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Triangle: A Memoir of Black Caesar
When Collin Aldworth woke in the attic room of the Holetown Tavern, in Barbados on that fair morning in May of 1694, he looked out the window and found that the Arthur had sailed without him. He knew at that moment that his life had taken a dramatic turn, but, at the age of fifteen, he had no hint where the storms of life might drive him, or what treacherous sailing lay ahead. He knew what lay behind in the Arthur’s wake, the horror of her dark hold, black with death, disease and hopeless human suffering.
He had learned too well the lessons his father intended for him aboard the Arthur. He'd learned the workings of a slave ship in which every plank of wood, every fiber of rope and every stitch of sail is driven by the gale winds of insatiable greed. He learned both the subjective lesson of being a slave to that greed, and the objective lessons of the business of slavery.
Now he would learn the harder lesson, to live and survive in the crucible of the “Triangle Trade”, to survive within its tyranny of lawless freedom. The forces he would find within that triangle, the limitless power of ruthless corporations, his own loyalty to the rogue’s who will save him, and the tireless guilt that drives him to find and free the slave he’d befriended as a boy, will work together to forge the man he is to become. His desperate hope and challenge is that the man he becomes will somehow retain a small piece of the decency he'd known as a boy.
"Triangle" is a story of royal intrigue and merciless power, of corporate greed and a life of lawless freedom in the colonial Caribbean. It is a story of treachery, treasure and triumph in the golden age of pirates, slaves, royal monopolies and brutal competition for a prize known as "The New World"
He had learned too well the lessons his father intended for him aboard the Arthur. He'd learned the workings of a slave ship in which every plank of wood, every fiber of rope and every stitch of sail is driven by the gale winds of insatiable greed. He learned both the subjective lesson of being a slave to that greed, and the objective lessons of the business of slavery.
Now he would learn the harder lesson, to live and survive in the crucible of the “Triangle Trade”, to survive within its tyranny of lawless freedom. The forces he would find within that triangle, the limitless power of ruthless corporations, his own loyalty to the rogue’s who will save him, and the tireless guilt that drives him to find and free the slave he’d befriended as a boy, will work together to forge the man he is to become. His desperate hope and challenge is that the man he becomes will somehow retain a small piece of the decency he'd known as a boy.
"Triangle" is a story of royal intrigue and merciless power, of corporate greed and a life of lawless freedom in the colonial Caribbean. It is a story of treachery, treasure and triumph in the golden age of pirates, slaves, royal monopolies and brutal competition for a prize known as "The New World"
567 pages, ebook
First published April 3, 2015
About the author
B. James Wilson
9 books8 followersB. James Wilson says of his writing, "I choose the literary art form because the stories in my head demand that level of detail. I want to write about life, death, God, intellect, the supernatural. I want to write about our hopes and dreams, and our shining moments. I want my work to be, first of all, entertaining, and then informative.”
He is the author of a variety of speculative fiction with a focus on history and the Bible. He lives and works on Florida's Space Coast.
You can visit B. James Wilson online at; Amazon, Goodreads, Facebook, Wordpress, Tumbler, or Smashwords
He is the author of a variety of speculative fiction with a focus on history and the Bible. He lives and works on Florida's Space Coast.
You can visit B. James Wilson online at; Amazon, Goodreads, Facebook, Wordpress, Tumbler, or Smashwords
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 4, 2020
Triangle: A Memoir of Black Caesar is the story of a young black man named Nwoye and his rise to become the man known as Black Caesar. Taken captive from West Africa as a child, he navigates his new reality as a slave. His story is intertwined with that of young British Colin Aldworth, the son of a wealthy merchant rising to new heights with the slave trade. He sets his son on one of these slave trading ships to learn the family business, and this sets him on a complex and difficult journey, hand in hand with Black Caesar. We get to see what the world looked like during the apex of the slave trade and see its deep connections with piracy, and Wilson does not hold back in making sure the realities of that time in the world are front and centre.
Though I do not have a huge amount of knowledge in the history of slavery I do think the book did a great job in describing the social and economical impacts of the practice. I also have to give Wilson a shout of for his great portrayal of the realities of piracy; one minute you have dispensation from your ruler that you can pillage enemy ships, another minute that enemy is now your friend and you are a criminal, aka pirate. The fluidity of political situations between European powers meant that legitimate merchants or privateers would find themselves suddenly pirates at a moments notice, simply because two powers decided to end a war between themselves. As an extra layer the wealth that became associated with the slave trade fuelled most of these hostilities. Its essentially chaos and I think he captured the absurdity of it all fairly well.
However the meat and potatoes of this book is slavery, specifically the fictional story of the potentially real person who was Black Caesar, famed African pirate operating in the Florida Keys in the late 1600's. The Black Caesar of Wilson's imagining is very similar to the supposedly real one; a large imposing man, intent on staying free and creating his own fortunes, but there was more than a splash of a white saviour complex when it came to Colin's character. Despite this however I do think Wilson did an excellent job with Black Caesar as a character, fully developing his character and fully realizing the world and context he lived in. The character of Colin too was a delight, and the relationship he had with Black Caesar equal parts heart warming and frustrating; perfect for this book and the mood Wilson sets.
