Dearest Friends,

I have finally arrived in England, but not without some adventure, as is my lot in life I'm afraid.


While traversing the Atlantic, we were beset upon by villains! Air pirates! They struck The Vermilion Potentate, our vessel, with many small aircraft, biplanes, one man each. Such maneuverability! We fought hard and valiantly, I almost wish we used a bit more reserve, some of the patchwork engineering and customization done to these craft was marvelous, a better look was to be had, but alas, too many of them fell to the ocean in flames thanks to my uncle's steadfast crew. I didn't know the party responsible, but I knew they had a tremendous engineer in their employ. In the end however, their forces overwhelmed ours, and we were boarded. A larger plane (a fantastic piece of work unto itself; I had never known that heavier-than-air vehicles could approach this size and complexity) docked with ours.

Their captain, a roguish fellow calling himself "Captain Flint Lockehart" (a ridiculous alias if I'd ever heard one) strode forward with a few of his men and addressed us. Everyone was brought above deck and the pirates began taking our valuables, pocket watches and jewelry. They even took my Electrovoltaic Aetherium gun that I had equipped in the earlier battle. While the more sensible of us tried to maintain our reserve and composure in the face of danger, the ladies on board made such a scene whenever this Captain Lockehart came near (or even so much as gave them a passing glance and raised eyebrow). Swooning, fainting, wailing in anguish, but then sometimes giggling when his back was turned. At one point, he walked over to my cousin Victoria. Uncle Wilhelm bellowed and began to burst forth and draw his sabre but was restrained by two of the buccaneers. Lockehart whispered something in her ear and a loud slap was heard; his cheek was met with a rejoinder by her hand. I have never before seen my cousin's eyes smolder with anger in that manner. The captain merely walked away smugly.

He called out to his crew to find the airship's strongbox and liberate it from our possession. It was at this point when I realized my uncle's manservant, Cliverdale was not among our number. My suspicions were correct, he sauntered out on deck with an arrogant swagger. Heated words were exchanged between him and Uncle. Now is when I made my move. I must divulge, dear reader, that the Potentate is not in the same condition it was when it first left the shipyards where it was built. Uncle employed me to create a series of concealed devices for just such an occurrence. I slunk back away from obvious view, and with a deft flick of my foot triggered a hidden switch.

A bright flash and thunderous crack interrupted the proceedings! Harmless flash powder, but it was enough to distract the rapscallions. My uncle's crew was well trained, they sprung forth and took the guns and sabers that were hidden in the very bulkheads themselves. I managed to reach my own ordinance and gave a few of the villains a quite "shocking" experience if I do say so myself. The coward,Cliverdale was the first to retreat. The pirates dropped their ill-gotten booty and fell back. However in the tumult, Captain Lockehart managed to grab cousin Victoria and use her as a shield, pressing his pistol against her delicate neck. Uncle called for us to hold. That same smoldering fire was returned to Victoria's eyes; she has such remarkable spirit for a young lady in the face of such terror. The pirate lord informed us that would we ever see her alive again, we would let them depart. Uncle Wilhelm bid his daughter farewell, never once unlocking his gaze from the captain's eyes, and their craft departed. We had not enough fuel to give chase, nor could an airship ever hope to overtake a craft such as theirs, so we resolved to continue our journey.

Upon returning to my quarters, it was as I feared. Cliverdale had ransacked them. However, all hope is not lost, I suspected him of such devilry, and swapped the blueprints for my device with those of a common atmospheric accelerometer. The real plans are still quite safe in my possession, hidden in a secret compartment of my own design.

It seems we also took a prisoner. One of the pirates was knocked unconscious by a blow to the temple during the battle. We discovered him while cleaning up the bodies of their fallen. Well, I say "him" because at this point, we didn't have any more knowledge to this pirate's identity. We revived the young pirate with smelling salts, but found him quite uncooperative and non-vocal. Upon inspection by my uncle's associate Dr. MacGillicuddy, a cascade of raven locks fell down upon shoulders as "his" hat was removed. Cleaning the dirt from the pirate's face revealed a beautiful young lady of barely eighteen years!

Her name is Margaret (though she is at this very moment standing next to me demanding that I inform you that she is to be called "Maggie") and I discovered that it was she who did the marvelous work on the pirates' flying machines! She's a brilliant engineer, and much of the remainder of the journey was spent conversing over technical matters. Never have I met a girl who understood the intricacies of cross-phlux aetheric interactions as she! It seems her father was the late Professor Brimley, who was abducted and killed by these selfsame pirates. Upon arrival, I pleaded with my uncle to not turn her over to the authorities. She is no more pirate than I am, simply a troubled girl caught in a world that she wanted no part in. Having nowhere else to go, she has joined our party.

Uncle has resolved to rescue Victoria with the Royal Navy. Maggie says that Lockehart's men move throughout the seas unpredictably, they will be quite hard to find. Nevertheless, he vows to fight to the death to save her and swears revenge upon his former manservant. Though I wonder, knowing my cousin, it seems it may be the pirates who need rescuing from her.

Kindest Regards
-C. J. Huffnagle