Voyage of Abigail

The wind, the lightning and even the rain and hail battered the lighter than air airship sailing four thousand feet above the raging ocean below.  Now blown far off course, the craft was now vulnerable and at the mercy of the raging storm outside.  Would the five people aboard survive the night?  Or find themselves dropping headlong to the surface below, and to certain death?

It was their honeymoon cruise.  And the maiden voyage of the airship which had been Christened ‘Abigail,’ named in honor of Josias Lancaster’s long ago passed fiancée.  Now Josias’ after his years of grieving his loss, finds love again, and now the two will live the dream Josias and Abigail never got to enjoy.

Their destination was Paris.  But they never reached Paris.  Instead they found themselves lost somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean far to the south of their desired course.  And things were about to become, shall we say, interesting for those aboard the tiny airship.

(An excerpt from the book)
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Ann Lancaster awoke in a fright. Something was wrong. She felt herself about to be tossed from the bed. Laying on her back, with her right hand, she punched Josias who was sleeping next to her. The tossing from the bed did not happen, but the fear of it remained.

Shocked out of a deep sleep, he awoke and instantly sat up in bed. Then he almost fell over, and would have, had he not thrown out both hands against the mattress to steady himself.

The ship was rolling. Rolling severely from side to side. Against the closed window panes behind them, the whistle of angry winds buffeted the glass. They were flying above the ocean through the midst of a storm. And it was no meek storm.

The ship was swinging from side to side, and now a hard bump jolted it, and sent Ann’s heart pounding with fear. “What’s happening, Honey?” she asked, in a hoarse whisper.

“A storm,” he answered, in the low whispery quality which was his voice. “It seems to be a big one.”