Cindy Vallar's Blog, page 20

Review of Thomas J. Shaw's The Legal History of Pirates & Privateers

The Legal History of Pirates & Privateers by Thomas J Shaw Esq

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Time and again, history shows that pirates were useful to the State until they were not. When the hue and cry of law-abiding citizens, influential ministers, and angry foreign governments became too great to ignore, governments were forced to take action to suppress this illegal marauding. The primary means for achieving this was through enacting laws.

To some degree the same holds true for privateers. The outcry this time consisted of calls for retribution and recompense. When state-supported navies were in their infancy or non-existent, governments turned to privateers to protect their country’s interests. Those in power, however, instituted rules and regulations to make certain that this legal plundering did not devolve into outright piracy.

One of the earliest laws against piracy, lex de piratis persequendis, was passed in Ancient Rome. Rather than strike at the pirates at sea, it targeted their safe havens ashore. At the same time, the law provided Pompey the Great with the necessary legal means to eradicate these villains. Centuries later, Edward I issued an edict in 1296 that became the precursor to later British statutes regulating privateering. It pertained to the taking of prizes and established courts to decide whether the capture was legitimate or not. General histories of piracy and privateering mention such enactments, raising our curiosity, but fail to truly inform. The Legal History of Pirates & Privateers, which is written by a lawyer, changes this. It is neither a general history nor a legal textbook; instead, it explains the laws and provides illustrations of issues raised when actual cases were brought before various courts in Britain, her American colonies, and the United States.

The book is divided into five chapters and in each chapter, Shaw first discusses the statutes and what they entail, then he identifies and analyzes the legal issues contested during trials. The latter are highlighted in boxes before being delineated. In the case against Calico Jack Rackham and his crew, for example, the legal issues are: a) Charged with conspiracy to commit piracy; b) Special proofs needed for women pirates; and c) Charged with piracy for socializing with pirates. (35)

Laws pertaining to maritime piracy are the focus of the first two chapters. Chapter one deals with British statutes enacted between the reigns of King Henry VIII and Queen Victoria. The second chapter concerns American statutes from the time Samuel Huntington served as president of Congress to Abraham Lincoln’s presidency.

Chapter three ties the first two and last two chapters together by looking at legal documents pertinent to proving either the guilt or innocence of pirates, or whether a seized ship and its cargo was a legitimate prize of privateers. Examples of these documents are articles of agreement (including the differences between those of pirates and those under which privateers sailed) and ship’s papers, such as ship registrations and bills of lading.

The final chapters examine privateering. Chapter four concerns British laws from Edward III to Victoria, whereas chapter five focuses on the American statutes between John Hancock and Lincoln. As with previous chapters, court cases illustrate notable points. For example, one case involves the Lucretia, a vessel that was captured, recaptured, and recaptured again. The legal issues of import in this trial concern: a) Determining captor when same prize taken twice by British ships, and b) Allocating prize between captor and re-captor. (195)

The book includes an afterword that discusses the Paris Declaration of 1856, following the Crimean War. This maritime declaration attempted to bring about a global end to privateering, since most nations now had standing navies and no longer supported state-sponsored legal plundering. Mention is also made of modern-day piracy and how laws of the past define piracy today. Although there is no index, an appendix provides a quick reference to the more than 200 legal issues discussed in the book.

Shaw, who is himself a lawyer, delves into legal particulars in a way that lay readers easily understand, even though his target audience is other lawyers. In the foreword, he writes that his goal “is to have a single source to reinterpret often told tales of pirates and less often told tales of privateers, viewing them through the prism only of the governing legalities, while making the topics light enough to easily read for fun.” (xi) He adeptly achieves this objective. The Legal History of Pirates and Privateers fills the void between a plethora of general and academic treatises on privateering and the suppression of piracy. Equally compelling is the fact that Shaw selected trials not because of the defendants’ notoriety, but because of the legal consequences of their actions. This allows readers to meet the infamous and the forgotten, as well as to be introduced to judges and attorneys who participated in these endeavors to suppress piracy or adjudicate privateering lawsuits. This illumination of details often missing from other volumes enlightens the reader and provides a valuable resource for any library dealing with these aspects of maritime law.




