Cruelly tricked, trapped and betrayed to the British by Black Jack, Captain Evelyn Alcock and Dick the Cabin Boy managed to escape from his fiendish trap and were well on the way to taking back Captain Alcock's ship, the Vulture.
In the meantime, Captain Bella Donna and Bloodbeard Filch were thrown into prison where they inspired a slave riot and escaped to the harbour in the confusion. They managed to leap onto the decks of the Vulture as it sailed away from Pirate Island, with Black Jack's galleon close behind.
Alcock, Bella Donna, Dick and Bloodbeard managed to lose Black Jack in the Dire Straits and set sail for the French harbour of Port Au Repair in order to get the Vulture made shipshape and ready for revenge. Alcock and Bloodbeard went to look for more crew as Bella Donna and Dick spent a lot of time in the crows' nest alone, playing spot the British armada.
Eventually the Vulture was ready to sail. One of their new crew, Running Fred the clubfoot tells them of a Spanish galleon, the Santa Lucretia loaded with jewels, including the daughter of the Governor of Santa Carla, Senorita Maria Anna Rosa Alesandra Michaela Aleisha del Piado. The brave brigands boldly burst forth from the harbour, hoping to happen upon the hapless Hispanics, pausing only to throw Alliteration Alex from the foredeck.
Upon spying the Santa Lucretia, the pirates all hid, giving the impression that they were perhaps a plague ship. The Spanish fell for it, and our heros swarmed them, drove them off and sank their escort ship. The crew ransacked the ship for treasure and Dick ransacked Senorita Maria Etcetera and her maid Consuela Diego. Bella Donna claimed the Santa Lucretia for herself and renamed it the Jack o'Lantern. Alcock found Dick at his shennanigans and insisted that he marry the two women. Dick begged off and said that one was enough for him, so Alcock bravely offered to marry Consuela. Maria claimed that she could not be separated from her maid and so the four of them began to plan their 4-way marriage.
The majority of the crew, caught up in this marital fever, all opt to join the newly weds on the Vulture, leaving Bella Donna with a Spanish galleon and only 7 crew. Alcock declares that they are going to attack Pirate Isle, and the crew begin to mutiny. Bloodbeard fires a cannon at them, misses and sets fire to the magazine. The Vulture blows up as all the crew swim to the Jack o'Lantern. Bloodbeard is made 1st Mate, and Alcock 2nd Mate. Consuela says that she could never marry the 2nd Mate and asks to join Bella Donna's crew. Dick breathes a sigh of relief as Maria says that she could not possibly marry him in that case.
Evelyn points out that he still has half the treasure and no crew to share it with, and Maria suddenly becomes enamoured of him. The crew threaten mutiny again unless someone gets married. In the end, Evelyn Alcock, Dick, Maria and Consuela are all married (south of the equator where polyamory is allowed) to each other by Father O'Bannion, before Evelyn and Bella Donna decide to secretly sail to Pirate Island before launching an attack. Black Jack is swarmed over and the British are paid off. Evelyn takes Black Jack's galleon in reparation for the lost Vulture.
.... a year of privateering, arrrring, arghing, and general mayhem passes...
Bella Donna disappears one night, taking Father O'Bannion and The Vulture and Evelyn's experienced crew with her, leaving the Welsh and Norse parts. A badly scrawled note indicates that she has had some sort of religious experience and is heading for the Vatican. The rest of our brave bucaneers realise that they have been left with the Jack o'Lantern II - but even worse, they have been left with Bella Donna's murderous, cuthroat and in some cases non-housetrained crew, who will quickly run amok without the discipline supplied by Bella Donna. Dick, Hercule, Alcock, Bloodbeard and Consuela quickly follow her trail, leaving a pregnant Maria at home. They first head for the religious colony of Saint Herbert. There they find the convent of the Sisters of Chastity - and Prudence Serotina, Bella Donna's identical physical double. Hercule de la Bois suggests using Prudence to fool the crew (because, as first mate, he is the one in the most danger) until they can return Bella Donna to her rightful place.
Telling the crew that they intend to raid the Vatican with the Jack o'Lantern and desperately setting sail after the real Bella Donna, our heroes head east...