SynopSiS AcT i
A rOCKY SeAShOre On The COAST OF COrnWAll, enGlAnd (1873) The pirates are toasting Frederic, who has finished his apprenticeship and is now a full-fledged pirate. Some years earlier, Ruth, Frederic’s nurse, accidentally bound him to serve a pirate instead of a pilot. Frederic abhors this occupation, but due to an absurdly overdeveloped sense of duty he refused to leave until his contractual obligation was met. Now he invites the pirates to return to civilization with him, but their King points out that piracy is comparatively honest when contrasted with respectability.
The pirates return, kidnap the girls, and declare their immediate intention of being “conjugally matrimonified,” a situation averted by the arrival of the MajorGeneral. Knowing one of the pirates’ weaknesses, he throws himself on their mercy, declaring that he is an orphan, and the tender-hearted pirates agree not to take away his daughters. 12
©Ken Howard/Opera Theatre of St. Louis
Frederic has never laid eyes on any woman other than the middle-aged and very plain Ruth who has remained by his side, and whom he thinks of as beautiful. He is soon met with reality when he spies the daughters of Major-General Stanley arriving for a picnic on the beach. Frederic begs one of them to take pity on his lot and marry him. He finds a most willing accomplice to this plan in Mabel Stanley.