Runcorn Gap

Runcorn Gap
Written by S.E. Hicks

    Straddled on the apex of the stern, Tobias Archer repeatedly dropped the lead and line to check the

depth of the River Mersey.  Giles Ginter, his childhood friend was at the helm directing the river cog

through the shallow sandy bottomed channel. As he pulled the line up, Tobias scanned the ship, looking

proudly forward at his father Oswyn, who was standing statuesquely at the bow,  studying intently the water

in advance of the cog. He listened  curiously at Piers Geste,  who was barking orders to the small crew

manning the square rigged sail and again to the oarsman.  They were eight, mostly Archers and one from

Ginter‘s family.  Giles Ginter had many a time sailed the river but had never ventured west of Warrington

nor to far east into Manchester. Tobias knew not of navigation, he was both excited and inquisitive. The trip

on the river flat would be his only schooling, an incomplete preparation for the rapids yet to come.

    The river was flowing  just fast enough to mostly out run the effects the gentle early morning breeze had

on the sail.  As he watched the sail fill and relax, Tobias wondered of the horses they had set free at the

confluence of the Goyt and the Etherow. Packed with a few bags of rock, the equine had been sent on a

rouse,  galloping east towards Mottram ferry with no riders along the River Mersey’s north bank.  He

thought of his Millicent and her angry father the Shire-reeve, would he continue the chase? Tobias’ father’s

men had in deed thrown Barnaby Shipwash and the hue and cry off their trail. The Archers were

temporarily safe from their pursuers.  At least for now. Their  heading  would be north and west on the

whims of the river. With the aide of the single sail river cog, the gap between them had lengthened

considerable.

    Their trip on the river would take them past Wulfiges, the land of wolves. On to Woolston Eyes  and the

great breeding grounds of the Black Neck Grebe, past the mill pond at Warrington, Lancashire the place of

the Roman crossing, then into the treacherous narrows of Runcorn Gap. If the cog made it through to the 

wide expanse of the estuary they would be but a day’s sail to the next narrow and  on to the busy Seaforth

Dock of Liverpool, the gateway to the Atlantic.

    As the cog approached the Runcorn, the wind picked up sail and Giles ordered the men to furl the square

rig. Both Oswyn and Piers joined the men on the oars. Giles requested Tobias  to help him man the tiller.

just before they entered the mouth of the gap, a young woman appeared on the far bank chased by two

rouges. Her dress of rags just clinging to her, she sloshed her way to the edge of a moored row boat, casting

off into the fast water just ahead of the cog. The unknown woman was successful evading her assailants.

    The river groaning sounds like a raging beast, began to dance a myriad of ballistic ballets before them.

Tossing about sea craft and voyagers alike.  The  drift ahead presented a surging river which was riddled

with white capped dilemmas defining but a single course. One mistake meant death to the few that dared her

challenging jaws.

    Giles instructed the crew at each approaching obstacle.  The men responded courageously to the

demands of each  protuberance. Rocks void of moss not lacking in mass sent colossal rising fountains of

water up skywards and stood defiantly in their path. Tobias keen on the fate of the young woman in the row

boat was distracted from his duty and was knocked over by the pitch of the cog and sudden sway of the

tiller.  When he finally stood he caught only a brief glimpse of the waterlogged women as she disappeared

into the raging torrents. The little rowboat, now a passenger less,  sagged and dipped,  spiraling into one

boulder then the next. How the wooden dinghy held together was a tribute to the ship’s carpenter  and a

parcel of luck. The girl could be seen  infrequently, barely holding on to the gunnels of the craft,  rarely

raising her head from the water.  Two hours more of rapids inspired careful and diligent management of the

cog--  suffering the crew to safe passage thru  Runcorn Gap.

    When the cog  finally found itself in quiet water, the embattled ship came upon the little row boat.

Tobias rushed to the lee side and with anguish, peered over the side to look for the girl. She was not in

sight. He had nearly turned away when a hand slowly appeared from the murky water and grabbed hold the

gunnels. The woman had survived the watery ride but was bleeding  badly about her head.  He saw her face

in a brief flash. He noticed a piece of her scalp was missing and bare skull exposed. Her had been nose,

smashed into her skull and her bloody cheeks were dislocated she looked haunting and pitiful,

unrecognizable. Before they could mount an effort  her eyes froze in death. Her disheveled corpse slipped

away into the green murk leaving simply a spire of crimson trail in the water and a single blonde shed

floating on the surface. It was hair like Millicent had.

Oswyn said “Do not forlorn her passing Tobias, she did not die without courage.”

Then Oswyn said a short prayer to himself, others coalesced  with Tobias at the stern to bid her a safe journey. 

“Who do you think she was and what fate had she escaped from,” questioned Tobias.

“ I can not conjecture her first fate, but the River Mersey and the rapids of Runcorn Gap was the fate that took her life,” said Giles.

Tobias then sheltered his eyes as he wished not for his father’s men to see his tear.

    After they passed the placid tidal narrows of Liverpool Bay they moored at Seaforth Dock. Both Oswyn

and Tobias stowed themselves in the hold, keeping out of sight. Giles and Piers went ashore to perform

reconnaissance of the markets adjacent to the ship yard.  They had a mission, to hire a guide for a sea

crossing to Ireland. Neither Giles or Piers could navigate the vast openness of the Irish sea. They not only

needed a guide but a guide with charts and compass. Someone that could be trusted, someone not easily

bought buy the Duke’s shilling.