Every Chapter, In Order

Brittany and the high seas, 1779 — a mysterious captain, a noble family's buried secret, and a legendary sea fight, in nineteen chapters.

Across these nineteen chapters, Dumas alternates between naval adventure inspired by the real John Paul Jones and an entirely invented family melodrama involving a buried secret the loyal servant Achard has kept for over a decade. See the full overview page for more on the real naval hero behind Captain Paul, and this site's piece on General Dumas for another real military figure who shaped the novelist's imagination.