Lieutanant Patrick O'Flaherty

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I was born in Ireland the year of our Lord 1415, and was raised on the northern shores of Galway bay. Mine was a seafaring family with a long history of trading and service to the Gaelic lords of Ireland. It soon became easy to see that I would never make much of a sailor for every time I set foot onto one of my fathers ships, I turned as green as the hills that surrounded the bay. Since I was his youngest son and it seemed that I would never be able to make my living at sea, my father arranged for me to go into the service of one of his friends in England at the age of fourteen. After a voyage that saw me hanging over the stern rail for most of the trip, the ship bearing me to my new life finally set anchor in the port town of Thurrock on the River Thames.

Though Thurrock was a busy place with ships coming and going all the time. Much to my great pleasure I soon found that my duties with my fathers friend had nothing to do with ships at all, as He was involved in the collection of tariffs on imported goods that came through the port. One thing I learned quickly was that many of the import tariffs were paid in staves of Yew wood that was to be used to make bows for the army. I was taught to sort the staves and stack them into groups according to the quality of the wood.

It wasn't long at all before I learned of one of the laws of the land required me to learn the shooting of the bow. Having never used a bow before, my first attempts were quite frightening to those attempting to teach me this fine art. I was to learn that this was indeed an art and one that required much training to master. On my first visit to the butts the bow decided to use me as its own canvas by painting my arm with the infamous archers "Tattoo". Seeing my problems, some of the other archers took pity on me and gave me some instruction on how to shoot. Taking their instructions to heart, it wasn't long before my fellow shooters were not quite as afraid of being around me as I practiced. Within a few months I felt confident enough with my shooting to enter into one of the local tourneys in which I received a lesson on just how much more practice I needed before I could compete on the same level as others in my age group. To this end, I convinced my master that I needed extra time on the butts to prevent him from being fined for my lack of performance. Gaining several more hours a week for practicing my shooting, I spent all the time I could manage improving my skills with the bow. It took quite a bit of time, but at the next tourney I took part in it proved to be time well spent. I had managed to move from last place to one of the semi-final rounds. I kept practicing as much as I could and it wasn't long before I was making it to the final rounds in the tournaments, even if actually winning one still eluded me.

What little free time I had was spent learning about the area around my new home. Thurrock was a busy town and there was much to see and learn about. It was in the year of our lord 1435 that I finally grew tired of life in Thurrock and decided that I wanted more out of my life. Word had gone out that Richard, Duke of York was gathering an army to travel with him to France, so at the age of twenty years I left Thurrock and traveled to Winchester for the muster. Once the units had been gathered, I once again found myself taking to a ship for the trip across the channel to France. Though the weather for the crossing was calm, I found myself again becoming well aquatinted with the stern rail of the ship I was on. One of the other young men in the unit to which I had been assigned saw my sorry state and unlike the others he took pity on me. Though he was a year or two younger than myself, his kindness and air of confidence drew me to this young Englishman, whose name was Anton. Although I was Irish, he did not hold that against me in any way and we soon became good friends. As the fates would have it, we ended up spending the next eleven years together in the service of the crown. When my friend was chosen for command, he requested that I be assigned with him. I was more than glad to remain at my friends' side as he took up his new position.

When at last we returned to England, My friend Anton was summoned to his home and I decided to once again brave the crossing to Ireland and return to my own home to see my family which I had left some eighteen years before. After vowing to return to England when my visit was completed, I made my way back to the land of my birth. When I arrived, I was to learn that both of my parents had passed away during my absence and that my eldest brother was now in charge of the family business and had a rather large family of his own. Having been away for so long, I soon found myself feeling like a stranger in my brothers house and decided to cut my visit short and make my way back to England.

During the crossing back to England, I was amazed to find that for the first time in my life I was able to be aboard ship without finding myself clinging to the rail. What it was that caused this change I can not say, but for the first time in my life, I actually enjoyed being at sea. After making port, I traveled as quickly as I could to Anton's home near Cambridge. Upon arriving, I found a somber Anton who informed me of the passing of his own father, his new title and his decision to form a free company of his own. By the summer of the next year the unit had been formed and we were once again in France plying our chosen trade as archers. The main difference being that we were now our own unit, with Anton at its head.

During the battle of Rouen in the year of our lord 1449 in which Somerset traded Talbot to the French to win his own freedom, I fell during the fighting to an injury to my shoulder that would prevent me from fighting again. Not being one to desert a friend for any reason, Anton offered me a position as Armorer for the unit, which I gladly accepted. I am glad to still be a part of the unit and though I can not fight, my position is one that still allows me to aid the unit by keeping the armor worn by them in good repair. Although the work in itself is enjoyable, I do miss the action of battle...