Reading Maps

Journeys from fiction drawn on the real world

Wilbur Smith · 1997 · sea

Wilbur Smith's 1997 Courtney saga. In 1667, with England and Holland at war, Sir Francis Courtney and his son Hal cruise off the Cape of Good Hope in their caravel, lying in wait for a Dutch East India galleon heavy with treasure. Their bloody capture of the ship launches Hal into a perilous odyssey of mutiny, betrayal and vengeance that sweeps from the Cape north to the Great Horn of Ethiopia.

  1. 1
    Cape Agulhas

    Off the Agulhas Cape, Sir Francis Courtney and his son Hal cruise in the caravel Lady Edwina, licensed privateers lying in wait for a Dutch East India galleon laden with treasure returning from the Orient.

  2. 2
    Good Hope

    After a bloody battle they take the galleon and its hostages, but the Dutch strike back: Sir Francis is captured and killed, and Hal is thrown into the dungeons of the new settlement at Good Hope before making a daring escape.

  3. 3
    Zanzibar coast

    Free once more and burning for vengeance, Hal takes to the sea and sails north up the wild east coast of Africa, pursuing his enemies and his father's betrayer across the warm waters of the Indian Ocean.

  4. 4
    Horn of Ethiopia

    His quest carries him at last to the Great Horn of Ethiopia and the Gulf beyond, where amid war and treachery the young man must prove himself the equal of his father - a captain, a Navigator, and a Courtney.

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Birds of Prey Map: Wilbur Smith's Journey