The Salk Island West Legacy: recap.

The Salk Island West Legacy: recap. Five generations earlier, Nell and Jon Stapleton had been washed ashore on Salk Island West. They’d been fleeing the storms of war – Jon, a Sautach man, had married Nell, an Istrian. And when the latent hostilities between the two countries had boiled over into actual war, he had fled with Nell and their little daughter Penny, before Nell was threatened by the neighbours who had once been their friends. They’d been fleeing the storms of war, but it had been a storm at sea that had blown them into the current known as the Western Rip, and they’d been shipwrecked far from their intended destination. The island had once been inhabited, before an earthquake had triggered a tsunami that had wrecked most of the buildings and driven the remaining inhabitants away. Nell and Jon realised that they were going to be able to survive there. And survive they did. Not only did they manage to survive, but they grew as a family. Eventually, there were five children, all helping to grow and catch enough food to keep them all healthy and thriving. Penny had been born in Sautach, but Perdita, Janet, Joshua and Petranella were all island babies. The second generation had arrived – but how could there ever be a third generation? No-one ever came to Salk Island West now: the copper mines were long abandoned, and no ships were going to put in for water and food when the island was known to be deserted. Then, one night, another enormous storm blew up. Safe in the little stone hut they’d built, Nell and Jon and the children waited it out – until they heard a frantic knocking at the door, and found a stranger standing outside begging for their help. Lars Svenson and his family, like Jon and Nell, had been caught in the Western Rip and wrecked upon the shores of the island. Sadly, though, Lars had not been so lucky: his wife and eldest son didn’t make it alive to the shore. Thorold and Brigit survived, rescued from the waves by Jon and the others, and the family set about helping Lars and the two children recover from their ordeal.
It perhaps wasn’t surprising that Thorold fell in love with one of Nell’s daughters – with Perdita, the second child, and the first one born on the island. And the first one to get married on the island as well! What was more unexpected was that Lars and Penny realised some time later that they too were very much in love with each other. And when Joshua and Brigit also got married, it was obvious that there would be a third generation after all. Lars and Penny had one son, Anders, who was the delight of his father’s eyes, a happiness after all he’d lost and grieved. Perdita had been the one to inherit the house that Jon and Nell had built: Penny and Lars built their own small place, as did Joshua and Brigit, and Janet and Petranella lived happily with their extended family. But they were down at the other end of the island, and though Perdita was happy to live with Jon and Nell, and help them as they became older, she did wish she could be closer to her brother and sisters.
When Jon and Nell died, Perdita and Thorold left the little stone house that had been the family’s first refuge on the island – not without some tears – and moved themselves and their three children, Astrid, David and Ingrid, down to the other end of the island, and began to build a new house there, on the site of a previous one.
Joshua and Brigit had two girls of their own, Bella and Cecelia. But the question still remained: who would they marry, this third generation? Each other? They would end up being dangerously in-bred. And there was a slight shortage of males. And then, one day, totally unexpectedly, a ship drew in to the ruined harbour of Salk Island West. Lars’ eldest son, Nils, had been engaged to be married: one more voyage, and then it would have been his wedding. Only he never returned. But Hannah, his fiancée, hadn’t forgotten him, and as soon as she could, she began searching for him with the help of her brother and sister-in-law and their ship, Waverider. And finally, she came to Salk Island West, and found out what had happened to her beloved Nils. The Waverider crew were mostly family: including Hannah’s nephews and niece. And Ben Waverider, in the time they spent on the island, became more than a little fond of Astrid. Fond enough of her to be willing to give up his sea-faring life and stay on the island with her. In time, Astrid and Ben would inherit the new house that Perdita and Thorold had built. And the Waverider crew spread the word among the other trading vessels that Salk Island West was once more a viable re-watering point.
“Salk Island West used to be well known for its wines. Why don’t you try starting a vineyard? It would give you something to trade besides fruit and vegetables when the occasional ship comes in to port. And we’ll make a regular call.”
