Every ship in FantasyWorld carries the Articles nailed to the mainmast, and every man in the fleet has put his name to them.

They cover shares. They cover powder, and grog, and what is owed a man who loses a hand at the guns. They are very clear about who takes the prize.

They contain no clause whatsoever for a captain who does everything right.

Bryan sailed the cleanest ship anyone has seen this year.

Nothing loose on the deck. Every gun run out and manned, every hand awake, nobody snoring below where he could do no good. Whatever was aboard was above: 105.96 points, all of it working. It has happened 65 times in 1010 manager-weeks that a captain in this league came through a night with an empty hold. Bryan did it here, in a rising sea, alongside the fastest ship in the fleet.

Then the dark to windward changed shape.

Justin came down on him with 146.2 and took the ship in one pass. Not a chase. Not a fight. An errand.

Fifth prize in a row.

Bryan's crew went over the side in perfect order.

The best-kept ship in FantasyWorld is 2-4 and has lost three straight, and the Articles have nothing to say to him about it.

The heaviest hold in the fleet belonged to Bill. 163.2, more than any keel afloat this week, and 9-0 against the field, which is the plain statement that there was no ship on the water he would not have opened up.

The one that happened to be lying alongside him was Mario's, and Mario was no merchantman. 136.82, third-best haul of the night, guns still firing as she went down by the head.

Mario also went down with 24.02 still in the hold, and with his best topman good for nothing. Puka Nacua came out of the rigging with 3.8 in his hands. He averages 20.5. So Mario buckles on the belt at the capstan while his ship settles behind him, third loss running, and the fleet watches him do it.

Bill is 3-3.

That is what the fattest hold in FantasyWorld buys you out here.

Gabes left a man asleep.

Kendrick Bourne was in a hammock below the waterline with 18.2 points in him, and Emeka Egbuka was standing his watch on deck, where he produced 2.9. That is the whole story of the night and Gabes rigged it himself.

Daniel had spent fifteen years being beaten by this man — 2-7 against him, lifetime, a career of being outsailed by the same colours. He came out of the smoke anyway. Cam Skattebo went over the rail with 32.5 and the boarding did not take long.

Gabes lost by 20.66. He still has more points than anybody in the league and a 40-14 record against the field, which means he is the finest seaman here and has fallen to third in the only column that pays.

There is a harbour up the coast with a number painted on the seawall in white, six feet high, and two captains beating towards it.

Daniel's prize was the 99th of his career.

Jack's was the 98th.

Jack took Eric/Blakey by 12.24 with 111.12, which was the seventh-best day's work in a fleet of ten. He is 3-6 against the field and 5-1 in the standings. Some men hunt. Jack keeps finding the one ship in the sea slower than his own, and he has now found four in a row, and he is two from that wall.

Eric/Blakey have been under six times.

They posted the lowest score in FantasyWorld again, 98.88, beaten by every ship on the water. But here is the thing that will not leave them alone: they have taken 720.22 points out of this season, more than Bolek has, and Bolek has a win. Their guns work. They are simply always downwind of somebody, and there are no wins in the world for that.

Bolek went down to Nate, 128 to 105.58, and is 12-42 against the field — a hull that ships water in a flat calm.

So the fleet stands off the coast and counts what it has.

Justin has the weather gauge of the whole league. Bill has the treasure and the record of a man who has none. Gabes has every measure of quality and third place. Bryan has a ship without a single fault in her and three straight burials.

The Articles say the prize belongs to the ship that takes it.

They say nothing at all about the ship that deserved it.

Bryan has read his twice.