Benito Cereno

Originally published as a short story, and based on a true tale, this novella is about the attempts made by Amaso Delano of Massachusetts, the captain of ship, to aid another ship in distress--a slaveship under the command of the mortally ill Benito Cereno. Gradually, Captain Delano realizes that Cereno is actually a prisoner: the slaves have mutinied and are now in control. Delano captures the ship and executes the ringleaders, and Cereno enters a monastery, where he dies. Captain Delano is another in Melville's series of heroes whose innocence prevents them from fully comprehending the evil to which they are exposed.