John Thomas Haines based his melodrama Rattlin the Reefer; or, The Tiger of the Sea! (Victoria, 1836) on an 1836 novel of the same name by Edward Howard (bap. 1793, d. 1841), first serialized in Metropolitan Magazine. The story begins in the Scottish town of Hawthorndown and follows a local squire, Oakhead, who wants to marry Mary, Ralph’s foster sister, who loves Farmer. Mary’s drunken father supports marriage to the wealthy landowner, but when she refuses, Ralph Rattlin, a good natured orphan youth of uncertain parentage destined for the navy, supports Mary against Oakhead’s criminal band, earning his animosity. The action then shifts to the West Indies, where Ralph, on leave from his ship, meets and falls in love with Josephine, the enslaved daughter of a wealthy planter. Her father Manuel, a Royalist who fled the French Revolution, supports their planned marriage, promising them his land and gold. Ralph deserts the navy to marry her, but Oakhead, now turned pirate, appears and steals Manuel’s gold. Oakhead also kidnaps Ralph, who, though thought dead, escapes. Josephine, trapped on the pirate’s ship, becomes his slave, but preserves her virtue. Further complications ensue, until Oakhead and his gang return to Hawthorndown. Wealthy with stolen goods, but pretending to have reformed, Oakhead forces Mary to marry him. The finale reveals Oakhead as the killer of Ralph’s illegitimate brother, who has taken his identity in order to steal his property and title: Sir Ralph Rateline. Dying, Oakhead repents, and the pairs of lovers seem destined for happiness.