His last ship was a 16-gun Dutch vessel, formerly called "De Liebe Vrouwe". It was fast and better-armed than most merchant vessels. However, a growing British naval presence in the Caribbean Sea was giving him concern when he chanced to encounter H.M.S. Relentless, a 48-gun man-of-war. Outgunned, he yielded to force majeur and fled before the British dreadnought.

The Relentless, under Captain John Bull was well-named, however. She pursued him as persistently as a British bulldog, eastward across the Atlantic Ocean and southward along the African coast. Captain Cabrito's nameless ship was the faster of the two vessels, but only slightly. Relentless remained astern of her, but was ALWAYS astern of her, day after day.

Finally, Captain Cabrito faced a choice, either turn westward back across the Atlantic Ocean toward toward South America or try to round the horn of Africa.

The fastest way to round the Cape of Good Hope would be to take the Brouwer Route through the northern part of the "Roaring Forties" Of course, this was exactly what Captain Bull would expect him to do . It was fast but perilous. What he chose to do, however, was even more perilous.

Captain Cabrito continued straight ahead, southward into the heart of the Roaring Forties. If Captain Bull was not so foolhardy as to continue to pursue him there, he might, after the Relentless abandoned the pursuit, turn eastward and skirt the southern edge of the Brouwer Route into the Indian Ocean. The shifting currents, unpredictable winds, and frequent storms of the Roaring Forties made this a risky choice, but being captured by the British was decidedly riskier.

The weather was stormy, and Captain Bull decided not to risk his ship in further pursuit of the pirate ship. It was "so far , so good" for Captain Cabrito, but the storm which engulfed his vessel made the outcome very doubtful. Turning eastward as he had intended seemed impossible. The violent winds boxed the compass so rapidly that , at times, his ship was actually making sternway. He had to round the Cape of Good hope, but, remembering the fate of the Flying Dutchman, Captain Cabrito refrained from making any rash oaths.

For two whole days, the nameless pirate ship bobbed about like a cork, following no course, at the whim of the winds and waves. When the storm subsided, Captain Cabrito had no idea of his position. A noon sun sight gave his latitude as 37º48' 12" S.

It was impossible to determine the longitude.

He was afloat on a wide, empty, quiet sea, probably the Indian Ocean. At any reasonable longitude, his chart showed nothing between his present position and Cape Comorin. He estimated the bearing of Cape Comorin to be between 10º and 15º East of true North, wherever that was. He had no idea of the magnetic declination here. Captain Cabrito ordered to helmsman to set a compass course of North 22½ º East. That ought to bring his vessel into heavily travelled waters near India.

After five days on this course, the lookout suddenly shouted "Tierra" [land]. To say the least, Captain Cabrito was surprised. He knew of no land in this part of the Indian Ocean, if he was anywhere near where he thought he was. Cape Comorin ought to be at least 1500 nautical miles ahead . He checked his chart to be sure and found nothing anywhere near his assumed position. Grasping his telescope, he rushed up on deck.

Some miles ahead, about 5º off the starboard bow, there was indeed land, fairly obviously an island, apparently uncharted. The view through his telescope revealed the island to be inhabited; in fact, it showed a fair-sized city of white buildings with a sheltered harbour before it.

The island, unknown to Captain Cabrito, and the city as well, was known as Derriabar. The entrance to the harbour was normally closed by a chain, but a pawl had broken in the winch and the chain had dropped to a depth of 15 fathoms and could not be raised until repairs were completed . Derriabar had no artillery and hence was defenseless.

Even before Captain Cabrito's lookout had sighted Derriabar, a lookout with a large and powerful telescope atop a high tower in the city had sighted the pirate ship clearly enough to recognize the Jolly Roger. Derriabar had suffered a disastrous pirate raid some seventy years before which had left the city in ruins and 2/3 of its inhabitants dead. It appeared that history was about to repeat itself.

The Xhatrapa of the island and Master of the city swiftly decided upon a stratagem which might save his city and its people. "Get every whore and every bunghole-boy in the city down onto the pier as fast as possible !"

Derriabar often entertained foreign mariners seeking sex after months at sea. Therefore, there were plenty of prostitutes of both sexes. "You girls open your bodices and show your teats. You boys, hitch your tunics up over your rumps. If my plan works, the City will pay you for your services."

Derriabar, having been settled originally by Persians fleeing from Alexander ("the Great") of Macedon, the native language was a dialect of Persian, but contact with foreign merchants and seamen resulted in Portugese,Dutch, and Arabic being widely understood. The Xhatrapa [satrap] had no way of knowing the nationality of the rapidly approaching pirate ship's crew, but hoped to be able to communicate somehow. It was essential to his plan.

Shapur, the Xhatrapa, next consulted an apothecary. "Have we stock of opium sufficient to drug about fifty men into insensibility ?" he inquired. "Most assuredly, Lord Shapur" was the reply. He then instructed the wine-sellers to set aside certain distinctively marked amphorae of wine to be laced with opium, for the special use of the of the pirates.

As Captain Cabrito's ship entered the harbour of Derriabar, he was surprised to see a welcoming party of whores and boys gathered on the pier. Clearly his arrival was to be unopposed, even welcomed. At the centre of the group stood a tall dignified-looking man in a purple robe wearing a coronet on his head. As the ship approached the pier, this man called out in Portuguese "Does anyone aboard speak Portuguese ?"

