Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 605

This issue of Beadle's Dime Novels (May 28, 1890) presents "The Shadow Silver Ship; Or, The Red Rebel of the Revolution," a sea romance by Col. Prentiss Ingraham. The opening chapters chronicle a pirate ship under the command of Captain Ross Ravel, a former British naval officer and priest turned buccaneer. Ravel manipulates his superstitious crew into believing his wife, Cleo—a beautiful American planter's daughter—is a witch responsible for their recent misfortunes. Working through his boatswain Guiteau, Ravel orchestrates a mutiny demanding her death. Rather than execution, he persuades the crew to set her adrift in a lifeboat during an approaching storm, claiming he will retrieve her later if she survives. Cleo, resigned yet hopeful, accepts his plan on the condition he abandon piracy. The narrative emphasizes the conflict between Cleo's piety and the crew's superstitious malice, while Ravel manipulates events from behind the scenes.