Sir James Almont, appointed by His Majesty Charles II Governor of Jamaica, was habitually an early riser. This was in part the tendency of an aging widower, in part a consequence of restless sleep from pains of the gout, and in part an accommodation to the climate of the Jamaica Colony, which turned hot and humid soon after sunrise.
On the morning of September 7, 1665, he followed his usual routine, arising in his chambers on the third floor of the Governor’s Mansion and going directly to the window to survey the weather and the coming day. The Governor’s Mansion was an impressive brick structure with a red-tile roof. It was also the only three-story building in Port Royal, and his view of the town was excellent. In the streets below he could see the lamplighters making their rounds, extinguishing streetlights from the night before. On Ridge Street, the morning patrol of garrison soldiers was collecting drunks and dead bodies, which had fallen in the mud. Directly beneath his window, the first of the flat, horse-drawn carts of water carriers rumbled by, bringing casks of fresh water from Rio Cobra some miles away. Otherwise, Port Royal was quiet, enjoying the brief moment between the time the last of the evening’s drunken revelers collapsed in a stupor, and the start of the morning’s commercial bustle around the docks.
Looking away from the cramped, narrow streets of the town to the harbor, he saw the rocking thicket of masts, the hundreds of ships of all sizes moored in the harbor and drawn up to the docks. In the sea beyond, he saw an English merchant brig anchored past the cay, near Rackham’s reef offshore. Undoubtedly, the ship had arrived during the night, and the captain had prudently chosen to await daylight to make the harbor of Port Royal. Even as he watched, the topsails of the merchant ship were unreefed in the growing light of dawn, and two longboats put out from the shore near Fort Charles to help tow the merchantman in.
Governor Almont, known locally as “James the Tenth,” because of his insistence on diverting a tenth share of privateering expeditions to his own personal coffers, turned away from the window and hobbled on his painful left leg across the room to make his toilet. Immediately, the merchant vessel was forgotten, for on this particular morning Sir James had the disagreeable duty of attending a hanging.
The previous week, soldiers had captured a French rascal named LeClerc, convicted of making a piratical raid on the settlement of Ocho Rios, on the north coast of the island.
On the testimony of a few townspeople who had survived the attack, LeClerc had been sentenced to be hanged in the public gallows on High Street. Governor Almont had no particular interest in either the Frenchman or his disposition, but he was required to attend the execution in his official capacity. That implied a tedious, formal morning.
Copyright © 2009 by Michael Crichton. Used by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
Author of The Andromeda Strain, Jurassic Park and countless other blockbusters, Michael Crichton was a true master of suspense, and his tragic death was a great loss to book lovers everywhere. That’s why the publication of Pirate Latitudes is such an important event. Discovered in his files after his passing, it’s his first historical novel since The Great Train Robbery—and it doesn’t disappoint.
Packed with realism and raw storytelling power, it takes us to the Caribbean in 1665 as Captain Hunter, a pirate hungry for Spanish gold, decides to raid a stronghold considered utterly impregnable. But Hunter is no fool. Hatching a plan that is as daring as it is ingenious, he sets off on an adventure unlike any you’ve ever read.
Lrg Print Hardcover: 512 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins ( November 24, 2009 )
Item #: 46-8461
ISBN: 9781615237883
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 8.25 x 1.2 inches
Product Weight: 20.0 ounces

I was very disappointed in this book. It was certainly not up to Michael Chrichton's other works. It was shallow and more like a child's story than for adult consumption. I certainly would not recommend it to anyonw.
Reviewer: Betty M
I was disappointed in this book. It just seemed to unreal, even for a fiction story. Then at the end, it almost sounds like these were real people after all. Not one of his best.
Reviewer: Joan E