Welcome to Pirate Academy, Coral Sea Province! Meet the talented and ambitious young pirate apprentices of Barracuda Class and their favourite teaching captains – each and every one of them a pirate legend in their own right! Be alert… you might also bump into an agent or two of the dastardly League of True Pirates here…

All his life, eleven-year-old Jacoby has only wanted one thing – to be a pirate captain, just like his dad, Captain Beaufort Blunt. Jacoby is one of the most skilled and popular kids at Pirate Academy, Coral Sea Province. But he’s in for a few nasty surprises – from a disappointing (to say the least) school report to the sudden disappearance of his room-mate, Wing. The next shock will be the biggest of all. Suddenly, life seems to be testing him like never before. Does he have what it takes to rise to these new challenges?

Jasmine is one of the star students of Barracuda Class, loved in equal measure by her classmates and teaching captains. But when her parents fail to show up for Captains’ Evening and are declared “Missing at Sea”, Jasmine’s world changes in a heartbeat. Can Jasmine trust her teachers when they say they’re doing everything in their power to find her family? She’s always been smart, studied hard and played by the rules. Now, suddenly, she can’t help but wonder if it’s time to break the rules and go seek answers for herself.

Neo is the new addition to Barracuda Class. He arrives in the Academy harbour under cover of night and it’s fair to say he’s keeping a few BIG secrets. For one thing, Neo Splice is not his real name – it’s a fake identity he’s assumed to help him hide out safely at Pirate Academy. The truth is… his ship was attacked and he’s on the run from some the ruthless and dangerous League of True Pirates. Neo’s new classmates want to know everything about him but can he risk revealing who he really is without putting them in the danger zone too?

Ocean is Jasmine’s room-mate and one of her closest friends at Pirate Academy. She is fiercely loyal but she can sometimes be very stubborn. A skilled pirate apprentice, Ocean has leadership quality stamped all over her. After all, her family is one of the most ambitious pirate dynasties to sail the oceans. The Lermentovs are deadly rivals of the Corsini family, so it’s vitally important they never find out that another of Ocean’s closest pals in Barracuda Class is… Cosmo Corsini.

Cosmo is one of Jacoby’s best friends and (secretly) one of Ocean’s too. He is naturally confident with a dry sense of humour. On the downside, he can be quick to lash out when he feels under threat. When Neo arrives in Barracuda Class, all Cosmo’s insecurities are triggered and – as he later admits – Cosmo behaves horribly. But he is quick to see the error of his ways and rallies to support Neo in the face of real danger. Cosmo shows great bravery and resilience when something very unexpected and frightening happens to him out at sea.

Priyanka – Priya to her friends – is another highly talented pirate apprentice in Barracuda Class, with unrivalled skills in sailing and also, it turns out, keeping secrets. Her classmates are about to discover that Priya has been leading an extraordinary double-life at Pirate Academy and, as the conflict between the Pirate Federation and the League of True Pirates gets going, Priya finds herself caught right at the heart of the battle.

You won’t find a kinder soul in Barracuda Class than Leif Larsen, son of Captain Kirstin Larsen, the Danish pirate captain, who teaches at the Academy. Leif is always there for you if you need advice or just a good listener. Leif has had his own challenges and they have made him resilient. He lost the lower part of his left leg when attacked by a shark. He now wears a prosthetic leg and a state-of-the-art blade for sailing and other vigorous activities. He loves his blade leg and reckons it gives him a massive advantage in sword bouts. Where others fight with one blade, he has two!

Shay is arguably the most talented young sword-hand in Barracuda Class. Captain Victor Molina reckons they might well be a PIRATE PRODIGY. Shay can be one of the quieter students in a noisy class but they are very smart, extremely loyal and willing to go the extra nautical mile for a friend. Shay is one of the first of the Barracudas to welcome Neo into the established friendship group and quickly proves they can be trusted with big secrets.

