Lore:Torradan ap Dugal

Captain Torradan ap Dugal
Captain Torradan ap Dugal as a skeleton circa 3E 433
Race	Unknown	Gender	Male
Born		Dunbarrow
Died		3E 286 Anvil
Resided in		Anvil
Appears in		Oblivion - Thieves Den

Torradan ap Dugal, "Scourge of the Abecean Sea, Terror of the Gold Coast, Cutthroat of Hunding Bay, and Lord Captain of the Red Sabre" was the infamous captain of a pirate fleet known as the Red Sabre, who preyed on unescorted supply ships along the Gold Coast during the Camoran Usurper.

Dugal was born in the town of Dunbarrow on the northern coast of Skyrim. His parents sold him off to a sea captain when he was nine. The captain smuggled skooma from Daggerfall to Vivec, and taught him how to avoid the Imperial Navy. The captain was eventually caught and hanged. Dugal wandered Hammerfell for a bit, before he was hired as a midshipman on Captain Kaladas' ship. Kaladas was a drunkard and ran the ship aground in Anvil, where he drank himself to death from the embarrassment. Dugal then signed on with a different captain, but then the Usurper broke out and the Imperial Navy took possession of all the pirate ships in port to go and fight in the war. Dugal and the other crewmates didn't stand for their captain handing over the ship, so they slit his throat and made off with the ship.

Dugal then began running up and down the Gold Coast, preying on cargo ships from High Rock delivering supplies for the war. He had soon recruited a sizable fleet, and became the captain of the Black Flag, a ship that could outrun any vessel. He called his fleet the Red Sabre. The Empire had a bounty of forty thousand coins on his head, and the Imperial Legion couldn't get anywhere near his base in Anvil.

When the Usurper died, the Navy turned its attention back to stopping piracy. Starting in 3E 267 Commodore Fasil Umbranox took up port in Anvil to try to break up the Red Sabre. Sponsored by the Emperor, he sent ships all over the Abecean Sea to track down the fleet. In an attempt to capture some of Umbranox's forces while he was following a lead, Dugal headed into Anvil bay. However, Umbranox had men there waiting for him, and they trapped the Black Flag in the bay until Umbranox's flagship showed up. Dugal fought to the last ship, but in the end tried to flee. Umbranox's mages caused a cliff wall to collapse on top of his boat, in effect destroying the Red Sabre. As a reward for destroying the pirates, Umbranox was given the title of Count of Anvil, as well as the funds to build a city over the ashes of Old Anvil. He built a new Castle Anvil on the same island the Black Flag was buried under.

Unfortunately, Dugal and his crew had not died in the collapse. The cliff formed a cavern around the wrecked ship, trapping the men inside. They lived off rations, and turned the ship's hull into a home. The cavern was given the name Dunbarrow Cove. One by one, the crew slowly died of a sickness. After around twenty years living underground, Dugal was the last one left. He wrote a journal before he died circa 3E 286.

In undeath, the crew's skeletons haunted the cavern for many years. When the cavern was uncovered in 3E 433 under Castle Anvil, the Hero of Kvatch put the spirits of Dugal and his crewmates to rest and claimed ownership of the cave.

Notes

• Torradan shares a last name with Fortunata ap Dugal, the Pirate Queen who ruled Anvil during the Interregnum. However, there is no evidence of any direct familial connection.

See Also

• For game-specific information, see the Oblivion article.