Pirates and Privateers

Special Note: After each article, names of specific persons in the article are identified.
They are either pirates or others. In this case, pirates refers to anytime of sea marauder (legal or illegal).
This is not a judgement; it is merely a style decision to manage the layout of this page.
The article itself correctly identifies whether a person is a pirate or a privateer.

Lady Luck and Other Amusements

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The only sure thing about luck is that it will change. The nineteenth-century writer Bret Harte wasn’t referring to pirates when he wrote this line, but luck shadowed pirates in their daily lives whether they were at sea or on land. Fortune, whether good or bad, could be had not just in pillaging but also at rest. Sometimes, though, pirates just wanted to have fun. Author’s Note: While I worked on this article, my father passed away. He shared his affinity for the water and boats with me in my youth, which helped awaken a desire to write about pirates. This article is for him. Now that you are at peace and without pain, Dad, may you eat, drink, and be merry. Lee Aker Rest in peace

Being a Pirate (or How to Be a Pirate) Havens History Law, Justice, & Pirate Hunters Leisure Modern Piracy Notorious Pirates (or Who Was Who?) Piracy and Trade Piracy Around the World Pirate Captives Pirates and Literature Privateers Ships and Sailing Talk Like a Pirate Treasure and Shipwrecks

Being a Pirate (or How to Be a Pirate)

The Crew of a Pirate Ship
by Cindy Vallar
Pirates require a ship to practice their trade. While they dispense with many traditional seafaring hierarchies, they understand the need to have some members lead them in battle. They elect their officers, and certain pirates have a greater value than others because of their skills. Who are the officers aboard a pirate ship and what are their duties? Whose skills are most prized? What happens if pirates disagree with their captain?
Publication Date: 4 April 2005
Pirates: Samuel Bellamy, Blackbeard, Richard Browne, Stede Bonnet, Bullock, Edmund Cook, Edward Davis, Chevalier de Grammont, Thomas Dover, Alexandre Exquemelin, James Ferguson, John Hingson, Henry Morgan, Jack Rackham, Bartholomew Roberts, Peter Scudamore, Bartholomew Sharp, Lionel Wafer, George Wilson
Others: Woodes Rogers

Friends & Enemies
by Cindy Vallar
Pirates don’t live or work in a vacuum. They require others to fence the stolen booty or to prey upon. The outrages they commit stir merchants, ministers, and governments to see that justice is done. The pirates also visit havens where women and spirits await.  Informants share their knowledge. Governors authorize hunting expeditions. Hunters track down their quarry. Victims testify at trials. Once caught, most pirates meet a similar fate -- dancing the hempen jig. Come and meet the friends and enemies of the pirates.
Publication Dates: 5 May & 9 July 2005
Pirates: John Auger, Adam Baldridge, William Baugh, John Bedlocke, Blackbeard (Edward Thache), Anne Bonny, James Brown, Edward Coates, John Criss, Laurens de Graff, Alexander Dolzell, William Griffith, Louis Guittar, Stephen Heynes (Stephen Carless), Benjamin Hornigold, Baptiste Ingell, Thomas Jameson, William Kidd, Jean Laffite, Pierre le Picard, Henry Morgan, John Quelch, Jack Rackham, Mary Read, Bartholomew Roberts, Robert Stephenson, Thomas Tew, William Valentine (William Vaughan), Charles Vane, Tee Wetherley, Jan Willems, Zheng Yi, Zheng Yi Sao
Others: Jean Ango, Lord Bellomont, George Carey, Jean-Baptiste Ducasse, Benjamin Fletcher, Richard Glasspoole, Killigrews, Robert Livingston, Paul Lorraine, Thomas Lynch, William Markham, Cotton Mather, Robert Maynard, Thomas Modyford, Jacques Nepveu, Nicholson, Chaloner Ogle, Frederick Philipse, David Porter, Woodes Rogers

The Jolly Roger and No Quarter Given
by Cindy Vallar
When asked about the flag most commonly associated with pirates, most people describe a white skull and crossbones on a black field. The Jolly Roger isn't the only flag pirates use, but the sight of it makes seamen tremble. The most feared of the pirate flags is the red flag, la jolie rouge, for it means death to all.
Publication Date: 1 May 2001
Pirates: Christopher Moody, John Quelch, Jack Rackham, Ali Raja, Bartholomew Roberts, Thomas Tew, Edward Thache (Blackbeard), Charles Vane, Zheng Yi

Making Your Mark
by Cindy Vallar
Pirates are notorious for their lawlessness and brutality. Yet they adhere to the ideals of the French Revolution -- liberty, equality, and brotherhood -- a century before that country's monarchy falls. Their articles of agreement set them apart from other naval and governmental institutions of the time because they incorporate principles of democracy.
Publication Date: 1 June 2000
Pirates: Alexandre Exquemelin, John Phillips

Medicine at Sea
by Cindy Vallar
December 10th . . . In the afternoon of this day our chief surgeon cut off the foot of a negro-boy, which was perished with cold . . .  December 12th . . . Yesterday died the negro-boy whose leg was cut off by our surgeon, as was mentioned the day before. This afternoon also died another negro, somewhat bigger than the former, named Chepillo. The boy’s name was Beafero. All this evening but small wind.

Basil Ringrose pens these words in his journal in 1680. Mere notes in history, his entries provide a glimpse of the tenuous lives pirates live. If they survive diseases (the principal cause of death for many), they may develop a “bursted belly” (hernia) from lifting and pulling, or break a finger or arm while loading cargo, or fall from a mast, or burn a hand while tarring ropes, or be washed overboard. An additional danger for pirates is the chance of being wounded or killed during battle. This is why one of the most esteemed members of any crew is the surgeon. But his work is rarely easy. This article examines medicine at sea during the Age of Sail.
Publication Dates: 1 August & 1 September & 1 October 2007
Pirates: Blackbeard (Edward Thache), Francis Drake, Alexandre Exquemelin, Richard Hawkins, Bartholomew Roberts, Lionel Wafer
Others: Billy Bridle, Diovanni de Vigo, James Lind, John Woodall

A Most Unwelcome Death
by Cindy Vallar
Hollywood’s depiction of a castaway on a deserted island is a far cry from the reality of a pirate sentenced by his fellow mates to be marooned. In most cases, it is a death sentence.
Publication Date: 1 June 2001
Pirates: John Phillips, Bartholomew Roberts, Charles Vane
Others: Woodes Rogers, Selkirk

Oh to Be a Pirate
by Cindy Vallar
Sand sifting through an hourglass symbolizes the swiftness with which time passes. For pirates, it means life is fleeting so they play with the same ferocity as they prey.  Yet the dangers they face are not so different from those of others who sail during the Age of Sail. The beauty of the sea belies the danger it possesses, for in the blink of an eye a ship becomes a wreck or a storm sweeps the ablest of seamen from the deck. If by chance they survive those perils, they may fall victim to disease. If life at sea is so dangerous, why do men become pirates? Is it the lure of treasure or are there other reasons for making a choice that may lead to the hangman's noose if caught?
Publication Dates: 1 July & 1 August 2001
Pirates: Blackbeard (Edward Thache), Stede Bonnet, Charlotte de Berry, John Hincher, William Kidd, Henry Morgan, Bartholomew Roberts,

Pirate Tactics
by Cindy Vallar
Planning, intelligence, the ability to adapt to any given situation, leadership, and teamwork are key to the success of any action. If any one of these is lacking, the action may be jeopardized and the consequences unpredictable. Pirates incorporate these elements into each attack or raid they make. This article examines the various strategies and tactics they employ to carry out successful missions.
Publication Date: 1 August 2006
Pirates: Blackbeard (Edward Thache), John Cornelius, William Dampier, Francis Drake, George Lowther, Bartholomew Roberts
Others: LeSieur du Chastelet des Boys, Robert Maynard

Pirates & Death
by Cindy Vallar
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, death (in its simplest form) is “the act or fact of dying; the end of life; the final and irreversible cessation of the vital functions of an animal or plant.” Yet death is more complicated than that, for one’s demise may be quiet and peaceful, or brutal and cruel. How one dies is far more telling, because it provides those still alive with clues to the final moments of how that person expires. Is it a simple exhalation of one’s last breath, or is the person assassinated, beheaded, crucified, hanged, massacred, shot, or slaughtered?

Pirates encounter death in a variety of ways, but they also snuff out the lives of others. They view death differently than most, because reality has shown them life is short and rarely sweet. This article explores pirates’ encounters with death, both as instigators and victims of the Grim Reaper.
Publication Dates: 26 July & 20 August & 20 September & 20 October & 20 November & 20 December 2014
Pirates: John Alexander, Pascal Anan, Thomas Anstis, Roger Ball, Aruj Barbarossa, Samuel Bellamy, Blackbeard (Edward Thache), Stede Bonnet, Anne Bonny, Manual Boyga, Roche Brasiliano, Hiram Breakes, Samuel South Burgess, Caesar, William Cammock, Chen Lassan, William Dampier, Daniel, Howell Davis, Pedro de Castro, Laurens de Graaf, Raveneau de Lussan, Francis Drake, René Duguay-Trouin, Henry Every, Charles Gibbs, John Gow, Guo Lianghuo, John Halsey, Charles Harris, Kelin Henszlein, Stephen Heynes, Benjamin Hornigold, Walter Kennedy, William Kidd, John King, Jean Laffite, Olivier Levasseur, George Lowther, Blas Miguel, Montbars, Henry Morgan, John Morris, Jean David Nau (François L’Olonnais), Nathaniel North, Thomas Paine, Parker, John Phillips, Thomas Phillips, John Quelch, Jack Rackham, Mary Read, Bartholomew Roberts, Shap 'ng Tsai, Bartholomew Sharp, Klaus Störtebeker, Charles Swan, Thomas Tew, Joseph Thwaites, Turget Reis, Nikolaas van Hoorn, Thomas Veale, Lionel Wafer, Xie Yaer, Zheng Yi, Zheng Yi Sao, Zheng Zhilong
Others: Julius Caesar, Richard Glasspoole, Paul Lorrain, Cotton Mather, Robert Maynard, James McRae, Richard Phillips, Woodes Rogers

Pirates & Religion
by Cindy Vallar
If asked today, most people will say pirates are irreligious and, to a degree, this is true. To classify all pirates as such is wrong because sometimes religion plays a key role in acts of piracy, and pirates who blaspheme “find” religion before they die. This article discusses the various ways in which piracy and religion co-exist through centuries.
Publication Dates: 7 February & 6 March 2012
Pirates: Samuel Bellamy, Chang Pao, William Dampier, Raveneau de Lusson, Diego the Mulatto, Francis Drake, Eustace the Monk, Henry Every, Alexandre Exquemelin, William Fly, Cornelius Corneliszoon Jol, William Kidd, François le Clerc, Edward Low, John Philips, Pierre le Grand, Henry Morgan, Darby Mullins, Laurens Prins, John Quelch, Basil Ringrose, Christopher Scudamore, George Shelvocke, Turner Stevens, Lionel Wafer, Zheng Yi Sao
Others: Pope Alexander VI, Philip Ashton, Bertrand d'Ogeron, Edward VI, Elizabeth I, Thomas Gage, Henry VIII, King John, Jean-Baptiste Labat, Jean le Vasseur, Paul Lorrain, Fanny Loviot, Mary I, Cotton Mather, Napoleon, Woodes Rogers, William Snelgrave, Jean-Baptiste Tavernier

Pirates and Their Clothes
by Cindy Vallar
One of the most frequently asked questions I hear is, “What do pirates wear?” It seems like a straightforward question, but it’s not. Clothes change as time passes. What’s in fashion one day may be out of fashion the next. The further back in time one looks, the more stringent the rules regarding clothes become. The basic outfit worn by all mariners doesn’t change much over the centuries when wooden ships with billowing sails venture farther and farther from their homelands. Pirate clothes, like the rogues themselves, break societal boundaries and deviate from the norm.
Publication Dates: 1 May & 1 June 2008
Pirates: Adam Baldridge, Blackbeard (Edward Thache), Anne Bonny, Howell Davis, Francis Drake, Granuaile (Grace O'Malley), Richard Hawkins, John King, Olivier Levasseur (la Buse), Edward Low, Thomas Marris, Dennis McCarthy, Henry Morgan, Jean David Nau (L'Olonnais), Christopher Oloard, James Parrot, Jack Rackham, Mary Read, Bartholomew Roberts, Francis Verney
Others: William Snelgrave, Dorothy Thomas

A Pirate's Arsenal of Torture
by Cindy Vallar
Nestled among the books on my library shelves is John Swain’s The Pleasures of the Torture Chamber. It details a variety of ways to inflict pain on someone from “miscellaneous merriments of the olden times” to pain we inflict upon ourselves. Each of us may have a different viewpoint of what constitutes torture and what does not. For example, some former students likened my silent detentions to the most excruciating form of torture they ever endured. Many pirates experience or witness various forms of torture at some point in their lives before going on the account, and just as law-abiding citizens torture people, so do pirates.
Publication Date: 6 November 2010
Pirates: Christopher Condent, Walter Kennedy, Edward Low, George Lowther, Montbars, Henry Morgan, Jean David Nau (L'Olonnais), John Phillips, Bartholomew Roberts, George Shelvocke

Punishing Their Own and Hunting Prey
by Cindy Vallar
Although often seen as lawless, pirates sail under agreements that include methods of punishment should they disregard the oaths they sign. They also inflict various forms of punishment and torture on their victims. Some of these accounts appear brutal in the extreme, but people of the past lived in a harsh and violent world. Torturing and maiming people to extract information is a common practice, perhaps best illustrated by the Spanish Inquisition. Men and women who refuse to enter a plea in English courts find themselves stretched on their backs in Newgate Prison’s Press Yard where the gaoler placed weights on their chests until they acquiesce. If they don’t, they are crushed to death.
Publication Date: 1 May 2003
Pirates: Henry Morgan, John Phillips, Bartholomew Roberts

To Capture Prey and Plunder It
by Cindy Vallar
Once pirates have a ship, they sail the High Seas in search of prey. How do they capture another ship? How do they defend themselves? What do they search for once they board that ship?
Publication Date: 1 October 2002
Pirates: Thomas Tew

Havens

The Ancient World
by Cindy Vallar
Webster’s Dictionary defines "haven" as any port that provides shelter. Pirates require such harbors in order to survive. Why do pirates favor certain spots over others? What sites in the Ancient World harbor pirates?
Publication Date: 1 December 2001
Others: Julius Caesar, Herodotus, Gnaeus Pompeius (Pompey the Great), Ramses III, Xerxes

Around the World
by Cindy Vallar
Ask someone for a safe port that pirates seek rest and relaxation, and Tortuga, Port Royal, or New Providence most likely come to mind. These aren't the only sanctuaries that welcomed pirates. Safe havens exist North Africa to Asia to America.
Publication Date: 1 January 2002
Pirates: Kanhoji Angria, Barbarossa (Khair ad-Din), Blackbeard (Edward Thache), Réné Duguay-Trouin, Jean Laffite, Robert Surcouf, Xú Yàbǎo (Chui Apoo)
Others: William Claiborne, Andrew Jackson

Madagascar
by Cindy Vallar
The fourth largest island in the world is another locale that attracts pirates. Thomas Tew, Henry Every, and William Kidd are several who visit Madagascar.
Publication Date: 1 February 2002
Pirates: Christopher Condent, Edward England, Henry Every, William Kidd, Thomas Tew
Others: Charles Johnson, Woodes Rogers

Port Royal
by Cindy Vallar
My first introduction to Port Royal came when I saw Errol Flynn in Captain Blood. That depiction of a bustling seaport was a far cry from reality. For a time, Port Royal was a haven for pirates, who helped it gain a reputation of being one of the most vile and evil cities of the 17th century.
Publication Date: 1 March 2002
Pirates: Roche Brasiliano, John Davis, Edward Mansveldt (Mansfield), Henry Morgan, Jack Rackham, Bartholomew Roberts, Charles Vane
Others: Heath, Charles Leslie

