Gilbert set the first act of his opera off the rocky coast of Cornwall, where a band of good-natured and inefficient pirates are celebrating the release of their young apprentice, Frederic (Rex Smith), from his indentures. Frederic, however, shocks them with his revelation that he intends to leave them to lead an honest life, since he became a pirate in the first place only by accident. As a little lad his father had instructed his nursery maid, Ruth...