Hannah had been full of good ideas to help improve their lives, and they’d taken them on board. It looked as though the fourth generation might have wider horizons than the previous ones had known. The fourth generation did see more of the world! Astrid and Ben’s three sons – Jon, Tobias and Barnabas – all made trips on Waverider, and came back with more knowledge, new ideas, more plants for the vineyard than Astrid and Ben were beginning to establish. And in Jon’s case, a new family for the island.
Carlo and Maria had fled the end of the fighting, with their three grand-daughters, Carla, Bianca and Luisa. The girls’ parents had been killed by a rag-tag mob, Carlo and Maria making it to the woods and safety just in time. They hadn’t dared to go back home as ill-feeling was still running so high – Jon offered them a new life on the island, and they accepted gladly and gratefully. And they brought new ideas, new ways of doing things and new skills with them. Jon, Tobias and Barnabas weren’t the only children on the island either. Joshua and Brigit’s daughter Bella had married Patrick Fletcher – a sailor who’d visited the island with Windrunner, collecting the first of the wine for sale. And she’d had four children, Morag, Siobhan, Callum and Brede. Lars and Penny’s son Anders had married Ben’s sister, Sal! Which made Ben very happy, having his sister on the island too – and then Jacob and Ade, their parents, had decided to stay on the island as well, when they were too old to want to voyage in Waverider any more. Anders’ and Sal’s three girls, Rachel, Sarah and Hannah, grew up surrounded by cousins! This time round, there wasn’t the same questions about who would anyone marry? Jon was inheriting the house, the vineyard, all that his great-grandfather and great-grandmother had begun to make when they’d been shipwrecked all those years ago. And he was marrying Carla, the girl he’d helped rescue. To the joy of them both, his brother Barnabas married Carla’s sister Bianca! And Tobias married Morag, the eldest of Bella and Patrick’s children. The island was beginning to look different. They were rebuilding the houses that had stood empty for so long, beginning to create a village again. And the income from the vineyards, and the trade with the occasional passing ship was making a difference too. Glass was appearing in windows, they were no longer cooking on open fires outside, but able to trade in their goods for wood-fired stoves. The old sense of living from hand to mouth was now only a memory. Astrid decided that she needed to write a history of the island before the memories too were gone. And maybe a descendant of hers would carry it on after she was no longer there to write it. There were seven households now on the island – two without children, and five with them – and fifteen children. And a school! This was the first building they’d built that wasn’t just for a family. Brede had gone away on Waverider, to stay with the Waverider cousins and to learn enough for herself so that she could teach the children on the island something beyond just the basics of reading and writing. And the children loved their intermittent lessons – though food gathering still took first place! Much to Maria’s shock and surprise, Jon told her that she was to be the next heir. She’d been so sure it would be one of the others – Nell, as the eldest, or Thorold or Jacob, because they were the boys, and stronger than her. But no: she’d been chosen, and Jon was convinced that she’d make a good job of it. The wines were selling well now, and Jon’s dream was to build a library on the island and stock it with books for everyone to enjoy. He hoped to see this happen in his lifetime, but if it didn’t, then Maria could carry on the dream. Nell was already married and living in her own little house. In between beginning to replant the forests that, over the past five generations, had become somewhat depleted. While they were doing that, she and Andre slept in a tent in the woods! Which meant that winter had its compensations because she and Andre could sleep in a real bed for a few months. And now Maria herself was getting married too, and ready to learn the skills she needed to take over from Jon and Carla in due time. She wasn’t sure if Michael realised what he was letting himself in for: this was going to be hard work! Especially as both Thorold and Jaob would be going away on Waverider for a lengthy voyage, to give them a chance to see more of the world – they’d be short-handed in the vineyard without them.
Once her brothers were both back home however, she and Michael would be able to think of starting a family of their own. Presently, the sixth generation of Salk Island West inhabitants would be arriving on the scene.