The Wreck of the Corsaire - William Clark Russell

This book was published in 1897. When cabin passenger Mr. Catesby climbs into the rigging of the Ruby in search of cooler air, he is struck full in the face and chest by an errant seabird bearing a sealed tin box tied about its neck. What he finds in that box leads him to unexpected encounters with a wrecked ship, chests of gold, thirst, desperation, and some curiously courteous cutlass-carrying cutthroats (sorry). It projects a rather different take on the familiar bloodstained swashbuckling sea story. - Summary by Steven Seitel