Captain James Morgan commander of the Kings Ship the Osprey had during his very successful career many encounters with French warships, invariably finishing up the victor. There were rarely any personal feelings obstructing his inevitable aim to either capture or destroy the enemy ships. It was a job that had to be done and one in which he gave of his best...that was until he encountered the Furneaux family.
Originally a Sicilian family of merchants, after creating much ill feeling with their nefarious and dishonest business dealings in Sicily, the head of the family Madame Furneaux thought it opportune and essential to their health to change their name and move to the west coast of France. In her bid for respectability Madame Ferneaux bought her four sons’ commissions in the French Navy. While becoming Captains of note, for they were excellent sailors and swordsmen, they failed to become accepted by the French Officer Class. It was early on when Captain Morgan met up with the first brother who died a spectacular death when the Captain’s coxswain, Finn Maguire beheaded him.
It was in the West Indies that the Captain discovered that the French Captain he had just killed was another of the Furneaux brothers. When serving in the East Indies, the two remaining Furneaux brothers hearing of Captain James Morgan’s involvement in their brother’s deaths immediately arranged to be given the mission of ending the Captain’s career. They too died in an encounter with Captain Morgan.
In France, with all her sons dead, her family destroyed, Madame Furneaux‘s anger and thirst for revenge festered and fermented; all that remained was her considerable fortune which she put to use building two, well-armed, powerful, vessels for the sole purpose of destroying the man responsible for the death of her family: a Sicilian vendetta. An extremely devious and evil woman she set to employing crews, every last one of them in her own image, ruthless and greedy for her gold which she used as the instrument to destroy Captain James Morgan.
But there was one other ingredient; the point of a Sicilian vendetta was to instil fear into her victim thereby weakening him: and this she did for wherever James Morgan went, whomever he talked to, whether French or English urged him to be careful... for Madame Furneaux would be a formidable foe. James had to end it; he could not continue his career constantly looking over his shoulder; he had to counter this threat of Vengeance.