Lost Cutlass

by Fritz Galt

Young teenager Rab Burnside lives with Jesse his competitive brother and Buttons, their quixotic grandfather, on the windswept coast of Newfoundland in the middle of Queen Anne’s War.

One day, Buttons spots a mysterious ship sailing toward shore, doomed to crash into the shoals. Rab and Jesse scramble to save it and set in motion a series of events that take them on the trip of a lifetime, beginning with the court of Queen Anne of Great Britain. There, the queen informs the trio of a nefarious pirate named Captain John Smallbeer who is terrorizing the coast of England, kidnapping for ransom, and generally creating havoc on the high seas. Rab and his family’s quest is to find and capture the pirate and bring him to justice.

Given a family heirloom, a steel cutlass that can be used for maximum good or ill, Rab and Jesse, the youngest sailors of the Queen’s navy, and Buttons set off to rid the world of the pirate scourge.

The trio must first travel across England to meet the Prince-Baron of Durham, who can inform them of Captain Smallbeer’s whereabouts. But the prince-baron has a few obstacles awaiting the threesome, as he is fond of playing horrifying tricks on his guests.

This is only the beginning of a series of adventures that take Rab and his small band around the world, often coming face-to-face with the sinister Captain Smallbeer, who steals Rab’s powerful cutlass. They must conquer the Beam of Justice in the Sahara, survive kidnappings and shipwrecks, put down revolts on the pampas, negotiate a perilous passage to the Pacific, and confront gathering armies in China.

But can Rab ever capture the evil pirate Captain Smallbeer, who vows never to give up the Lost Cutlass?

Original edition: B00IU860XK
This is an alternate cover edition.

Kindle Edition

First published March 6, 2014

About the author

Fritz Galt has lived much of his life abroad while writing about his experiences in political hotspots around the globe.

Following graduate study in the MFA Creative Writing Program at San Francisco State University, Mr. Galt moved to Chicago and pursued a successful career in publishing. Mr. Galt has since lived in Belgrade, Taipei, Mumbai, Beijing, Shanghai, Washington, Brussels, Guangzhou and Ulaanbaatar. He lives with his family in Asia.

He has written 15 novels including highly acclaimed espionage, medical, financial, political, historic and techno thrillers and mysteries.

Reviews

[Paul-Baptiste · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not a great book if your expectations are set to "historical novel" level. Some people have commented that this is a children's book and in a way that is correct as this was written when Galt was 16. This is apparent in the flow of action and narrative, sometimes rushed and sometimes drawn out overlong. In what is clearly an homage to books like Treasure Island, The Swiss Family Robinson, and the like, the language can sometimes be laborious and overly florid, but you get the gist of Galt trying to capture the old-time flavour of those classic adventure tales. Unfortunately, Galt also captures too many of the antiquated views concerning women and non-Europeans often present in those same tales and this is jarring and offensive to modern sensibilities. However, viewed through the lens of a serial in a pulp magazine (or the weekly action/adventure sword and sorcery comedy-dramas of the 90s, like Hercules: The Legendary Journeys), this can be a fun read. Yes it has a host of faults, but it also has enough merits to make it enjoyable.

[Sara · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got to the 50% mark and gave up. The writing is bad, the storytelling is bad, and the casual racism and sexism are bad. I don't care that he wrote it when he was 16 and maybe trying to emulate the feel of older adventure stories such as Treasure Island or Tarzan - we can be better than this. There's no excuse for perpetuating racial stereotypes in this day and age.