Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 172

# The Black Pirate: The Mystery of the Golden Fetters

Colonel Prentiss Ingraham's serialized pirate romance opens with a prologue aboard a desperate lifeboat. Thirteen castaways, dying of thirst, draw lots to determine who must be sacrificed. A madman jumps overboard instead. The crew spots a vessel—but it proves to be a "gallows ship," its yard-arms laden with hanged corpses.

The narrative then shifts to Castle Welcome Haven on the English coast, now called Castle Curse. The setting centers on Alvin Alstone, a wealthy East Indian millionaire who returns to England and purchases the castle. His dying brother, baronet Sir Grey Alstone, confronts a priest, Pere Brandt, demanding the priest force Alston to change his will to benefit Sir Grey rather than Lord Caverly. The priest resists, but Sir Grey threatens to expose a twenty-five-year-old secret murder involving Brandt's past, using blackmail to coerce compliance.