Author Description

It is the very beginning of the Eighteenth Century and Scotty, a native of the Shetland Islands gets the wanderlust and leaves his parents and siblings behind to see more of the world than exists on his small native island. The voyage leads him to Inverness where he lives with his aunt and uncle. Uncle Isaac is the owner of a shipyard where the construction of the privateer Martha' has just commenced. Scotty, believing that all of his education had been completed on the island of Yell, is surprised, and somewhat disappointed with the rigorous tutoring that has been arranged for him by his uncle. Reluctantly, he becomes an excellent student and is intrigued with the construction of the vessel. Scotty, as well as some of his tutors are destined to be crew aboard this "Brig". When the Martha' is completed, Scotty becomes the cook's helper on her maiden voyage. After suffering the wrath of the North Atlantic winter, the ship cruises peacefully across the trades and the Sargasso Sea where they are attacked by a large and well armed pirate ship. By a series of successful maneuvers, they prevail over the pirates and rescue two of their captives. One is a young boy, the other an old man. The boy, Golfinho, becomes attached to Scotty, but is destined not to complete the voyage back to Scotland. The Martha' arrives in the Bahamas only to be trapped for a month when it enters a bay in the Abacos on an exceptionally high tide. There they communicate with the native population, and the crew generally enjoy the respite in the warm tropical air. The voyage continues northward as they almost run directly into Block Island in a dense fog. They spend some time nearby in a settlement at Oyster Pond, now known as Orient on the eastern tip of Long Island. More adventure is found in Mamaroneck and at a North River wharf in Harlem. Their trading is done here before they return to Scotland. Back at Inverness, all is not well as the Admiralty