The English Pirate

It is the early part of the seventeenth century, after King James I ended the Anglo-Spanish War, leaving most Elizabethan Sea Dogs unemployed. Letters of marque and reprisal which were issued under Queen Elizabeth have been summarily cancelled. Like many English privateers at the time, James Blackburn’s privateering commissions have been annulled, putting him out of work. His reversal of fortune brands him a pirate when he continues to raid Spanish merchant ships without authorization from the Crown. His career as a sea rover takes him from the cold seaports of England to the coastal waters of the eastern Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea, and the winding alleys and bustling bazaars and souqs of the medinas along the Barbary Coast. The English Pirate follows James Blackburn in a bold high-seas adventure of piracy, plunder, daring exploits, seaborne battles, international intrigue, courage, love and personal honor.