Wing is academic, agile and athletic. Added to which, he has been Jacoby’s roommate for four-and-a-half years and lived to tell the tale! Wing has two swashbuckling pirate captain mums – Captain Raven Moon and Captain Cressida Moon. Early on in the story, they sail into Pirate Academy and tell him to pack up his things – it’s too dangerous for him to stay at school. As Wing is whisked away to sea, he wonders just what these dangers are. And how long will it be before he is reunited with Jacoby and his other friends in Barracuda Class?

December Wilde is a ferocious and flamboyant pirate captain, who likes to do piracy her way. Lately, she has been lying low, living a quiet life on the backwaters of a tropical island … but she’s about to re-enter the full-blown world of piracy in a major way. She has known Neo since he was a young boy and, when he calls on her to help him with an important mission, she doesn’t hesitate to go all in. Her ship is called Brave as the Waves – a description you could well apply to the captain herself.

Pickle is a young boar and Captain Wilde’s rather unusual travelling companion. He is inquisitive and sociable, and hugely enjoys getting caught up in the adventures of the young pirates from the Academy. But he’s only young and prone to tire easily. One of his favourite hobbies is napping. He is generally very friendly – so long as you NEVER call him a pig! – and forms a strong bond with Neo from the first time the pair meet.

Noah is Jasmine’s uncle – her mum’s brother. Jasmine is reunited with him towards the end of the first Pirate Academy adventure. She hopes he’ll have news of her parents but it’s safe to say he has a lot of other things on his mind. It seems like Uncle Noah has more than a passing knowledge of the ruthless rebel organisation, the League of True Pirates.

Commodore John Kuo is Headcaptain at Pirate Academy, Coral Sea Province. He’s also VERY high up in the ranks of the Pirate Federation – the worldwide organisation of pirates who run the oceans. For a Headcaptain, Commodore Kuo sometimes takes some quite unusual – you might even say “reckless” – decisions. For example, when Neo and Priya are kidnapped by the League of True Pirates, Kuo decides to take the whole of Barracuda Class along on the dangerous rescue mission, calling it “a unique field trip.”

Deputy Headcaptain, Mayday Salt, is a brilliant pirate, descended from a long line of inspiring women buccaneers, including her grandmother, Captain Serafina Salt. Mayday is smart, thoughtful and kind. She always has the interests of her young pirate apprentices uppermost in her thoughts – whether she’s based in the Pirate Academy itself or out on the oceans. Some people think it’s about time she replaced Commodore Kuo as Headcaptain.

Porfirio is the youngest of three famous pirate captain brothers. He’s taken time out from sailing his ship to take on a very special role at Pirate Academy, Coral Sea Province. He is the Librarian of Swords. And he’s poised to become an important mentor for Neo, helping Neo both to develop his Sword Reader powers and to see just how rare his talents are. Porfirio is usually to be found, barefoot, in the Library of Swords – archiving a world-famous sword, reading specialist books to further his own knowledge or drinking pungent sea urchin tea. He has a calico cat named Nantucket, who is very free-spirited.

Captain Lisabeth Quivers is the doyenne of Knots Class, where she teachers our pirate apprentices all about nautical knots and also the attack knots she has devised for use during combat. With her floaty clothes, posh voice and kind manner, you could be forgiven for thinking Captain Quivers is a soft touch. But nothing could be further from the truth! She is one of the most impressive, skilled – and ferocious – pirate warriors of her generation.

Captain Platonov is a firm believer in discipline. He’s one of the most athletic teaching captains at Pirate Academy. He masterminds “Strength, Stamina and Motivation” (“SSM”), the fitness class which heralds the start of every Academy day. Captain Platonov shares sailing teaching duties with his good pal Captain Shivaji Singh, with whom he enjoys a lot of banter. Platonov has the toughest of exteriors but, under this, beats a heart of gold.

Captain Singh is one of the greatest strategic minds in piracy. He shares sailing teaching duties with his good friend Captain Platonov – but, whilst Captain Platonov’s priority is physical strength and fitness, Captain Singh believes that mental agility is even more important for the best pirate leaders. The Academy feels lucky indeed to have persuaded him to leave his own ship, The Nataraj, to focus his attention on the apprentice pirates.

