Audiobook

Captain Blood: His Odyssey (Version 2)

Rafael Sabatini

A novel set in the late 1600s of swashbuckling pirates in the Caribbean combines historical fact with high-paced action-packed fiction. First published 1922, the novel has been adapted to film no less than six times. The plot follows the adventures of Dr Peter Blood, an Irish physician, as his life takes dramatic twists and turns—from a local doctor to a slave and then a pirate. After fighting the Spanish in Europe as a young man, Peter Blood settled in Somerset, to recover from his war wounds and open a medical practice. Unfortunately, he became entangled in the ill-fated 1685 Monmouth uprising against King James II. After the King’s troops defeat the rebels, the latter are tried for treason. Dr. Blood, who had treated rebel wounded, was wrongfully convicted of treason. Judge Jeffries sentenced him to ten year’s hard labor in the West Indies. On arrival in Barbados, Dr Blood and his fellow slaves were sold at auction to traders and plantation owners. Blood was purchased by a certain Colonel Bishop, along with a former shipmaster, Jeremy Pitt, and a yeoman farmer, Andrew Baynes. Blood’s skills as a physician win him several small freedoms and he also gains the sympathy of Arabella Bishop, niece of his owner. Taking advantage of a Spanish attack on Bridgetown, Peter Blood and his fellow convicts, escape into a life of piracy and freedom on the waters of the Caribbean. They become very successful pirates making regular attacks on Spanish shipping, all while being hunted by their former master, Colonel Bishop. As their adventures on the high seas proceed, political changes in Great Britain bring surprises and scope for redemption. - Summary by KiwiReader24