| abstract | - Ethel Radcliffe (b ca. 1655 - ca. 1687) was the headstrong young daughter of Red Rodney Radcliffe, the notorious pirate and captain of the Black Hand in Avalon. She was twelve years old when her father, whom she adored, was killed in combat with her second cousin once removed, William Radcliff, and she swore permanent revenge on the Stuart merchant for his role in her father's death. Ethel was as bloodthirsty as her father, if not more. She had an intuitive understanding of the pirate life, and how best to protect it. As her suggestion, Rodney posted a pinnace off of North Cape to act as a warning of William Radcliff's approaching fleet. When the pirates were forced to retreat after the Battle of the Hesperian Gulf, Ethel was horrified by her father's failure. When that same fleet entered Avalon Bay and began cannonading Avalon, Ethel took it upon herself to command one of the guns that protected Black Hand Fort. Despite her father's best efforts, Ethel stayed at her command. Upon the fall of Avalon to William Radcliff and the death of Red Rodney, Ethel warned William he should kill her now, or she'd kill him later. Mildly worried but unwilling to execute a child, William Radcliff had her sent away and provided for. Ethel grew up, married, and had children before returning as a grown woman to Stuart and shooting William Radcliff dead on his doorstep. She went to the gallows utterly unrepentant, a testament to the stubborn single-mindedness of the Radcliff(e) family.
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