The Sea Rover's Ruse

# "The Sea Rover's Ruse"

This serial novel by Colonel Prentiss Ingraham, titled "A Romance of Sea and Shore in 1812," depicts the elopement of Celine Chetwyn with Captain Bernard Bazil, a uniformed sailor she believes serves Cartagena but who reveals himself as a buccaneer. After years of marriage aboard his pirate schooner, Celine remains trapped in the vessel's cabin with their two children: a ten-year-old boy trained as a midshipman and a four-year-old daughter. When Bazil discloses their marriage was performed by a crewman posing as a priest, Celine collapses in despair. As the schooner pursues a merchant brig that proves to be an armed cruiser, most of the pirate crew boards the vessel. A sudden storm separates the ships, leaving the schooner undermanned and adrift. The young middy takes command on deck, ordering sail reduction while his mother lies ill below.