 1922dust jacket cover | |
| Author | Rafael Sabatini |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subject | Piracy,justice |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin Company |
Publication date | 1922 |
| Publication place | England |
Captain Blood: His Odyssey is anadventure novel byRafael Sabatini, originally published in 1922.
Sabatini was a proponent of basinghistorical fiction as closely as possible on history. Although Blood is a fictional character, much of the historical background of the novel is loosely based on fact.[1] A group ofMonmouth rebels was indeed condemned to ten years' hard labour inBarbados, very similar tochattel slavery;[2] and the shifting political alliances of theGlorious Revolution of 1688 are used in the novel as a plot device to allow Blood's return to respectability.
Sabatini based the first part of the story of Blood on Henry Pitman, a surgeon who tended the wounded Monmouth rebels and was sentenced to death by JudgeGeorge Jeffreys, but whose sentence was commuted topenal transportation toBarbados where he escaped and was captured by pirates.[1] Unlike the fictional Blood, Pitman did not join them, and eventually made his way back to England where he wrote a popular account of his ordeal.[3] For Blood's life as abuccaneer, Sabatini used several models, includingHenry Morgan and the work ofAlexandre Exquemelin, for historical details.[1]
Sabatini first introduced the character Captain Blood in a series of eight short stories inPremier Magazine asTales of the Brethren of the Main, published from December 1920 to March 1921, and reprinted inAdventure Magazine from January to May 1921, with a novella "Captain Blood's Dilemma", published inPremier Magazine in April 1921 (andAdventure Magazine in October 1921).[a] TheOdyssey-likestory arc of these tales was then woven by Sabatini into a continuous narrative in novel form, published asCaptain Blood: His Odyssey in 1922.[22]
The protagonist is the sharp-witted Dr. Peter Blood, a fictional Irish physician who had had a wide-ranging career as a soldier and sailor (including a commission as a captain under the Dutch admiralMichiel de Ruyter) before settling down to practice medicine in the town ofBridgwater,Somerset. The story is told from the perspective of an omniscient narrator, who enables the reader to see the thoughts and views of many different characters. The narrator—perhaps meant to be Sabatini himself—claims to have acquired the story from the ship's logs of Blood's longtime companion Jeremy Pitt.
The book opens with Blood attending to hisgeraniums while the town prepares to fight forJames Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth. He wants no part in theMonmouth Rebellion, but while attending to some of the rebels wounded at theBattle of Sedgemoor, Peter is arrested. During theBloody Assizes, he is convicted by the infamousJudge Jeffreys of treason on the grounds that "if any person be in actual rebellion against the King, and another person—who really and actually was not in rebellion—does knowingly receive, harbour, comfort, or succour him, such a person is as much a traitor as he who indeed bore arms."
The sentence for treason is death by hanging, butKing James II, for purely financial reasons, has the sentence for Blood and other convicted rebels commuted to transportation to penal servitude in theCaribbean. Upon arrival on the island ofBarbados, Blood is bought by Colonel William Bishop, initially for forced work in the Colonel's prison farms but later hired out by Bishop when Blood's skills as a physician prove superior to those of the local doctors. During his period of servitude, Blood wins the pity and sympathy of Arabella, Colonel Bishop's niece.
When a Spanish force attacks and raidsBridgetown, Blood escapes with a number of other convicts (including former shipmaster Jeremy Pitt, the one-eyed giant Edward Wolverstone, former gentleman Nathaniel Hagthorpe and twoRoyal Navy veterans, formerpetty officer Nicholas Dyke and formermaster gunner Ned Ogle). The escapees capture the Spaniards' ship and sail away to become some of the most successful pirates in theCaribbean, hated and feared by the Spanish but always sparing English ships. Colonel Bishop, humiliated by Blood's superior abilities and daring escape, devotes himself to capturing and executing Blood.
After theGlorious Revolution, Blood is pardoned. As a reward for saving the colony of Jamaica from a French assault, he is appointed its governor in place of Colonel Bishop, who had abandoned his post to hunt for Blood, and the novel ends with the implication that Blood will not only marry Arabella but will also generously forgive Bishop.
Captain Blood won enormous popularity, but instead of continuing Blood's adventures in sequels, Sabatini wrote fifteen more short stories set during Captain Blood's pirate career. Two of these tales ("The War Indemnity" and "Blood Money") may be viewed as continuations of events of the original novel, but all the stories are contained within the timeframe ofCaptain Blood (asidequel).[b]
Eight of these new stories were published in 1931 asCaptain Blood Returns (retitledThe Chronicles of Captain Blood in the British publication) along with two of theTales of the Brethren of the Main that had not been incorporated intoCaptain Blood. A second collection,The Fortunes of Captain Blood was published in 1936, consisting of six new stories, and one final story, "The Remedy", which takes place almost immediately after Blood's trial before Judge Jeffreys and in which Peter Blood is not the primary character but is prominently figured. It was also included in Sabatini's collection of short storiesTurbulent Tales, published in 1946.[22]
The book was especially popular in Russia. Several Russian authors wrote moderately popular sequels, such asChildren of Captain Blood by Tatyana Vinogradova, andCaptain Blood: His Iliad by Mikhail Popov.[citation needed]
The bitter aftermath of the Monmouth Rebellion also features prominently inArthur Conan Doyle's novelMicah Clarke (1889).
In the opening chapter ofArturo Pérez-Reverte's novelThe Club Dumas (1993), two characters discuss their favourite novel by Sabatini; book dealer Lucas Corso declares his preference forCaptain Blood.
Alan Moore'scomic book seriesThe League of Extraordinary Gentlemen incorporates many characters fromclassic books, includingPeter Blood as a member of the Pirates' Conference inThe New Traveller's Almanac (2002–2003).
Captain Blood public domain audiobook atLibriVox
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