Captain Blood

Description

First published in 1922, Captain Blood is an adventure novel written by Italian-born writer Rafael Sabatini. Sabatini’s novels are well-known for following historical events as closely as possible – even though the character of Captain Blood is fictional, the events described in the book are real and almost all found in the history books now.

The protagonist of the novel is Dr. Peter Blood, an Irish doctor with an adventurous life. He is much more than a simple doctor – he was a soldier, a sailor before he settled down in Somerset to practice medicine. He gets arrested early on in the book for participating in a rebellion against the king and he is sentenced to death, but the sentence is changed to exile in the Caribbean where he is sold as a slave to Colonel Bishop on Barbados. Later on, he manages to escape with a number of other slaves. Together they capture a Spanish ship and soon Blood becomes known as one of the most feared pirates in the Caribbean area. His former owner seeks revenge and is determined to capture him, but after the Glorious Revolution that overthrew King James in 1688 Blood is pardoned and made governor in the place of Bishop.

The book was a best-seller when it was published, bringing Sabatini fame. The success of the novel prompted the author to continue the story of the witty and brave captain in the form of short stories – he wrote and published fifteen more stories featuring the character. Captain Blood stories have been adapted to the big screen as well, the first movie having been released in 1924 starring J. Warren Kerrigan, the second one in 1935 with Errol Flynn in the main role. Captain Blood is among the favorite pirate heroes of young readers even today, Sabatini’s stories providing great and exciting insight into pirate history.
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