Tortuga
by Katherine Bone, guest columnist
A small Caribbean island, shaped like a turtle, became a notorious pirate haven in the 17th century. When Spain tried to drive off the hunters, they took to piracy and became known as the Buccaneers or the Brethren of the Coast. Guest columnist Katherine Bone takes us back to this infamous den of pirates and thieves.
Publication Date: 19 September 2015
Pirates: Alexandre Exquemelin, Grammont, Jean David Nau (François L’Olonnais)
Others: Fontenay, Jean Le Vasseur, Elias Watts

Tortuga and New Providence
by Cindy Vallar
Tortuga was one of the earliest safe harbors pirates used in the Caribbean. New Providence was one of the last. Together these two havens played host to some of the most infamous pirates to sail the High Seas.
Publication Date: 1 April 2002
Pirates: Blackbeard (Edward Thache), Stede Bonnet, Anne Bonny, Christopher Condent, Edward England, Alexandre Exquemelin, Benjamin Hornigold, Pierre LeGrand, Henry Morgan, Jean David Nau (l'Olonnais), Jack Rackham, Charles Vane
Others: Christopher Columbus, Jean Le Vasseur, Woodes Rogers

History

Ancient Pirates
by Cindy Vallar
Considered one of the oldest professions, piracy begins soon after people first use water to carry trade goods from one place to another. Historians can’t pinpoint this to a precise period in time, but the earliest known records appear in the 14th century BCE. This article explores these early pirates in general, and then focuses on Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire.
Publication Date: 20 September 2009
Pirates: Teuta
Others: Alexander the Great, Aristotle, Julius Caesar, Gnaeus Fulvius, Minos, Plutarch, Gnaeus Pompeius (Pompey the Great), Aulus, Postumius, Ramses III, Thucydides

Black Pirates
by Cindy Vallar
The greatest number of pirates preyed the seas from 1716 to 1726. Historical documents recorded the ages of 169 of those pirates. They were as young as fourteen and as old as fifty, but the average age was twenty-seven. Half the pirates had ties to the British Isles, while a quarter came from colonies in the West Indies and North America. Men who went on the account also came from Holland, France, Portugal, Denmark, Belgium, and Sweden. According to Marcus Rediker in Villains of the Sea, these pirates belonged to a group that comprised 6.9 percent of the sea rovers whose origins were recorded. Another group of men also entered into this number, but they tended to receive only cursory mention in history books. These were the black pirates.
Publication Date: 1 January 2007
Pirates: Juan Andres ( Andresote), Samuel Bellamy, James Black, Black Caesar, Blackbeard (Edward Thache), Stede Bonnet, Caesar, Peter Cloise, Edward Davis, Nicholas de Concepcion, Diego de los Reyes, Domingo Eucalla, Francisco Farnondo, Thomas Gates, Diego Grillo, John Julian, John Lewis, Henry Morgan, Old South, Hendrik Quintor, Bartholomew Roberts, Abraham Samuel, Stewart, Richard Stiles, Francis Spriggs, Hendrick van der Heul, James White
Others: W. Jeffrey Bolster, Andrew Jackson, Ken Kinkor, Littleton, Harald E. L. Prins, John Quincy

The Buccaneers
by Cindy Vallar
The original buccaneers were hunters who lived on Hispaniola in the Caribbean. Driven from the island, they turned to piracy and formed a brotherhood that went in search of Spanish prey. At first, they attacked small ships; eventually, they preyed on larger prizes. Escaped convicts, outlaws, and slaves joined their ranks. These Brethren of the Coast obeyed no laws but their own, and their leaders maintained discipline through brutal acts of violence.
Publication Date: 1 November 2002
Pirates: Roche Brasiliano, Alexandre Exquemelin, Michel de Grammont, Henry Morgan, Jean David Nau (l'Olonnais), Bartholomew Sharp

The Golden Age of Piracy
by Cindy Vallar
For forty years from around 1690 until 1730, the most famous pirates sailed the High Seas. Writers such as Robert Louis Stevenson and J. M. Barrie, painters like Howard Pyle, and Hollywood in films like Captain Blood made these pirates of the Golden Age of Piracy immortal. Some were legends in their own time. While Blackbeard was perhaps the most notorious of the pirates of the golden age, he wasn’t the only pirate whose name has survived. Among those recorded in the annals of history were women and gentlemen who chose to follow a different calling than the one society deemed appropriate.
Publication Dates: 1 March & 1 April 2003
Pirates: Blackbeard (Edward Thache), Stede Bonnet, Anne Bonny, Benjamin Hornigold, Jack Rackham, Mary Read, Bartholomew Roberts, Charles Vane
Others: Robert Maynard, Dorothy Thomas

Medieval Pirates
by Cindy Vallar
In CE 829, a Frankish monk named Ansgar set sail for Sweden, where he wished to introduce the Swedes to Christianity. His was a dangerous journey, in part because pirates attacked the vessel on which he sailed. After boarding the boat, they seized his precious books and religious artifacts before forcing Ansgar and his companions to abandon the vessel. This incident was but a single example of many such attacks that plagued medieval times.
Publication Date: 6 January 2010
Pirates: William de Briggeho, Giovanni de lo Cabo, Eustace the Monk, Jean Fleury (Florin), Maritone of Brindisi, Gödeke Michels, Klaus Störtebeker, Hennig Wichmann, Magister Wigbold
Others: Henry III, Henry IV, Henry VIII, James I, Margaret I, Matthew Paris, Philip II, Robert III, Egghert Schoeff, Konrad von Jungingen

Pirates or Patriots?
by Cindy Vallar
While drafting lessons for an online workshop, I received a note from a gentleman who took me to task because I dared to refer to Kanhoji Angria of India as a pirate. Am I the only one to affix such a label to someone India regards as a national hero? No. Nor is Angria the only national figure seen as both pirate and patriot.
Publication Date: 1 February 2004
Pirates: Francis Drake, Jean Laffite
Others: Kanhoji Angria, Andrew Jackson

Pyrate Surgeons
by Cindy Vallar
A prized member of any pirate crew, and often a forced one, was the doctor. A few were actual physicians, medical men with college degrees, but more were barber-surgeons, who acquired their knowledge and skills while working as an apprentice to another surgeon. You might assume that pirates treated doctors with kid gloves – wouldn’t you rather be stitched up by someone who knows what he’s doing, rather than letting the carpenter or someone else do it – but not all pirates were grateful. Take Edward Low, for example. One pirate aboard his ship was having a bit of fun with a prisoner. A bit drunk, the brigand wielded his cutlass so poorly that he missed his intended target and slashed Low’s lower jaw deep enough to expose his teeth. John Hincher stitched up the wound, but Low took exception to the quality of the surgeon’s stitches. How dare a mere layman criticize him! The good doctor struck Low so hard that his fist “broke out all the Stitches, and then [Hincher] bid him sew up his chops himself and be damned . . . .”
Publication Dates: 7 May & 5 June & 1 July 2007
Pirates: Bullock, Thomas Cavendish, John Clerk, John Cook, John Coxon, Wiiliam Dampier, Howell Davis, Richard Davis, Alexandre Exquemelin, James Ferguson, William Green, Walter Kennedy, Thomas Lodge, Edward Low, George Lowther, Henry Morgan, Richard Morgan, Jean David Nau (l'Olonnais), Basil Ringrose, Barthomolew Roberts, Peter Scudamore, Bartholomew Sharp, Lionel Wafer, John Watling, George Wilson
Others: John Crawford, Bernard de Pointis, Thomas Dover, John Hincher, Robert Hunter, Thomas Modyford, Walter Moore, Archibald Murray, Woodes Rogers, John Woodall

Spanish Adventurers
by Cindy Vallar
A common misconception in piracy, especially as regards the Caribbean, is that Spain is the enemy and only men and women from other countries are pirates and privateers. But they also come from Spain and her colonies. Sometimes, they attack shipping from foreign nations; other times, they attack vessels from their native lands. Later on, when the colonies decide they wish to rule themselves, the rebel governments also commission privateers to fight against their Spanish overlords. Pirates also participate in this struggle.
Publication Date: 17 September 2016
Pirates: Juan Andres, Louis Michel Aury, Samuel Bellamy, Juan Canete, Robert Cofresi, Juan Corso, Juan de Alarcón, Lupo de Bertagno, Nicholas de Concepción, Claude de Lachasney, Jelles de Lecat (Yellows), Diego de Orduña, Bernardo de Soto, Francis Drake, Nicholas Fernandez, Jean Fleury, Felipe Geraldino (Philip Fitzgerald), Pedro Gibert, Benjamin Hornigold, Jean Laffite, Blas Moreno Mondragón, Henry Morgan, Richard Nolan, Pasqual Onan, Martín Pérez de Irizar, Jan Erasmus Reyning, Benito Soto, Guy Borel Valdiviessa E Maldanato
Others: Edward Birch, John Groves Butman, Carlos I, René Robert Cavelier (La Salle), Daniel Collins, Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand, José Fernández de Córdoba, Juan Francisco de Güemes y Horcasitas, Isabella, Robert Lilburne, Diego López, Domino López de Avilés, Thomas Lynch, Matthew McCarthy, John Nicholls, Manuel Rivero Pardal, Lucretia Parker, Benjamin Brown Reed, Aaron Smith

Tracing the Golden Age of Piracy
by Casey Sheehan, guest columnist
The early 18th century saw an upsurge in piracy. Casey provides an overview of this period and an introduction to some of the more famous pirates of the golden age.
Publication Date: 5 October 2010
Pirates: Bartolomeo el Potugues, Samuel Bellamy, Blackbeard (Edward Thache), Stede Bonnet, Anne Bonny, Roche Brasiliano, William Dampier, William Fly, William Kidd, Henry Morgan, Jean David Nau (l'Olonnais), Jack Rackham, Mary Read, Bartholomew Roberts, Thomas Tew

Women and the Jolly Roger
by Cindy Vallar
David Cordingly, author of Women Sailors and Sailors’ Women, writes: “We will never know how many women went to sea as men because the only cases we have any evidence of are those in which the woman’s sex was revealed and publicized in some way, or those cases where a woman left the sea and had her story published . . . What is striking about the genuine cases of female sailors is how they were able to fool the men on board for weeks, months, and in some cases, several years.” This article examines how female sailors who went on the account may have carried off their disguises and explores the lives of four lesser-known women pirates.
Publication Dates: 1 March & 1 April 2004
Pirates: Alfhild (Alwida), Anne Bonny, Lai Choi San, Charlotte de Berry, Honcho Lo, Mary Killigrew, Granuaile (Grace O'Malley), Jack Rackham, Mary Read, George Wall, Rachel Wall, Zheng Yi Sao
Others: Lizzie Borden, Billy Bridle (Rachel Young), Calamity Jane, Elizabeth I, Hetty Green, Joan of Arc, Mary Livermore, Evelyn Nesbitt, Deborah Sampson, Harriet Tubman

Young Pirates
by Cindy Vallar
Do children ever go on the account? Yes, but how many become pirates is unknown. Historical records merely mention that children sail under certain captains. Bartholomew Sharp, in his Voyages and Bold Adventures, mentions taking aboard an Indian and two boys. Children also sail with Asian pirates, and today, in hot spots around the world, they can still be found attacking ships.
Publication Date: 20 October 2015
Pirates: Abdiwalli, Samuel Bellamy, Calderone, George Cusack, William Dampier, John Julian, John King, John Quelch, Bartholomew Roberts, Bartholomew Sharp, Charles Swan
Others: Radhika Coomaraswamy, Fanny Loviot, Laura Nelson, Gilbert Victor, Zhāng Băozăi, Zheng Yi, Zheng Yi Sao (Zheng Shi)

Law, Justice, & Pirate Hunters

Blackbeard's Pirates in Williamsburg
by Robert Jacob, guest columnist
Blackbeard and eleven of his crew are killed during a fierce battle with two sloops of the British Royal Navy at Ocracoke on 22 November 1718. Afterward, fifteen suspected pirates are arrested and taken to Williamsburg, Virginia, to stand trial for piracy. The ultimate fate of those men has been incorrectly described in books and articles, and these inaccurate depictions continue to be recreated and retold at historical sites and museums. The commonly accepted belief is that all but two of those pirates are executed at Williamsburg. The only source for this version of the pirates’ fate is a book written in 1724. However, when examining the written records of the arresting naval officers and such government officials as Lieutenant Governor Spotswood and Anthony Cracherode, a completely different outcome emerges.
Publication Dates: 20 July & 19 August 2024
Pirates: Blackbeard (Edward Thache), James Blake, Caesar, John Carnes, Joseph Curtice (Curtis), Stephen Daniel, Thomas Gates, Garrat Gibbons, John Gills (Giles), Richard Greensail, Israel Hands (Hezekiah Hands), William Howard, John Husk, Nathaniel Jackson, Henry Mann, John Martin, Thomas Miller, Philip MOrton, Joseph Philips, James Robbins, Owen Roberts, Edward Salter, Richard Stiles, William Stoke, Adult Van Pelt
Others: William Bell, Arne Bialuschewski, Ellis Brand, Anthony Cracherode, Daniel Defoe, Kevin Duffus, Charles Eden, George, Gordon, Shirley Hughson, Charles Johnson, Tobias Knight, Robert Maynard, Nathaniel Mist, Edward Mosley, Samuel Odell, Hugh F. Rankin, James Robbins, Alexander Spotswood

Cotton Mather, Preacher to Pirates
by Cindy Vallar
While I read Marcus Rediker’s Villains of All Nations, imagine my surprise when I came across the Reverend Cotton Mather’s name in the first paragraph. Not once in any history classes did my teachers mention pirates while speaking about this New England Puritan! What else had my instructors omitted about this man, who preached to and about pirates?
Publication Dates: 5 October & 5 November 2008 and 5 January & 5 February 2009
Pirates: Baker, Samuel Bellamy, John Brown, Samuel Cole, George Condick, Thomas Davis, William Fly, Henry Greenville, Hoof, John Julian, John Lambert, John Miller, Alexander Mitchell, John Phillips, John Quelch, Hendrick Quintor, Shaun
Others: William Atkinson, Bejamin Colman, William Dummer, Cotton Mather, Increase Mather, Samuel Sewall

'Polishing the King's Iron with Your Eyebrows'
by Cindy Vallar
You might frown or scratch your head on reading this title, but if you lived two centuries ago and looked at the world from behind a window with iron grates, you understood. This gibberish was actually a "secret" language known to a select few. Becoming familiar with such cant (or jargon) meant you had literally and figuratively paid the cost of admission. How? By not paying your debts or by violating the law. Many pirates eluded justice; others did not. Pirate histories often mention such facts, but focus on their trials and executions. They skip over the interim between capture and death. Venture back in time, if you dare, and discover what you would have faced had you been incarcerated during the era of the buccaneers and the "golden age" of pirates.
Publication Dates: 18 November & 26 December 2017 and 20 January & 20 February & 20 March & 20 April 2018
Pirates: James Barrow, Robert Bevins, Stede Bonnet, Anne Bonny, Joseph Brodish, James Crane, James Couzins (Cosins), Robert Culliford, Edward Davies, Howell Davis, Robert Dawes, John Du Frock (Dufrock), Robert Fletcher, Charles Gibbs, John Gow, Henry Graves, James Harris, William Herle, Hercules Hunkins, Christopher Lang (Long), Thomas Lawrence Jones, Walter Kennedy, William Kidd, Peter Lawbert, William Mead, George Ogle, Grace O'Malley, Peter Philip, Jack Rackham, Andrew Ranee (Rance), Mary Read, John Rimer (Rymer), Bartholomew Roberts, John Walden (Miss Nancy), Thomas J. Wansley, Adam Warner, John Willden, Thomas Withstandyenot, Xú Yàbǎo (Chui A-poo)
Others: William Acton, Barnett, Alexander Dallzell, Emily Dickinson, Harry Glasby, Henry II, Henry VIII, Charles Johnson, Samuel Johnson, Paul Lorrain, Cotton Mather, Chaloner Ogle, William Penn, Caleb Ray, James Richards, Samuel Sewall, Jack Sheppard, Stephen Thomas

