Pirates and Privateers
The History of Maritime
Piracy
Cindy Vallar, Editor
& Reviewer
P.O. Box 425,
Keller, TX 76244-0425
   
The Articles
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.
Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum
. . . But
|
Article
Categories
|
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.
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
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
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
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.
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
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
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

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

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
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

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

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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