The Continuous Briny Fable

[The Black Spot]

...a terrible case of scurvy and an ingrowing toenail.

He kept a watchful eye on the dock, waiting for a certain person to come by. He jumped to his feet when he saw the figure of...

[Bluenose]

...an uncertain person, he gave a sigh and sat back down, keeping hi eye out for for a certain person.  Just when he was about to give up all hope he saw...

[Griffin NoName]

... spots before is eyes. AAaaaargh! e shouted "that damned black spot be............

[beagle]

...attacking the roses in the municipal flower beds (placed near the docks by a grateful council, partly in gratitude for the contribution the sailors made to local income, via various shore establishments, but mainly to hide the sight and smell).

The ex-telephone-book-proofreader was getting a little nervous by now. One or two things he had noticed about the ship bothered him. Finding a haggard old sea dog on the deck, he traced up its lead to its owner, and decided to raise his concerns with the gap-toothed, unshaven, heavily tatooed, muscular lady he encountered.
"I was just wondering", he said, groping for the right nautical term, "why the ship seems to be listing to stern, something I've not seen before".

"Arrgggh, she been like that since the abolition of slavery in Capn. Deathtrap's great-great-great (five times removed and five times got back again) grandfather's time said the crone.
Since then the for'd hold's been used for makeweight cargo, tyres, rubber goods and things for the weekend sourced from the Malay jungle, for delivery to a garage and chemist shop in Surbiton High Street. It's a steady trade, but the weight's not the same.

"Ah, right" he said. "I also couldn't help noticing a line of footprints painted around the deck, going round the complete circumference of the ship".

"Arrgh, that be the Plimsoll line" said the crone.
Something about this answer perturbed him, but before he could work out what, he looked over the side and noticed...

[Aphos]

...a well-born lady with a parasol walking up the gang plank.

"Pardon me," she said, "but has anyone seen my poor cat Wiggums?  He..."

[Sibling Chatty]

was lured out the catflap by an exceptionally raucous parrot that sat in  my aspen tree and squawked out rude comments all day. Wiggums is a Sweetie Precious Mummy's Wiggum-Biggums, and I shall shortly swoon into a dead faint if I cannot...

[Aphos]

...hold him and pet him and hug him and...Well I really need to find him."

At this point she notices that the old sea dog has a tuft of tabby colored fur sticking out of the side of his mouth.  The lady faints dead away, falling onto...

[beagle]

...a chaise longue, conveniently being carried into Madame Fifi's Holistic Healing and Massage Centre, by two workmen employed in the ongoing refurbishment program. The work had been in progress for some six years now and was five and a half years behind schedule, but there always seemed to be some new reason why the workmen needed to return each day.

As she was carried down the corridor, she caught a glimpse through the kitchen doors of a chef she could have sworn she had seen once before at a spectacularly unsuccesful municipal function (one of the few her husband had taken her to). "Who is that man pointing at a chicken with his chopper"?  she asked the workman nearest her elegantly coiffured head.

"Arrrghh"  (he was a part time pirate), "that be ....

[DaveL]

...Sinhoff the Parrot, from another Continuous Tale. Sinhoff was a well known adventurer, who traded his roguish life for a stint in the Gourmet kitchens.

Sinhoff was extremely good with poultry, considering he was not far off it himself. His signature dish, reknowned throughout Portsmouth, was his...

[The Black Spot]

...Claude Raffelprise. Ye must o' heard of 'im." The man's voice grew low. "'Ee be the Royal Executioner. Thing's 'ave been a bit quiet o' late, so he comes 'ere  and has a bit o' practice by chopping some animals up."

The fine lady didn't like the sound of this at all. "What an awful man," she said. "Tell me, why is he looking at me in that peculiar way?"

"Ah, yer ladyship," said one of the men. "I think he wants...

Gah! DaveL posted the same time as me. Bugger.

[beagle]

dressed bird.

...

[The Black Spot]

Claude decided that everyone was looking at him, so Sinhoff sniffed loudly, and went back to work.

Claude Raffelprise ran a finger over the end of his chopper. "You have a very nice neck m'lady," he said.

"Ummm... thank you," said the fine lady nervously.

"Please, come into the kitchen and see what I am preparing."

The lady looked around, but the two workmen had disappeared. Claude took her hand and led her into the kitchen.

"I don't see anything."

"Ahh," said Claude. "It's something very delicate  and small. You need to see it close up to appreciate it. If you sit here, and lean forward a bit - that's it, if you rest your chin on that table... forward a bit more..."

Just then...

[beagle]

...nothing at all happened. This was so disconcerting in a fable consisting almost entirely of untoward sudden interventions, that the chef was totally flummoxed, and stood there with wide open...

[Aphos]

...pockets, one filled with bread crumbs and the other with salt.

The lady, thinking quickly, grabbed a handful of bread crumbs and threw them at Claude.  One of the crumbs lodged in his throat, starting a terrible coughing fit.

Trying to help, Sinhoff pounded Claude on the back, knocking Claude into...

[Calico Jack]

...a rather shady character who had entered the room and who was covered from head to foot in bandages. 

A low gutteral sound came out of his mouth as he reached for a meat cleaver and thrust it into Claude's....