Roy Buckle

The Ballad of Bonnie D'vere Roy Buckle

The story of 'Bonnie' d'Vere is based on the real life existence of the last of the lady pirates. The development of the 'Sea Eagle', as she was eventually called, becomes a fascinating story-for she was progeny of one of the best aristocratic French families. The story is set at the end of the Napoleonic period when there was an uneasy peace between England and France, and there were rumblings of war between North and South America. Against a background of violence, which accompanied the eradication of slavery, the convoluted and bloody tale unfolds. It is also the tale of the magnificent Scot, Henry MacGeever, whose pioneer activities in a fragmented South Africa are woven around that of Katherina Josephine d'Vere. He was the only man capable of taming her.