Punishing the Pirates
by Cindy Vallar
Pirates don't fear death. They expect it. Many die from disease or in battle, while others face an executioner. A gruesome death (dancing the hempen jig) awaits condemned pirates. They often joke about hanging, but only until they stand on the gallows.
Publication Date: 1 June 2003
Pirates: Stede Bonnet, Klein Henszlein, William Kidd

Sir Henry Mainwaring on the Prevention and Suppression of Piracy
by Cindy Vallar
To thank King James I of England for his pardon from piracy, Sir Henry Mainwaring wrote a treatise on piracy that served as a guide for hunting these predators.
Publication Date: 19 January 2014
Pirates: Richard Bishop, Francis Drake, Peter Easton, Henry Mainwaring, Robert Walsingham, John Ward
Others: James I, James Smith

The Spanish Pirates
by Cindy Vallar
What do an American president and a famous actor have to do with twelve pirates? The combination may seem strange, but Steve Berry melds these three facts into his bestselling novel, The Jefferson Key. Who is the president? Andrew Jackson, a man whose policies make him the target of an assassin. Who is the actor? Julius Brutus Booth, an illustrious actor with a penchant for alcoholic binges. Who are the pirates? Twelve seamen. Their trial captures newspaper headlines and stirs readers to debate whether or not they are really guilty of the crime.
Publication Date: 20 January 2013
Pirates: Manuel Boyga, Manuel Castillo, Nicola Costa, Domingo de Guzman, Bernardo de Soto, Antonio Ferrer, Angel Garcia, Pedro Gibert, Joseph Perez, Francisco Ruiz, Juan Montenegro, Juan Antonio Portana, Jose Velazquez
Others: Giacomo Ardissone, John Battis, Junius Brutus Booth, John Groves Butman, David Lee Childs, James Dalrymple, Benjamin Daniels, John Davis, Andrew Dunlap, Thomas Fuller, Daniel F. Hale, Geroge S. Hillard, Andrew Jackson, Benjamin Larcom, John Lewis, Loney, Israel Luscomb, John Rogers Nichols, Petrona Pereyna, Benjamin Brown Read, Thomas Charles Henry Ridgly, Theodore Siesbuttel, Joseph Smith, Alexander Thomas, Frederic Trask, Trotter, Samuel Austin Turner

Woodes Rogers: Circumnavigator, Privateer, Author, & Governor
by Cindy Vallar
During his presidency, Teddy Roosevelt used the adage, speak softly and carry a big stick, to define his foreign policy. It could be a philosophy that served as a guiding principle throughout Woodes Rogers's lifetime, although the most famous examples came during his first tenure as governor of the Bahamas. He offered pirates who called the islands "home" the king's grace in exchange for relinquishing their marauding. Those who chose not to accept found him firmly resolved to vanquish piracy. Yet before his eradication of the Caribbean pirate republic, he had already made a name for himself. He sailed around the world in search of the ultimate prize, a Manila treasure galleon. This is his story.
Publication Dates: 11 February & 20 March & 21 April & 21 May & 18 June & 16 July & 21 August & 19 September & 19 October & 20 November 2022
Pirates: John Augur, Beroge Bendall, Josiah Bunce, John Coxon, William Cunningham, William Dampier, William Downing, John Hipps, Benjamin Hornigold, Henry Jennings, William Lewis, William Ling, Dennis Macarty, Thomas Morris, Basil Ringrose, George Rounsivell, Alexander Selkirk, Bartholomew Sharp, Stradling, Charles Vane, Lionel Wafer
Others: John Batchelor, William Bath, James Brown, Josiah Burgess, Giles Cash, Thomas Clemens (Clements), John Colebrook, John Collander, Edward Cooke, Stephen Creagh, Thomas Dover, William Fairfax, George I, George II, John Hawkins, John Hollidge, Samuel Hopkins, Michael Jones, Vincent Pearse, George Phenney, Thomas Robbens, Francis Rogers, John Rogers, William Rogers, Woodes Rogers, John Romsey (Rumsey), Samuel Shute, Christopher Shuter, Alexander Spotswood, James Stratton, Carleton Vanbrugh, Robert Walpole, Sarah Whetstone, William Whetstone, Alexander White, John White, John Yeamans

Leisure

Articles and Taverns
by Cindy Vallar
To survive we need water. Tons of it surround our ship, but most is impotable. Instead, when near land, fresh water is hoisted aboard in wooden barrels, hogsheads, butts, and tuns. Water, however, tends to go bad for a variety of reasons, and so, wine and spirits are preferred. Too much leads to overindulgence, which creates problems among the crew. The same is true on land, when we have pesos to spend and taverns to dwell in.
Publication Date: 17 February 2025
Pirates: Blackbeard, Roche Brasiliano, Alexandre Exquemelin, Charles Harris, Edward Low, Bartholomew Roberts, Francis Spriggs

Eat, Drink, and Be Merry!
by Cindy Vallar
One of the hardest parts of writing for me is coming up with a title. Sometimes the best one comes when I’m out walking in the early morning when the rest of the world sleeps. That’s what happened this time. Why choose this particular phrase for the title? It best captures the primary facets of pirate life to be discussed, although there are a few twists along the way and what we deem “merry” may not fit a pirate’s definition.
Publication Date: 5 December 2024
Pirates: William Dampier, Jack Rackham, Bartholomew Roberts, Woodes Rogers, Jaspar Seagar, Bartholomew Sharp, John Taylor

Author’s Note:
While I worked on this article, my father passed away. He shared his affinity for the water and boats with me in my youth, which helped awaken a desire to write about pirates. This article is for him. Now that you are at peace and without pain, Dad, may you eat, drink, and be merry.

Lady Luck and Other Amusements
by Cindy Vallar
The only sure thing about luck is that it will change.

The nineteenth-century writer Bret Harte wasn’t referring to pirates when he wrote this line, but luck shadowed pirates in their daily lives whether they were at sea or on land. Fortune, whether good or bad, could be had not just in pillaging but also at rest. Sometimes, though, pirates just wanted to have fun.
Publication Date: 19 May 2025
Pirates: Samuel Bellamy, Blackbeard (Edward Thache), Stede Bonnet, Michel de Grammont, Henry Every, Guo Podai, Charles Harris, Edward Low, Bartholomew Roberts, Paulsgrave Williams
Others: Jean d’Estrées, Richard Glasspoole, Samuel Kneeland, Peter Solgard

On the Menu
by Cindy Vallar
And as yee would that men should doe to you, doe yee also to them likewise. (Luke 6:31, King James Bible 1611)

This was and is the Golden Rule but not the one pirates follow. The threat of the hangman’s noose is ever dangling behind their shoulders, so they prefer self-gratification at the expense of others. Whether they pillage the provisions and cargo from the ships they attack or venture within dens of inequity, they indulge in cornucopias of libations and foodstuffs.
Publication Date: 20 March 2025
Pirates: Thomas Cocklyn, Howell Davis, Alexandre Exquemelin, Bartholomew Sharp, Lionel Wafer
Others: Francis Crow, Edward Brown, George Ellwood, Richard Glasspoole, Jean Baptiste Labat, William Snelgrave

Pirates and Music
by Cindy Vallar
Early ballads include songs about infamous pirates, such as John Ward and Blackbeard, and historical accounts mention musicians and their instruments. This article explores the connection between music and piracy.
Publication Date: 18 September 2013
Pirates: James Barrow, William Bishop, Nicholas Brattler, Simon Danziker (Danser), Howell Davis, Laurens de Graaf, Henry Every, Edward Forseith, Joseph Lawson, Olivier Levasseur (la Buse), James Lewis, William May, Bartholomew Roberts, John Sparks, John Taylor, Edward Thache (Blackbeard), John Ward (Yusuf Reis), James White
Others: Father Dan, Benjamin Franklin, Herodotus, Robert Maynard, Ovid, William Snelgrave, Alexander Spotswood

Pirates and Sea Shanties
by Cindy Vallar
Sea shanties are often associated with pirates, but did they really sing these work songs aboard their pirate ships?
Publication Date: 19 August 2013
Others: Robert Louis Stevenson

Pirates Party Hearty
by Cindy Vallar
Fun
When I party, I party hearty
Fun is on my mind . . .
(“Fun” recorded by Sly & the Family Stone, Lyrics by Sylvester Stewart)

Pirate life is a combination of tedious boredom and frenzied activity. The former, which takes up the majority of their time, consists of sailing around, waiting for prey. The latter occurs when prey is sighted, a pirate hunter crosses their bow, or dirty weather endangers the ship. So when opportunity knocks, pirates like to party and they do so without restraint.
Publication Date: 18 June 2025
Pirates: Blackbeard (Edward Thache), Stede Bonnet, Thomas Cocklyn, Howell Davis, Olivier Levasseur, George Lowther, Bartholomew Roberts, Joris van Spilbergen, Charles Vane
Others: Kevin Duffus, Charles Johnson, James Killing, John Oldmixon, Woodes Rogers, William Snelgrave

Who Drinks with Blackbeard?
by Calvin Z. Heyward, guest columnist
Calvin’s fascination with pirates during the golden age of piracy was first sparked by conversations and stories told by merchants he met as a teenager in the Old Mart of Charleston, South Carolina. He was particularly interested in Edward Thache, better known as Blackbeard, because he employed many men of color within his crew, and their “kidnapping” of the entire city was riveting to Calvin. He wrote this shanty as a writer’s challenge to give a lighthearted perspective to this infamous historical figure and his plight.
Publication Date: 19 August 2013
Pirates: Blackbeard (Edward Thache)

Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum . . . But
by Cindy Vallar
Fill full your cups: feel no distress
That thoughts so great should not be less!

These two lines from Thomas Hardy’s “Drinking Song” are probably ones with which Joseph Mansfield will concur. After all, he chooses to switch from being a highwayman to a pirate because of “the love of drink and a lazy life.” Of course, he may also agree with the Reverend Increase Mather’s words from “Wo to Drunkards”:

This woful Vice is every way Prejudicial, Injurious & Destructive to him that shall be subject to it.
Publication Date: 18 April 2025
Pirates: Samuel Bellamy, Anne Bonny, Thomas Cocklyn, Howell Davis, Olivier Levasseur, Joseph Mansfield, Henry Morgan, Samuel Perkins, Jack Rackham, Mary Read, Bartholomew Roberts
Others: John Atkins, Jonathan Barnett, Henry Glasby, Chaloner Ogle, William Snelgrave, Stephen Thomas

Modern Piracy

Combating Modern Piracy
by Cindy Vallar
Anti-piracy training offers seamen a way to detect and deter pirate attacks. While such tactics have proven successful, history shows that piracy will continue to escalate unless law enforcement authorities strike back at the pirates’ weakest point -- the land.
Publication Date: 1 December 2000
Others: Jayant Abhyankar, David N. Kellerman

The Cost of Modern Piracy
by Cindy Vallar
A pirate’s main objective is to acquire money. To that end he chooses a target that will provide him the greatest success with the least danger to himself. He may find it lucrative, but what do those losses mean to commerce and the world?
Publication Date: 1 October 2000
Others: Jayan Abhyankar, Jangay Ajinohon, Brian P. Flanagan, Jack A. Gottschalk, David N. Kellerman

How to Solve Somalia's Piracy Problem?
by Keith Thomson, guest columnist
For seamen who venture through waters in the Gulf of Aden and around the Horn of Africa being captured by pirates is a real threat. Many people, from various walks of life around the world, have proposed possible solutions. Keith Thomson, author of the modern piracy tale Pirates of Pensacola, puts forth his answer.
Publication Date: 26 July 2013
Pirates: Blackbeard (Edward Thache), Lancelot Blackburne, William Kidd, Henry Morgan, Jack Sparrow
Others: John Baur (Ol' Chumbucket), Johnny Depp, Michael Lee, Mark Summers (Cap'n Slappy), Richard Zacks

Modern Piracy: 2005 Update
by Cindy Vallar
In 2000, I investigated the problem of modern maritime piracy. Resources on the topic were scarce, but no longer. In the intervening years, people have become more interested in piracy and governments have initiated programs in an effort to combat it. One reason for the renewed effort to stamp out this age-old crime stems from the possibility that terrorists may form an alliance with pirates to carry out their agendas.
Publication Dates: 1 February & 1 March & 1 April & 1 May & 1 June 2006
Pirates: Blackbeard (Edward Thache), Anne Bonny, Francis Drake, Granuaile (Grace O'Malley), William Kidd, Bartholomew Roberts, Zheng Yi Sao
Others: Joyant Abhyankar, Joseph Barry, William Blackstone, Julius Caesar, Noel Choong, Cicero, Charles Dragonette, Elizabeth I, Mohamed Hamid, Klaus Hempendahl, Henry VIII, Buyung Lelano, Carol Martini, Cotton Mather, Pottengal Mukundan, Philip II, Bernard Kent Sondakh, James C. Wiener, Yoshihiko Yamada

Modern Piracy and the Law
by Cindy Vallar
During the golden age of piracy, piracy attracts some people because of promised riches with little fear of prosecution. The likelihood of being brought to justice is the same if not greater today. Why? The legal definition of what makes a crime an act of piracy and the perpetrator of said crime a pirate.
Publication Date: 1 September 2000
Others: Charles Hedges

Piracy versus Terrorism
by Cindy Vallar
While pirates often terrorize their victims, both now and in the past, is a pirate the same as a terrorist?
Publication Date: 1 July 2006
Others: Nascimiento Costa, Henri Corbs Malta Galvao, Surahmat Johar, Tony Tan, Alan West

Piracy of Yore vs. Piracy Today
by Cindy Vallar
Pirates today are far from being the romantic images portrayed by Hollywood. In this five-part series, I examine modern piracy in more detail: pirate hot spots, their methods, what constitutes piracy, what's being done to combat piracy, the economic effects of piracy, and anti-piracy techniques.
Publication Date: 1 August 2000
Pirates: Blackbeard (Edward Thache), Stede Bonnet, William Kidd, Bartholomew Roberts
Others: Keith Hedley, Willem van Tuijl

Profile of a Modern-day Pirate
by Cindy Vallar
Modern pirates ply their “trade” for the same reasons their predecessors did. Although their hunting grounds may differ, some regions are more geographically and politically suited to favor the pirates. Depending on where they hunt, pirates favor different means to acquire their plunder. Take a closer look at the pirates of today.
Publication Date: 1 November 2000
Others: Jayant Abhyankar, David N. Kellerman

Notorious Pirates (or Who Was Who?)

