Sir Henry Morgan, Buccaneer

A pirate's knighthood sits uneasily beside his conduct in Cyrus Townsend Brady's fictional account of Henry Morgan. Set around the Spanish Main, the novel combines buccaneering adventure with the love affairs of Captain Alvarado and Donna Mercedes. Brady's preface explains his interest in Morgan's seamanship, courage and command, while insisting that these abilities coexist with greed, treachery and cruelty.

The Spanish lovers provide another source of conflict. In the middle excerpt, Alvarado struggles with the promises he has broken and his duty to Mercedes's father, while she insists on their attachment. Their conversation places personal loyalty against military honour and family authority. Published in 1903, the book offers readers a pirate story shaped by moral judgment and a romance concerned with competing obligations. The author's stated choice of Spanish protagonists also gives a particular angle to its Caribbean setting.