Compiled from the records of the Court of Chancery of the Island with a list of the inhabitants in 1670 and other matter relative to the early history of the same.

Drawing on new research, this fascinating volume looks behind the myths to offer detailed insights into the real lives and activities of pirates—for better or worse—during the golden age of piracy in the Caribbean, from the mid-17th century to 1720. Over the past decade, research in Spanish, French, and Dutch archives, as well as in traditional English repositories, has resulted in a clearer picture of the activities and lives of the pirates who roamed the seas during the "Golden Age of Piracy" from 1650 to 1720. That is the picture shared in Daily Life of Pirates. The book describes how pirates actually lived, touching on their food and drink, their hideouts, and their humor. It also examines their ships, weapons and seamanship, their plunder—and their use of torture. The book's detailed coverage is made possible by newly uncovered interrogations of pirates and by official depositions given by their victims, both of which provide insights that go well beyond simple recountings of famous exploits. The result is a tantalizing, true picture of pirates' daily lives that reveals many surprising facts, such as the reality that most of their time was spent upon land as actual piracy was a seasonal occupation.

This book offers true stories of bloodthirsty pirates and the courageous men trying to stop them during the Western Hemisphere's golden age of piracy in the 17th and 18th centuries. The real world of piracy is brought vividly to life in this authoritative and entertaining new two-volume reference. Incorporating a wealth of new research, Pirates of the Americas offers hundreds of entries on the most famous—and infamous—buccaneers of the 1600s and 1700s, separating fact from fancy as it describes the men, their exploits, and the era in which they prowled the seas of North and Central America. Pirates of the Americas begins in the mid- to late-17th century Caribbean—the earliest cradle of piracy in the New World—with detailed coverage of Dutch and French corsairs, English rovers such as Henry Morgan, and the Spaniards who fought against them all. The second volume marks the retreat of piracy into new hunting grounds—the Pacific and Red Sea—from the 1690s to the early 18th century, ending with the final pursuit into extinction in North America of last-gasp renegades such as William Kidd, Bartholomew Roberts, and Blackbeard.

Victorian Jamaica explores the extraordinary surviving archive of visual representation and material objects to provide a comprehensive account of Jamaican society during Queen Victoria's reign over the British Empire, from 1837 to 1901. In their analyses of material ranging from photographs of plantation laborers and landscape paintings to cricket team photographs, furniture, and architecture, as well as a wide range of texts, the contributors trace the relationship between black Jamaicans and colonial institutions; contextualize race within ritual and performance; and outline how material and visual culture helped shape the complex politics of colonial society. By narrating Victorian history from a Caribbean perspective, this richly illustrated volume—featuring 270 full-color images—offers a complex and nuanced portrait of Jamaica that expands our understanding of the wider history of the British Empire and Atlantic world during this period. Contributors. Anna Arabindan-Kesson, Tim Barringer, Anthony Bogues, David Boxer, Patrick Bryan, Steeve O. Buckridge, Julian Cresser, John M. Cross, Petrina Dacres, Belinda Edmondson, Nadia Ellis, Gillian Forrester, Catherine Hall, Gad Heuman, Rivke Jaffe, O'Neil Lawrence, Erica Moiah James, Jan Marsh, Wayne Modest, Daniel T. Neely, Mark Nesbitt, Diana Paton, Elizabeth Pigou-Dennis, Veerle Poupeye, Jennifer Raab, James Robertson, Shani Roper, Faith Smith, Nicole Smythe-Johnson, Dianne M. Stewart, Krista A. Thompson