There were four books released in 1990 to promote the Pirates theme. Titled
1. Will and the Gold Chase
2. Captain Roger's Birthday
3. Adventure on Shark Island
4. The Royal Visit
Will and the Gold Chase[]
Governor Broadside gives Camilla a golden heart-shaped pendant, which she wears everywhere. One day, she loses it while boating. She is so distressed that Broadside issues a reward to whoever finds the pendant. Fishermen search for it with hooks and nets, and pearl divers arrive from a far-off island to try to find it, but to no avail.
Will hears about the lost pendant, and remembering their brief encounter during the hunt for Blackheart’s treasure, wishes he could find it for her. One night, a fishing boat approaches the Black Seas Barracuda, and the ship’s cook Flashfork asks Captain RedBeard for money to buy fish. Red Beard gets out the key to the ship’s money chest. Before he can unlock the chest, Spinoza grabs the key and jumps into the fishing boat.
The pirates decide to go after the key. Will knows that the fishing boats usually take their catch to the markets in Port Royal. The pirates decide to disguise themselves and the ship to sail into Port Royal.
The Barracuda becomes the Skylark, and they arrive in Port Royal. Will and Jimbo question the fishermen, who identify the boat Spinoza stowed away on as belonging to Old Binnacle. Binnacle doesn’t come into Port Royal, they explain, preferring to sell his fish to the islanders.
Will returns to the Skylark, and attempts to explain this to Red Beard. The Captain smells gold, however, and refuses to listen. He leads the pirates ashore to the fish market, where he trips over some barrels, revealing his disguise.
Pursued by soldiers, the pirates return to Skylark, taking a barrel of fish with them. They escape from Port Royal, and change course for the islands. The pirates find Old Binnacle, and retrieve Spinoza from his ship.
With the key safely in hand, the pirates prepare for a supper of fish. Will is cleaning his when he discovers Camilla’s missing pendant in its stomach. The Captain was right about the gold in the fish market after all!
Will packages the pendant, marking the box with an anchor to match his tattoo. He then sends the package to Eldorado Fortress. Camilla knows who sent her back the pendant, and is very careful with it from then on.
Red Beard loves fish in this story; he previously said he hated them in “The Golden Medallion”. Will’s anchor tattoo is mentioned for the first time; it is not seen at all in the comic book. Using the American name Black Seas Barracuda instead of Darkshark in this summary undermines the Darkshark/Skylark joke, but I’m trying to reduce confusion.
Captain Roger's Birthday[]
Captain Red Beard is annoyed at his crew, as none of them appear to be at their posts. Little does he know that they are crowded in the hold, planning a surprise birthday party for their Captain! Of course, they are also anticipating the wonderful food and drink at the party.
A few days later, Will and Rummy visit the Keg and Cutlass to get the supplies for the Captain’s party. Unfortunately, Bessie informs them that Foul and his crew cleaned her out while having their own celebration not long ago. They visit Magpie’s General Store, hoping to buy some food, but Foul has emptied Magpie’s shelves too.
Will comes up with another idea: Governor Broadside is greedy enough that he’d be sure to have plenty of supplies for a party. All they have to do is trick Red Beard into going to Port Royal, and then they can sneak ashore and nab the goods.
The pirates tell Red Beard that a treasure ship is due at Eldorado Fortress, and the Captain orders the crew to get underway. The Barracuda lurks off Sabatina for three nights waiting for the fictitious treasure ship, and Red Beard’s mood turns bad.
The next night, Will, Rummy, and Jimbo row ashore and creep up to the Eldorado Fortress. They smell delicious turkey, but can’t climb up the walls. Jimbo decides to send Popsy up to take a look, and the bird overhears de Martinet’s report to the Governor.
Reinforcements have arrived: including Dragoons with (of course) their horses. Broadside notices Popsy, and angrily closes the window. She repeats what she was able to hear to the pirates: barrels are waiting on the quay with enough food to feed a hundred. Will decides that this must mean supplies for the Governor’s birthday party—coincidently, Broadside and Red Beard were born on the same day!
The pirates return to their ship, where Will informs the captain that the treasure ship has been and gone, but its cargo is still sitting on the quay. Will, Rummy, and twelve other pirates go ashore armed and ready to take the cargo. The soldiers guarding the supplies surrender after realizing they are outnumbered. (By two!)
The pirates quickly take stock of the supplies, which have been loaded into wagons. They find one box for the Governor…but the others are full of shirts, boots, and boot polish. Will finds the next group of wagons are loaded with something else, but before he can tell Rummy, Captain Foul and his crew spring an ambush—Foul had followed them from Shipwreck Island!
