My father wrote and published "Caprioli" back in 1964 under the pseudonym 'Dieter Ott' where it was on the German Youth Book bestseller list and reprinted twice.
I have now completed the translation from German to English and would like to share these entertaining and incredible stories with you.
Count
Caprioli's Wonderful Adventures at Sea
The Characters
Cyprian Amadeus Count Caprioli Secret agent and diplomat for the Austrian Government
at the moment commander of a fleet of ships belonging
to the Dutch-West Indies Company - Anno Domini 1715
The counts companions:
Pelegrin The counts elderly Hungarian man servant
Habakuk The counts body guard
Frank Bull The captain of the "Fantoma"
Nieselpriem The helmsman of the "Fantoma"
Borromaus Chief gunnery officer, formally pirate
Bilg Cabin boy of the "Fantoma" and...?
The passengers on the "Fantoma"
Larissa van Groenhagen Daughter of the governor of Dutch Guyana
Baba Her black servant
His excellency Natas Scheitanoff Infernal representative
Also appearing
Bichler The Austrian gunnery officer of the "Imago"
Bjoerkr Captain of the "Imago"
Dirk Opzoom Captain of the "Vlissingen"
Dona Escamalota Sister of the cardinal and special guest of the governor
Pieter van Groenhagen Governor of Dutch Guyana - a very reach businessman,
uncrowned king of the Dutch-West Indies Company,
lifelong friend of Caprioli and Larissa s father
If you give luck a
chance
Carefully Bilg opened the door to the harbour side tavern “The Golden Apollo” In
Amsterdam. Muffled speech, tobacco smoke and the smell of wine
overwhelmed his senses. He had to cough.
It took him a while before he could spy the form of Captain Bull.
With a glass in his hand, the mighty man was leaning at the end of
the bar, where he was having a conversation with a short stubby man who
spoke to him waving his hands in the air. This man’s face was
wrinkled like a dried up prune, with deep set shark like eyes.
And this one, the tall slim one with the hooked nose and silver
white goatee? Dressed in his sky blue coat with gold epaulettes, he
sat with his long stretched out legs at the table playing dice with
Borromaus, the chief gunnery officer. No doubt this was the war
commander himself, the mysterious “Count Caprioli”! Bilg had
never seen him before, but recognized him immediately from the
descriptions he had heard of him.
He slid in behind him and looked over his shoulder. The count ignored
the young one.
Bilg carefully touched his arm and whispered in his ear:”Count, a
good wind has come up and the fleet can sail. The coxswain
‘Nieselpriem sent me...!”
The chief gunnery officer just threw a seventeen with his dice,
stroked his goatee and collected the 2 gold pieces from the center of
the table. “I won!” he said with his from gunpowder roughened
voice. His right eye shot a dark look at the count. The left one he
always kept shut; from all the aiming it looked like a wrinkled line.
With an emotionless face, Count Caprioli gathered the 3 dice and let
them drop into the leather cup and turned to Bilg:
“What are you saying cabin boy? The coxswain sent you – A sailing
wind has come up? Fantastic! Tell the captain right away, he is
standing over there”.
Caprioli's eyes swiftly examined the faces around him. He had come to
sit with the officers of the “Fantoma” in the seaman’s tavern to
get to know them before the dangerous upcoming trip.
“Do you want to keep playing Count?” asked the chief gunnery
officer excitedly “But I am sure that that even you won’t throw
18!”
Caprioli inclined his head and then looked up.
“How do you know that I can’t throw 18..?”
“Because – because you haven’t been able to do so until now and
because I’ve never been able to do it”
“So that’s your opinion ...?”
Caprioli stood up and weighed the cup in his hand thoughtfully.
The innkeeper, Captain Bull and a few other guests that had secretly
followed the game approached with curiosity. The Count took a gold
coin from the pile next to him and placed it in the middle of the
table.
“Only those that give luck a chance, can achieve the unusual! I bet
that I will throw 18. Who will bet?”
“Me Count!” grunted Captain Bull through the jungle of his black
beard. Sure of winning he placed a gold coin next to the Counts.
Caprioli took the leather cup, shook it and placed it upside down on
the table but did not lift it. With a quick movement he took a second
cup from the next table, shook it and placed it upside down on the
table next to the first one.
“Well, how many points do I have...?”
“The second cup does not count” growled the Captain “You have
to have 18 with the first one”
“The gold coins are already yours Captain” grinned the innkeeper.
Thoughtfully Caprioli lifted the first cup. All three dice showed 6
points
“Blast – pure chance” Bull angrily stroked his beard.
“Chance and luck take the same path Captain!”
Caprioli picked up the second cup and again all three dice showed 6.
The innkeepers jaw dropped open. He lowered his violet coloured nose
almost to the table top to look more closely.
“That’s devil’s play” grunted Bull.
The right eye in the dark face of the chief gunnery officer flew
open:
“You should have been a chief gunnery officer Count! I wouldn’t
be surprised if you were able to shoot down a fly from the top of the
mast with a single canon ball” He said in a raspy voice.
“I don’t shoot at flies with cannon balls, my dear friend” said
Caprioli with a smile, “but occasionally I can perform other tricks
– watch this!”
He picked up one of the gold pieces lying on the table, pushed it
against the edge of another one with such skill, that it flew in a
wide arc directly into the still open mouth of the innkeeper.
“This was not luck but skill gentlemen” said Caprioli with a
smirk. “When the innkeeper manages to close his mouth again, he
will have the payment for our bill, and now let’s get to our
ships!”
The innkeeper fished the gold piece out of his mouth and looked at it
shaking his head.
Caprioli
had to bend his head to get out the door of the pub. Captain Bull
squeezed his bulk sideways through the door frame. Chief gunnery
officer Borromaus followed behind, limping with his wooden leg. He
wore wide flowing white linen pants and a loose fitting blue shirt.
On his head he wore a red silk kerchief knotted at the back. He wore
a curved knife in his pearl studded belt on one side and Arabic
pistol on the other. In his younger years he was a feared pirate in
the Caribbean. In a sea battle where he lost his right leg to the
knee, he was taken prisoner and condemned to death. His incredible
marksmanship won him a reprieve. Since
then he has
loyally
served the gentlemen of the Dutch West Indies Company as a chief
gunnery officer, feared by all pirates. In memory of his wild youth,
he wears his pirate outfit, which his superiors allow as a reward for
prowess and loyalty.
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