Anyone want to read the beginning to a story?

I'm not keen on great lumps of description without the relief of at least a comment by a character to break it up, though I do see that you're setting the scene well. I'd be inclined to start where the action starts (the boy running down the gangplank) and bring in some description in smaller lumps later. This is a personal view, not a professional one, and to be quite honest I'd hate to criticise anything so thoughtfully written.