Will calls a retreat back to the boats, and the puzzled pirates abandon the wagons. Foul and his men find only hay in the wagons…and barrels full of tar, which they soon end up covered in.
Back on the Barracuda the pirates reveal everything to Red Beard, who is angry that the treasure was a lie, but laughs at Foul’s mistake. Red Beard is presented with a birthday present: a specially carved wooden leg, which he promises to wear only on special occasions. And as it turns out, the box for the governor contained a large birthday cake—as it turns out, Red Beard has the nicest birthday any pirate could wish for!
Adventure on Shark Island[]
At Forbidden Island, Red Beard and Will add up the loot from their most recent raid. It comes to exactly three doubloons—two of which are fake. Disappointed, the crew visit the Keg and Cutlass, where they spend the doubloon on one bottle of rum (and twelve straws).
Just then, Captain Foul and his crew arrive from a highly successful raid, a fact that they rub in the faces of Red Beard and his crew. A brawl ensues, and Bessie is unable to stop it. Her daughter Anne has an idea—she tells Foul’s pirates that their ship is under attack. Foul’s crew abandons the fight and head toward the docks.
When Foul discovers the ruse, he decides to teach Anne a lesson. A day or two later the pirates trap Anne with a net and imprison her in a barrel hoisted atop the main mast of their ship. They sail to Shark Island, and send a ransom note via Popsy demanding one thousand doubloons to Red Beard.
Red Beard declares that his crew never pays ransoms (and as Will points out, all they have are two fake doubloons!) But Will insists they rescue Anne and two days later the Barracuda arrives at Shark Island. Will and Jimbo go ashore, and spot Foul’s ship—and Anne’s barrel! Will and Jimbo return to the Barracuda and explain that only Spinoza can get to Anne’s barrel. He plans to send Spinoza up to the barrel with a line of rope, which Anne can use to climb down.
Popsy is sent with a message explaining the plan, and that night Will, Jimbo and Spinoza navigate a small launch through the rocks near Shark Island. They board Foul’s ship, and everything goes as planned. But when it comes time to leave, Spinoza is nowhere to be found!
Spinoza has made his way to the captain’s cabin, where he snatches a bag of gold coins right from under Foul’s nose. He then hides the bag in one of the ship’s cannons, and rejoins Will, Jimbo, and Anne. Culverin spots the escaping boat, but Foul’s ship runs aground during the pursuit. Foul orders Culverin to open fire…blowing the bag of gold right into Will’s boat!
Red Beard and the crew cheer when Anne arrives safely on the Barracuda…and cheer even louder when they see the money. Red Beard orders the crew to make sail to Forbidden Island, where there will be roast beef and jam roly-poly all around…double helpings, even!
The Royal Visit[]
Captain Red Beard is enjoying his afternoon tea when he suddenly finds his serenity interrupted by an incoming cannon ball. He rushes on deck to find Broadside’s massive flagship Ironram bearing down on the Barracuda, with Broadside himself ordering the pirates to prepare for boarding. Fortunately, Red Beard manages to lose Ironram in the fog.
That evening, Red Beard demands to know how Ironram could have snuck up on them. He discovers that Rummy was asleep in the crow’s nest, and Will was reading in his cabin. Red Beard is furious. A few days later the pirates return to Forbidden Island, and find all the pirates in a bad mood. The King is planning a state visit to Port Royal, and Broadside is to receive him in full dress uniform. Unfortunately, he’s missing his badge of office and believes one of the pirates has taken it.
The Governor is stepping up efforts to harass the pirates, and with good reason: without his badge Broadside could lose his head! Red Beard realizes the pirates must help him find it—or they might lose a bad governor and get one that’s even worse!
Red Beard calls a meeting of all the pirate captains, and they agree to halt their piratical activities until the badge is found. One captain is missing: Jonah of the Hesperus. With Anne’s help, Will realizes that Jonah’s pet jackdaw has been missing since his owner’s escape from Port Royal. After consulting his books, he tells Red Beard that he knows where the governor’s badge is.
Three days later, the crew of the Barracuda find the Hesperus anchored in a sheltered bay, where the crew is making repairs after a close shave with a whale. Captain Jonah tells them that Diogenes has returned, and Will takes a look inside the bird’s barrel. Sure enough, Broadside’s badge is inside. Will explains that one of his books had a poem about a jackdaw who stole a diamond ring.
On the day of the royal visit, Anne disguises herself as a washerwoman and smuggles the badge into Eldorado Fortress with the Governor’s laundry. The Royal visit is a great success—the King even gives Broadside a medal! Broadside goes back to governing, and leaves the pirates to their own devices.
The poem Will refers to is likely “The Jackdaw of Rheims”, though this may be an anachronism.