He was born in Jesi, Italy and died in Switzerland.

He was the author of more than 30 novels and many collections of short stories. He is best known for his world-wide bestsellers:

• The Sea Hawk (1915), a tale of the Armada and the pirates of the Barbary Coast;
• Scaramouche (1921), a tale of the French Revolution in which a fugitive hides out in a commedia dell'arte troupe; and
• Captain Blood (1922), in which the title character is admiral of a fleet of pirate ships. (He also wrote two sequels.)

Epitaph

Sabatini's epitaph, on his gravestone, is the first line from Scaramouche:

"He was born with the gift of laughter, and a sense that the world was mad."