"'Rees has pieced together a terrific story...There is nothing about sailing and seamen she doesn't know' Sunday Telegraph 'James Porter was a light-fingered, back-chatting, cocky little cockney of the type we now call a dodgy geezer. Today he would be given an ASBO but 200 years ago the way to deal with dodgy geezers like Porter was to reel them in, ship them off, and chain them up in the worst-place-on-earth...' Sunday Telegraph 'This is a tale of triumph against a cruel and unjust penal system, of the human spirit striving for freedom whatever the cost... Sunday Telegraph 'Porter's is an engaging tale, and Rees is a skilled narrator of the travails of a group of pirates on the high seas.' Independent 'Relish this ripping, salty yarn... Rees has retold [Porter's] story with the same panache she showed with her cracking nautical bestseller, The Floating Brothel' Manchester Evening News, book of the week 'A true wind fills the sails of [Rees's] writing' Saga Magazine A delightful true story' Express"