Captain Blood: His Odyssey

Arabella encounters Milagrosa the next day. Blood’s ship takes position between Milagrosa and another Spanish vessel, Hidalgo. It looks as if the larger Spanish ships will triumph, but Blood’s machinations catch them off guard. By sailing between the enemy ships, he makes it impossible for them to fire cannons because they would hit each other. Blood’s crew fires at the Spanish ships on either side, and the damage is extensive. Blood’s men board Milagrosa and subdue the Spaniards. Blood confronts Don Miguel and humbles him, but lets him live, warning him not to hunt Arabella again. Don Miguel departs with his men on a spare boat.

Blood sees Arabella Bishop, but before he can speak to her, Lord Julian berates him for allowing Don Miguel to go free. The captain brushes him off and addresses Arabella, who states, “I do not number thieves and pirates among my acquaintance, Captain Blood” (206-07). Lord Julian again chastises him for releasing Don Miguel. Blood calls it a courtesy, one pirate to another.

Arabella’s rejection of Blood for being a thief and a pirate causes him intense pain. His love for her shaped his values as a humane leader of buccaneers. He cannot understand Arabella’s attitude; his despair nearly spurs him into treating her as a regular pirate would.