Der Freibeuter by Joseph Conrad

An aging mariner who once lived by the sword and sea has settled ashore in a Mediterranean village, yet the pull of old loyalties and the tumult of revolutionary Europe draw him back into action; as local intrigues and the demands of comrades force a fateful decision, the story traces his quiet life on land, the moral burdens of a privateering past, and a final voyage that tests identity, honor, and the price of freedom.