Captain Blood
Rafael Sabatini's 1922 swashbuckler made Captain Peter Blood one of the foundational characters of modern pirate fiction and gave Errol Flynn the role that defined his Hollywood career a decade later. Blood is an Irish-born physician peacefully practicing in Bridgewater when he is arrested for tending the wounds of a Monmouth Rebellion soldier in 1685, summarily tried under Judge Jeffreys, and shipped to Barbados as a slave. He escapes, captures a Spanish raider, and turns pirate, distinguishing himself from his uglier peers through a strict code, a soft spot for the planter's daughter Arabella Bishop, and a habit of running rings around English and Spanish governors alike. Sabatini's prose is unembarrassedly romantic, the action plotting is tight, and the book remains the gold standard for sea-rover adventure.
Themes & atmosphere
What you might want to know about Captain Blood
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
In 1685, after tending wounded rebels in Monmouth's failed rebellion, an Irish physician is convicted of treason and shipped to Barbados as a slave. He escapes by capturing a Spanish ship and becomes Captain Blood.
Captain Blood was written by Rafael Sabatini and published in 1922. It is one of the foundational pirate adventure novels and helped inspire later swashbuckling fiction and films.
Yes. Captain Blood was published in 1922 and is in the public domain in the United States. Free editions are available legally through Project Gutenberg and Standard Ebooks.
Captain Blood is 234 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Captain Blood takes most readers 4 to 5 hours to finish.
Captain Blood is a standalone novel by Rafael Sabatini, not part of a series.
Captain Blood is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.