The Black Barque

No ratings yet

*The Black Barque,* by T. Jenkins Hains, is, by way of contrast, to the last an out-and-out story of piracy, and the breezes that blow through its pages are laden, so we are constantly reminded, with the pestilent breath of the slave ship. It is claimed for this book that the descriptions of life on board ship are noteworthy for their realistic strength; and there seems to be no reason for questioning their accuracy. But taken altogether, the brutality of the officers toward their crew, the inhumanity meted out to the living cargo of slaves, the carnage of the encounter with rival pirates, and finally the wholesale massacre when the slaves break loose and run amuck, leave an impression of a needless surfeit of horrors, a sort of piratical Dance of Death. — *The Bookman, Volume XXI, pages 518-9* "Captain Hains, the master of the straight sea story, has built a picture that teems with the sea life of the time, striking in its splendid details. The 'Black Barque' is a rattling tale of the sea, as rough as a storm-lashed shoal, as brutal as the sea itself, with a splendid swing, a range of rough characters, and adventures on every page." — *Current Literature.* Captain Hains is said to have drawn from a large fund of personal experiences for the material for his book. — *The Bookman, Volume XXI, page 330.* "One of the best sea stories ever published." — *Chicago Tribune.* A large number of excellent seamen are persuaded by the offer of extravagant wages to ship for a voyage in a vessel of which they really know nothing and find themselves when once she is afloat on a voyage to Africa in a slaver. A display of brutality on the part of the captain, a mutiny, a rising of the slaves, are among the incidents which leave only the heroine, the narrator and two of the crew as survivors. It is an unpleasant but possible story. — *The Dolphin, Volume VII--April, 1905--No.4., page 509.* "Shows the author's mastery of a craft that allows none to sail to windward." — *Chicago News.*