Pirates: Predators of the Seas
Authors Angus Konstam and Roger Michael Kean reveal the truth behind our myths, fairy tales, and Hollywood-inspired images. The reality is, unbelievably, even more intriguing than the flashing swords, talking parrots, and mysterious eye patches portrayed in the movies. In this lavishly illustrated tour through history, you can explore the lives of real pirates, such as Blackbeard, Thomas Tew, and Captain Kidd. Find out how, even today, pirates regularly attack and plunder ships. Discover their motivations, diverse backgrounds, daily lives, and codes of conduct. Peek inside pirate ships, trace their journeys on the map, see their bloody battle, and thrill at the daring, brutal ways in which they live and die.

From prehistory to the twenty-first century, whenever trade takes to the sea, the predators are close behind. This new authoritative history details the derring-do of pirate through the ages, analyzing our fascination for the actions of men—and some women—who were, after all, vicious criminals. Packed with illustrations, this volume is the essential companion for every armchair swashbuckler.

Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history—books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
1100872906
Pirates: Predators of the Seas
Authors Angus Konstam and Roger Michael Kean reveal the truth behind our myths, fairy tales, and Hollywood-inspired images. The reality is, unbelievably, even more intriguing than the flashing swords, talking parrots, and mysterious eye patches portrayed in the movies. In this lavishly illustrated tour through history, you can explore the lives of real pirates, such as Blackbeard, Thomas Tew, and Captain Kidd. Find out how, even today, pirates regularly attack and plunder ships. Discover their motivations, diverse backgrounds, daily lives, and codes of conduct. Peek inside pirate ships, trace their journeys on the map, see their bloody battle, and thrill at the daring, brutal ways in which they live and die.

From prehistory to the twenty-first century, whenever trade takes to the sea, the predators are close behind. This new authoritative history details the derring-do of pirate through the ages, analyzing our fascination for the actions of men—and some women—who were, after all, vicious criminals. Packed with illustrations, this volume is the essential companion for every armchair swashbuckler.

Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history—books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
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Overview

Authors Angus Konstam and Roger Michael Kean reveal the truth behind our myths, fairy tales, and Hollywood-inspired images. The reality is, unbelievably, even more intriguing than the flashing swords, talking parrots, and mysterious eye patches portrayed in the movies. In this lavishly illustrated tour through history, you can explore the lives of real pirates, such as Blackbeard, Thomas Tew, and Captain Kidd. Find out how, even today, pirates regularly attack and plunder ships. Discover their motivations, diverse backgrounds, daily lives, and codes of conduct. Peek inside pirate ships, trace their journeys on the map, see their bloody battle, and thrill at the daring, brutal ways in which they live and die.

From prehistory to the twenty-first century, whenever trade takes to the sea, the predators are close behind. This new authoritative history details the derring-do of pirate through the ages, analyzing our fascination for the actions of men—and some women—who were, after all, vicious criminals. Packed with illustrations, this volume is the essential companion for every armchair swashbuckler.

Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history—books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781510702851
Publisher: Skyhorse
Publication date: 05/17/2016
Edition description: Reprint
Pages: 248
Product dimensions: 8.30(w) x 9.40(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Angus Konstam has made a lifelong study of maritime history and archeology, the history of early European development, and he holds degrees in history and archeology. He is a museum professional with experience in both Britain and the United States, where he was a chief curator of the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum in Key West. He is also the author of Blackbeard: America’s Most Notorious Pirate. Konstam lives in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Roger Michael Kean has been a journalist, filmmaker, and editor of historical reference books for many years, including The History of Pirates and The History of Shipwrecks. Kean is also the author of The Complete Chronicle of the Emperors of Rome and Forgotten Power: Byzantium—Bulwark of Christianity. He lives in the medieval, walled town of Ludlow in the Welsh Marches of England.

David Cordingly is an English naval historian and an authority on pirates. He is the author of Under the Black Flag, Heroines and Harlots: Women at Sea in the Great Age of Sail, The Billy Ruffian: His Majesty's Ship Bellerophon and the Downfall of Napoleon, and Spanish Gold: Captain Woodes Rogers & the Pirates of the Caribbean.

Gail Selinger has been fascinated with pirates since the age of nine. She has studied fencing and black powder weaponry, and has been a gunner on several tall ships. She has lent her expertise to many television and movie productions. As a pirate historian she writes, teaches, and lectures on the social, political, and economic ramifications of pirates throughout world history. She resides in Redlands, California.

Table of Contents

Foreword Gail Selinger 4

Introduction David Cordingly 6

Authors' preface 7

Chapter 1 The Pirate Ship 12

The work-seahorses of ages, from coracle to speedboat

Chapter 2 The Ancient World 30

Lukkan pirates; the Sea Peoples; Greek pirates; the Cilicians and Pompey the Great

Chapter 3 Into the Middle Ages 44

Vandal raids; piracy in the Byzantine empire; Vikings, Baits, and northern European pirates; privateers of the Hundred Years War

Chapter 4 Pirates of the Barbary Coast 54

Barbary ports; the Barbarossa brothers; Turgut Rais; Uluj Ali; Murat Rais; the Knights of Malta

Chapter 5 War on the Spanish Main 70

Discovery of the New World; French Huguenot pirates; Pedro de Menéndez de Avilles; Elizabethan Sea Rovers; John Hawkins; Francis Drake

Chapter 6 A Piece of the Action 92

The story of buccaneers-Hispaniola and Tortuga; Christopher Myngs; Henry Morgan; Jean L'Olonnais; the raid on Panama; Bartolomeo el Portugues and Rock Braziliano; Michel de Grammont, Laurens de Graaf, and Nickolaas van Hoorn; the sack of Cartagena

Chapter 7 The Most Notorious Pyrates 124

The "Golden Age" of piracy in the Indian Ocean; Captain Charles Johnson's influence; the Jolly Roger; the Ease India Companies and the African slave trade; Thomas Tew and Benjamin Fletcher; William Kidd; Henry Every; Edward England and John Taylor; the Angrian Indian pirates

Chapter 8 And More Notorious Pyrates 150

The "Golden Age" of piracy in the Atlantic Ocean; Woodes Rogers throws out the pirates; William Dampier; Blackbeard; Stede Bonnet; Charles Vane; "Calico" Jack Rackham, Anne Bonny, and Mary Read; Samuel Bellamy; Howell Davis; Bartholomew Roberts

Chapter 9 Violence and Savage Justice 176

Pirate weapons; curbing piracy of the Golden Age; trial and execution

Chapter 10 Everyone Hates Britain 182

French and American privateers; Robert Surcouf; John Paul Jones; the great privateer ships of Baltimore

Chapter 11 The Last American Pirates 192

Jean Laffite and Louis-Michel Aury; David Porter clears the pirates; Benito de Soto; "Don" Pedro Gibert

Chapter 12 Piracy in the Far East 204

The wako pirates; Kuo Hsing Yeh; Ching Yih and Ching Yih Sao; Shap-'ng-Tsai; piracy in the East Indies

Chapter 13 Home, Sweet Home 216

Pirate havens: Tortuga; Port Royal; Madagascar; New Providence; Barataria, Galveston; Cuba; pirate havens and piracy in the modern world

Chapter 14 Myths, Manners, Codes 230

Evolution of the romantic pirate myth in fiction and movies; pirate apparel; the pirate code-more a set of guidelines?

Index 237

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