Beadle's Dime Library No. 846

# Museum Catalog Note

The Sea Sweeper; or, The Corsair of the Red-Death, by Burke Brentford, appears in this 1895 Beadle and Adams publication. The serialized pirate adventure narrative opens with a young sailor, Jack Bobstay, condemned to walk the plank from the pirate vessel Black Death under Captain Redbeard, a corsair who interrogates him about a mysterious girl named Aileen from Montauk. Bobstay refuses to answer and is thrown overboard; however, a cook named Pambo rescues him through the galley port. Disguised as a deaf-mute deckhand named Koko to evade discovery, Bobstay works among the crew while planning an escape. A young woman named Carletta, Redbeard's reputed niece, appears to recognize Bobstay and sympathize with him. The narrative depicts shipboard violence, pirate politics, and Bobstay's covert preparations for flight with provisions and the ship's longboat.