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Review of Bound for the East Indies by Andrew Norman

Launched in August 1778, she was “one of the finest ships in the service, and supposed to be in the most perfect condition for her [first] voyage.” (19) She had three masts, three decks, and twenty-six guns. She was 776 tons, 139 feet 7 inches long, and in the employ of the Honourable East India Company (HEIC). Eight years later, she was “shattered all to Pieces” at the base of “cliffs of jagged rocks, sheer as a bastion wall . . . beaches of shingle, of pebbles, of colossal bounders.” (73, 59) Her name was the Halsewell and she was bound for the East Indies, but unlike her previous two voyages to China and India, she met her demise on her own shores. Of the 286 souls aboard, only seventy-four survived the tragedy that would inspire the likes of Charles Dickens and J. M. W. Turner. This is her story.

Richard Peirce, a well-respected employee of the HEIC for seventeen years, commanded the Halsewell and was no stranger to the East Indies, having been born in Calcutta in 1736. He came aboard before her first voyage, a journey fraught with mutiny, accidental death, and a dispirited encounter with Captain Horatio Nelson of the Royal Navy. Peirce was married with nine children, two of whom accompanied him on the fateful third journey. Nor were his two daughters the only females or family aboard. His wife’s brother (serving as the first mate), two nieces, and an acting midshipman wed to another niece also accompanied Peirce. Aside from her cargo and stores, the ship also carried members of the 42nd Regiment of Foot (more commonly known as the Black Watch).

The story of the Halsewell is told through a combination of narrative and primary documentation, including Second Mate Henry Meriton’s account of what happened once the ship set sail, how she came to wreck on the Dorset coast, and of the daring rescue of the survivors by quarrymen. Norman also includes a brief recap of the HEIC’s history, why trade with India and China was so enticing, accounts of the ships previous two voyages, what happened after news spread of the tragedy, the captain’s competency and whether the accident was avoidable, and salvage of the wreckage. Maps and pictures are scattered throughout the book and there is a center section of color plates, including photographs of artifacts that have been recovered. In addition to endnotes, a bibliography, and an index, Norman also includes sixteen appendices.

Bound for the East Indies is a fast-paced, arresting, and unbiased account of an episode in maritime history that still evokes empathy more than two centuries after it touched the hearts of a king and queen. Norman grounds the reader with necessary background and history in order to better understand the enormity of what transpired and why it evoked the responses that it did. It is a tale that is as haunting now as it was then – one that will be long remembered after the last page is read.

Review of Tell No Tales

Tell No Tales: Pirates of the Southern Seas by Sam Maggs

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


While plundering the Caribbean, La Sirene barely escapes an encounter with a fearsome machine that navigates the sea belching black smoke. Captain Anne Bonny and her crew – Mary Read (the quartermaster and Anne’s current lover), Kati (gunner and Miskitu refugee), Mimba (navigator and maroon), and Sarah (healer and rich girl of mixed parentage) – refuse to allow this newcomer to thwart their pillaging. They sight a Spanish galleon, but before they can attack, the monstrous steamship reappears. When Mary catches a glimpse of its captain, she warns Anne to flee. They seek the safety of the galleon, even though the Spanish don’t take kindly to pirates.

Knowing La Sirene is no match for this new enemy that seems to be stalking them, Anne sets sail for Jamaica. Once on the island, Mary reveals what she knows – the man targeting them is the ghost of Woodes Rogers, a man who made a pact with the devil. This revelation is confirmed when Calico Jack Rackham, Anne’s former lover whom they meet at a Jamaican tavern, reveals that pirates are vanishing in large numbers.

Never one to turn tail and run, Anne is determined to put an end to this new enemy. But how? A vision reveals there is a way, but to succeed the Sirens must display bravery, cunning, conviction, strength, and kindness. Of course, nothing is as simple as it seems and the best laid plans always go awry, as Anne and her Sirens soon discover.

