A touch of the RL Stevenson's in this story of a Cornish boy running away to sea in 1801. When his ship is seized by the mysterious pirate, Captain Lovel., young Jacky joins their crew. And in a subsequent attack on a French vessel, Raoul joins them.
The Frenchman talks Lovel into sailing to Haiti to help the Black rebel leader, Toussaint l'Ouverture who, after leading the slaves in rebellion, faces imminent capture by Bonaparte's troops...
The author knows her sailing ships, and writes quite vivid descriptions of the Caribbean scenery and the voodoo drums of San Domingo (Haiti.) The nastier events are rather glossed over quickly: "he massacred them till the sands were black with their bodies."
I felt rather unengaged through the main narrative, though the last- rather implausible, yet dramatic- chapters do hold the reader's attention! ( )