The Pirate and the Three Cutters: Nonsuch Classics

by Frederick Marryat

The Pirate is a stirring tale of adventure on the high seas. Full of action and excitement, it is a ripping yarn from the acknowledged pioneer of the sea-novel.The Three Cutters brings together three disparate sets of seafarers aboard three different an aristocratic yachting party, officers of the customs service and a crew of smugglers. Infused with the author's love for the sea, this is a thrilling story of cat and mouse off the English coast.

Genres: Classics, Pirates, Fiction, Nautical

384 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2006

About the author

Captain Frederick Marryat was a British Royal Navy officer and novelist, an early pioneer of the sea story.

For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederic...

Reviews

[Mbuye · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘The Pirate and the Three Cutters’ (1836) by Frederick Marryat consists of two novellas: ‘The Pirate,’ a conventional story of piracy, and ‘The Three Cutters,’ a hilarious account of a yacht, a revenue cutter hunting for smugglers and a smuggler’s craft.

‘The Pirate’ has everything to justify its title: a storm at sea, a shipwreck and twins separated as a result who take very different paths in life. One becomes a pirate, and the other his Nemesis.

The pirate in this story seems to be modelled on Byron: brooding, mysterious, cruel, but with a Bible in his locker. His name, Cain, reinforces this idea, given Byron's poem, ‘Cain.’

In sharp contrast, ‘The Three Cutters’ is a farcical comedy of kidnapping, stolen identities, gentlemen pirates, merry widows and a pompous revenue captain.

Both novellas are unlike Marryat’s more serious sea novels, such as those featuring the careers of Midshipman Easy, Peter Simple or ‘The King’s Own.’

[Rex Libris]

The Pirate and The Three Cutters are two different stories; both are entertaining, but neither really remarkable. Mr. Midshipman Easy was much better.


The Pirate is the story of two brothers separated at birth, one joins the navy; the other is thought lost and adopted by a pirate, but not a pirate himself. They are reunited when the navy brother hunts down the pirate.


The Three Cutters is the story of a smuggler, a pleasure yacht, and a revenue schooner and what happens when they all cross paths.

[Cori Daugherty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another Captain Marryat book and it was also a great read. I didn't give it 5 stars b/c that should be an achievement much more difficult to attain by more criterion than I'm able to identify now. It's a wonderful read by a man, Marryat, who really lived it and it reflects that authenticity.

[Octave Boussaton]

wow :)