With action, drama and romance, Triangle was a fantastic read from start to finish, and I can't wait to dig into B. James Wilson's other books.
Though I do not have a huge amount of knowledge in the history of slavery I do think the book did a great job in describing the social and economical impacts of the practice. I also have to give Wilson a shout of for his great portrayal of the realities of piracy; one minute you have dispensation from your ruler that you can pillage enemy ships, another minute that enemy is now your friend and you are a criminal, aka pirate. The fluidity of political situations between European powers meant that legitimate merchants or privateers would find themselves suddenly pirates at a moments notice, simply because two powers decided to end a war between themselves. As an extra layer the wealth that became associated with the slave trade fuelled most of these hostilities. Its essentially chaos and I think he captured the absurdity of it all fairly well.
However the meat and potatoes of this book is slavery, specifically the fictional story of the potentially real person who was Black Caesar, famed African pirate operating in the Florida Keys in the late 1600's. The Black Caesar of Wilson's imagining is very similar to the supposedly real one; a large imposing man, intent on staying free and creating his own fortunes, but there was more than a splash of a white saviour complex when it came to Colin's character. Despite this however I do think Wilson did an excellent job with Black Caesar as a character, fully developing his character and fully realizing the world and context he lived in. The character of Colin too was a delight, and the relationship he had with Black Caesar equal parts heart warming and frustrating; perfect for this book and the mood Wilson sets.
With action, drama and romance, Triangle was a fantastic read from start to finish, and I can't wait to dig into B. James Wilson's other books.
March 8, 2016
When I was a young teenager, I was fortunate to have lived in Miami, Florida where I had access to a boat and the pristine waters of Biscayne Bay. I had many adventures there, some worthy of tall tales, but none more worthy than the one told me by Sir Lancelot Jones. At that time, Lancelot Jones was a famed fishing guide and the world's leading expert on finding and catching the illusive Bone Fish, much lionized by leading sports fishermen. He was guide to many celebrities of his time, Richard Nixon and Charles (Bebe) Rabozo among them. Though independently wealthy, well connected, highly educated and intelligent, Lancelot and his older brother, King Arthur Jones lived simple lives, close to the Earth, with a love for all the values that are common to that station. Most of all they loved Biscayne Bay and the barrier islands that dot its eastern perimeter, especially Rhodes Key, Porgey Key, Elliot Key and the narrow cut between them known as Caesar's Creek, where they grew up and lived out their lives.
I met Lancelot one summer afternoon while camping on Elliot Key. I knew of him through my father who had hired him as a Bone Fish guide in the past, for the entertainment of business clients. My friends and I had taken my boat out to Elliot Key, to dive for lobster when Lancelot pulled up along side. The moment he spoke I knew who he was. My mother, who had met him before, told me of his education and his perfect English diction. We conversed pleasantly for several minutes before, he espied our ice-chest, he asked, "Have you got a cold Coke?"
I nodded that I did and opened the ice-chest to offer one. He reached in, pulled one out of the ice, thanked me and went on his way. That night, as I sat by our fire, on the windward side of the island, he appeared suddenly, standing next to me, in the dark. I was startled, having not seen or heard him approach. He apologized politely, sat down next to the fire and asked, "Have you got another one, Coke?"
I said that I did and pointed to the ice-chest near him on his side of the fire. We talked for a long time that night about him and his life on Caesar's Creek. During the conversation I interrupted him at hearing a strange sound that had troubled me earlier, a whispering sound that came from the dense tangle of jungle surrounding our camp. But it was barely audible over the sound of the wind off the ocean and the water rushing over the reef.
"Listen." I repeated, holding my breath. He hadn't heard it the first time. Then it came again. He cocked an ear and I asked, "There. What is that?"
"It's the ghosts." He answered without hesitation or smile. "The ghosts of the children."
I was young and fairly gullible at the time. I would have believed anything an adult told me.
"What ghosts, what children?" I could feel the hairs raising at the back of my neck. I wanted to turn and look, but he didn't look and I didn't want to appear, well, gullible. Too late I guess.
Lancelot went on to tell me the story of Caesar's Creek, the legend of Caesar's Rock and how the creek got its name. His version was the story of a great and powerful pirate called Black Caesar, a man who was legend in his own right, who was discredited in history and cheated of the fame he deserved because of his race.
Lancelot told me of the children of Caesar's maroon community who had lived on Elliot Key before it had a name and who died in the great storm of 1715. He spoke of vast treasure hoarded by an escaped slave named Henri Caesar, a giant black man who sailed in command of his own sloop in partnership with the infamous, Blackbeard and his fleet. His story went on into the wee hours of the morning and, when finished, Lancelot Jones excused himself politely and left our camp. I never saw Lancelot again after that, but I never forgot that night, or the story he told me with such passion.
Years later, when I thought I would like to become a novelist, my first attempt was an interpretation of Lancelot's story of Black Caesar. It was what I refer to as the first novel I never finished. I worked hard on it for more than a year, but it just kept going and going till I put it aside realizing that I didn't know how the story ended.
