Indian pirates
Pirates have been around as long as people travelled and traded by sea. A young Julius Caesar was among their prey two millennia ago. The fledgling US Navy pulverised those on the Barbary Coast two centuries ago. Still the pirates persevere — from the Somali variety to those in the Pacific.
Thieves and cutthroats, there’s nothing favourable about them. Pay them either protection money or ransom. The scourge of the oceans, adept at using arms, countries are unwilling to take them on. They don’t hesitate to kill hostages or sink vessels.
Novelists focus on Blackbeard and Captain Kidd because of the treasures they reputedly buried. “X”-marks-the-spot maps have been bought by more than a few hunters, but nothing has been found in the holes they dug. Pirates have been the subject of many fictitious stories and films.
Wilbur Smith and Tom Harper have penned one in The Tiger’s Prey, set in the early 18th century. The venue moves around between England, South Africa and India. The story is somewhat involved, about the Courney family and their bastards. It takes a while to learn who is related to whom.
The East India Company rules the subcontinent. Tom Courtney, a seafarer, doesn’t realise that the woman he dallied with was pregnant when he left her. Their son, Christopher, seeks him with revenge in mind. But mom had other lovers.
Tom weds, his wife and sister are captured by pirates on the Malabar Coast. About 100 pages are devoted to the battle with the pirates to release them, another 50 to sword duels between Tom and his grown son (!). More family complications fill out the book’s 426 pages.
Wilbur Smith has been South Africa’s best-selling scrivener for decades. His historical plots are well-researched. His East India Company and Indian Ocean pirate tales are also factual. While imaginative, the Courtney conflicts are plausible.
The blade-wielding descriptions bring to mind Alexandre Dumas.