During the seventeenth century, sea raiders known as buccaneers controlled the Caribbean. Buccaneers were not pirates but privateers, licensed to attack the Spanish by the governments of England, France, and Holland. Jon Latimer charts the exploits of these men who followed few rules as they forged new empires. Lacking effective naval power, the English, French, and Dutch developed privateering as the means of protecting their young New World colonies. They developed a form of semi-legal private warfare, often carried out regardless of political developments on the other side of the Atlantic, but usually with tacit approval from London, Paris, and Amsterdam. Drawing on letters, diaries, and memoirs of such figures as William Dampier, Sieur Raveneau de Lussan, Alexander Oliver Exquemelin, and Basil Ringrose, Jon Latimer portrays a world of madcap adventurers, daredevil seafarers, and dangerous rogues. Piet Hein of the Dutch West India Company captured, off the coast of Cuba, the Spanish treasure fleet, laden with American silver, and funded the Dutch for eight months in their fight against Spain. The switch from tobacco to sugar transformed the Caribbean, and everyone scrambled for a quick profit in the slave trade. Oliver Cromwell’s ludicrous Western Design—a grand scheme to conquer Central America—fizzled spectacularly, while the surprising prosperity of Jamaica set England solidly on the road to empire. The infamous Henry Morgan conducted a dramatic raid through the tropical jungle of Panama that ended in the burning of Panama City. From the crash of gunfire to the billowing sail on the horizon, Latimer brilliantly evokes the dramatic age of the buccaneers.

Pirates of the Caribbean is a study of pirates in the Americas during their heyday. Cruz Apestegui has drawn on a huge number of sources - both published and unpublished - to write the definitive narrative history of piracy in the Caribbean. The story begins with the arrival of the first Spanish settlers in the New World. They found an immense amount of wealth there, and the whole purpose of these early settlements was to extract this and send it back to Spain in great treasure galleons. When Spain found itself at war with France in the 1520s, these settlements and galleons became the target for privateers in the service of the French king. From these beginnings, the whole edifice of piracy, popularised by Hollywood films and the swashbuckling novels of Rafael Sabatini, emerged. The wealth of New Spain attracted ship owners who tried both legitimate trade and smuggling to turn a profit. European wars generated fleets of ships commanded by the same men who replaced illegal trade with outright seizure of ships and attacks on Spanish ports. Famous names such as Hawkins, Morgan, Drake, and Heyn all built their fortunes on these escapades. Piracy remained profitable until trade with Spa

Fascinating chronicle of the bands of plundering sea rovers who roamed the Caribbean and coastlines of Central America in the 17th century. Includes exploits of the infamous Henry Morgan and his burning of Panama City.

In this lively debut work of history, Edward Kritzler tells the tale of an unlikely group of swashbuckling Jews who ransacked the high seas in the aftermath of the Spanish Inquisition. At the end of the fifteenth century, many Jews had to flee Spain and Portugal. The most adventurous among them took to the seas as freewheeling outlaws. In ships bearing names such as the Prophet Samuel, Queen Esther, and Shield of Abraham, they attacked and plundered the Spanish fleet while forming alliances with other European powers to ensure the safety of Jews living in hiding. Filled with high-sea adventures–including encounters with Captain Morgan and other legendary pirates–Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean reveals a hidden chapter in Jewish history as well as the cruelty, terror, and greed that flourished during the Age of Discovery.

In the late seventeenth century, Spain dominated the Caribbean and Central and South America, establishing colonies, mining gold and silver, and gathering riches from Asia for transportation back to Europe. Seeking to disrupt Spain's nearly unchecked empire-building and siphon off some of their wealth, seventeenth- and eighteenth-century British adventurers--both legitimate and illegitimate--led numerous expeditions into the Caribbean and the Pacific. Many voyagers wrote accounts of their exploits, captivating readers with their tales of exotic places, shocking hardships and cruelties, and daring engagements with national enemies. Widely distributed and read, buccaneering and privateering narratives contributed significantly to England's imaginative, literary rendering of the Americas in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, and they provided a venue for public dialogue about sea rovers and their position within empire. This book takes as its subject the literary and rhetorical construction of voyagers and their histories, and by extension, the representation of English imperialism in popular sea-voyage narratives of the period.

In this new and original study of piracy, Kris Lane looks at the often mixed motives behind the phenomenon and the lives of those involved. Rejecting the romantic myth of the Elizabethan swashbuckler, he reveals a world of violence, hardship and fanaticism, in which self-enrichment was an obsession. From the first corsairs of the 16th century to the last of the buccaneers, he traces the rise and fall of a dangerous profession which encompassed slave-running, smuggling and ship-wrecking.

This set includes all three books of the Buccaneers Series: Port Royal, The Pirate and His Lady, and Jamaican Sunset. In Port Royal, the Caribbean Sea teems with piracy and privateering as Captain Baret "Foxworth" Buckington searches for his father. Though declared legally dead, Baret is certain his father is alive, perhaps being held prisoner. Willing to jeopardize his title, his inheritance, and his life in order to find his father, he sets sail and swears vengeance upon Spain. Amidst the slavery, brutality, and cruel gossip on a Jamican Sugar estate, Miss Emerald Harwick seeks an escape. Rejected by her father's wealthy family, Emerald is constantly reminded of her deceased mother's notorious reputation and her father's escapades on the high seas. Only two things keep her going--working in the Christian Singing School and her plans to secretly marry an indentured servant. In desperation, they plan to leave Jamaica. But Emerald's father has other plans! As their paths intertwine, Emerald and Baret set out on a journey filled with danger, intrigue, and romance. In The Pirate and His Lady, Jamaica is a hotbed of piracy, violence, and spiritual conflict. Emerald Harwick is caught amidst each. Her fiance, Captain Baret "Foxworth" Buckington, defies the laws of the Jamaican Council and sails with notorious arch pirate Henry Morgan, hoping to find his imprisoned father among the Spanish dons. Her marriage delayed, Jamaican law forces Emerald to also put her heart's desire on hold: teaching Christianity to the African slaves. She fights disappointment and seeks an end to the spiritual conflict with her culture. Emerald is caught in a web of disillusionment, anger, and fear. As Spanish sympathizers gain the ear of the king, she must face a most frightening possibility: If caught, Baret will be arrested and hanged at Execution Dock. In Jamaican Sunset, Emerald Harwick, publicly betrothed to Baret Buckington, can scarcely contain her joy. She will manage her plantation's Great House on Jamaica until his return from sailing with buccaneer Henry Morgan, and then they will marry. Meanwhile, she will begin a singing school and translate the African slave chants God's songs of redemption. But then problems out of the past put in an unexpected appearance. Emerald is abducted and finds herself on an unscheduled sea voyage. That long-ago stolen treasure from the Prince Philip comes into play once more. Baret hopes to free his imprisoned father and unearth the treasure. But Baret's enemy--pirate Rafael Levasseur--emerges as a final threat to Emerald's cherished hopes. Can the God in whom she trusts indeed cause all things to work together for good?