Alfhild: Princess and Viking
by Cindy Vallar
Whether you call her Alfhild, Alvid, Alwida, Altilda, or Alwilda, this pirate princess first appears in historical annals in the twelfth century. She may or may not have actually lived, and little is known of her actual exploits, but she is one of the earliest female pirates on record.
Publication Date: 1 November 2007
Pirates: Alfhild, Groa
Others: Alf, Alfred the Great, Aud, Charles Ellm, Gurid, Saxo Grammaticus, Olaf Magnus, Olaf the White, Sigar, Siward

Bad Usage: William Fly
by Cindy Vallar
If not for his brutality and flagrant refusal to bend to society's expectations, William Fly may have remained relatively unknown -- a mere blip in the historical record because he is caught. Instead, his refusal to repent for his thirty-day crime spree brings him everlasting notoriety in the annals of pirate history.
Publication Date: 20 May 2018
Pirates: Samuel Cole, George Condick, William Fly, Henry Greenville, Alexander Mitchell
Others: Edward Apthorp, William Atkinson, Robert Auchtmuty, James Benbrooke, James Blair, John Browne, John Cole, Morrice Cundon, Robert Dauling, John Dow, William Dummer, John Fulker, John Gale, Samuel Harris, Thomas Jenkins, Edward Laurence, Cotton Mather, John Meinzies, Samuel Sewall, Thomas Streaton, Samuel Walker

Benjamin Hornigold: The Pirates' Pirate
by Cindy Vallar
Like many pirates of yore, little is known about Benjamin Hornigold’s early life and even his death leaves questions. But during six short years, he leaves an indelible mark on history and piracy in the Caribbean. The depredations to merchant shipping in the Caribbean during the golden age of piracy eventually lead the British Crown to issue a royal pardon to pirates willing to come back into the fold. With the arrival of a new governor at New Providence, Hornigold forsakes his criminal path and becomes a pirate hunter.
Publication Dates: 5 March & 5 April 2010
Pirates: John Auger, Samuel Bellamy, Blackbeard (Edward Thache), Josiah Burgess, Edward England, Henry Jennings, Lark, Francis Lesley, Olivier Levasseur, Edward Low, Thomas Nichols, Charles Vane, Paulsgrave Williams
Others: Carlos II, Robert Daniel, John Darvell, George II, Louis XIV, Louis XV, Maria Teresa, Matthew Munthe, Vincent Pearse, Philippe, Woodes Rogers, Alexander Spotswood, John Vickers, Thomas Walker

A Buccaneer More Interested in Gold: William Dampier
by Cindy Vallar
Explorer. Naturalist. Hydrographer. Author. Mariner. Buccaneer. Although mere labels, these words describe a man who seeks his fortune through adventure, influences men whose fame remains widely known today, and dies in relative obscurity. His contemporaries include Robert Boyle, Daniel Defoe, Edmond Halley, Isaac Newton, Samuel Pepys, Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift, and Christopher Wren, but few know about the many significant contributions this man makes to science, seamanship, language, and literature. His name? William Dampier.
Publication Dates: 1 November & 1 December 2004 and 1 January & 1 February & 1 March 2005
Pirates: John Clipperton, Edmund Cook, John Cook, John Coxon, William Dampier, Peter Harris, Basil Ringrose, Richard Sawkins, Alexander Selkirk, Bartholomew Sharp, Charles Swan, John Watling, Lionel Wafer
Others: Charles Darwin, Daniel Defoe, Fisher, Woodes Rogers

Captain William Kidd
by Cindy Vallar
Most biographers list William Kidd's birth as 1645, but he may have been born as late as 1654. He grows up either in Greenock or Dundee, Scotland, the son of a minister or a sea captain. Historical documents, written in his hand and that of others, record his life since 1689 until his death in 1701, but his early years, and the question of whether there remains any treasure to uncover, continue to be mysteries.
Publication Dates: 1 December 2005 and 1 January 2006
Pirates: Robert Brandinham, Robert Culliford, John Ireland, William Kidd, William Mayes, William Moore, Abel Owens, Joseph Palmer, Thomas Tew, John Walker
Others: Richard Coote, William Jenkins, Sarah Kidd, Robert Lamley, Robert Livingston, Thomas Parker, Edward Russell, Henry Sidney, Thomas Warren, William III

An Exception to the Rule: Stede Bonnet
by Cindy Vallar
Pirates have commonalities, attributes that mark them as sea thieves. For example, pirates steal their ships. They often start with small boats, such as canoes, and build upwards to larger vessels through pinching someone else’s. Or they don’t get a regular paycheck. Instead, they receive shares of plunder that is stolen from others; if nothing is seized, the pirates aren’t paid. Or they choose who among them will be captain. As is often the case, however, there are exceptions to these “rules.” Who fits that bill? A gentleman named Stede Bonnet.
Publication Dates: 20 March & 28 April & 24 May & 17 June &22 July & 19 August & 18 September 2024
Pirates: Alexander Annand, Job Bayley, Blackbeard (Edward Thache), Stede Bonnet, Samuel Booth, Robert Boyd, John Brierly, Thomas Carman, William Dampier, George Dunkin, William Eddy, Henry Every, David Herriot, William Hewet, Matthew King, John Levit, William Livers, Zacahriah Long, John Lopez, Edward Low, James Martel, William Morrison, James Mullett, Neal Paterson, Ignatius Pell, Daniel Perry, Thomas Price, Jack Rackham, John Ridge, Edward Robinson, James Robbins, George Ross, William Scot, John William Smith, John Thomas, Richard Tookerman, Robert Tucker, Lionel Wafer, James Wilson, Charles Vane, Henry Virgin, James Wilson, Richard Worley
Others: Mary Allamby, Richard Allein, Edward Bonnet, Ellias Brand, Jonathan Clarke, Edward Cooke, Charles Eden, Thomas Gerrard, John Graves, Francis Griffin, Fayner Hall, Walter Hamilton, Thomas Hepworth, Charles Johnson, Robert Johnson, James Killing, James Logan, Godfrey Malbone, Peter Manwareing, Joseph Master, Thomas Nichols, Joseph Palmer, Nathaniel Partridge, Peter Peters, Thomas Porter, Thomas Read, William Rhett, Rowland Sharp, Nicholas Trott, Woodes Rogers, John Whetstone, Wyer

Famous Barbary Corsairs
by Cindy Vallar
The Dutch flags disappeared and the masts and poop were simultaneously shaded by flags of taffeta of all colors, enriched and embroidered with stars, crescents, suns, crossed swords and other devices.

These words of a seventeenth-century traveler speak of the moment when Barbary corsairs reveal their true identity to their prey.  Meet some of the corsair captains who terrorize the Mediterranean.
Publication Date: 1 September 2004
Pirates: Aroudj Barbarossa, Dragut, Kheir ed-Dein, Peter Lisle, Murad, Yussuf (John Ward)
Others: Nicolo Carraciola, Julius II

Fléau des Espagnols (Flail of the Spaniards): François L'Olonnais
by Cindy Vallar
To contemporaries he is known simply as L’Olonnais, “the man from Olonne.” His success at piracy attracts many pirates eager to sail with him despite the brutality he shows his prey, particularly the Spanish, who call him “Fléau des Espagnois.”
(Warning to readers: This article contains explicit examples of L’Olonnais’ ruthless torturing of prisoners.)
Publication Date: 1 November 2001
Pirates: Alexandre Exquemelin, Henry Morgan, Jean David Nau (l'Olonnais)

Granuaile (also known as Grace O'Malley): Irish Pirate
by Cindy Vallar
Most historical accounts written in the past are penned by men. Women are largely ignored or gain mention because of their husbands or charitable deeds. On occasion, a few women defy the roles often assigned them to gain prominence in their own rights.  Grace O’Malley is such a woman. While Sir Francis Drake and other Elizabethan Sea Rovers gain notoriety as pirates, Granuaile will drift into obscurity if not for Irish bards and poets. She dares to enter a man’s world and, in the process, proves to be a successful sailor, chieftain, and pirate.
Publication Date: 1 March 2001
Pirates: Granuaile (Grace O'Malley), Tibbot-ne-long
Others: Richard Bingham, Elizabeth I, Donal O'Flaherty, Richard-in-Iron Bourke

'A Greater Monster Never Infested the Seas': Edward Low
by Cindy Vallar
From 1722 through 1723, colonists cannot read a newspaper without coming across an item detailing this pirate's brutal attacks on innocent merchant sailors and their vessels. The viciousness is recounted in lurid details, demonstrating just how cruel he and his men are. Governor John Hart of the Leeward Islands suggests that the king may offer a pardon, possibly even a reward, if Low's men turn against their captain and bring him to justice dead or alive. After all, "a greater monster never infested the seas."
Publication Dates: 19 November 2018 and 19 January & 18 February 2019
Pirates: Charles Harris, Joseph Libby (Libbie), Edward Low, George Lowther, Robert Rich, Francis Spriggs, Joseph Sweetser, Robert Willis
Others: Philip Ashton, John Barnard, Benjamin Edwards, Lawrence Fabens, James Fluker, Charles Johnson, Richard Owen, James Pease, Andrew Scott, Nathan Skiff, Frederick Van der Scure, Benjamin Wadsworth

Guillaume Le Testu: Cartographer, Huguenot, Corsaire
by Cindy Vallar
His name may mean nothing if heard in an everyday conversation. A search will reveal he is a cartographer, a Frenchman, and a contemporary of a far more famous man of the sixteenth century (a man who is dubbed a knight and remembered long after his passing). Yet these two men form an alliance and spring a trap that garners these pirates a treasure far beyond their expectations.
Publication Dates: 18 February & 20 March 2023
Pirates: Francis Drake, Guillaume Le Testu, John Oxnam, Thomas Sherwell
Others: Diego Calderone, Catherine de Médeci, Charles IX, Nicholas Durand de Villegaigon, Felipe II, Gaspard II de Coligny, Henri II, Philippe Strozzi

Henry Every
by Cindy Vallar
Known as Henry Avery, John Avery, Long Ben, and Captain Benjamin Bridgeman, Henry Every’s beginning and ending remain cloaked in mystery. During the brief span of time in which he captains a pirate ship, however, he becomes a legend in his own time.
Publication Date: 9 October 2006
Pirates: John Dann, Henry Every, Joseph Farrell, William May, Thomas Tew, William Want, Thomas Woke
Others: Daniel Defoe, Charles Gibson, Muhammed Ibrahim, Charles Johnson, Khafi Khan, Nicholas Trott, Francis Wheeler

Henry Morgan
by Jude Ellery, guest columnist
Is he a pirate or a privateer? Or does this famous buccaneer walk the gray line between both worlds? Jude Ellery of Fancy Dress Party Ideas provides an in-depth look at this privateer extraordinaire who is knighted for his service to the Crown.
Publication Date: 26 September 2012
Pirates: Richard Browne, Alexandre Exquemelin, Edward Mansvelt (Mansfield), Henry Morgan, Jean David Nau (l'Olonnais)
Others: Alonso de Campos y Espinosa, Charles II, Oliver Cromwell, Thomas Lynch, Modyford, Mary Elizabeth Morgan, Myngs, William Penn, Robert Venables

Israel Hands
by Cindy Vallar
Of his early life we know nothing. Of his later life we have only rumors. In fact, he appears in the historical record for only a short span of time -- the waning days of Edward Thache's career. Yet many have heard his name; he's a coxswain on Hispaniola in Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. Whether called Israel or Hezekiah or Basilica, Hands is a real pirate, perhaps best known for a tale Captain Johnson recounts in A General History of the Pyrates.
Publication Date: 20 January 2015
Pirates: Blackbeard (Edward Thache), Stede Bonnet, Israel Hands, David Herriot, Jack Rackham, Charles Vane, Lionel Wafer
Others: Charles Eden, Kevin Duffus, Charles Johnson, Tobias Knight, Peter Martin, Robert Maynard, Alexander Spotswood

John Julian, the Teenage Pirate
by Laura Nelson, guest columnist
John Julian survives the sinking of Samuel Bellamy's Whydah. Who is John Julian and what happens to him after his rescue?
Publication Date: 20 October 2013
Pirates: Thomas Baker, Blackbeard (Edward Thache), John Brown, Christopher Condent, William Dampier, Howell Davis, Edward England, Peter Cornelius Hoof, John Julian, John Lewis, Olivier Levasseur, Hendrick Quintor, Bartholomew Roberts, John Shaun, Thomas South, Simon Van Vorst
Others: John Quincy Adams, Thomas Davis

John King, the Boy Pirate
by Laura Nelson, guest columnist
When Sam Bellamy captures a merchant ship in 1716, he acquires a new member to his crew. He is a young lad who vows to kill himself if he isn't allowed to join the pirates.
Publication Date: 20 November 2015
Pirates: Samuel Bellamy, John King
Others: Barry Clifford, Thomas Davis, John de Bry, Maria Hallett, Walter Hamilton, David Hunt, Kenneth J. Kinkor, Abijah Savage

Merchant, Pirate, Smuggler, Sea Lord: Zheng Zhilong
by Cindy Vallar
When the winds of change blow, some people build walls and others build windmills. ~ Old Chinese proverb

A merchant buys and sells goods to make a profit. A pirate commits robberies at sea. The former is a legitimate operator who works hard to make a living. The latter is a thief who prefers to illicitly profit from others’ labor. Normally, the two are diametrically opposed to each other. When the merchant’s business involves importing and exporting goods and the winds of change blow, the merchant faces a conundrum: build a wall, or build a windmill. One man chooses to build a windmill, forging a new path that merges legal with illicit. His name is Zheng Zhilong.
Publication Dates: 24 May & 22 June & 26 July & 23 August & 20 September 2023
Pirates: Li Dan, Li Kuiqi, Zheng Chengong, Zheng Zhilong (Nicholas Iquan), Yan Siqi
Others: Cai Shanzhi, Chen Zhijing, Gerrit de Witt, Heung Cheng, Jiang Richeng, Charles Johnson, Thomas Taylor Meadows, Tagawu Matsu, Hans Putmans, Vittorio Riccio, Francesco Sambiasi, Shao Tingcai, Jacques Specx, Lady Yan, Zou Weilian

The Nearly Forgotten Adventures of Sam Bellamy
by Laura Nelson, guest columnist
Sam Bellamy visits St. Croix and Virgin Gorda in 1717, where the pirates find destruction and create havoc.
Publication Date: 22 August 2016
Pirates: Thomas Baker, Samuel Bellamy, Olivier Levasseur, John Martel, Paulsgrave Williams
Others: Christopher Columbus, Thomas Hornbe, Francis Hume, Thomas South, Colin Woodard

Peter Cornelius Hoof and Me
by Laura Nelson, guest columnist
A visit to National Geographic's Real Pirates exhibit opens the world of pirates to Laura Nelson. She discusses her visit, her interest in Peter Hoof, his capture by Sam Bellamy, the fateful voyage of Whydah, and Peter's execution.
Publication Date: 23 April 2013
Pirates: Thomas Baker, Samuel Bellamy, Blackbeard (Edward Thache), James Brown, Peter Cornelius Hoof, Benjamin Hornigold, John Shaun, Thomas South, Simon Van Vorst
Others: John Cole, Thomas Davis, William Dummer, Thomas Fitzgerald, George I, Cotton Mather, Lawrence Prince, Samuel Shute, Thomas Trotter

The Pirate Known as La Buse: Olivier Levasseur
by Cindy Vallar
Known by many monikers -- including La Bouse, Leboose, La Bouche, La Buze, The Buzzard -- little is known about Olivier Le Vasseur aside from the fact that he is a French pirate, possibly from Calais, who operates out of Saint Domingue. (Captain Johnson says that he operates out of New Providence.) This changes when he meets two English pirates, whose names are well-known in the annals of piracy: Benjamin Hornigold and Samuel Bellamy.
Publication Date: 18 March 2019
Pirates: Samuel Bellamy, John Brown, Thomas Cocklyn, Christopher Condent, Howell Davis, Edward England, Benjamin Hornigold, Henry Jennings, John King, Olivier Levasseur, Jonathan Taylor
Others: Jacob de Bucquoy, Pierre Benoît Dumas, William Hall, Walter Hamilton, Francis Hume, James Macrae, Jonathan Rose, William Snelgrave

Pirate, Rebel, Freedom Fighter, Champion of the Poor: Stepan Razin
by Cindy Vallar
While English and French pirates raid the Spanish Main, Cossacks take to the sea against the Ottoman Empire. Rather than gold and gems, they seek to free Ukranian girls and boys enslaved by the Turks. In 1553, Dmytro Vyshnevetsky melds several bands of Cossacks into a single unit of pirates who plague Turkish and Tartar ships and towns in the Black Sea. Russian Cossacks plunder Persian villages and shipping on the Caspian Sea. One of these pirates, Stepan Razin, gains immortal fame as a folk hero of seventeenth-century Russia.
Publication Date: 1 June 2014
Pirates: Stepan Razin (Stenka Razin)
Others: Menedi Khan, Alexis Romanov, Jan Struys

Rachel Wall
by Cindy Vallar
Is she the first American-born female to become a pirate? Or is she just a common thief? Interesting questions to be sure, and if you search through books about women who go on the account, you may well find a brief account of her exploits. The problem is there are no historical records to back up such claims.
Publication Date: 5 April & 15 May 2012
Pirates: Mary Read, George Wall, Rachel Wall
Others: Charles Berry, William Cushing, Thomas Dawes, Benjamin Franklin, Christopher Gore, Charles Johnson, John Hancock, Reginna Hartmann, James Hughes, Lemuel Ludden, Pereze Morton, Robert Treat Paine, Alan Rogers, Edward Rowe Snow