Captain Cabrito had lived in Brazil for a number of years and had a fair command of the Brazilian dialect of Portuguese. "Yes, I do." replied Captain Cabrito. "I am the captain of this ship." The Xhatrapa nodded. "You are welcome here, Captain. Being far from the shipping lanes, we seldom receive visitors. May I come aboard to confer with you ?" Captain Cabrito was both surprised and amused. Surely, they must recognise the Jolly Roger.

"Of course. You may come aboard as soon as we have tied up to the pier." To his men he added "Once we're tied up, let down the gangplank and pipe the old fool aboard with due ceremony. I'm not sure he realizes that we're pirates and that they're at our mercy." The captain's orders were carried out swiftly and Xhatrapa Shapur was piped aboard.

Captain Cabrito saluted the Xhatrapa who returned the salute and identified himself. "I am Shapur Khusroji, governor of this island and Master of the City." Captain Cabrito bowed and replied "I am Captain Guillermo Cabrito, master of the ship, Sine Nomine." The Xhatrapa returned the bow and asked "May we confer privately in your cabin, Captain ?" "Certainly" replied Captain Cabrito.

Xhatrapa Shapur spoke first. "I am aware, of course, in a general way, of your intentions toward us, Captain. All I have come to ask is that you spare our lives and our city. Take whatever you desire. I have sent home the guards of the city's treasury and instructed them to leave the doors open. In exchange for mercy, we are prepared to offer you hospitality.

As you have seen, there are young women and boys waiting on the pier to entertain your men. I have ordered a feast prepared which should be especially welcome after a diet of hardtack, bully beef, water and rum. I see no reason, if you are willing, why we should not conduct this matter in a civilised fashion. In fact, in the morning, if you should so desire, my men will assist yours in loading the plunder onto your ship. "

"Why are you doing this ?" asked Captain Cabrito. "We are unarmed. We cannot fight you, so we might as well make the best of it and cooperate with you. We can recover far more easily from the loss of valuables than from a burned city and a slaughtered population."

"You are a very sensible man, Shapur." replied Captain Cabrito. "I accept your offer." Captain went out on deck where his men , as their distended trousers plainly showed, impatiently awaited his permission to go ahore. "Men, take whatever you want, but slay no one and do no harm to the city. We are 'guests' here. We are all invited to a feast which is even now being prepared for us."

The Xhatrapa pointed out a grey granite building on a low rise to Captain Cabrito. "That is our treasury. As I said, it is unlocked and unguarded. You will be astonished by the wealth stored there. It is the accumulation of centuries." A thought occurred to Captain Cabrito. "Does that include the treasure of Alexander. I'd heard that it was left on an island in the Indian Ocean." The Xhatrapa laughed. "Oh, so you've heard that story, too. It's ridiculous on the face of it.

It's most unlikely that Alexander even knew that this island exists. If he did, he wouldn't know where it is. You didn't, and you have much better maps than he ever did. Furthermore, Alexander never took a long sea voyage in his life. All his conquests were on land, reached by marching overland. Even Egypt he reached by marching around the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea .

Can you imagine his journeying about 1800 miles by land and another 1500 by sea to leave a treasure on this island ? He never even saw Cape Comorin; his men mutinied in northern India. No, our treasure, shortly to be yours, came from trade with the Portuguese and Dutch, who, alas, rarely come here any more. And now, Captain, if you will excuse me, I must attend to arrangements for the feast which will start at sunset."

Musicians and dancers were to perform throughout the feast and there was to be plenty of spicy food to encourage abundant drinking. The "special" wine, however, was to be reserved until everyone was nearly sated, uncritical of its flavour, and already rather sleepy.

The party was an outstanding success. The crew were still enjoying the ministrations of their doxies and boys while the music, dancing, eating and drinking went on long past dark. The sounds of merrymaking lured the skeleton crew off the nameless ship. They'd never be missed and there was nothing to guard it against, anyhow.

Last of all, after a particularly spicy ragout had been served, the "special" wine was served to the sexually exhausted, overstuffed, drunken pirates. They swilled it down as if it were beer. Even the usually abstemious Captain Cabrito, exchanging toasts with the Xhatrapa and a bit too besotted to realize that they were being served different wines, tossed off a bumper of drugged wine to "the Rotterdam Dutch and the Goddam' Dutch."

Some eight hours later, Captain Cabrito and his crew awoke to find themselves in irons, naked, clean-shaven, and castrated ! Xhatrapa Shapur greeted them with a cheery "Good morning , 'gentlemen'. I trust that you slept well. My men have been busy throughout the night readying your ship for your imminent departure. They have removed all of the plunder you had stored aboard, all weapons, every grain of gunpowder, and every stitch of clothing.

In exchange for these items, they have transferred abundant food and water to your ship, enough for a very long voyage. Inasmuch as your cannons were found to be loaded, all of them have been spiked and the spikes filed off flush with the touchholes to preclude removal. As a result of the surgery which I had my barber-surgeons perform on you during the night, I suspect that you will lose your taste for piracy and other violent activities.

Your manacles will be removed and you will be transferred, under guard, one at a time to your ship until you are all aboard, at which time you will cast off from the pier and set sail out of the harbour. The chain which would have deterred you from entering has now been repaired and will be raised behind you.

I would advise you to avoid the east coast of Africa. It is often visited by Arab slavers who, though they usually seek Negroes, could hardly be expected to pass up an unarmed shipload of naked white eunuchs. If you sail eastward, you will find a number of uninhabited islands in the South Pacific where you might settle. And now, as the French say, 'Bon Voyage' "