Sea Plunder

In the wharves and waterfront shadows of San Francisco, Captain Blood waits restlessly for a berth, his hard-earned reputation making him too dangerous for ordinary shipping and too valuable to stay idle for long. The offer that finally reaches him through the shabby, quick-witted Billy Harman is handsome enough to tempt any man and vague enough to smell of trouble: a secret cable-ship venture, a mysterious employer, and money promised with unusual urgency. That employer proves to be the polished, unsettling Shiner, who scrutinizes Blood's credentials while disguising his own purpose behind talk of deep-sea work, strict discipline, and no alcohol. Blood sees through the evasions at once, but the lure of command leads him to Rafferty's Wharf, where the battered steamship Penguin waits like a relic with enough life left in her to sail. Rust, mildew, and cockroaches tell one story; functional machinery and expensive fittings tell another. Once aboard, Blood discovers a ship already full of hidden loyalties, secret authority, and a larger conspiracy than he expected. As the Penguin clears San Francisco Bay and heads for the Pacific, the voyage becomes a tense contest of wills, suspicion, and raw seamanship. Then war intervenes, turning profit into absurdity and danger into reality, until a German cruiser appears through storm and smoke to make the ship's true ordeal begin. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.