Richard and Jeremiah: Two Pirates Who Would Be Pardoned
by Laura Nelson, guest columnist
Most pirate histories, if they talk about Samuel Bellamy at all, begin with his capture of the Whydah Galley and end with its sinking in a storm off of Cape Cod on 26 April 1717. They completely disregard the stories of the men sent to be prize crews on the ships. Bellamy had captured earlier that day. Consequently, many people don't realize that these survivors of the Whydah's crew also have stories to tell. Mostly they are stories of continuing a life of piracy without a strong leader to pull them together.
Publication Date: 23 January 2017
Pirates: Samuel Bellamy, Richard Caverly, Jeremiah Higgins, Benjamin Hornigold, Olivier Levasseur, Paulsgrave Williams
Others: Jeremiah Burke, Abraham Lamb, Paul Mansfield, Lawrence Prince, Simon Vincent

Sam Bellamy: From Penniless to the Richest Pirate of All
by Laura Nelson, guest columnist
He comes to Cape Cod with little money, but becomes the richest of the pirates of the golden age only to lose both his life and his wealth when his ship sinks off the coast of Cape Cod. Legend says he is returning to collect the love of his life, Maria Hallet. His name? Samuel Bellamy.
Publication Dates: 17 September & 22 October 2018
Pirates: Thomas Baker, Samuel Bellamy, Blackbeard (Edward Thache), Jeremiah Higgins, Peter Cornelius Hoof, Benjamin Hornigold, Henry Jennings, John Julian, John King, Olivier Levasseur, Jean Martel, Paulsgrave Williams
Others: Barry Clifford, John Cornelison, Thomas Davis, John de Bry, D'Escoubet, Robert Guthrie, Maria Hallet, Walter Hamilton, Hornbe, Kenneth Kinkor, Lawrence Prince, Alexander Spotswood

Sam Bellamy and Olivier Levasseur
by Laura Nelson, guest columnist
During a short span of time in 1716, two pirates terrorize merchant ships in the West Indies. Their names? Samuel Bellamy and Olivier Levasseur. Laura Nelson discusses their plundering in this article about two pirates just kicking around the Caribbean. She also explains how each pirate meets his demise.
Publication Dates 20 July & 20 August 2015
Pirates: Samuel Bellamy, John Brown, Benjamin Hornigold, John King, Olivier Levasseur, Richard Nolan
Others: Joseph Christopher, Rose

Samurai, Scholar, Poet, Prince, & Pirate: A Family Affair (Zheng Chenggong)
by Cindy Vallar
Knowing who is a pirate and who is not a pirate in Asian waters is a paradox. Yes, there are people who devote their lives to robbery at sea, but many Chinese cross the line from merchant to pirate and back again as easily as the tide ebbs and flows. Like his father, Zheng Chenggong fishes both waters, but his destiny lies elsewhere. He is better remembered as Koxinga.
Publication Dates: 20 October & 18 November & 22 December 2023
Pirates: Yang Ying, Zheng Chenggong (Koxinga), Zheng Zhilong
Others: Confucius, Dong Cuiying, Tagawa Matsu, Pye Min, Qian Qianyi, Zhu Youjian

Shap 'ng Tsai, Xú Yàbăo, and the Royal Navy
by Cindy Vallar
One byproduct of the First Opium War is a rise in piracy. Shap 'ng Tsai is the most powerful of these pirates, and this article tells of his rise and fall, as well as that of his confederate Chui-Apoo, at the hands of the British Royal Navy and the Chinese government.
Publication Date: 19 May 2015
Pirates: Shap 'ng Tsai, Xú Yàbăo (Chui Apoo)
Others: Daoguang, John Charles Dalrymle Hay, Jiaquing, Lin Zexu, G. T. Niblett, Victoria, Wang, James Williams, Yongzheng

Sir Henry Mainwaring
by Cindy Vallar
Born into England’s aristocracy, Henry Mainwaring loves the sea. A journey to the Mediterranean leads him to forsake family and position to become a pirate. His success as a Barbary corsair gains him wealth, notoriety, and many offers of pardons. Throughout this career, he remains loyal to his king, James I of England, and the Royal House of Stuart during the Civil War.
Publication Date: 19 November 2013
Pirates: Peter Easton, Henry Mainwaring, Christopher Myngs
Others: Edward Cecil, Charles I, Charles II, Jean Chevalier, Pietro Contarini, Francis Drake, Edward the Confessor, Elizabeth I, Fortune Gardiner, Henry VIII, Charles Howard, James I, Phineas Pett, Philip II, Philip III, Robert Shirley, Rupert, George Villiers, Willoughby

Three Buccaneers
by Cindy Vallar
The Oxford English Dictionary defines "buccaneer" in one of three ways: a hunter who cooks and cures meat on a boucan, a pirate, or an adventurer. All three definitions come into use during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Other languages use different terms, but the meaning is similar. Many buccaneers come from families with some level of means, rather than the destitute or those eking out an existence. Rebellion, financial opportunity, and adventure are often primary motivations for becoming sea rovers, more so than simple survival. They are often pirateers -- sometimes falling outside the law, other times legally plundering. For the most part, Spain is their common enemy and some are particularly harsh in their treatment of Spaniards. L'Olonnois, whose real name is Jean David Nau, is the most ruthless and perhaps best known of these, but he isn't the only one noted for his cruelty. Three contemporaries of his are equally vicious.
Publication Dates: 20 May & 20 June & 23 July 2017
Pirates: Bartolomeo el Portugues, Joseph Bradley, Michel de Grammont, Alexandre Exquemelin, Gerrit Gerritszoon (Roche Brasiliano), Louis le Golif, Daniel Montbars, Henry Morgan, Christopher Myngs, Jean David Nau (l'Olonnais), Jan Erasmus Reyning, Yellows
Others: Edward Morgan, Thomas Modyford, Saint Peter, Hans Sloane, Adriaen van Dieman Swart, David van der Sterre

Transformation: A Family Affair
by Cindy Vallar
His childhood name suggests bright prospect for the Zheng house. His given name identifies him as a model for the world. His behavior as a youth belies both these possibilities, yet he becomes a visionary and a compassionate, perceptive, and competent leader.
Publication Date: 22 December 2023
Pirates: Chen Youghua, Hong Xu, Koxinga, Ma Xin, Zheng Jing, Zheng Keshuang, Zheng Tai, Zheng Zhilong
Others: Confucius, Dong Cuiying, Philip Gosse, Victorio Riccio, Wu Sangui, Zheng Wi

A Trio of Pirates
by Cindy Vallar
Time and distance separate Murat Reis, Kanhoji Angria, and Howell Davis, but each of these men employ audacious cunning to become successful pirates. Although probably an Albanian by birth, Murat Reis rises high in the ranks of the Barbary corsairs.  Kanhoji Angria terrorizes British ships in the Indian Ocean, and the Welsh seaman-turned-pirate, Howell Davis, hoodwinks governors into believing that he hunts pirates for a living.
Publication Date: 1 July 2000
Pirates: Howell Davis, Murat Reis, Bartholomew Roberts
Others: Kanhoji Angria, Sumbhaji Angria, Toolaji Angria, Philip II

The Youngest Pirates
by Cindy Vallar
Except for a handful of names, the majority of pirates have been lost to history. Sometimes, when we dig under the surface, references to these men and woman emerge. But what of their younger comrades? We know they existed. We know some, such as John King, freely go on the account, while others are forced to join. Like their adult counterparts, the identities and lives of many lads are a mystery. For those willing to cull through many archival references, there are other young pirates whom we know by name.
Publication Date: 20 December 2015
Pirates: John Ackin, Richard Barleycorne, Samuel Bellamy, Joseph Bradish, John Brown, Thomas Cocklyn, Zacheus Darvell, Howell Davis, Henry Every, Christopher Harris, Jean-Baptiste Jedre, William Jenkins, John Julian, William Kidd, John King, Robert Lamely, Olivier Levasseur, Edward Low, Philip Middleton, William Moody, William Moore, Thomas Morris, John Mudd, J. Palmer, Samuel Perkins, Bartholomew Roberts, William Saunders, Thomas Simpson, George Sinclair, Francis Sprigg, Thomas Tew, Paulsgrave Williams, Edward Woodman
Others: John Quincy Adams, George Bollen, Thomas Child, John Fletcher, Joseph Gulloch, Thomas Jones, Robert Leathes, Abel Owen, Thomas Walker

Zheng Yi Sao
by Tanner Price, guest columnist
Her real name has been lost to history, but there are many others by which she is known: Zheng Yi Sao, Madame Ching, and Cheng I Sao. At the height of her power, she commands a pirate fleet that surpasses the navies of many countries. She is more successful than her western counterparts, and she lives to enjoy her ill-gotten gains.
Publication Dates: 2 December 2019 and 15 January 2020
Pirates: Blackbeard (Edward Thache), William Kidd, Jean Laffite, Zheng Yi, Zheng Yi Sao
Others: Richard Glasspoole

Zheng Yi Sao ("wife" of Zheng Yi)
by Cindy Vallar
At the height of her power, Zheng Yi Sao commands a pirate fleet that surpasses the navies of many countries. In addition to more than 200 oceangoing junks armed with twenty to thirty cannon and manned by up to 400 pirates each, she controls 600-800 coastal vessels (twelve to twenty-five cannon, 200 men) and dozens of river junks (twenty to thirty men). She sets up a network of spies who watch the harbors and report potential targets.
Publication Date: 1 May 2000
Pirates: Chang Pao, Zheng Yi Sao, Zheng Yi

Piracy and Trade

Between Two Piracies
by Cindy Vallar
Too many variables lead to England's failure to bring Henry Every to justice. Successfully prosecuting only twenty-four out of 170 pirates -- none of whom have the same stature as their captain -- fails to impress Emperor Aurangzeb or the East India Company. As far as the latter is concerned, pirates become their nemesis, and if swift action isn't taken, their factories in India will be shuttered and they will become insolvent and no longer viable. The government, however, is unwilling to grant them special powers to arrest and try the pirates in Company admiralty courts. Instead, Royal Navy ships are sent to dissuade the scoundrels. Still, the marauding continues.
Publication Dates: 22 May & 19 July 2021
Pirates: Richard Chivers (Dirk Chivers or Shivers), Robert Culliford, James Gilliam, William Kidd, Ralph Stout, Jon Swann, William Mason
Others: Richard Coote, Leonard Edgecomb, Edmund Harrison, Hyde, Robert Livingston, Negus, John Sawbridge, Wallis, William Willcock, William III

Buccaneers, Zeerovers, and West India Companies
by Cindy Vallar
Commerce is always a facet of each trading company that Europeans establish. Exploration and territorial expansion are other goals. The West India companies, especially that of the Dutch, possess another objective that is an integral component of their entities -- privateering.

In 1493, Pope Alexander VI issues the Inter Caetera, a papal bull that decrees a specific meridian designating the lands west of this line of longitude belong to either Spain or Portugal. The Treaty of Tordesillas formalizes this invisible demarcation the following year. The problem is that neither the pope nor the treaty gives any consideration to all the other European States that also want their fair share of these undiscovered lands known collectively as the "New World."

Spain and Portugal frown upon intruders who wish to stake their own claims or to steal what belongs to these two realms. As a result, subsequent treaties pertain to peace among regions east and north of that line (basically Europe). To the west of that line of longitude, all remains fair in love and war. Into this arena come West India companies, buccaneers (or privateers, if you prefer), and zeerovers, who prey on Spanish and Portuguese settlements and ships. This means a perpetual state of war exists in the Caribbean Sea and South Atlantic and Pacific Oceans -- conflict that is often substantiated as "No peace beyond the line."
Publication Dates 20 May & 20 June & 20 July 2020
Pirates: Roche Brasiliano (Gerrit Gerritszoon), John Coxon, William Dampier, Laurens de Graaf, Michel de Grammont, Alexandre Exquemelin, Jean Hamlin, Piet Heyn, Pierre le Grand, Jacques l'Hermite, William Kidd, Henry Morgan, Jean David Nau (l'Olonnais), Basil Ringrose, Nicholas van Hoorn
Others: Charles Carlisle, Charles I, Christian V, John Coke, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Oliver Cromwell, Edward Conway, Dudley Diggs, Bertrand d'Ogeron, Frederik V, James III, Jean Le Vasseur, Lorentz, Louis XIV, Philip IV, John Pym, Thomas Roe, George Villiers

Henry Every and the East India Company
by Cindy Vallar
England's East India Company (EIC) complains about pirate-infested Madagascar in 1706. According to his Review of the State of the British Nation, Daniel Defoe fears the pirates may "form a Nation, a State, at War with all the World" and urges the government to nip that possibility in the bud. Such fears aren't new. Two prior major incidents have already shown the EIC just how dangerous these sea marauders are to its future on the subcontinent of India. The first of these causes a media sensation and makes one man a legend in his own time. His name is Henry Every.
Publication Date: 21 March 2021
Pirates: John Dann, Henry Every, James Faro, Philip Middleton, William Mues, William Phillips, Thomas Tew, Richard Want
Others: Samuel Annesley, Arangzeb, John Gayer, Abd-ul Ghafur, Ahmanat Khan, Khufi Khan, John Sparks

In League with Pirates
by Cindy Vallar
Pirates never work alone. Whether in the past or the present, they require people to sell their plunder. Sooner or later, this illegal trade results in government intervention to suppress piracy.
Publication Date: 1 May 2002
Pirates: Adam Baldridge, Thomas Tew, John Ward
Others: Thomas Crooke, Benjamin Fletcher, William Markham, Cara Osman, Frederick Philipse, Edward Welsh

In the Aftermath of Kidd
by Cindy Vallar
Although William Kidd is dead, the East India Company isn’t finished with him. His attack does offer a respite for some pirates if they are willing to give up their criminal pursuits. As the sands of time shift, so does public opinion about pirates. But pirates continue to prowl for victims in the Indian Ocean as one Company man soon discovers.
Publication Dates: 22 August & 18 September 2021
Pirates: Edward England, Kirby, Olivier Levasseur, Jaspar Seagar, Richard Taylor
Others: Boone, Brown, Benjamin Fletcher, Charles Hedges, Charles Johnson, Richard Lazenby, James Macrae, Thomas Matthews, William Penn

The Lure of Exotic Treasure: Piracy and the East India Companies
by Cindy Vallar
East and West are linked long before Marco Polo sets out on his travels in the thirteenth century. Commodities from Asia travel trade networks known as the Silk Road and the Spice Routes, winding their way over thousands of miles and changing hands multiple times. Each middleman adds to the initial cost of the products until only wealthy and powerful Europeans can afford them. This changes in the fifteenth century when the Portuguese begin exploring the world in ships. On 9 September 1499, Vasco da Gama and fifty-five of his original crew of 170 men return home to Lisbon after sailing around the Cape of Good Hope to the Malabar Coast in India and back again. Rather than depend on many middlemen, enterprising merchants in many different countries establish chartered trading companies that possess the sole right to buy and sell these luxuries. Such treasures, traveling by sea, tempt a new host of marauders. This is the story of the East India companies and their nemeses . . . pirates.
Publication Date: 20 January 2021
Pirates: William Cobb, Laurens Davidszoon, Hubert Hugo
Others: Afonso de Albuquerque, Aurangzeb, Catherine of Beraganza, Charles I, Charles II, Guillaume Chenu de Chalezac, John Cribb, Vasco da Gama, Abd-ul Ghafur, Alexander Hamilton, Baker Master, Thomas Roe, Richard Salvey, Nathaniel Warren

The Royal African Company and Pirates
by Cindy Vallar
Slavery and piracy are inextricably linked throughout history. Although we don't know when the first pirate attack occurs, a clay tablet from 1350 BCE is the first known recorded incident. Even older is the first extant reference to slavery in the Code of Hammurabi, Babylonian laws from four centuries earlier. Most civilizations have experienced both; most have participated in both. The Age of Exploration and Discovery triggers a far greater exploitation of slavery with the rise of trading companies. While gold and ivory are the initial commodities that draw Europeans to Africa, the need for laborers on colonial plantations gives rise to slavery becoming an even more important commodity. And wealth of any kind, sooner or later, draws the attention of pirates.
Publication Dates: 20 August & 21 September & 19 October & 17 November 2020
Pirates: Valentine Ashplant, James Bradshaw, Thomas Cocklyn, Howell Davis, John Eastwell, William Gittius, James Griffin, Richard Hardy, John Jessup, Simon Jones, Olivier Levasseur, Edward Low, George Lowther, William Magness, John Massey, Christopher Moody, James Owen, Bartholomew Roberts, Thomas Rogers, David Simpson, Skyrm, Stephenson, Thomas Sutton, Andrew Thompson
Others: John Atkins, John Barnsley, Thomas Castle, Christopher Columbus, Edward Crisp, Barolomeu Dias, Henry Dodson, Gerrit de Haen, James Gordyn, Mungo Herdman, Edmund Hyde, Benjamin Kraft, Nicholas Lawes, Ferdinand Magellan, Walter Moore, Orfeur, James Phipps, Charles Russell, William Snelgrave, John Wingfield

Smuggling
by Cindy Vallar
Like pirates, smugglers are romanticized. Who hasn’t seen The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh, where Doctor Syn, the Vicar of Dyme Church, leads a secret life as the leader of a gang of smugglers known as “The Scarecrow?” If asked, most people will respond that a pirate and a smuggler are synonymous, as Alan Karras discovers as he researches his book, Smuggling. In actuality, they are not the same, as we learn in this article.
Publication Date: 4 May 2011
Pirates: Jean Laffite
Others: William C. C. Claiborne, Robert Peel, William Pitt the Younger, James Woodforde

The Trading Companies: An Introduction
by Cindy Vallar
Silk. Cinnamon. Pepper. Porcelain. Cotton cloth. A shopping list of luxuries. Traders have sold these high-priced items to wholesalers in Europe for centuries. Such commodities travel from Asia to the Middle East via overland trade routes or through a series of intermediaries before they reach their final destination – the merchants who sell them to customers for personal use. This means supplies are limited, which jacks up prices. Yet demand outpaces supply.

