I had just turned eighteen when I was first introduced to sex. It was, to be honest, a rather unusual introduction. Not the way most women experience it, I'm sure. Let me explain what happened.
We were on holiday, staying at this big old house on the beach. I was the oldest of the younger generation and not really interested in playing the sort of games and doing the things the younger set wanted. Betwixt and between, that was me. I effectively had to find my own amusements.
On one hot sunny day I decided that I wanted to go out on a boat. There were a couple of places in the area that leased boats by the hour so I wandered on down to see what it would cost me.
Most of the boat places were out of the reach of my pocket without some help from my parents and I didn't really want to call on them for financial assistance. There was one place, however, where the prices were much more reasonable. That should have been my first clue that maybe it wasn't the best place to hire a boat. I went into the yard anyway.
The proprietor was a sleazy little man with a knowing smirk. He was the second clue, but I ignored that as well. He was quite willing to rent me a boat, cash in advance, thank you. He explained the terms and conditions very quickly, not that I was listening. I wanted to get out on the water.
"You're supposed to wear a life-jacket while you're on the boat," Mr Sleazy told me, "but on a nice day like this, with a smooth sea, why bother? If it looks as though you need one later you'll find them in the lockers under the front seat."
That seemed reasonable to me. Who wanted to wear a hot life-jacket on a day like this? I signed the lease form, forked out the rent and a deposit, and set sail. It was just a little boat with an outboard motor, but I was free and running over smooth water and having fun.
I'd hired the boat for several hours and after an hour of just racing around aimlessly I was quite a long way out. I had a magazine with me and I decided to just drift for a while, alone on the ocean, reading.
I leaned back against the rear of the boat, rested my feet on the front seat and browsed my magazine. After a while I tossed the magazine to one side and sat up straight, finding my feet splashed when they hit the deck.
Looking down I was appalled at the amount of water in the bottom of the boat. The blasted thing must have had a leak. Fortunately there was a bailer on hand and I started scooping up water and chucking it over the side. It didn't take me long to realise that I seemed to be fighting a losing battle. The water was coming in as fast as I chucked it over the side and I was quite sure that I'd get tired before the sea did.
My best bet, I decided, was to restart the engine and head for shore as fast as possible, bailing one handed while I steered. The trouble with this solution was that the damned engine wouldn't start. The man had shown me how to start it, switched it off and let me restart it, so I knew what to do. Unfortunately, the engine didn't. It just sat there, sulking, doing nothing.
As you can guess I was now feeling rather nervous. A life-jacket seemed like a good idea. I opened the locker under the front seat and found out why Mr Sleazy had suggested I not bother about one. There weren't any. A quick check of the locker under the back seat revealed the same situation. I was in a leaky boat, miles from shore, and no engine.
Actually, I wasn't miles from shore, but it was still a considerable distance. I figured my chances of swimming that distance not too good. The first thing I had to do was prolong the time the boat was on the water, rather than under. I started bailing frantically.
Never bail in a hurry. I scooped up water and flung it over the side and watched in dismay as the bailer went with the water. There was a splash and no more bailer. It wasn't really my fault, mind you. I didn't let go of the bailer. As a matter of fact I was still holding the handle. It was just that the bailer was no longer attached.
Time for Plan B. Cry. On second thoughts, that wouldn't help. I stood up and looked around and damn near did cry when I saw a big old boat only a few hundred yards away. It didn't look like much of a boat, but at least it was floating, which mine wouldn't be much longer.
I screamed and yelled and waved my arms wildly and I was almost sick with relief when I saw a man wave back and the boat turned in my direction.
Then my boat just seemed to drop out from under me, going down fast and pulling me with it. Now I can swim, and that's just what I did. I didn't try to swim straight back up. I'd have been fighting the drag of the sinking boat, doing that. I went sideways and up, and it still seemed a frighteningly long time before I broke the surface.
I dog-paddled in position, yelling. I could hear the engine of the other boat but couldn't see it. I still hadn't spotted it when a life-ring landed in the water next to me. I'd been looking the wrong direction.
"Just hang on and we'll pull you up," called a voice, and you can just bet I hung on.
The next thing I knew I was being hauled up the side of the ship and helped onto the deck. Then, safe and sound, I fainted. What a wussy thing to do.
When I came to I was in a cabin, lying on a bunk. There was a man there, watching me. He looked rather rough and tough, which I suppose is reasonable if he worked on a boat. He was around about twenty five, was my guess. And the way he looked at me you thought he owned me. As soon as I opened my eyes he started on me.
"Why weren't you wearing a life-jacket? You're always supposed to wear one in those little death-traps."
"Um, the man who rented it to me said not to bother because it was a nice day, so I didn't. When I realised I'd need one I went to put one on, but there weren't any."
"You mean you were silly enough to get on the boat without checking that everything was there?"
"Um, yes, I guess," I said in a small voice. "Ah, thank you for rescuing me."
He just seemed to shrug my thanks off, but he kept on checking me out. He was looking me over so hard I was wondering if I was showing something I shouldn't. I sneaked a peak down at myself and it was a case of 'oh, bloody hell'. I was naked.
I gave a squeal and hurriedly covered as much of myself as I could.
"What's happened to my bikini?" I yelled at him.
"You fainted," he said.
I'm like, what? How does my fainting explain no bikini? He saw that I was puzzled and elaborated.
"Fainting and shock - they suggest you loosen the woman's clothing for both of these, and we figured that you'd fainted from the shock of the sinking, so we loosened your clothes. There wasn't much to loosen and the bikini just seemed to fall off. We've got it hanging up on the deck, drying out."
Was he kidding me? Loosening tight clothes was one thing, but a bikini?
"Could I have my bikini back, please," I asked, my politeness a credit to my self-control.
"Sure," he said. "No worries. I'll get it as soon as we've finished."
Finished what? I recalled the way he'd been looking at me and decided not to ask. I was going to say that I'd like it immediately when he sat down on the bunk next to me, dragged my arms away from where I was trying to cover myself and placed his great paws on my breasts and squeezed.
I screamed, and hit out at him, struggling to get away from him, while the brute laughed and rubbed his hands over my breasts. I screamed again, and to my relief the cabin door burst open and there was another man standing there.
"What the hell is going on?" he snarled, and the first man flushed, jumped up, and stepped away from the bunk.
"Ah, nothing, dad," he said. "I was just saying hullo to our guest."
The older man was about fifty, and he looked every bit as rough and tough as the first man. He gave the first man a cold look and then turned to me.
"This is my boat. We'll be heading in shortly and we'll let you off. I'm Jack. That is Jack Junior, for my sins."
With that he turned and gave Jack Junior a terrific clout across the side of his head.
I'm like, "Yes! Give him another one," but I didn't actually say it.
"What's the main rule?" snarled Captain Jack at Jack Junior.
"Captain first," said Jack with a grin.
"So what are you grinning at, you fool," snapped the Captain.
"Just that you're really going to be first," said Jack. "I think you'll find she's a virgin."
Hey, wait a minute, I was thinking. What the hell are they talking about?
The Captain turned to me.
"That true? You're still a virgin?" he asked me, sounding doubtful, the insulting swine.
"Yes," I snapped. "Not that it's any of your business. And I'd like my bikini, please."
"Yes, yes," he said, waving my request aside. "You'll get it back. You don't know anything about the traditions of the sea, do you?"
I shook my head.