Captain Blood is an adventure novel by Rafael Sabatini, originally published in 1922. It concerns the sharp-witted Dr. Peter Blood, an Irish physician who had had a wide-ranging career as a soldier and sailor (including a commission as a captain under the Dutch admiral De Ruyter) before settling down in the town of Bridgewater in Somersetshire, who in 1685 is arrested and convicted by the infamous Judge Jeffreys of treason in the aftermath of the Monmouth rebellion (despite the fact that he was never a part of the rebellion and was arrested while treating a wounded rebel) on the grounds that "if any person be in actual rebellion against the King, and another person - who really and actually was not in rebellion - does knowingly receive, harbour, comfort, or succour him, such a person is as much a traitor as he who indeed bore arms." The sentence for treason is death by hanging, but King James II for purely financial reasons has the sentence for Blood and other convicted Monmouth rebels commuted to transportation to the Caribbean to be sold into slavery. Upon arrival on the island of Barbados, he is bought by Colonel Bishop, initially for work in the Colonel's sugar plantations but later hired out by Bishop when Blood's skills as a physician prove superior to those of the local doctors. When a Spanish force attacks and raids the town of Bridgetown, Blood escapes with a number of other convict-slaves (including former shipmaster Jeremy Pitt, the one-eyed giant Edward Wolverstone, former gentleman Nathaniel Hagthorpe, former Royal Navy petty officer Nicholas Dyke and former Royal Navy master gunner Ned Ogle), captures the Spaniards' ship and sails away to become one of the most successful pirates/buccaneers in the Caribbean, hated and feared by the Spanish and secretly admired by the English, French and Dutch. Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ... The adventure novel is a literary genre of novels that has adventure, an exciting undertaking involving risk and physical danger, as its main theme. ... Rafael Sabatini (April 29, 1875 - February 13, 1950) was an Italian/British writer of novels of romance and adventure. ... Year 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar). ... Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter, 1607–1676, Lieutenant-Admiral-General of the United Provinces by Ferdinand Bol, painted 1667. ... Bridgewater can refer to the following: // In Australia: Bridgewater, Tasmania, suburb of Hobart Bridgewater, South Australia Bridgewater On Loddon, Victoria In Canada: Bridgewater, Nova Scotia In the United States of America: Bridgewater, Connecticut Bridgewater, Massachusetts Bridgewater, Michigan, unincorporated community Bridgewater Township, Michigan Bridgewater, New Hampshire Bridgewater, New Jersey Bridgewater (town... This page is about the county of Somerset in the United Kingdom. ... George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys (1648-1689), Baron Wem, better known as Hanging Judge Jeffreys, became notorious during the reign of King James II, rising to the position of Lord Chancellor. ... The Monmouth Rebellion of 1685, also known as the Pitchfork Rebellion, was an attempt to overthrow the King of England, James II, who became king when his elder brother, Charles II, died on 6 February 1685. ... James II can refer to: James II of Scotland James II of England James II of Aragon James II of Cyprus This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Monmouth (Welsh: Trefynwy) is a town in south Wales, county town of the traditional county of Monmouthshire. ... “West Indian” redirects here. ... The City of Bridgetown, population 5,928 (1990) metropolitan area 110,000 (2000), formerly the Town of Saint Michael, is the Capital city of the island nation of Barbados. ... The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore the Senior Service). ... A Petty Officer is a noncommissioned officer or equivalent in many navies. ... The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore the Senior Service). ... “West Indian” redirects here. ...

While Blood is a fictional character, much of the historical background of the novel is based on fact. The Monmouth rebels were sold into slavery as described in the book; Blood's pirate adventures and subsequent career borrow heavily from those of Sir Henry Morgan; and the shifting political alliances of the Glorious Revolution of 1688 are used in the novel as a plot device to allow Blood's return to respectability. Sir Henry Morgan (c. ... The Revolution of 1688, commonly known as the Glorious Revolution, was the overthrow of James II of England in 1688 by a union of Parliamentarians and the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau (William of Orange). ...

Captain Blood was an enormously popular work, and Sabatini wrote two additional novels featuring Peter Blood: Captain Blood Returns (1930) (retitled The Chronicles of Captain Blood in the British publication) and The Fortunes of Captain Blood (1936). Both of these books are episodic tales of Blood's pirate career rather than true sequels. (All the episodes are contained within the timeframe of the original novel, although Sabatini mistakenly dated one story "1690" despite the fact that Blood's piratical career had been established as ending in 1689.) Events Louis XIV of France passed the Code Noir, allowing the full use of slaves in the French colonies. ...

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

• Captain Blood (film), an adaptation of the novel

Captain Blood is a 1935 swashbuckling film. ...

External links

• Captain Blood, available at Project Gutenberg.
• Audio recording, a LibriVox release