This four-act Edward E. Rose drama was produced by Charles Frohman at the Empire Theatre, where it opened on 11 September 1900 for 128 performances. Based on a Winston Churchill novel, the play starred John Drew in a rare departure from drawing-room comedy. In this swashbuckling 18th-century tale set in England and colonial America, Drew, whom critics considered too old for the role, played a young man overcoming imprisonment for debt and a kidnapping by pirates to win the love of a beautiful woman before joining the navy under the legendary John Paul Jones.
The Historical Dictionary of the American Theater. James Fisher.