Fate of The Asimos

The merchant ship Asimos was large by its contemporary standards, a good two hundred feet or more in length, with a beam of thirty feet. It sported two masts and thirty-two oar, arranged as that of a trireme. There were no less than five massive anchors, and its capacity was in excess of five hundred tons. It's captain was a Minoan well-versed in the trade routes from Ephesus to Rome, and as such was considered to be reputable and honest. His crew consisted of an eclectic variety from across the Mediterranean, but mostly fellow Minoans. All handpicked and loyal to the captain.

This particular journey had been a charter by a Roman mistress of some social standing. It was rumored she was the daughter of a Senator, but sent by her husband, a Roman legate who had some influence with the Senate, to obtain certain fabulous objects while obstensibly gathering the primis centos, the first tenth of the grain harvest as tribute to Rome, which would find its way to the publis sanctum. The Asimos was loaded down to three-quarters capacity first with grain, then bronze and marble statues were placed in the grain holds to encase them safely for the journey. Also embedded were hundreds of amphorae filled with foodstuffs and olive oil, another number of which carried wine, a luxury for such a vessel. Other cargo included jewelry, ceramics, livestock... and a few passengers. The lady and her servants were afforded an area below deck, a sort of suite that was less than luxurious, but better than what the crew or even the captain enjoyed. Fully loaded, the ship was plodding along its course at about four knots, an occasional easterly wind pushing it along. The legate's wife often came up on deck to enjoy a view of the sea, not speaking to the ship's crew at all and to her own servants only to order food brought up for her, as well as a cloth shade. She sat as regal as an Egyptian cat, her almost haughty countenance a topic of derisive conversation among some of the crew.

They had departed Kos, and proceeded across the Aegean with intent to cross into the Ionian Sea before the onset of winter gales. The sailing was slower than anticipated and several times the crew was tasked with manning the oars to make better time. This particular day had seen an easterly that propelled them at better than five knots, a brisk pace by their standards. The captain was pleased by their progress and had determined the ship would soon pass to the north of Crete and enter the Ionian Sea within two days. His reverie was soon broken, however, by a tell-tale scent carried on the air. His sensitive sense of smell detected rain. It had even in that time a distinctive odor, and even in the presence of sea spray the Minoan could sense that a storm was coming. He was not yet concerned with danger, but was instead hopeful that the wind would pick up and push them even faster to the next phase of their journey. He even dared to think they would make Syracuse in good time, and enjoy a well-earned winter spent on dry land.

The crew seemed to sense something was awry as they got fidgety and anxious as the day progressed. The eastern sky seemed to darken quite quickly as the sun moved towards the west. The Minoan began almost nervously pacing along the upper deck, watching out of the corner of his eye at the gathering clouds to the east. He caught himself thinking this was not normal, in fact the speed at which the eastern sky was darkening bordered on unnatural. It didn't dawn on him yet that danger was not just real, but targeted. He eventually ordered the crew to the oars, thinking to try to make harbor somewhere before the storm hit. He also ordered the sails tacked for a northwesterly course, thinking the safety of Lefki on the isle of Elafonisos was their best option.

It was only an hour or so when the storm caught up to the Asimo as they rowed desperately to make landfall at Lefki. The wind raised so much and so suddenly that the ship was pushed violently starboard to port, then back again. Sails were ordered dropped and secured. A flurry of activity on deck and below was frenetic and the passengers sent to their cabins to ride out the storm. The sky had suddenly turned to night and oil lamps had to be found and lit in near darkness. The sea lashed out at the ship as the fitful gale force winds pushed the Aegean waters across the Asimo's deck, washing two crew members overboard. The tillerman had been lashed onto the right rudder and he fought to keep course in the face of the monstrous storm. He was nearly blinded by water and lightning, and felt the rudder under his hands fighting his firm grip, but he was not giving in to the gods just yet. The captain had gone below to make fast the cargo holds, wondering if he had angered the gods by his surreptitious acceptance of the strange object hidden in his own cabin. He lurched back and forth, as he passed the door guarded by the Egyptian who insisted on accompanying the object and guarding it. His stance outside the captain's cabin seemed almost ethereal, steady and unswerving, as if he was an embodiment of the Colossus of Rhodes. His gaze never changed and his face was stoic and unfazed by the chaos surrounding him. The captain lurched past him to return to upper deck to stand with the tillerman, his anxiety about the object ever increasing.

He found the storm had worsened even more than he had supposed as he struggled to climb up to the till. He nearly lost his footing as a gust threw the ship violently to port, reaching out with both hands to grab the railing. He finally made the upper deck and surveying the sea before them, looking anxiously for sight of the southernmost point of Elafonisos to guide them into harbor and relative safety. It seemed like an eternity as they were tossed and turned like limp rags. The wind howled almost like a voice, and the captain thought it was Poseidon's admonishment for his daring to offend the gods. For the first time in a long career on the sea, the captain began to expect a watery grave. A few moments later, the tillerman shouted that he saw firelight ahead in the distance. He pointed and almost lost the till as a result. They shook and steadied for a moment as the captain peered through driving rain to spot a flicker of light in the distance. He immediately concluded this must be their intended destination and ordered the tillerman and make course to follow that light. The captain grabbed the left till as his helmsman loosed his bonds and came to take over the till from his captain. He believed this was a harbor light set to guide ships into the bay to the west of the point, so made for the port of the light. The storm threw them back and forth as they made for the point and it took a long time to bring themselves closer to that firelight. Little did they know that this was their fatal mistake.

The light had gotten brighter and clearly more like the light of an inlet along the coast, and too late did the captain realize they were not on course to Lefki, but further south and still in the strait between Elafonisos and Crete. He knew the only land found here were the small islands that gave no protection but only jagged shorelines to dash upon. His only hope now was to put in to the only inlet he knew of in these parts, on the isle of Aigilia. He ordered the tillerman to keep track to the port of the light, thinking this was the way into the inlet. Moments passed, then suddenly everyone on the ship heard and felt the smashing. The prow of the ship lurched upward and through the lightning flashes the captain saw with the sickening in his stomach timbers flying about as the ship had smashed into a tall and rocky outcropping along the shore. He knew instantly they were doomed as the entire ship shuddered and lurched again. The waves pounded the aft and drove the ship again and again into the rocks. Water rushed into the holds and decks below, throwing bodies against bulkheads and weighing the ship down quickly. Panicked crew and passengers alike screamed for mercy to their respective deities as they were smashed and drowned. The ship turned on its side, sinking quickly into the waters off the shore of the island, splintering and breaking apart as she sank. Bronze statues and marble figures spread out of gaping holes in the hull, followed quickly by tons and tons of grain. The ship turned as the undercurrent took over from the deadly waves, spreading its precious cargo all along the deep crevices at the bottom. The remnants of the ship slid off a shelf into deeper water and settled at last at the bottom, as deep as the ship was long. It carried nearly all souls with it to the bottom, forever trapped within the hulk that used to be the merchant ship Asimo, including the Egyptian who never left his post protecting the object in the captain's cabin.

The men surrounding the smuggler's camp watched through the rain and lightning as the ship sank just southeast of their position on high ground. Their robes waved wildly against their bodies in the wind as they stood solemnly, muttering a chant pledging fealty to their deity as they knew they had successfully completed their divine mission. As quickly as the storm had risen, it abated and the night sky emerged, the myriad of stars flickering in the night that had come. A shooting star flashed across the firmament, and they knew their god had received their message and had approved.