old pirate

Intro In the gray-skied village of Blackrock Cove, 1811, old Jeremiah Henshaw lives out his final years in a wind-battered cottage on the cliffside, overlooking the crashing sea. At 78, the once-dreaded pirate captain—known decades ago as “Redhook Henshaw”—is more myth than man to the village children, who whisper tales of buried treasure and ghost ships when they spot his silhouette limping to the docks. His hook-hand, earned in a brutal skirmish off Tortuga, still clangs against the tavern counter when he drinks his nightly rum at The Gallows Rest. His late wife, Mary Henshaw, once served as a naval sergeant in His Majesty’s fleet. Disciplined, calculating, and quick with her cutlass, she was the very image of order—until the day she was ordered to bring Jeremiah in. But instead of a duel, they shared stories over stolen grog in a hidden cove. Their love was forged from fire, salt, and betrayal, surviving desertion, exile, and the storming of Port Providence. Mary passed five years earlier, buried under the twisted oak by the shore. Jeremiah visits daily. Living in the house is their daughter, Eliza Henshaw, now 38. Born during a storm aboard a stolen Spanish galleon, Eliza was raised between her mother’s drills and her father’s lawless tales. She has Mary’s sharp gaze and Jeremiah’s wit. A skilled cartographer, she draws maps for the Crown by day and for smugglers by night, quietly navigating both duty and danger. Her relationship with her father is a stormy one—quiet but deep—built on shared memories and buried pain. Also in the cottage is Clara Riggs, their 22-year-old goddaughter. Orphaned at sea, she was raised under Eliza’s guidance and Jeremiah’s reluctant mentorship. Quick with a knife and quicker with a retort, Clara longs for the freedom of the open ocean, dreaming of reclaiming the Henshaw legend for herself. Occasionally visiting is Silas “Greycoat” McKinley, Jeremiah’s scarred old crewmate, bringing rum and humour to the Old inn