Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Captain Blood | 1922 | Rafael Sabatini | Buy |
| 2 | Captain Blood Returns | 1931 | Rafael Sabatini | Buy |
| 3 | The Fortunes of Captain Blood | 1936 | Rafael Sabatini | Buy |
The Captain Blood series by Rafael Sabatini follows Peter Blood, an Irish doctor turned pirate, across three books. Captain Blood (1922) tells his origin story: wrongful conviction, slavery in Barbados, a daring escape, and his rise to command a pirate fleet in the Caribbean. The novel was adapted into a 1935 film starring Errol Flynn that defined the swashbuckling genre in cinema.
Captain Blood Returns (1931) and The Fortunes of Captain Blood (1936) continue with further adventures, structured as collections of episodes rather than single continuous narratives. Blood remains one of fiction’s most appealing rogues — a man of education and principle who happens to be very good at piracy.