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The Flag of Distress: A Story of the South Sea

Mayne Reid

The story unfolds around a mysterious barque displaying an inverted Chilian flag, signaling distress but sailing away at full speed, prompting a British frigate to pursue it.

"The Flag of Distress: A Story of the South Sea" by Captain Mayne Reid is a novel. The story unfolds around a mysterious barque displaying an inverted Chilian flag, signaling distress but sailing away at full speed, prompting a British frigate to pursue it.

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Read a passage

In mid-ocean—the Pacific. Two ships within sight of one another, less than a league apart. Both sailing before the wind, running dead down it with full canvas spread—not side by side, but one in the wake of the other.

Is it a chase? To all appearance, yes; a probability strengthened by the relative size and character of the vessels. One is a barque, polacca-masted, her masts raking back with the acute shark’s-fin set supposed to be characteristic of piratical craft. The other is a ship, square-rigged and full sized; a row of real, not painted, ports, with a gun grinning out of each, proclaiming her a man-of-war.

She is one—a frigate, as any seaman would say, after giving her a glance. And any landsman might name her nationality. The flag at her peak is one known all over the world: it is the ensign of England.

If it be a chase, she is the pursuer. Her colours might be accepted as surety of this, without regard to the relative position of the vessels; which show the frigate astern, the polacca leading.

The latter also carries a flag—of nationality not so easily determined. Still it is the ensign of a naval power, though one of little note. The five-pointed white star, solitary in a blue field, proclaims it the standard of Chili.

Contents

  1. 01A Chase.
  2. 02Chapter Two.
  3. 03A Call for Boarders.
  4. 04Chapter Three.
  5. 05Forecastle Fears.
  6. 06Chapter Four.
  7. 07The Cutter’s Crew.
  8. 08Chapter Five.
  9. 09A Feast Unfinished.
  10. 10Chapter Six.
  11. 11“A Phantom Ship—Sure!”
  12. 12Chapter Seven.
  13. 13A Black Squall.
  14. 14Chapter Eight.
  15. 15A Fleet of many Flags.
  16. 16Chapter Nine.
  17. 17A Brace of British Officers.
  18. 18Chapter Ten.
  19. 19A Pair of Spanish Señoritas.
  20. 20Chapter Eleven.
  21. 21Mutual Admissions.
  22. 22Chapter Twelve.
  23. 23A Couple of Californian “Caballeros.”
  24. 24Chapter Thirteen.
  25. 25Confession of Fear.
  26. 26Chapter Fourteen.
  27. 27A Sweet Pair of Suitors.
  28. 28Chapter Fifteen.
  29. 29A Rude Rencontre.
  30. 30Chapter Sixteen.
  31. 31A Ship without Sailors.
  32. 32Chapter Seventeen.
  33. 33A Charter-Party.
  34. 34Chapter Eighteen.
  35. 35In Search of a Second.
  36. 36Chapter Nineteen.
  37. 37A “Paseo de Caballo.”
  38. 38Chapter Twenty.
  39. 39Pot Valiant.
  40. 40Chapter Twenty One.
  41. 41A “Golpe de Caballo.”
  42. 42Chapter Twenty Two.
  43. 43“Hasta Cadiz!”
  44. 44Chapter Twenty Three.
  45. 45On Pleasure Bent.
  46. 46Chapter Twenty Four.
  47. 47A Tar of the Olden Type.
  48. 48Chapter Twenty Five.
  49. 49The Sailor’s Home.
  50. 50Chapter Twenty Six.
  51. 51Opportune Visitors.
  52. 52Chapter Twenty Seven.
  53. 53An Inhospitable Hostelry.
  54. 54Chapter Twenty Eight.
  55. 55The “Hell” El Dorado.
  56. 56Chapter Twenty Nine.
  57. 57A Monté Bank in Full Blast.
  58. 58Chapter Thirty.
  59. 59Fighting the Tiger.
  60. 60Chapter Thirty One.

About this edition

Author
Mayne Reid
Language
English
Era
Modern (c. 1800–1945)
Reading level
Introductory: no background needed
Formats
EPUB, PDF
Length
543 pages
This edition
Modern Philosophers

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