the admiral had never even come close to losing. The total amount of lives he had lost were in the low teens over a long career. Something which was unheard of for a Navel fleet that saw so much conflict.

His success was not due to how cunning he was but rather the top of the line ships he had in his fleet, not to mention the steel frame ship they were currently standing on. The admiral's pride, the HMS Royal James. It had been commissioned by the King himself and dedicated to his brother and the future King of England. Most would be proud to serve on the flagship. There were only two other ships like it in the world, not even the newer ships could boast their steel-reinforced hulls. The Royal James one of his Majesty's most powerful ships, fast and unsinkable.

Kirkland found the battles to be numerous and long. Even if the ships didn't show wear, their crews most certainly did. They had been at sea for sixteen months and were deep in Dutch territory, right outside their homeland. All the men knew they would be away from home for some time yet.

He was tired of fighting the Dutch and had considered desertion. There wasn't anything left for him back in England anyway and he knew Silas would follow him anywhere. Kirkland snatched the bottle away from Silas and took his third drink. He looked out over the sea, the moon reflected in the water and created a tranquil atmosphere in the cold night. He noticed the wind had died down and it had become tolerable to be up in the crow's nest. Silas reached for the bottle and Kirkland gave it to him. Silas took his third drink before handing it back to Kirkland again. They continued on in this way until the bottle was empty.

Once the bottle was gone Kirkland got to his feet and realized for the first time just how drunk he had gotten. He took a step and didn't stumble but on his second step, he tripped forward and caught himself on the mast. He stabilized himself before he reeled back and tossed the bottle out as far as he could. The bottle made a loud smack when it hit the water, in the quiet night.

"You should have pissed in it first so the bottle didn't float and you didn't even throw it out that far." Silas's words came out slurred and Kirkland knew they were going to be in trouble.

"I told you, that you were going to get us thrown in the brig!" Kirkland chastised his friend.

"It's you who's going to get us thrown into the brig, everyone knows you piss in the bottle first!" Silas defended himself. They both held their breath for a moment waiting to hear the calls of seaman, as they warned their admiral of misconduct. A fish jumped, a gull squawked and the bottle quietly floated away.

Kirkland slumped down onto the Crowsnest floor and finally broke the silence. "I've been thinking about deserting."

Silas's head shot up and he gave his friend a serious look. "You mean you've been thinking about dying. If you don't make it they will hang you for desertion and if you do make it where are you going to go? Dutch territory, they'll hang you for sure or out into the open ocean without supplies or water. No matter what you'll just die."

Kirkland smirked, "Na, I think I'll make it if I've got you with me."

Silas rolled his eyes "I think we'll both die if I go with you." While he was pulling his hat down over his eyes. Kirkland was a little upset with that.

"We're still supposed to be keeping watch, you know. Even if we are enjoying ourselves we can't let the enemy sneak up on us. We're deep in Dutch territory after all." Kirkland scolded his friend.

"You just told me you want to desert, now you're worried about keeping watch. What's the worse that could happen if we take a nap for a couple of hours. With all these ships keeping watch, there's no way they won't see the enemy approaching."

This argument didn't sit well with Kirkland but he had been up all day and the admiral had only given them watch duty because they had been slacking off. Not to mention he had drunk half a liter of gin. He peered over the ledge of the crow's nest. The ocean was calm and there was no sign of anything on the horizon in any direction. He decided to take Silas's advice and sleep off some of the alcohol before the morning shift came to relieve them.

Kirkland had made up his mind, the next opportunity he had he would desert the British Navy.