Chronology
Voyage Timeline
Forty years of fictional salt — the life of Martin Tidewell as the taverns tell it.
Fictional chronology. Martin Tidewell is an invented character; these dates belong to his invented world, told in “years before present” the way harbor stories do.
| When (harbor reckoning) | What happened (fictional) |
|---|---|
| ~40 years ago | Martin ships out as a deckhand with his friend Anselm. Learns the bowline; trips on the loose plank for the first time. |
| ~30 years ago | First mate of the merchant brig Morning Star. Earns a reputation for impossible calm in bad weather. |
| ~25 years ago | The Brass Anchorage Fire. Stays aboard the burning Star until the grain ship’s crew is off. Buys the hulk; rebuilds her as the Second Dawn. |
| ~20 years ago | First recorded Squall of Nine Days weathered as captain. Mama Josie’s “theological” stew enters legend. |
| ~15 years ago | Hires a bread-stealing dock-rat named Pip Halloran as navigator’s apprentice in Brass Anchorage. |
| ~12 years ago | The Glass Calm. Eleven days becalmed; befriends the mistwhale Old Lantern. |
| ~10 years ago | Brinley Okafor signs on as first mate. The Things the Captain Has Survived list begins. |
| ~8 years ago | Lantern Reef Rescue. Thirty-one souls brought off a wrecked packet ship in singing fog. Refuses the reward. |
| ~5 years ago | The Teeth of the Kraken. Sails the millrace passage at dawn, whistling. |
| ~3 years ago | The Widow’s Counter Run. Beats a fever to Gullhaven against the cold current. |
| ~1 year ago | The Gullhaven Election. Certifies the gull’s victory as returning officer. |
| Recent | The Long Way Home. A tea run becomes a six-month odyssey of favors — and one wedding cake. |
| Today | Somewhere on the Blue Seas, at the dawn watch, with tea. As always. |