This is the fourth part of STORY B of our #sendastory project. You can read the entire story so far on this page. This chapter was written by the pupils of Liceo Chiabrera School in Italy.
Liceo Chiabrera is a high school specialising in Modern Languages and the Classics. The Modern Languages studied are English, French, German and Spanish. We are in the centre of Savona, a town situated in the north west of Italy. We are on the coast but surrounded by hills and then quickly into mountains so we have a range of landscapes from beaches to country villages to mountains. The students who have taken part in this project are in the third year and so are 16/17 years old.
On hearing the name “Lady Franklin Bay”, Marc opened his eyes wide and a shiver ran down his spine.
As the wounded man started to tell his story, Marc remembered his grandmother some years ago taking a small, golden key, which nobody was allowed to touch, from the mantelpiece. A key which opened a chest with the letters “L.F.Bay” engraved on it…..but the wounded man had started his story so Marc forced the memories of his grandmother out of his mind and focussed on the present…
“…well, you know, in the 17th century the West Indies Shipping Company owned a ship, called the “Lady Franklin Bay”. It was one of the largest ships ever built. It used to sail all over the world, especially to England and South America, bringing back gold, silver and precious materials to the Crown.
One day during one of several expeditions, sailing near the shores of South Africa, the Lady Franklin Bay was attacked by pirates who killed all the crew except for a young boy who had hidden in the ship’s galley, but they didn’t manage to steal the gold.
The young boy’s name was Charles Henry, and he was one of my ancestors. He retrieved the gold and made his way to Naples where he set up a famous pizzeria called “Lady Franklin’s”. But the West Indies shipping company thought Charles Henry was one of the pirates so he was arrested and he lost everything except for a small wooden chest which contained the recipe for the special Lady Franklin pizza and most of the gold from the ship!”
The more Marc listened, the more he was sure his grandmother possessed the chest he was talking about!
Marc leaned towards the man, and whispered excitedly: “So, tell me how I can help you…”
