The language of the piece seems almost Dickensian, which indicates the subject would be either gangsters of the mid-1800s to possibly as late as the 1930s, or the almost mercenarily amoral sailors (even those associated with non-privateer navy or trade fleets) of the early end of that period.
The language of the piece seems almost Dickensian, which indicates the subject would be either gangsters of the mid-1800s to possibly as late as the 1930s, or the almost mercenarily amoral sailors (even those associated with non-privateer navy or trade fleets) of the early end of that period.