The Sea-Hawk

OMG! This swashbuckling tale of a British nobleman who reinvents himself as notorious Algerian corsair (pirate) Sakr-el-Bahr is rousing, romantic, and totally terrific!

Cornish nobleman Oliver Tressillian has everything a man could want: a fortune, a good name, and the love of fiery-haired Rosamund. At least until his trusting nature is exploited by an ungrateful stepbrother who sets Oliver up to take the blame for a crime that he committed and then, to ensure the ploy isn’t discovered, arranges to have Oliver kidnapped by a shady sea captain and sold into slavery. But Oliver’s physical strength, ferocious fighting skills, and leadership qualities soon see him promoted from the galley slave to command as Sakr-el-Bahr, the ferocious show more Sea Hawk, terror of the Spanish Main.

The rest of the book tells the tale of how Sakr-el-Bahr navigates jealous rivals, treacherous enemies, court politics, and rousing sea battles in order to gain revenge on the man who wronged him and win back the woman he has never stopped loving, despite her determination to believe the worst of him.

Sabatini's prose may hit today’s readers as a bit courtly and formal, but his period research is spot-on, his storytelling vivid, and his pacing breathless. And before you ding the plot for being predictable, consider that this was written in 1915 – making this the ur-text of pretty much all the pirate stories that have come since. Seriously, one wonders if Errol Flynn would have had a Hollywood career if it weren’t for Sabatini’s swashbuckling oeuvre.

So make yourself comfortable, maybe grab a grog, and let Sabatini whisk you away on a journey of exotic adventure, romance, revenge, and redemption! show less

After a disjointed and heavy read by Victor Serge, it only made sense to immerse myself into an adventure-laden romance on the high seas. And who better to proffer that than Rafael Sabatini? Sure, other writers may be more artistic (Conrad), psychologically excoriating (Melville), or take an entire saga to rub the salt through to the bone (O’Brian), but none are as rip-roaring rousing as Sabatini. Though I enjoyed “Captain Blood” more and consider “Scaramouche” a near masterpiece, “The Sea-Hawk” kept me rocking on the waves in anticipation of the next sword strike. Incredibly well-researched—a constant in any work of his that I’ve read. But this time the research was so seamless that it wasn’t until I returned to the show more introduction that I’d realized just how much detailed study went into it (religion, history, geography). In “Scaramouche” that work was blazingly obvious, barely getting through two pages without translating French, learning how to pronounce Norman towns, or keeping up with the luminaries of the French Revolution.

And all the references to “poop” made my inner Kidd giggle: “poop-deck”, “poop’s forward end”, and my favorite “the gorgeous poop was fixed with a spacious cabin”. One paragraph on page 260 had three poops! My word, that’s a lot of shit. Hee hee hee aaaaarghhhee hee hee.

I’ll grow up eventually. Just not so much, I hope, that I can’t enjoy a fast-paced adventure such as those penned by the fluid and comprehensive Sabatini show less

Rafael Sabatini! Oh, this generation doesn't even KNOW. This is a classic swashbuckling novel by the author of Captain Blood, and it is deliciously over the top. Handsome, powerful Oliver Tressilian, in love with the fair Rosamund, is working to overcome the opposition that Rosamund's sleazy brother and guardian are posing to their marriage. R's brother Peter provokes Oliver into public threats, but Oliver controls himself for love of his fair one; alas, Oliver's weasly brother Lionel kills Peter in a fight over the slut they both are hooking up with. Oliver (because he is THAT GUY) shoulders the blame to protect poor lil Lionel. But Lionel is afraid Oliver will break down and tell, so he has him kidnapped! And sold into slavery! And show more Oliver, crushed and betrayed, becomes Sakr el-Bahr, the Sea Hawk, scourge of the sea. AND THEN THEY ALL MEET UP AGAIN - Lionel, Oliver, and Rosamund. Oh yeah. *sighs* You know you want to read it. Don't let your sophistication get in the way. show less

A romantic, swashbuckling adventure story about a Cornish gentleman sold into slavery and his transformation into Sakr-el-Bahr, the Sea Hawk.

A rather old-fashioned book of manly daring-do which irks a bit these days. However, I enjoyed it precisely because of this really. You can guarantee a 'happy' ending for the main characters despite all the hardships they have to go through and the wrongs done. so from that perspective it is an easy read.

I first picked this up as a little hard-backed book from a second-hand bookshop many years ago, enticed by both the pocket-size of the book and the image on the fly-sheet. I enjoyed the escapism at the time and sought out and enjoyed other books by Sabatini. Re-reading it now, during Covid-19, it show more is still a good means of escape, as it is a completely different world. This is not a book that would be written today. show less

One of Raphael Sabatini’s more popular adventurous swashbucklers, The Sea-Hawk is exciting and great fun, though not so much so as the other Sabatini I read recently, Bardelys the Magnificent. Don’t read it expecting the story from the Errol Flynn movie, as that film took the title but none of the story. This one is about revenge and betrayed love and an Englishman joining Muslim pirates. A fun read.

A revenge novel of the best sort. Great adventure story rivaling Stevenson, Scott, and Dumas.

I found this book to be rather engaging. Lots of betrayal and misunderstanding, lots of skulduggery, lots of racist stereotypes about Muslims and Arabs, lots of sexism, and so forth, but then it was written in 1915.

If you have to choose between this and "The Scarlet Pimpernel", choose this one. Not that Pimpernel is bad, it's just this one is better.