Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 507

The Young Sea Ranger Colonel Prentiss Ingraham's serial depicts naval adventures set in colonial America. The story opens with a surprise attack on the coastal hideout of Caspar, the Coast Corsair, forcing him and his companion Carl Dent to flee as fugitives after losing their vessels and crew. The narrative then shifts to a dinner scene in Boston where British naval and military officers discuss Mark Montague, nicknamed "the Royal Middy"—a young American midshipman in the King's Navy. Through exposition, his heroic exploits are recounted: defeating mutineers aboard his father's schooner, rescuing the crippled captain, commanding a merchant sloop successfully against pirate attacks, and mounting an expedition to capture Caspar's corsair fleet. The Commodore raises concerns that Montague might prove disloyal should conflict arise between Britain and the American colonies.