I won't say how many years have passed since then, but as I began to research my character more thoroughly I found a history so vague and variant that Lancelot's legend of Black Caesar seemed more probable than the official, historical record. For that reason, I have adapted his premise and written a novel based on the character he described to me that night so long ago.
This novel is the story of a great and powerful pirate in his own right. Though he was African and swept up in the slave trade as a boy, he never adopted the role of a victim. Black Caesar was not born a slave and he was determined not to die as one. The story revolves around the life he shared with Edward Drummond, later known as Blackbeard, and Collin Aldworth, a boy from a well to do family in England, sent by his father on a "journey of education", aboard a slave ship called "Arthur".
The life these three young men share in the "Golden Age of Piracy" is a story of great, personal struggle in the crucible of a changing world. Caught together in a battle between the imperial forces of European expansion and the lawless freedom of a new frontier, their varied pasts shape a relationship between them in, what the powerful joint stock monopolies of Europe call, "the triangle trade". The sailors who ply that trade, the African slaves caught up in it, and those who seek an end to the business of slavery, all refer to it as "The Devil's Triangle". The bond forged in that place will shape the men that they become in an epic saga, "Triangle: A Memoir of Black" Caesar".
I met Lancelot one summer afternoon while camping on Elliot Key. I knew of him through my father who had hired him as a Bone Fish guide in the past, for the entertainment of business clients. My friends and I had taken my boat out to Elliot Key, to dive for lobster when Lancelot pulled up along side. The moment he spoke I knew who he was. My mother, who had met him before, told me of his education and his perfect English diction. We conversed pleasantly for several minutes before, he espied our ice-chest, he asked, "Have you got a cold Coke?"
I nodded that I did and opened the ice-chest to offer one. He reached in, pulled one out of the ice, thanked me and went on his way. That night, as I sat by our fire, on the windward side of the island, he appeared suddenly, standing next to me, in the dark. I was startled, having not seen or heard him approach. He apologized politely, sat down next to the fire and asked, "Have you got another one, Coke?"
I said that I did and pointed to the ice-chest near him on his side of the fire. We talked for a long time that night about him and his life on Caesar's Creek. During the conversation I interrupted him at hearing a strange sound that had troubled me earlier, a whispering sound that came from the dense tangle of jungle surrounding our camp. But it was barely audible over the sound of the wind off the ocean and the water rushing over the reef.
"Listen." I repeated, holding my breath. He hadn't heard it the first time. Then it came again. He cocked an ear and I asked, "There. What is that?"
"It's the ghosts." He answered without hesitation or smile. "The ghosts of the children."
I was young and fairly gullible at the time. I would have believed anything an adult told me.
"What ghosts, what children?" I could feel the hairs raising at the back of my neck. I wanted to turn and look, but he didn't look and I didn't want to appear, well, gullible. Too late I guess.
Lancelot went on to tell me the story of Caesar's Creek, the legend of Caesar's Rock and how the creek got its name. His version was the story of a great and powerful pirate called Black Caesar, a man who was legend in his own right, who was discredited in history and cheated of the fame he deserved because of his race.
Lancelot told me of the children of Caesar's maroon community who had lived on Elliot Key before it had a name and who died in the great storm of 1715. He spoke of vast treasure hoarded by an escaped slave named Henri Caesar, a giant black man who sailed in command of his own sloop in partnership with the infamous, Blackbeard and his fleet. His story went on into the wee hours of the morning and, when finished, Lancelot Jones excused himself politely and left our camp. I never saw Lancelot again after that, but I never forgot that night, or the story he told me with such passion.
Years later, when I thought I would like to become a novelist, my first attempt was an interpretation of Lancelot's story of Black Caesar. It was what I refer to as the first novel I never finished. I worked hard on it for more than a year, but it just kept going and going till I put it aside realizing that I didn't know how the story ended.
I won't say how many years have passed since then, but as I began to research my character more thoroughly I found a history so vague and variant that Lancelot's legend of Black Caesar seemed more probable than the official, historical record. For that reason, I have adapted his premise and written a novel based on the character he described to me that night so long ago.
This novel is the story of a great and powerful pirate in his own right. Though he was African and swept up in the slave trade as a boy, he never adopted the role of a victim. Black Caesar was not born a slave and he was determined not to die as one. The story revolves around the life he shared with Edward Drummond, later known as Blackbeard, and Collin Aldworth, a boy from a well to do family in England, sent by his father on a "journey of education", aboard a slave ship called "Arthur".
The life these three young men share in the "Golden Age of Piracy" is a story of great, personal struggle in the crucible of a changing world. Caught together in a battle between the imperial forces of European expansion and the lawless freedom of a new frontier, their varied pasts shape a relationship between them in, what the powerful joint stock monopolies of Europe call, "the triangle trade". The sailors who ply that trade, the African slaves caught up in it, and those who seek an end to the business of slavery, all refer to it as "The Devil's Triangle". The bond forged in that place will shape the men that they become in an epic saga, "Triangle: A Memoir of Black" Caesar".
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