Pirates and Privateers tells the fascinating story of the buccaneers who were the scourge of merchants in the 18th Century. It examines their lifestyle, looking at how the sinking of the Spanish treasure fleet in a storm off the coast of Florida led to a pirates gold rush; how the Kings Pardon was a desperate gamble which paid off and considers the role of individual island governors, such as Woodes Rogers in the Bahamas, in bringing piracy under control.The book also looks at how piracy has been a popular topic in print, plays, songs and now films, making thieves and murderers into swash-buckling heroes. It also considers the whole question of buried treasure and gives a lively account of many of the pirates who dominated the so-called Golden Age of Piracy.

"Probably the most important privateering center of the era in North America, and possibly of the British Empire, bustling Colonial New York serves as a microcosm for this scholarly study of the decline of piracy and the enforcement of legality in privateering. ... In the 1690s, the city of New York was a flourishing pirate center. By the mid-[18th-]century, however, only a few of its privateersmen drifted into the dangerous practices of the earlier period. Pirates gave way before governmental control or retired or died. ... History and politics play important roles in this economic examination of the port. Legal aspects of the maritime depredation are thoroughly treated, as pirates and privateersmen elbow merchants and government officials in their quest for loot." -- Book jacket.

Following the pirate scourge of the early 18th century, many sea captains took to privateering as a means of making money. A form of nationally sponsored piracy, it reached its peak during the American Revolution (1763-1776), when the fledgling American navy had to rely on privateers to disrupt British shipping between England and the rebellious colonies. Following peace in 1815, many former privateers turned to piracy, spawning the last great piratical wave, which would last for a decade. The world of these privateers and latter-day pirates comes vividly to life in this detailed exploration of their ships, crews, ports and battle tactics.

A detailed examination of the obscure and mysterious aspect of maritime navigation, 1690-1730. Pirates sailed the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, and cruised off Africa and India. How did they find their way to all these faraway places? R3707HB - $19.00

Those travelling on the seas have always been vulnerable to the attacks of predators acting within or outside the law. In the 18th and 19th centuries such assaults reached new heights as the development of trans-oceanic empires led to an increase in the wealth and extent of sea-borne trade, and with it the potential for prize-taking.

Illicit commerce was key to the survival of the mid-Atlantic colonies from the Golden Age of piracy to the battles of the American Revolution. Out of this exciting time came beloved villains like Captain William Kidd and Black Sam Bellamy as well as inspiring locals like Captain Shelley and James Forten. Learn of the legend of Sadie the Goat and her Charlton Street Gang as piracy was ending in the region in the 19th century. From the shores of New York to the oceans of the East Indies, from Delaware Bay to the islands of the West Indies, author Jamie L.H. Goodall illuminates the height of piratical depredations in the mid-Atlantic in the 17th and 18th centuries.