13 h 35 minAudiobook10 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What separates an act of plunder from an act of duty when a government licence permits both?
In The Privateer's-Man, One Hundred Years Ago, Frederick Marryat takes you into the eighteenth-century world of sailing ships and privateers. Britain is often at war with France and Spain. Private vessels hold licences to attack enemy shipping, turning the sea into a place where trade, danger and profit meet.
Aboard these ships, keeping a crew fed and a vessel trimmed matters as much as the promise of gain. Marryat brings a naval officer's eye to captains, crews and hard bargains. Beneath the lively adventure lies an uneasy question: what does honor mean when taking another man's property is lawful?
What you’ll discover
- Ships under sail Feel the demands of handling a vessel where practical skill shapes life aboard.
- Crews driven by gain Meet men whose hopes of profit test a captain's ability to keep order.
- The trouble with plunder Explore the uneasy ground between lawful seizure, loyalty to country and personal honor.
- A sailor's sharp eye Discover the daily details of food, ship handling and discipline that anchor the adventure.
- Humor among hard bargains Enjoy a direct, lively voice and sharp sketches of the people a sailor meets.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy eighteenth century sea fights, daring escapes, rogues and captains, and a hero who changes through his trials. It also suits anyone who likes a love story tied to questions of honor.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A first victory that haunts the victor
- A raid on land and a deadly sea fight
- Revenge, rescue and a hard-won reputation
- Captive in Africa and the bond with Whyna
- Honor, plotters and the owner's friendship
- A duel at sea and a clever punishment
- Prison, conscience and a changed heart
- Love, a quarrel and a cause won
- Betrayal, slavery and the long road home
Who’s who
- Alexander Elrington (Musgrave)The narrator, a gentleman's son who runs away to sea, serves on privateers, and slowly decides to live by conscience.
- Captain WeatherallThe brave and humane captain of the privateer Revenge, who leads from the front and treats his captives kindly.
- Captain LeveeA stylish, generous privateer captain of Jewish descent who spends money freely and becomes the narrator's loyal friend.
- Mr. TrevannionA wealthy Liverpool shipowner who prizes profit, rewards the narrator, and struggles to accept his scruples.
- Amy TrevannionThe owner's thoughtful daughter, who shares the narrator's dislike of privateering and wins his love.
- WhynaThe young favorite wife of an African king, who takes the narrator as her slave and treats him as a friend.
- PhilipThe narrator's younger brother, rescued from a wreck, who is bold and cheerful and wants a life of adventure.
- IngramA cheerful former apothecary's apprentice who shares the narrator's slavery in the mines and wants to help him.
Formats and delivery
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 13 h 35 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 10 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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Le Corsaire, il y a cent ans
by Frederick Marryat · 1846
A young privateer faces slavery, the Tower and Brazil's mines to deserve the love of Amy.
Medium level10–20 hours to read25 languages
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In short
The Privateer's-Man, One Hundred Years Ago is a sea adventure by Frederick Marryat, who died in 1848. It is told as a long letter.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A first victory that haunts the victor
The story opens on the privateer Revenge, which carries fourteen guns under Captain Weatherall. At daybreak the crew sights a large French ship bound home from St. Domingo. She carries twenty-four guns, a rich planter's whole fortune, his wife and his seventeen-year-old son. The planter fights like a lion, and he kills several of the Revenge's men with his own hand.
The English board twice. Captain Weatherall himself leads the second attack and wins the deck. Even then the planter stands in the cabin doorway with his son and a few sailors, and he refuses the offer of quarter. The narrator fires a pistol to save his lieutenant, and the planter dies. His wife throws herself on his body and faints in his blood.
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What is The Privateer's-Man about?
It follows a young man who leaves home, joins privateers and is later captured in Africa, imprisoned in the Tower, sent to Brazilian diamond mines and stranded in Virginia. He slowly decides that profit by plunder is wrong.
Who is the narrator of The Privateer's-Man?
The narrator first uses the name Alexander Elrington and later Musgrave. He tells his story in a long letter to a lady, and the true reason for his assumed name comes out near the end.
Is The Privateer's-Man a true story?
It is a novel by Frederick Marryat, set about a hundred years before his own time, around the 1745 Jacobite rising. It uses real events such as Culloden, but the narrator and his adventures are invented.
The author
Frederick Marryat
1792–1848 · English naval novelist
Frederick Marryat (1792–1848) was a British naval officer and novelist. He was born in London and served in the Royal Navy from 1806 to 1830. He wrote Mr. Midshipman Easy (1836) and The Phantom Ship (1839). He later lived at Langham in Norfolk, where he died.
More by Frederick Marryat
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