After Christopher Columbus sails west to find a quicker way to reach the East Indies – and ends up discovering the West Indies instead – new lands open up to explore and to settle; exotic products may lure buyers to part with hard-earned coins; and untold riches may fill royal coffers and raise the status of men daring enough to venture into the unknown.

Such journeys require vast sums money, often more than one man or one monarch dares risk. How may the start-up costs to build or lease ships, pay men to sail these vessels, purchase food and supplies – enough to last for at least six months to a year or more – and to minimize the risk of catastrophic loss be raised? The answer: the joint-stock trading company with a charter that grants the organization a monopoly. The best known of these are the East India companies, but they are not the only ones established. Some grow to be quite successful; others fizzle with scandalous results. A few extend a nation’s power and sphere of influence until the original country grows to be an empire. But the commodities these companies import and export prove too enticing to ignore, which is why many fall victim to predators of the sea.

To set the stage, this first article in a series on trading companies and pirates covers the rise of trading companies, where they trade, and the products in which they deal.
Publication Date: 21 April 2020
Others: Charles II, Charles III, Oliver Cromwell, Vasco da Gama, Miguel de Lima y Melo, Richelieu, Thomas Smythe

William Kidd and the East India Company
by Cindy Vallar
Well read, respected member of society, and having a good reputation -- these are words that describe the privateer William Kidd. After he leaves New York to unsuccessfully seek a commission in the Royal Navy and becomes entangled in a dangerous game with far more powerful men, other words become associated with Kidd: cheeky, reckless, defiant, argumentative, ambitious, and harsh. They are qualities certain to rub some people the wrong way. Their encounters with him will earn him a dodgy reputation and a potent adversary.
Publication Date: 19 July, 2021
Pirates: John Harvey, William Kidd, Thomas Pattell, John Treadway
Others: Coji Babba, Edward Barlow, Benjamin Franks, John Gavin, Muklis Khan, Thomas Warren

Piracy Around the World

The Barbary Corsairs
by Cindy Vallar
Elements of awe and fear surround the Barbary corsairs, but prior to the sixteenth century, Christians don’t refer to them as such.  They were Moors or Saracens. “Barbary” derives from an Italian word, first used around 1500, for North Africa. While some Italians think these Saracen corsairs are barbarians, the people and their culture are anything but barbaric. After 1581, the Barbary states of Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli vie for supremacy over each other. A national policy evolves where piracy provides the beys, deys, pashas, and emperors with income. To safeguard their Mediterranean trade, European nations pay each Barbary state to cease attacking their ships and to ransom enslaved countrymen. When a new country, the United States of America, encounters this national policy, they choose a new way to deal with the terrorizing of trade. After all, Americans have not vanquished one tyrant to endure another.
Publication Dates: 1 July & 1 August 2004
Pirates: Barbarossa
Others: William Bainbridge, Stephen Decatur, William Eaton, Thomas Jefferson, Yusuf Karamanli, Presley O'Bannon, Edwin Preble, Mahomet Rous
 
The Dutch Beggars of the Sea
by Jean-Denis G. G. Lepage, guest columnist
In the sixteenth century, the Dutch seek more independence from Spain and this struggle eventually leads to the Eighty Years' War. Among those who help William the Silent in this revolt are the Watergeuzen or Sea Beggars (Dutch pirates). Lepage also discusses the privateers of the Dutch West India Company in the seventeenth century.
Publication Date: 14 December 2011
Pirates: Francis Drake, Jakobvan Heemskerck, Boudewijn Hendrickszoon, Piet Heyn, Hendrick Jacobszoonkat, Cornelius Jol, Wigbott Ripperda, Berthout Entens van Mentheda, Pieter Schouten, William II van der Marck, Willem Blois van Treslong
Others: Thomas Baskerville, Charles V, Elizabeth I, Hugo de Groot (Grotius), Alessandro Farnese, Maria of Hungary, John Locke, Walter Raleigh, Margaratha van Parma, Francis Vere, William of Orange, Roger Williams

A Family Affair (Zheng Family)
by Cindy Vallar
During the 1600s, one pirate rises from boyhood to manhood to establish a dynasty based on trade, both legal and illicit. This business passes from him to his son, his grandson, and his great-grandson. It also involves numerous brothers, uncles, and other members of his extended family. Over the course of six decades, their average income equates to more than US $89,000,000 in 2023. This is their story.
Publication Date: 16 April 2023
Pirates: Samuel Bellamy, Blackbeard (Edward Thache), Edward Cook, John Coxon, Peter Harris, Henry Morgan, Richard Sawkins, Bartholomew Sharp
Others: Han Wudi, Jian Risheng, Wanli, Yang Jian, Yongle, Zheng He, Zhu Yuanzhang

í víking – Norse Who Went Plundering
by Cindy Vallar
With names like Ivar the Boneless, Eric Bloodaxe, and Thorfinn Skullsplitter, the Norse raid far and wide, instilling fear in their victims and plundering lands where many eventually settle. Who are these pirates and what does it mean to go í víking? Why does the litany A furore Normannorum libera nos, Domini – From the fury of the Northmen deliver us, O Lord – sum up the terror their victims feel? These are a few of the questions answered here ab out Norse pirates.
Publication Date: 1 July & 1 August 2023
Pirates: Alfhild (Alwilda, Alvilda), Svein Asleifarson, Rusia, Russila, Sela, Sigrid the Superb, Stikla, Thorfinn
Others: Alcuin of York, Blathmac, Nanna Domsholt, Dudo of Saint Quentin, Ermentarius of Noirmoutier, Malcolm, Henri Musnik, Saxo Grammaticus, Walafrid Strabo

Pirates of Canada
by Cindy Vallar
Among the brethren who prowl the seas in search of treasure are men, and some women, of many nationalities. One group that seems to get short shrift are the pirates who come from Canada or who commit acts of piracy against Canada. Pirates frequent the waters of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. Most are English, but some are French or Dutch. The earliest account of piracy occurs in 1582, when Henry Oughtred and Sir John Perrot attack Portuguese and Spanish fishermen near Avalon. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a few notorious pirates leave their calling cards, yet most fade into the annals of history. This article looks at some infamous and some unfamous pirates who by birth or deed are forever linked to Canada’s maritime history.
Publication Dates: 1 January & 1 February 2001
Pirates: Charles Anderson, Robert Chevalier, Howell Davis, Peter Easton, Fielding, John Hazleton, George Jones, Edward Jordan, Pierre Le Picard, Pierre Maisonette, Jean David Nau (l'Olonnais), John Nutt, Gilbert F. Pike, Patrick Power, Bartholomew Roberts, William Trevaskiss
Others: James Allen, Bury, F. Byerly, William Carr, Cunningham, John Eliot, Elizabeth I, John Galloway, Thomas Heath, Margaret Jordan, Mackenzie, Benjamin Matthews, Sheila Na Geira, John Stairs, Richard Whitborne, John Williams

The Pirates of San Augustín
by Cindy Vallar
Today, it’s not unusual to bump into pirates when walking the streets of St. Augustine, Florida, but these are not the same rogues who visit the oldest city in North America in the past. Nor are the original residents as welcoming as today's.
Publication Dates: 7 January & 4 February & 2 March & 1 April 2011
Pirates: William Biggs, Francis Drake, Alexandre Exquemelin, Nicholas Grammont, Thomas Jingle, Henry Morgan, Andrew Ranson, Robert Searle
Others: Alonsode Avecilla, Juan Márquez Cabrera, Thomas Cates, Charles II, d'Estree, Francisco de la Guerra de la Vega, Jean de Ribaud, Estefania de Cigarroa, Juan Fernández de Olivera, Felipe II, Felipe III, Jorge Madureira Ferreira, Francisco de Sotolongo, Antonia Marques, Juan Menedez Marques, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, Miguel de Monzó, Thomas Modyford, Moore, Edward Morgan, Manoel Rivero Pardal, Juan Ponce de León, Francisco Ruiz, Henry Woodward

Scottish Pirates
by Cindy Vallar
Surrounded on three sides by water and comprised of numerous islands, Scotland has a long association with pirates, but learning about these men presents challenges. Early sources and histories don’t differentiate between pirates and feuding families, for one clan raiding an enemy clan on land and by sea is an integral part of Highland life. The earliest pirates to Scotland’s shores are the Norse, who raid the monasteries and villages along the coast. They open the door to Norse settlers who come to the Shetland, Orkney, and western isles to establish new homes and raise families. History has forgotten most Scottish pirates, but two leave indelible marks on Scotland: John Gow and William Kidd. Meet them and other Scottish pirates from Thormod Foal’s-leg to Ruari Og MacNeil to Daniel Machauly.
Publication Date: 7 October 2005
Pirates: Alan of Straws, John Alexander, Sweyn Asleifsson, Samuel Bellamy, Stede Bonnet, James Browne, Robert Davidson, George Dunkin, William Eddy, James Ferguson, Hugh Gillespie, John Gow, Grim, Holmfest, William Kidd, Peter Lisle, Edward Low, Daniel Machauly, Colum Garbh MacLeod, Ruari Og MacNeil, Neal Patterson, Bartholomew Roberts, George Ross, Bartholomew Sharp, Thormod Thasramr
Others: Alof, Arneid, William Bainbridge, Elizabeth I, Henry IV, James I, James IV, Richard B. Jones, Robert III, Asbiorn Skeria-blesi

Pirate Captives

Baltimore, Ireland
by Cindy Vallar
The influx of European pirates to the north coast of Africa in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries bring not only men to swell the ranks of Barbary pirates but also “round ships.” The rounded hulls make these merchant vessels more seaworthy and better able to traverse greater distances than the traditional galleys the Barbary pirates favor. These men soon adopt the round ships into their fleets, and the more daring of the Barbary reis (captains) venture farther afield in their pursuit of plunder. This article recounts one such attack that takes place on 20 June 1630.
Publication Dates: 16 March & 20 April & 20 May 2014
Pirates: Moulay Zidan al-Nasir, Simon Danseker, Murat Reis (Jan Janszoon), Juan Rodelgas, Suleiman Reis, John Ward (Yusuf Reis)
Others: Humphrey Bogart, Dudley Carleton, George Carew, James Leander Cathcart, Charles I, Walter Coppinger, Thomas Crooke, Laurent d'Arvieux, Pierre Dan, Thomas Davis, Elizabeth I, Edward Fawlett, James Frizell, James Hackett, Aaron Hill, Fineen O'Driscoll, Hugh O'Neill, William Okeley, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Devreux Spratt

Captives of the Barbary States
by Cindy Vallar
While we abhor slavery, it is a common practice during the Middle Ages in Byzantium, Middle Eastern lands Crusaders hold, Slavic and Balkan regions, and along the Mediterranean coasts of France, Italy, and Spain. The majority of accounts from former Barbary slaves come from men. Only a few are from women.
Publication Date: 1 October 2004
Others: Pierre Dan, Jean Marteille de Bergerac, Miguel de Cervantes, John Fox, Luis del Marmol, Richard Morris, Saint Vincent de Paul

Captured by Pirates
by Cindy Vallar
As the eighteenth century progresses, the East India Company continues its trade with India despite a decline in cotton products. Their product focus shifts to tea from China -- a trade that becomes irrevocably intertwined with opium and will precipitate two wars between England and China during the nineteenth century. Western pirates fade from eastern seas as the golden age comes to an end around 1730. Others lurk in the wings to take their place, as a young Company officer learns to his chagrin soon after the turn of the century.
Publication Date: 21 October 2021
Pirates: Zheng Yi Sao
Others: Edward Carrington, Richard Glasspoole, Kay, James Madison, John Turner

The Stupidest Mistake Ever Made by Pirates
by David K. Bryant, guest columnist
Before he rules Ancient Rome, Julius Caesar is a victim of pirates. Bryant writes about this episode in Caesar's life and how he deals with the pirates who kidnap him.
Publication Date: 20 June 2015
Others: Julius Caesar, Marcus Junius, Gnaeus Pompeius (Pompey the Great), Tacitus

Thomas Davis: Reluctant Carpenter to the Pirates
by Laura Nelson, guest columnist
When pirates seize a vessel, they request volunteers to join their ranks. Some do, but others prefer to remain on the right side of the law. There are some, however, who are not given such a choice. These are the artisans -- men with specialized skills -- and two among these are highly sought-after, surgeons and carpenters. This article tells the story of one such man.
Publication Dates: 20 August & 19 September 2017
Pirates: Samuel Bellamy, John Davis, Olivier Levasseur, Richard Noland
Others: John Brest, Buffet, Thomas Davis, William Davis, Joseph Doane, John Gilbert, Owen Morris, Oliver Noyes, Shute, James Smith, Seth Smith, Cyprion Southack, Valentine

Pirates and Literature

Barbary Corsairs and Ludo da Portovenere
by J. G. Harlond, guest columnist
Historical novelist J. G. Harlond talks about the main character in her The Chosen Man trilogy and the history that inspires his creation. His father, a Dutch privateer, "turned Turk" and becomes a famous admiral of Barbary corsairs. He is born Jan Janszoon, but history knows him better as Murat Reïs, the Younger. Harlond includes an excerpt from the book in the series, The Chosen Man.
Publication Date: 20 May 2019
Pirates: Aruj Barbarossa Simon Danseker, De Veenboer, Dragut, Jan Janszoon (Murat the Younger), Kheir-ed-din, Suleiman
Others: Agostino Doria, Ludo da Portovenere, Vanderbilt

Birth of a Pirate Novel
by Helen Hollick, guest columnist
Born in London, Hollick has been writing since her early teens. In this article, she talks about how she comes to write about Captain Jesamiah Acorne and his adventures. She also shares an excerpt from book one, Sea Witch.
Publication Date: 20 March 2013
Pirates: Jesamiah Acorne, Henry Jennings, William Kidd, Jack Sparrow
Others: Arthur, Johnny Depp, Woodes Rogers

Bringing Pirates to Life Through the Written Word
by Derrick Simon, guest columnist
Writers of historical fiction try to be as historically accurate as possible without sacrificing the fictional story. Simon discusses his journey of weaving pirate history into his young adult fantasy, The Dangerous Legacy, where Sam Every travels back to the golden age of piracy to rescue kidnapped children and to stop the theft of a mythical sword that can alter the world in which he lives.
Publication Date: 20 June 2016
Pirates: Blackbeard (Edward Thache), Henry Every, Benjamin Hornigold, William Kidd, Jack Rackham, Charles Vane
Others: Sam Every, Woodes Rogers

