The Dealings of Captain Sharkey, and Other Tales of Pirates

After the Treaty of Utrecht ends the great wars, a restless generation of privateers drifts back onto the seas, trading disciplined buccaneering for reckless piracy. Among them, the infamous Captain Sharkey sails his black‑flagged barque, the Happy Delivery, leaving a trail of gutted vessels and whispered dread across the Caribbean. The world he inhabits is a volatile mix of lavish revelry in distant ports and sudden, brutal violence that makes even seasoned sailors uneasy.

Enter Captain John Scarrow, commander of the respectable merchant ship Morning Star, who has finally reached the safety of Basseterre after a harrowing voyage laden with sugar and pepper. On the brink of homeward departure, his crew rescues a delirious survivor—Hiram Evanson—who tells of Sharkey’s cruelty and vows that the pirate’s name will linger in every mouth at the customs quay. The uneasy peace and the promise of a wager hint at a tense confrontation that will test Scarrow’s resolve and the fragile order of the post‑war seas.