The Black Corsair

Il corsaro nero. El corsario negro. The Black Corsair. Hailed as adventure writer Emilio Salgari's masterpiece, the tale of the sombre Man in Black has been in print since the end of the 19th century.

The Black Corsair is a tale of revenge set in the Caribbean, filled with all of Mr. Salgari's usual hallmarks: love and adventure, swashbuckling battles, exotic jungles, and of course characters that are larger than life.

The novel first appeared in serial form in 1898, and was published as Il corsaro nero in 1899. It sold 80,000 copies in its first run, a record for the era. And what a tale it was..

An Italian nobleman turns pirate to avenge the murder of his borthers. His prey: an old Flemish army officer named Wan Guld, now the Governor of Maracaibo. The Corsair is relentless, vowing never to put down his sword until he has killed the traitor and thise that bear his name. To help him in his quest, the Black Corsair enlists the greatest pirates of his time: Michael The Basque, L'Ollonois and a young lieutenant named Henry Morgan....

The Black Corsair relentless pursuit is filled with drama and adventure: sword duels, boarding raids, and numerous acts of daring. As in all of Salgari's novels, there is a strong element of friendship and humour, provided by fellow buccaneers Carmaux, Van Stiller and Moko, three courageous and loyal men that provide a welcome contrast to the Corsair's sombre personality. No Salgari tale would be complete without a love interest, and the Corsair too proves not be immune when an unexpected boarding raid leads to the capture of beautiful a hostage: Honorata Willerman, Duchess of Weltrendrem.

The novel was so popular it generated a number of sequels. It first made the jump to the silver screen in the 1920s in a series of short black and white films directed by Vitale Di Stefano. With the advent of sound came Il Corsaro Nero in 1936, starring Olympic fencing champion Cirro Verratti. The story has been retold several times, on both sides of the Atlanic, the first Spanish version being filmed in Mexico in 1944 by director Chano Urueta. After his worldwide success as Sandokan, Kabir Bedi took a turn at playing the Lord of Ventimiglia in Sergio Solima's 1977 version of Il corsaro nero. The Black Corsair recently returned to television as an animated series created by Italian animation house Mondo TV. A video game version of the adventure is also available.

Salgari's Caribbean tales inspired a series of spaghetti swashbucklers including Primo Zeglio's Morgan: The Pirate starring Steve Reeves, Mario Soldati's The Three Corsairs with Marc Lawrence and Luigi Capuano's Hercules and The Black Pirates starring Alan Steel.