The Black Joke Author:Farley Mowat This is a rousing sea story in the tradition of the great classic pirate tales. The time is the 1030's. The loot is bootleg liquor, not pirate gold, and the ship is the Black Joke, Jonathan Spence, owner and master. Spences have been sailing Black Jokes out of Ship Hole, Newfoundland, for almost 300 years. But this year there is no market fo... more »r the cod she is rigged to catch, no cargo to carry. Simon Barnes holds the purse strings of every family in Ship Hole, and he wants the Black Joke, the speediest, nimblest ship on the coast.« less