Sussex 1810.
"About three days to go now remained before the start of the voyage. And down at the Free Moon in Roseville, Black Bart was taking roll of the enlisted crew as they came..."
Black Bart, presumed to be dead since 1722, has resurfaced. And he has a ship, The Mary Celeste - a brigantine, crewed by brigands (pirates) of his kind -of course. And this time, though he can't still his unruly inclinations, he is on a legitimate course, sailing to Fisher bay in Antarctica. There, he is supposed to find The Fisher King, who lives in grand antiquity, in the sea, with mermaids. "It takes a kiss from a mermaid to survive infinitely underwater."
(Black Bread, in both book I and book II, comes from Rye.)
See how the series develops, in Black Bread III.