The Praying Nun
Slave Shipwreck Saga Book 1
by Michael Smorenburg

Genre:
Historical Thriller

An uncharted shipwreck, the mysteries she hides, and the brutalized
souls who suffered her holds.

In 1985 two divers discovered an ancient uncharted shipwreck off South
Africa's Cape of Storms. Salvaging the wreck only inflames the enigma
with the trail of secrets compounding and the wreck refusing to yield
her identity. Countless vessels, some crammed with bullion, have
joined this ship graveyard over the centuries, but what sort of
galleon was this, leaving only cannon, cannon balls and scant few
clues behind? Three decades pass before the Smithsonian of Washington
solves the riddle.

It's 1794 on the fevered coast of Mozambique. Chikunda and his wife Mkiwa,
stripped naked and shackled, are heaved aboard the São José de
Africa. Only a miracle may save them from the horrors below deck
where more than 400 fellow slaves are crammed. But nobody can guess
what fate has in store.

If you're a Wilbur Smith or Clive Cussler fan, you will be riveted by
this fact-inspired fictionalized tale by Michael Smorenburg, based as
it is by personal experience, extensive research and the legacy of
artifacts salvaged from the São José de Africa. Pick it up now to
go on the adventure of a lifetime.
“This one won’t make tomorrow.” The Bosun lifted the delirious man’s face with his lash then slapped him across the face with it. The light abuse extracted only a gurgle and rolling of eyes.
The stricken man was chained to a woman who was already dead.
“Put them over the side, but save the chain.”
Chikunda turned aside, he could not watch.
“Where do you think you are going, Christian?” The Bosun had taken to using Chikunda’s anointed name, as had all the crew. But he pronounced it with derision in his voice.
“I cannot…” Christian wanted to protest the inhumanity.
“You cannot? Cannot… watch? Well, then… Let me increase your stomach for these necessary matters. You will do the task yourself. You will throw them both overboard.”
Christian impulsively half turned away again.
“Insolence?” The word fluted in a high octave of excitement from the Bosun. “Well… you know, and I know, that the Captain has put you and your whore—Christian as the pair of you claim to be—beyond the reach of my lash. But he has not forbade me from persuading you by visiting its attentions upon one of the others in your stead. You speak a civilized language well, but can you also count?”
Christian could, but he shook his head, hoping that whatever sinister reason the Bosun had for asking, he could circumvent it through denial.
“No matter, I can do the counting on your behalf,” he suggested calmly and with a smirk. “You there,” he pointed the tangle of leather with shards of black iron plaited into its length toward the healthiest of the specimens just come on deck. “I need you to act in the favour of our good Christian here,” and he indicated Chikunda. “Kindly stand to the mast. Mate…” he called to the Captain’s second in charge, “…do be a good fellow and bind that man.”
It was done and the Bosun handed Christian the lash by its business end.
“I propose…. oh… how many days a’sail are we? A dozen? It’s a good number for the occasion, don’t you think, Christian.”
Christian hesitated.
“Well, boy. Have at it, Christian, and make each stroke count or we’ll elect that good lady over there,” he pointed to an arbitrary young woman cowering, her eyes yellow with sickness, “...to be matched with the same. Kindly employ the lash.”


The Reckoning
Slave Shipwreck Saga Book 2

A slave evades re-capture after his slave ship is wrecked at the
treacherous Cape of Good Hope, only to face handing himself over when
his wife goes missing with the man who rescued them. A tale of hope,
fear and most of all, the yearning for freedom.

It's 1794 and the slave trade is at its ugly peak. 
When the Portuguese slave ship Sao Jose Paquete de Africa shipwrecks
at the Cape of Good Hope, only two hundred of the four hundred slaves aboard survive.

Chikunda and his pregnant wife evade re-capture only to face the impassable
cliffs of Table Mountain. With the wild South Atlantic at their
backs, Cape Town's gallows and whipping post to the north, the
British garrison blocking escape to the south, and dangers of an
untamed African coast to the east of a vast mountain range, escape
seems impossible.

When Chikunda's wife goes missing, he has a monumental choice to make.
Pick up The Reckoning now and lose yourself in a world you never
could have imagined, a world where freedom slips ever more out of a
man's grasp.



Michael Smorenburg (b. 1964) grew up in Cape Town, South Africa. An
entrepreneur with a passion for marketing, in 1995 Michael moved to
California where he founded a business consultancy and online media
and marketing engine in the burgeoning internet. In 2003 he returned
to South Africa where he launched a security company. In 2015 he
divested of the business to write full time. Michael's greatest love
is the ocean, keeping up with the latest breakthroughs in science,
understanding the cosmos and sharing all he learns.




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