[1] Written in arch, ironic style and containing a great deal of deliberate anachronism, it traces the adventures of a classic hero (Captain Benjamin Avery, RN, very loosely based on Henry Avery), multiple damsels in distress, and the six captains who lead the infamous Coast Brotherhood (Calico Jack Rackham, Black Bilbo, Firebeard, Happy Dan Pew, Akbar the Terrible and Sheba the She-Wolf).

The book's 400 pages of continuous action travel from England to Madagascar to various Caribbean ports of call along the Spanish Main.

As with Fraser's other historical novels, the storyline incorporates fictitious characters with real life people such as King Charles II and Samuel Pepys.

A television adaptation starring Marcus Gilbert and Jane Snowden was shown on BBC2 on 28 December 1986.

[4] A world premiere stage adaptation was written and produced by members of Chicago's Defiant Theatre in 2004.