Captain Blood: The History Behind the Novel
by Cindy Vallar
Growing up, I try several times to read Treasure Island, but the book never captures my attention. Not until I watch an old film while in high school do pirates stir my interest. Or perhaps I should say, one particular pirate and the actor who portrays him fascinate me. He is Peter Blood, a surgeon who becomes a buccaneer. Since then I’ve watched Captain Blood many times but not until college do I discover that the film is based on Rafael Sabatini’s novel. Many years later, pirate research takes me back to this novel. By then I was well-versed in the Royal House of Stuart and James II’s flight from England that eventually leads to the Jacobite Rebellions. (The Scottish Thistle, my novel, portrays the last of these, known as the Rising of 1745.) As I reread Captain Blood in preparation for writing this article, I realize how much I hadn’t understood the first time through.
Publication Dates: 5 March & 4 April & 5 May & 4 June & 12 July 2009
Pirates: Peter Blood, William Dampier, Laurens Cornelius Boudewijn de Graaf, Francis Drake, Alexandre Exquemelin, Martin Frobisher, Jean le Vasseur, Olivier Levasseur, Henry Morgan, Jean David Nau (l'Olonnais), Jeremiah Pitt, Bartholomew Roberts, Robert Searle, Bartholomew Sharp, Lionel Wafer, Wolverstone
Others: Alexander VI, Anne, Arabella Bishop, Robert Bishop, Thomas Blood, Anne Boleyn, Catherine of Aragon, Catherine of Braganza, Charles I, Charles II, Oliver Cromwell, Richard Cromwell, Laurent d'Arvieux, John Davis, Pierre-Paul Tarin de Cussy, Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter, Bernard-Jean-Louis de Saint Jean, Bernard d'Ogeron, Jean-Baptiste Ducasse, Louis Duras, Edward VI, Elizabeth I, Diego de Espinosa y Valdez, Ferdinand, Thomas Harrison, Henrietta Maria, Henry VIII, Philip Howard, Isabella, James II, James VI, George Jeffreys, Charles Leslie, Louis XIV, Thomas Lynch, T. B. Macauley, Mary I, Peter Mewes, Hender Molesworth, Christopher Monck, John Nutall, Philip, Henry Pitman, Rafael Sabatini, James Scott, Robert Spencer, Edward Steed, Mary Stuart (Mary II), Charles Thomas, John Tradescant, William III, Willoughby

Captain Misson & Libertalia
by Cindy Vallar
In A General History of the Pyrates, Captain Charles Johnson tells the story of a Frenchman and a defrocked priest who declare war on European ships and set up a pirate utopia on the island of Madagascar. This is their story and an examination of the tale's veracity.
Publication Date: 1 March & 20 April 2017
Pirates: Adam Baldridge, Samuel Bellamy, Stede Bonnet, Caraccioli, Christopher Condent, Howell Davis, Edward England, Henry Every, Alexandre Exquemelin, William Kidd, John Martel, Misson, Henry Morgan, James Plaintain, Abraham Samuel, Thomas Tew
Others: Daniel Defoe, Ed Fox, Philip Gosse, Charles Johnson, Benerson Little, Maximillian Novak, Manuel Schonhorn, Peter Lamborn Wilson

Fictional Pirates
by Cindy Vallar
Authors have done much to influence how we see pirates. Prior to the eighteenth century, fictional pirates are ordinary men whose only importance comes from how they impact the lives of a story’s hero and heroine. Since then, pirates have come in two varieties: heroic captains that fate has forced into piracy or depraved monsters with no regard for human life as they search for treasure. A few -- like Peter Blood, Long John Silver, and Jack Sparrow -- have attained the same notoriety as real pirates of the past, such as Blackbeard or Bartholomew Roberts.
Publication Date: 1 September 2005
Pirates: Barbossa, Blackbeard (Edward Thache), Peter Blood, Henry Morgan, Jean le Vasseur, Sharkey, Long John Silver, Jack Sparrow
Others: Robert M. Ballantyne, J. M. Barrie, Daniel Defoe, Arthur Conan Doyle, Errol Flynn, Jim Hawkins, Peter Pan, Henry Pitman, Rafael Sabatini, Robert Louis Stevenson, Edward Rowe Snow

A Fun List of Pirate Movie Favorites
by Elise Schwartz, guest columnist
On cold, wintry nights when the wind howls and the snow glistens in the moonlight, what better way for a family to spend time together than seated before a roaring fire, watching pirates and imagining treasure-filled chests and warm, balmy nights on a Caribbean island? Schwartz shares her favorite swashbuckling films that will delight and entertain everyone from young pirate apprentices to dashing pirate captains.
Publication Date: 4 November 2011
Pirates: Peter Blood, Captain Hook, Dread Pirate Roberts, Jack Sparrow
Others: J. M. Barrie, Jackie Cooper, Johnny Depp, Errol Flynn, Jim Hawkins, Dustin Hoffman, Kevin Kline, Peter Pan, Robert Louis Stevenson

The Greatest Story Never Told (Until Now)
by David K. Bryant, guest columnist
Perhaps one of the most enigmatic fictional pirates is Robert Louis Stevenson's Captain Flint, a man who dies before the story begins. But who is Flint and how do author David K. Bryant shape his depiction of this notorious pirate?
Publication Date: 20 March 2015
Pirates: Billy Bones, Flint, Ben Gunn, Long John Silver
Others: Jim Hawkins, Robert Louis Stevenson, Trelawney

Jesamiah Acorne (Captain)
by Helen Hollick, guest columnist
Who is Jesamiah Acorne? Hollick talks about the protagonist of her Sea Witch series and includes an excerpt from his third voyage, Bring It Close.
Publication Date: 18 July 2016
Pirates: Jesamiah Acorne, Blackbeard (Edward Thache), Wiiliam Dampier, Henry Jennings, Jack Rackham, Jack Sparrow, Malachias Taylor
Others: Jack Aubrey, James Bond, Horatio Hornblower, Indiana Jones, Tiola Oldstagh, Richard Sharpe, James Stuart

Johnson vs. Defoe: Will the Real Author Please Stand?
by Cindy Vallar
Since its publication, A General History of the Pyrates has been a key resource for anyone searching for information about pirates in the first quarter of the 1700s. While its author is named, he remains a mystery. John Robert Moore, a college professor, claims Captain Charles Johnson is actually Daniel Defoe. But is he?
Publication Date: 3 August & 5 September 2010
Pirates: Samuel Bellamy, Stede Bonnet, Anne Bonny, Christopher Condent, Howell Davis, Edward England, Henry Every, William Fly, John Gow, Edward Low, George Lowther, Misson, Jack Rackham, Mary Read, Bartholomew Roberts, Alexander Selkirk, Singleton, Thomas Tew, Charles Vane
Others: J. M. Barrie, Daniel Defoe, Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Drury, Philip Nicholas Furbank, Philip Gosse, Charles Johnson, Thomas Lynch, Nathaniel Mist, John Robert Moore, W. R. Owens, Charles Rivington, George Roberts, Walter Scott, Robert Louis Stevenson, Thomas Woodword,

The Lure of Piracy: Reality vs. Romanticism
by Cindy Vallar
Once portrayed as frightening villains, pirates have become daring heroes we yearn to emulate. If real pirates are bloodthirsty violent men, why do we romanticize them? Literature and Hollywood have given us an image of pirates that is far different from the realty. How do they differ and why do we prefer to believe in the fictional version rather than the truth?
Publication Dates: 1 September & 1 October 2001
Pirates: Blackbeard (Edward Thache), Anne Bonny, Alexandre Exquemelin, Hook, Mary Read, Bartholomew Roberts
Others: J. M. Barrie, Byron (George Gordon), Charles Ellms, Douglas Fairbanks, Errol Flynn, Gilbert, Charles Johnson, Burt Lancaster, Margarette Lincoln, Mei Ying, Peter Pan, Lucretia Parker, Howard Pyle, Arthur Ransome, Raphael Sabatini, Philip Steele, Robert Louis Stevenson, Sullivan, N. C. Wyeth

Sea Yarns Galore
a column by Irwin Bryan
For six months before his death, Irwin Bryan shared books from his Tall Ship Database with readers. He talked about a variety of topics related to piracy, privateering, and the maritime world.
Publication Dates: 20 November 2021 through 20 April 2022
Pirates: Blackbeard (Edward Thache), Francis Drake, Henry Every, Martin Frobisher, John Hawkins, Henry Morgan
Others: Jack Aubrey, Jane Austen, Nathaniel Bowditch, James Fenimore Cooper, David Cordingly, Daniel Defoe, Nathaniel Drinkwater, Joan Druett, Peter Earle, William Falconer, Jeffrey Farnol, C. S. Forester, Ioan Gruffudd, Horatio Hornblower, Charles Johnson, Thomas Kydd, Dewey Lambdin, Alan Lewrie, Jack London, Frederick Marryat, Steven Maturin, Herman Melville, Gregory Peck, Edward Pellew, Howard Pyle, Jan Rogozinski, William Clark Russell, Raphael Sabatini, Richard Spilman, Julian Stockwin, Jules Verne, Richard Woodman

The Unknown Survivor
by Laura Nelson, guest columnist
Cape Cod folklore suggests a third man survives the wreck of Black Sam Bellamy's pirate ship. Nelson explores this possibility and discusses the wreck of Whydah in April 1717.
Publication Date: 21 June 2014
Pirates: Thomas Baker, Samuel Bellamy, John Brown, Peter Cornelius Hoof, Hendrik Quintor, John Shaun, Thomas South, Simon Van Vorst
Others: Thomas Davis, Maria Hallett, Andrew Mackonacky, Henry David Thoreau

Privateers

Alexander Selkirk, the Real Robinson Crusoe
by Cindy Vallar
While Robinson Crusoe is a fictional character, Daniel Defoe bases him on a real man. Alexander Selkirk never dreams he will live on an uninhabited island. He departs England aboard Cinque Ports, one of William Dampier’s privateers. Bound for the Pacific to prey on Spanish treasure galleons, problems soon surface between Selkirk and the ship’s incompetent captain. This conflict eventually results in the captain marooning Selkirk on an uninhabited island. After four and a half years alone, Selkirk is rescued when Woodes Rogers drops anchor off Juan Fernandez Island. Their meeting proves fortuitous, and Selkirk gains a form of immortality when Daniel Defoe bases his most memorable character on Selkirk’s experience.
Publication Dates: 1 June & 1 July 2002
Pirates: William Dampier, Charles Pickering, Alexander Selkirk, Thomas Stradling
Others: Frances Candes, Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe, Woodes Rogers, Richard Steele

Canadian Privateers
by Cindy Vallar
By definition a privateer is either the ship, the crew, or the captain of a vessel licensed by a particular government during times of war to prey on enemy ships.  Canadian privateers played an important role in several wars, especially during the 18th and 19th centuries.  Most sailed from Nova Scotia because of its close proximity to the United States and the North Atlantic.  Often considered little more than legal pirating, “by mid 1700s [privateering] was carefully regulated, respectable and as law abiding as the navy,” according to Daniel Conlin, Curator of Marine History at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Publication Date: 1 April 2001
Pirates: John Barss, Doloboratz, Francis Drake, Thomas Freeman, Alexander Godfrey, Lewis Knaut, Matthew Pennell, Caleb Seely, James Taylor

Dominique You, Intrepid Warrior
by Cindy Vallar
After researching a topic for my novel, I often find the historical person who plays a key role as a minor player in the story isn't the person I initially think he/she will be. Such is the case with my current work-in-progress, The Rebel and the Spy. Instead of Jean Laffite being this key player, the one who captures the spotlight is Dominique You, one of his lieutenants. Before You becomes an associate of Laffite and one of the heroes of the Battle of New Orleans, he is a corsair preying on ships in the Caribbean.
Publication Date: 5 August 2011
Pirates: Louis Aury, Joseph Axnazola y Vonay, Renato Beluche, Dominique Diron, Vincent Gambi, Dominique Houx, Jean Laffite, Pierre Laffite, Dominique Youx (Frédéric Youx, Alexandre Frédéric)
Others: Stanley Clisby Arthur, Ellis P. Bean, Napoleon Bonaparte, William C. C. Claiborne, Christopher Columbus, Stanley Faye, Charles Etienne Arthur Gayarré, Paul Hamilton, Andrew Jackson, William James, William Jones, Vincent Leclerc, Edward Livingston, Nicholas Lockyer, Cary Mack, James Madison, Vincent Nolte, Daniel Todd Patterson, Jacques Plaidex, John Shaw, Manuel Rodriguez Torices

Fells Point and the Baltimore Privateers
by Cindy Vallar
Nearly thirty years ago, my husband and I move into our first home: a “Father, Son, and Holy Ghost” house with three floors and such a narrow spiral staircase that the movers have to bring the furniture in through the upper story windows. We choose the location because it is the halfway point between our two jobs, rather than because it is in Fells Point, home of the legendary Baltimore clippers. This remains our home for only a short time and, when we move, we never expect to return to Fells Point many years later to visit the new maritime museum on the waterfront. The entire exhibit area holds a vast array of artifacts and information about the Baltimore privateers and the men who build and sail them. A photograph of one of these men, a gunner aboard Chasseur, captures my attention. I want to learn more about him, the privateers he sails on, and the shipyard where the original “Pride of Baltimore” is built.
Publication Date: 5 March 2008
Pirates: Thomas Boyle, Thorndike Chase, George Coggeshall, William Furlong, Richard Moon, George R. Roberts, William Wade
Others: Ben Bowen, James Cordury, John Craig, Philip Cronmiller, Edward Fell, William Fell, William Grands, Josiah Hall, Henry Holbrook, Sophia Horstman, Lloyd Johnson, Thomas Kemp, Hezekiah Niles, William Parsons, Mary Pickersgill, William Price, James Ramsey, Joseph Robson, John Stickney, John S. Young

James Forten
by Cindy Vallar
Privateers are instrumental in America’s fight for independence in the eighteenth century. Philadelphia, an important colonial port, produces a number of privateers (both ships and men). One lad in particular chooses captivity aboard a British hulk, rather than turn traitor. He survives his imprisonment and goes on to become an important gentleman in Philadelphia’s maritime industry. He also fights for equal rights. When the war ends, some privateers turn to piracy. James Forten opts to return to Philadelphia and put the skills he acquires at sea to use on land. His knowledge and expertise help him become one of the leading sailmakers of his day. He uses his wealth and influence to help others, and he fights for equal rights for all men.
Publication Dates: 5 January & 5 February 2008
Pirates: Daniel Brewton, Stephen Decatur, Thomas Drang, James Forten
Others: Henry Bazely, John Bazely, Martha Beatte, Robert Bridges, William Douglas, John Ford, Thomas Forten, Philip Freneau, William Lloyd Garrison, George Grenville, William Morris, William Penn, Charlotte Vandine, George Washington, Thomas Willing

Jean Fleury
by Cindy Vallar
In the early decades of the sixteenth century, rumors spread through Europe about riches to be found in the Americas. If true, these treasures belong to Spain, which makes the neighboring nations also crave their share of the wealth. But a venture to the New World is no small undertaking and it is risky business to venture beyond the horizon to lands unknown. Not everyone wishes to place his life and fortune in peril until such rumors are proven true.
Publication Date: 20 August 2018
Pirates: Jean Fleury (Jean Florin)
Others: Jean Ango, Carlos I, Christopher Columbus, Hernán Cortés, François I, Angus Konstam, Moctezma II

Jean Laffite, Enigma and Legend
by Cindy Vallar
Six feet tall. Coal black hair. Piercing dark eyes. Clean-shaven with sideburns. Handsome. Benevolent and cool-headed. Frightful temper. Debonair. Chivalrous. Swashbuckler. Rogue. Enigma. These words describe Jean Laffite, a privateer who operates a vast smuggling network in and around New Orleans during the first two decades of the nineteenth century. Some call him pirate.  Others call him friend. At least for a time after the Battle of New Orleans in 1815, all call him hero.
Publication Date: 18 February 2000 (column's debut article)
Pirates: Jean Laffite
Others: William C. C. Claiborne, Andrew Jackson, Thomas Jefferson, Nicholas Lockyer, James Madison, McWilliams

Pirate or Privateer, Rogue or Hero?
by Mark M. McMillin, guest columnist
For thousands of years, pirates and privateers have roamed the seven seas. A pirate, as we all know, is a villain, an outlaw, who cruises the oceans to plunder and kill for booty and, if caught and convicted, will dance at the end of a rope. A privateer is a paid mercenary, licensed by a government to lawfully plunder and kill his enemies during times of war and, if caught, ends up as a prisoner-of-war. That sounds fairly cut and dry, but the distinction between the two callings over the years has often been blurred beyond recognition. In this article, McMillin focuses our attention on one particular privateer, a little-known hero who operates out of Dunkirk, France during America's War of Independence.
Publication Date: 28 November 2012
Pirates: Stephan Marchant, Luke Ryan
Others: Marie Antoinette, Benjamin Franklin

The Privateers: An Introduction
by Cindy Vallar
The English: “Know that we have granted and given license . . . to [person’s name] . . . to annoy our enemies at sea or by land . . . so that they shall share with us half of all their gain.” With these words, Henry III of England paves the way for the legalization of piracy.

