Terror on the Atlantic and Caribbean Seas The Golden Age of Piracy, roughly from the 1650s to...
Pirates
The Golden Age of Piracy, spanning roughly from the 1650s to the 1730s, was marked by a surge in maritime raiding across the Atlantic and the Caribbean. This period saw the rise of infamous figures such as Edward Teach, Henry Every and Bartholomew Roberts, operating at a time when empires were expanding and naval power was in flux. Pirates targeted merchant shipping routes, often exploiting colonial rivalries and weak enforcement. While romanticised in later fiction, piracy in this era was brutal, opportunistic and shaped by the politics and economics of empire, trade and war. It left a complex and lasting historical legacy.
The popular image of pirates is loud, theatrical, and rather flattering. Colourful coats, overflowing treasure chests, and...
The world of Black Sails is packed with pirates who would happily stab you, rob you, or...
Few pirate captains lasted long once the Royal Navy began paying attention. Richard Worley managed to compress...
There is something irresistibly dramatic about a man who sails out of the North Sea as a...
The Reluctant Gentleman of Crime There is something faintly theatrical about Captain John Phillips. Not quite as...
I have a soft spot for Howell Davis. Perhaps it is because he was Welsh, which means...
I have spent years reading about kings, rebels and reformers. Pirates are rarely afforded such seriousness. Edward...
Francis Spriggs sits in that crowded corner of pirate history reserved for men who were dangerous, capable,...
George Lowther is not one of piracy’s grand myth-makers. He did not retire rich, found a pirate...