This eBook edition of "The Pirate Island & A Pirate of the Caribbees" has been formatted to the highest digital standards and adjusted for readability on all devices. "It was emphatically "a dirty night." The barometer had been slowly but persistently falling during the two previous days; the dawn had been red and threatening, with a strong breeze from S.E.; and as the short dreary November day waxed and waned this strong breeze had steadily increased in strength until by nightfall it had become a regular "November gale," with frequent squalls of arrowy rain and sleet, which, impelled by the furious gusts..." (The Pirate Island) Harry Collingwood was the pseudonym of William Joseph Cosens Lancaster (1851–1922) who was a British civil engineer and specialised in seas and harbours. He was also an author of nautical and piratical fiction.