The French: The French consider “la course,” their word for privateering, a family business where sons follow in their fathers’ footsteps. Known as corsairs, French privateers plague English shipping for more than a century. This second article in the series examines the French privateers.

The Americans: The American Revolution that demonstrates the superiority of privateers over naval ships and this third article in this series examines the American privateers.
Publication Dates: 1 December 2002 and 1 January & 1 February 2003
Pirates: Jean Bart, Thomas Cavendish, Francis Drake, Réné Duguay-Trouin, John Hawkins, Jean Laffite, Robert Surcouf
Others: Elizabeth I, Henry III, Louis XIV, Walter Raleigh

Privateersman Jonathan Haraden
by James Masciarelli
During the war that gives birth to the United States, American privateers take over 3,000 British vessels and capture much-needed muskets and gunpowder, which they deliver to the Continental Army. The deeds of one particular privateer stand out because of his audacity. One day he comes alongside an English ship and demands her immediate surrender. With a lit fuse in one hand, he waits for five minutes beside a gun. Unbeknownst to the English, Haraden is bluffing. Still, the enemy ship soon strikes her colors.  Masciarelli shares more about Captain Haraden and other equally bold members of his family.
Publication Date: 18 June 2018
Pirates: Jonathan Haraden, John Phillips
Others: George Cabot, Edward I, John Fillmore, Thomas Gage, Frank A. Gardner, Samuel Graves, Andrew Haraden, Nathaniel Haraden, Ralph D. Paine

Ships and Sailing

Curious Pirate Ships
by Cindy Vallar
Close your eyes. Think back to days of yore. Picture a ship. What do you see? Most likely the image is of a wooden sailing ship with high masts, square sails filled with wind, and a ship’s wheel. If I insert the adjective “pirate” before “ship,” the only differences may be the black flag fluttering in the wind and a ragtag crew vaporing insults and threats while slashing the air with an array of weapons. This is an image of the buccaneers and pirates of the western world, those who prowl the Caribbean and Atlantic, especially during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. But piracy is a world-wide phenomenon, and outside this sphere and time span, sea marauders have sailed in what we can describe as “unusual” pirate ships.
Publication Date: 16 February 2020
Pirates: Oruç Barbarossa (Aruj), Jean Laffite, Granuaile O'Malley, Tibbott ne Long, Zhang Bao
Others: Elizabeth I, Fu Xi, Fanny Loviot, Jean Marteille de Bergerac, Marco Polo, Henry Sidney, John Turner

Galleys to Junks
by Cindy Vallar
No matter the time period, pirates require three things from their ships: (1) speed and maneuverability, (2) space for prize crews, armament, and plunder, and (3) shallow drafts. This article explores the various ships pirates have used.
Publication Date 1 September 2002
Pirates: Granuaile O'Malley
Others: James IV, Marco Polo

Mother Nature, Pirates, & Dangers at Sea
by Cindy Vallar
“Shipwreck Day Setting Sail,” reads the headline in a California newspaper in October 2015. A seemingly innocuous way to celebrate pirates . . . unless you’re a seaman or you know one. It’s upsetting to anyone whose life has been touched by a tragedy at sea, such as a shipwreck. One need only look to the stories about El Faro, which sinks with all hands that same month. For myself, that day first comes in 1967 when we learn of the explosion and fire aboard USS Forrestal. My dad’s friend is a doctor on the aircraft carrier. While visiting my grandparents in 1986, tragedy strikes again when a freak squall sinks Pride of Baltimore. I don’t know Captain Elsaesser or the three members of the crew who lose their lives that day, but I live in Baltimore at the time and am proud of our Goodwill Ambassador. Dangers are an inevitable risk for anyone who ventures onto the sea, including pirates.
Publication Date: 21 March 2016
Pirates: Joseph Bannister, Samuel Bellamy, Blackbeard (Edward Thache), John Bowen, Richard Browne, Thomas Cocklyn, William Dampier, Laurence de Graaf, Michel de Grammont, Henry Every, Alexandre Exquemelin, John Gow, Benjamin Hornigold, Walter Kennedy, William Kidd, John King, Edward Low, George Lowther, Henry Morgan, Jean David Nau (l'Olonnais), Nathaniel North, Bartholomew Roberts, Alexander Selkirk, George Shelvocke, Charles Swan, Charles Vane
Others: d’Estrées, Olivier Freneau, Archibald Hamilton, Charles Johnson, Samuel Johnson, Thomas Lynch, Chaloner Ogle, Woodes Rogers

Pirate Conning
by Cindy Vallar
Figuring out how to get from Point A to Point B isn’t a major concern for us today. After all, we have road maps, online maps with step-by-step instructions, cell phones, and GPS devices for when we’re lost. We have it easy compared to navigators of the past. Many don’t even know there is a world beyond the horizon.

Intrepid mariners discover new lands and forge new passages, but navigating their vessels to go where they wish is a major feat. Various devices aid in latitudinal calculation, as do estimates regarding tides, currents, and ship’s speed and course. The inability to determine longitude means many ships are not where their captains, or navigators, think they are. It is common to miss an island or landfall by going too far or not far enough. Such an error can seriously endanger the ship and those on board.
Publication Dates: 17 May & 4 July 2010
Pirates: Blackbeard (Edward Thache), John Bowen, William Dampier, John Lambert, Bartholomew Roberts, Nicholas Thomas
Others: Nathaniel Bowditch, John Davis, Henry Glasby, John Hadley, John Harrison, John Hamilton Moore, Amerigo Vespucci, Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer

Pirate Ships
by Cindy Vallar
The primary tool that differentiates a pirate from a highwayman or a thief is his sea-roving vessel. While he isn’t particular about the type of conveyance he uses, she needs to possess certain traits. The faster the better, since sometimes he needs to flee pursuers or run down prey attempting to escape. She requires a shallow draft and shall sail well. After all, the less water she needs under her keel to stay afloat, the easier it is for her to seek water where a larger ship cannot go. Join me in this exploration of pirate ships, inside and out.
Publication Date: 20 January 2016
Pirates: Samuel Bellamy, Blackbeard (Edward Thache), Stede Bonnet, William Dampier, George Booth, John Bowen, Howell Davis, Henry Every, George Lowther, Basil Ringrose, Bartholomew Roberts, Charles Vane
Others: Charles Johnson, Jean-Baptiste Labat, David Macgregor, William Snelgrave, Francisco de Zarate

Pirate Ships of the West
by Cindy Vallar
Pirates have many different weapons at their disposal, but the most important and the one that sets them apart from an ordinary highwayman is their ship. This article explores those used in the West, particularly during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Publication Date: 20 June & 20 September & 24 October 2019
Pirates: George Barrow, Samuel Bellamy, Blackbeard (Edward Thache), Peter Blood, Stede Bonnet, Anne Bonny, Thomas Cocklyn, Christopher Condent, Edward England, William Dampier, Howell Davis, Francis Drake, John Drake, Henry Every, Francis Fletcher, David Herriot, Edward Jordan, William Kidd, John Knox, Edward Low, George Lowther, William Moody, Henry Morgan, John Quelch, Jack Rackham, Basil Ringrose, Bartholomew Roberts, George Speaker, John Taylor, Charles Vane
Others: Philip Ashton, Beer, David Cordingly, Elizabeth I, Charles Johnson, Jean-Baptiste Labat, John Mansfield, Ralph Merry, William Rhett, Samuel Roberts, Woodes Rogers, John Stairs, Richard Zacks

Spanish Galleons
by Cindy Vallar
Clumsy and slow but seaworthy, this ship above all others fires a pirate’s imagination. Galleons guard the treasure bound for Spain and the king’s coffers. A single prize can make a pirate rich . . . if he catches her.

As stalwart as the galleon appears, she is actually quite fragile when pitted against Mother Nature, who succeeds in wrecking the galleons, which sink to the ocean floor with their precious cargoes.

With Christopher Columbus’s discovery of the New World, Spain gains control of a vast overseas empire with great riches. The king needs this treasure to fund the frequent wars that deplete the royal coffers. In time, the area Spain controls becomes known as the Spanish Main. Between 1492 and 1830, the New World produces 4,035,156,000 gold and silver pesos. Carried in the holds of the treasure fleets, these riches draw pirates to them like a magnet draws metal.
Publication Dates: 1 September & 1 October 2003
Pirates: Francis Drake
Others: Matthew Baker, Walter Raleigh

Superstitions of the Sea
by Cindy Vallar
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe writes: Superstition is the poetry of life. Whether you believe in them or not, they make life interesting. Athletes on winning streaks follow the same routines to ensure that they keep winning. Children avoid stepping on cracks so as not to break their mothers’ backs. And what about breaking a mirror and having seven years of bad luck? Most pirates are sailors before going on the account, so their world is laced with superstitions. Their life may well have been short and merry, but if they can prolong that life even one day, why not pay heed to the superstitions of the sea?
Publication Date: 1 April 2007
Pirates: Barbossa, William Dampier
Others: William Cammell, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Christopher Columbus, Saint Erasmus (Saint Elmo), Henry Hudson, Jonah

Talk Like a Pirate

A Pirate Lexicon
by Cindy Vallar
The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary defines a lexicon several ways, and the meaning that most pertains to this article is “the vocabulary of some department of knowledge or sphere of activity; the vocabulary or wordstock of a region, a particular speaker, etc. Also, a list of words or names.” (1589) Talking like a pirate has gained popularity ever since Ol’ Chumbucket (also known as John Baur) and Cap’n Slappy (also known as Mark Summers) christened 19 September as International Talk Like a Pirate Day.
Publication Date: 10 May 2012
Pirates: Abraham Baluveldt, Willem Albertszoon Baluveldt, William Bishop, Blackbeard (Edward Thache), Roche Brasiliano, John Coxon, Joseph Dawson, Laurens de Graaf, Henry Every, Alexandre Exquemelin, Edward Forsythe (Forseith), Grammont, William Kidd, James Lewis, Edward Low, George Lowther, Jean David Nau (l'Olonnais), Passchier, John Phillips, Jack Rackham, Bartholomew Roberts, Bartholomew Sharp, John Sparks, William Mays, Maurice Williams
Others: Jonathan Barnet, Charles II, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Juan de la Cruz, Charles Dickens, Cornelius Evertsen, Charles Hedges, Thomas Hewetson, Peter Heywood, Robert Maynard, Thomas Modyford, Eric Partridge, Jean Villebon, Thomas Walduck, Richard James Wilkinson

Pirate Lingo
by Cindy Vallar
Ten years ago, John Baur and Mark Summers create a new holiday. It doesn’t amount to much until Dave Barry writes a column in 2002, that introduces readers to International Talk Like a Pirate Day! To help pirates everywhere celebrate this special day, this article explores words associated with pirates.
Publication Date 1 September 2005
Pirates: Barbarossa, Dragut Reis, Francis Drake, Henry Every, Alexandre Exquemelin, Henry Morgan, Jean David Nau (l'Olonnais), Basil Ringrose
Others: Jean Bart, John Baur, Stephen R. Brown, Réné Duguay-Trouin, Tamara J. Eastman, Elizabeth I, Charles Ellms, Mark Summers, Robert Surcouf, Vernon, Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer

When Is a Pirate Not a Pirate?
by Cindy Vallar
How many different synonyms can you think of for "pirate?" Buccaneer, corsair, marooner, swashbuckler. These are just a few, but do they really mean the same thing as "pirate?"
Publication Date: 1 April 2000
Pirates: Barbarossa, Blackbeard (Edward Thache), Dragut Reis, Perez Drinkwater, Alexandre Exquemelin, Henry Morgan, William Kidd, Bartholomew Roberts, Alexander Selkirk
Others: Daniel Defoe, Henry III, Walter Scott, Robert Louis Stevenson

Treasure and Shipwrecks 

A Fateful Voyage: The Story of the 1715 Treasure Fleet, Pirates, and a Tercentenary
by Cindy Vallar
2015 marks the 300th anniversary of one of the greatest maritime disasters, the sinking of the 1715 Treasure Fleet off the coast of Florida during a hurricane. This article explores this voyage, the salvage operations, the pirates who prey on the salvage camp and wrecks, and Daniel Carr’s cobs that commemorative this event.
Publication Date: 23 February 2015
Pirates: Samuel Bellamy, Edward England, Benjamin Hornigold, Henry Jennings, John Julian, Olivier Levasseur, Jack Rackham, Charles Vane, Paulsgrave Williams, John Willis
Others: John Balchen, Francisco de León y Cabrera, Daniel Carr, Antonio Darié, Thomas Davis, Miguel de Limay Melo, Antonio de Echeverz y Zubuza, Philip V, Woodes Rogers, Francisco Salmón, William Snelgrave, Juan Esteban de Ubilla, Kip Wagner

Pirate Treasure
by Cindy Vallar
On my office wall hangs a Florida Treasure Map. It marks the locations of where pirates bury their plundered booty. For example, Sir Henry Morgan and Blackbeard secret some near Boca Raton. Calico Jack Rackham deposits in excess of $3,000,000 on Ten Thousand Islands, while Black Caesar favors Sanibel Island to hide fourteen tons of silver. Gasparilla caches his gold, valued at more than $2,000,000, on Gasparilla Island, and his ship, Florida Blanca, sinks in the Boca Grande Pass around 1821, with plunder worth $9,000,000. Pirates prize gold and silver, yet few pirates garner such treasure. What do they get after seizing their prey? What happens to that treasure? Which pirates succeed in capturing plunder beyond their wildest dreams?
Publication Date: 1 March 2007
Pirates: Samuel Bellamy, Blackbeard (Edward Thache), Roche Brasiliano, Francis Drake, Henry Every, William Kidd, Jean David Nau (l'Olonnais), Jack Rackham, Thomas Tew
Others: John Gardiner, Edward Randolph, Robert Louis Stevenson

Shipwrecked Treasure Galleons
by Cindy Vallar
After the flota reassembles in Havana, Cuba, for the return trip to Spain, they sail north and east until they reach the latitude of forty degrees before crossing the Atlantic Ocean. The journey lasts approximately two months. The later they depart the New World for Spain, the greater their risk of encountering a hurricane somewhere along the narrow passage between Bahama Bank and the Florida reefs. When one of the oldest and richest of the treasure galleons sink in 1641, more than forty years pass before the wreck is discovered. During the golden age of piracy, a rich treasure fleet departs Havana in late July bound for Spain. The Spaniards keep watch for pirates, but it is a hurricane that ravishes the fleet, killing over 700 people and sinking a cargo worth more than 14,000,000 pesos. Salvagers recover one third of the treasure before bad weather and rough seas wipe away all traces of the sunken ships.  More than two centuries pass before treasure hunters rediscover the lost Treasure Fleet of 1715.
Publication Dates: 1 November & 1 December 2003 and 1 January 2004
Pirates: Henry Jennings, Wills
Others: Francisco de León y Cabrera, Clemente, Darié, Antonio de Echeverz y Zubiza, Dave Horner, Eugene Lyon, Robert McClung, William Phips, Diego Rivadeneira, Ubilla, Kip Wagner, Burt Weber

Copyright ©2025 Cindy Vallar

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