Captain Larsen is one of the most popular teaching captains, and also one of the strictest. She teaches Navigation by Map and Moon. She is also a single-parent to Leif, who is in Barracuda Class. Mother and son have a close bond. Captain Larsen believes Leif to be one of the most talented students at Pirate Academy but she is sometimes extra tough on him so as never to be accused of picking favourites.

Everyone loves Captain Victor Molina, the legendary sword hand who trains the students each day in combat. Warm-hearted Victor Molina wants nothing more than to see his young apprentices perfect their own combat skills, whether they are wielding swords or other weapons. He has a kind manner and is quick to realise when someone needs a morale-boosting chat. But you would be wise to keep your eyes on Captain Molina – he might have a surprise or two up his sleeve.

When twins Connor and Grace Tempest are shipwrecked off the coast of Australia, they find themselves thrown into different realms of adventure, challenge and danger. They each meet some fascinating and extraordinary characters – whether these are regular buccaneers or the immortal kind. Neither Connor nor Grace knows who they can trust and, as you join the voyage, you might just find yourself in the same quandary…

Connor always had a wayward streak. Like his twin sister Grace, he never felt he truly fitted into life in Crescent Moon Bay – the claustrophobic coastal town, where their dad Dexter was the lighthouse keeper.

Like Connor, Grace always felt like an outsider in her suffocating small town, Crescent Moon Bay. Deep down, she was restless for a different kind of life. Even the strange shanty her dad Dexter often sung the twins – about a ship crewed by Vampirates – didn’t terrify her so much as intrigue her and make her think there’s a world of possibilities beyond the bay.

Cheng Li is a super-ambitious young pirate, fresh out of the Pirate Academy and already a Deputy Captain. Which would be great if she wasn’t on board The Diablo, second-in-command to Molucco Wrathe, who she finds deeply irritating and totally old-school.

Love him or hate him, you’d have to agree that Molucco (pronounced Mo-luck-o) Wrathe is one of the most notorious and flamboyant captains ever to sail the high seas. With his rainbow-coloured dreadlocks and his pet snake Scrimshaw (who somehow thrives among those dreadlocks!), Molucco Wrathe is a larger-than-life character.

Cate Morgan has risen from humble beginnings to a position of power and responsibility – as Head of Weapons and Attack Strategy aboard The Diablo.

It is enigmatic Irish sailor Lorcan Furey who rescues Grace from the icy seas after she is shipwrecked and comes so close to drowning.

Darcy’s life as a flapper and chanteuse, performing on board a luxury ocean liner in the 1920s was violently cut short when the vessel was struck by freak lightning, fusing Darcy’s human spirit with the ship’s carved wooden figurehead.

According to the old shanty – sung by the twins’ dad Dexter Tempest – the Vampirate Captain “wears a veil, so as to curtail your fright at his death-pale skin, his lifeless eyes and his teeth as sharp as night.”

Sidorio’s mortal life was lived out during the height of the Roman empire. He was killed by Julius Caesar himself but, after coming back from the dead, exacted a terrible revenge.

Lady Lola Elizabeth Mercy Lockwood (aka Black Heart) is a woman with a mysterious past. A bored aristocrat turned Highwaywoman, she was trampled to death by her own horses. She now sports a black heart tattoo around one eye – covering her fatal wound. She roams the seas aboard The Vagabond, with her all-female crew of Vampirates.

Grace meets Johnny at Sanctuary, where the “Vaquero Vampirate” is working with Mosh Zu on his addictive relationship with blood.

SPOILER ALERT – if you haven’t yet read TIDE OF TEROR, you might want to postpone reading this until you have.

Guru of the Vampirates, Mosh Zu Kamal presides over Sanctuary – the mysterious mountaintop retreat where Vampirates learn to heal their pain and develop a healthier relationship with blood. This might mean taking too much blood or failing to take enough.