As he grew older James made it his mission to learn everything he could about Never Land and how to find it again, but the secrets of Never Land were always out of reach. He found nothing but rumors that sounded like children’s stories, chronicling the adventures of Peter Pan—adventures James felt should have been his own, and that had been stolen unjustly from him when he was found and brought home. And just as he was about to lose hope of ever finding Never Land again, like magic James found stories of pirates sitting on the shelves of his father’s library. He was intrigued by these dastardly pirates who were said to sail to mysterious and magical lands. He found himself enamored of these tales of the brave seafaring men and women who traveled the high seas looking for treasure and having adventures, in his world and beyond.

Of course this wouldn’t do for James’s parents, who raised him to be a proper young gentleman. He was sent to the finest schools, first Eton and then Balliol College, Oxford, and upon graduation he was expected to find a wealthy young woman to marry. Like so many titled families, James’s parents were burdened with the upkeep of a large estate and grounds without the money to do so. Of course they wouldn’t stoop to working, so their only option was finding the daughter of a wealthy family so they might save the family estate. But James had other plans in mind. He was going to become a pirate.