Beadle's Pocket Novels No. 255: The Brethren of the Coast

This Beadle and Adams dime novel recounts "The Brethren of the Coast; or, Morgan, the Sea Outlaw" by John S. Warner, serialized in their Pocket Series. The narrative opens in May 1668 with a Spanish ship becalmed near Tortuga, home to the buccaneers—pirates driven from Hispaniola by destroyed cattle stocks who now prey on Spanish settlements from their island stronghold. The Spanish captain fears discovery by Henry Morgan, an English buccaneer leader known for showing no mercy to Spanish vessels. The captain chose a dangerous route through Windward Channel to avoid Morgan's main fleet in the Bahamas. Aboard are the nobleman Don Castreo, young Englishman Edward Seymore (seeking adventure and wealth), and Isabel De Cordova, a wealthy Spanish heiress traveling to Spain to claim her estate. When boats are spotted approaching, Seymore reveals their peril to Isabel, explaining the pirate threat and Morgan's vendetta against Spain, while privately resolving to protect her.