5 h 27 minAudiobook5 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 5 h 27 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
Far from land, the crew knows how to face a storm—but not the figures aboard their ship.
In William Hope Hodgson’s The Ghost Pirates, young seaman Jessop joins the Mortzestus for work and a passage. The old sailing ship already makes her crew uneasy. Strange weather and a sound from aloft deepen their distrust. Then the men begin to speak of shapes, and ordinary shipboard work becomes something to fear.
Jessop tells only what he sees and what he can guess. Beside him, the young apprentice Tammy struggles with dread, while the captain demands obedience and the mate scorns the sailors’ fears. Their skills serve them against storm and cold. But what can those skills do when the danger follows no rules they know?
What you’ll discover
- A ship men distrust Step aboard the Mortzestus, where old timber and uneasy watches give fear room to grow.
- A sailor’s honest voice Follow Jessop as he tries to trust both his eyes and his reason.
- Dread in small details Listen for a sound aloft that the wind cannot explain away.
- Orders against the unknown Watch the crew’s need to work collide with fears their officers dismiss.
- The sea made strange Discover how Hodgson’s experience as a sailor grounds the story’s slow, unsettling horror.
Who will love it
For readers who love sea stories, ghost tales and eerie atmosphere, and who enjoy a creeping dread told in a sailor's own voice, with ropes, masts and moonlit decks all around.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A ship with a bad name
- A figure steps out of the sea
- Tammy and the man up the main
- The sails that fight back
- Jessop's theory and the blind mist
- An officer begins to listen
- A witness finds support
Who’s who
- JessopAn able seaman with a mate's ticket who tells the story, sees the first figure and works out a theory about what is happening.
- TammyA young apprentice on his first voyage who sees the strange figures and begs Jessop to tell him the truth.
- WilliamsA young Cockney sailor who stayed on the ship in port and warns Jessop about the shadows.
- Mr. TulipsonThe Second Mate, who first dismisses Tammy's fears, then sees a mysterious figure in the rigging himself.
- StubbinsA short, surly able seaman who grows to understand more than he says and stands by Jessop.
- The CaptainThe ship's Old Man, a stern master who dismisses Jessop's report of a signaling vessel.
- JaskettThe old lookout who praises the ship at first and then loses his certainty.
- PlummerA sailor in Jessop's watch who doubts his report of a light until Jaskett sees one too.
Formats and delivery
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 5 h 27 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 5 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Read and hear Die Geisterpiraten in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Die Geisterpiraten
by William Hope Hodgson · 1909
On a calm moonlit night, Jessop watches a man step aboard the Mortzestus out of the sea and climb back in.
Easy read5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
What would you do if the sea itself sent men aboard your ship at night? In The Ghost Pirates, William Hope Hodgson puts a sailor named Jessop on the Mortzestus, a vessel with a bad name and too many shadows.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A ship with a bad name
Jessop signs onto the Mortzestus in San Francisco, eager to get home. He has heard she is unlucky, with long passages, foul weather and masts blown away twice. Sailors tell him nothing more definite than that.
On his first night aboard he finds the crew joking about a haunting. Only a young Cockney named Williams does not laugh. Williams has stayed with the ship while the old crew ran off, and he means to collect his pay from her whatever happens.
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What is The Ghost Pirates about?
It follows a sailor named Jessop aboard the Mortzestus, a ship plagued by shadowy figures that come out of the sea at night and bring death to her crew.
Who wrote The Ghost Pirates and when?
William Hope Hodgson writes it. He calls it the last of three books that deal with related ideas.
Who is telling the story in The Ghost Pirates?
Jessop, an able seaman on the Mortzestus, tells it in his own voice, so the reader sees the ship through his eyes and his fears.
The author
William Hope Hodgson
1877–1918 · English horror and fantasy writer
William Hope Hodgson (1877–1918) was a British writer born in Essex, England. He worked as a sailor before becoming a writer. His novels include The House on the Borderland (1908) and The Night Land (1912). He served in the British Army and was killed in France during the First World War.
More by William Hope Hodgson
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