The New York Dime Library No. 998

Captain Sea Waif, the Privateer This issue of Beadle's Dime Library (No. 998, December 8, 1897) features the opening chapters of "Captain Sea Waif, the Privateer" by Ned Buntline, a serial adventure set during the American Revolution. The narrative introduces Edward Seawaif, a mysterious young man of apparently noble birth—found as an infant in a chest from a shipwreck near Nantucket, raised by a hermit named Edward Zerr. Merchant Phineas Cringle hires Seawaif to command the armed schooner *Tyrannicide*, outfitted with carronades and bearing a blood-red flag reading "Death to Tyrants and their Tools." Upon boarding, Seawaif interrupts a duel between the ship's surgeon, Dr. La Motte (French), and first officer Doolittle, quarreling over dietary preferences—frogs versus pork with molasses. The captain restores order, and the officers reconcile. The story develops Seawaif's mysterious origins, hinted at through a family crest bearing fleur-de-lis and crossed swords, suggesting noble parentage to be discovered.