Set in the Caribbean in 1715, this graphic novel is loosely based on history and, if readers can suspend disbelief, an intriguing divergence from the normal Anne Bonny-Mary Read story. The drawbacks here as regards Woodes Rogers as the villain are that he is very much alive in 1715 – he doesn’t die until 1732 – and has returned to London from a voyage to Madagascar, rather than being in the Caribbean. Another negative element to the story is that it glorifies piracy to some degree. There are also a few confusing situations where readers have to infer what transpires.

Before the members of the crew are introduced, it’s difficult to determine whether the graphics portray females or males, and that may be the intent since Maggs and Wells “wanted to reclaim some of our lost history – the history of women and non-binary and queer folks that must have existed, but has been hidden or kept quiet.” (157) Therein lies the value of this retelling. This is the story of individuals who are marginalized and/or shunned by society. They want acceptance for who they are, rather than what society wants them to be.




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Review of From Captives to Consuls

From Captives to Consuls: Three Sailors in Barbary and Their Self-Making Across the Early American Republic, 1770-1840 by Brett Goodin

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


The early days of a fledgling nation are a time of birth and rebirth, a time to establish both the identity of one’s nation and an individual. Such was the case when the United States shed its colonial yoke and emerged into a world where national character and liberty were relatively new concepts. It was also a time when the definition of manliness and intrusions into society’s hierarchical elite began to evolve. Freedom, however, came with consequences, one of which involved the hazards of maritime trade. Before the revolution, American sailors were protected by British treaties. After the war, seamen found themselves fair game for the corsairs who prowled the Mediterranean in search of slaves because the United States hadn’t paid annual tributes to safeguard their citizens. Three such Americans were Richard O’Brien (1758-1824), James Cathcart (1767-1843), and James Riley (1777-1840), who found themselves in this predicament. During their servitude, they had to learn to adapt and redefine themselves in order to survive. Each was eventually ransomed and published a narrative about his time and suffering in Algiers. From Captives to Consuls examines their experiences and writings to showcase how adaptation and reanalysis allowed them to weather captivity, as well as to subsist once they returned home to a country where nationhood, masculinity, and liberty continued to change.

From Captives to Consuls, the most recent title in the Studies in Early American Economics and Society series, is divided into six chapters that explore these men’s ability to adapt during the evolution of these three key concepts.

Introduction: Victims of American Independence
1. Farmers, Privateers, and Prisoners of the Revolution
2. Diaries of Barbary Orientalism and American Masculinity in Algiers
3. Captivity in Correspondence
4. From Captives to Consuls and Coup-Makers
5. Accidentally Useful and Interesting to the World
6. Sailing the Inland Sea
Conclusion: Opportunities of Empire

Goodin examines their lives before, during, and after captivity, as well as their narratives. He shares snippets from their correspondence, diaries, and government reports, and, when history is scarce, he supplements these with examples from other captivity narratives. He also incorporates maps and pictures into the text and includes an Essay on Sources, endnotes, and an index.

This is not an exploration of maritime history or piracy; rather, it is an insightful and scholarly analysis of what it meant to be a self-made American at a time when the nation and its place in the world were being defined. These three sailors who sold into slavery serve as the anchor that allows Goodin to accomplish this. O’Brien and Cathcart were taken when their ships were captured, but Riley became a slave after the ship he commanded wrecked on the African coast. After their releases, they became authors, diplomats, and politicians. Goodin deftly demonstrates how these men, time and again, overcame adversity to their benefit, showing others that it was possible to better themselves contrary to the prior belief that they must remain in the station of life into which they were born.



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Review of The Trafalgar Chronicle New Series 5

The Trafalgar Chronicle: Dedicated to Naval History in the Nelson Era: New Series 5 by Sean Heuvel

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Do visual portrayals of Horatio Nelson do him justice? Are they realistic, or do they stem from their creators’ imagination and interpretation of him? How authentic is literature’s depiction of the Georgian navy and the men and women who served in one capacity or another? These are themes explored in the latest yearbook of The 1805 Club.

Using his medical expertise, Gerald Stule opens with “Representations of Horatio Nelson in the Visual Arts: Heroic Portraiture Versus Historical Reality from a Medical Perspective.” He examines the visual depictions of Nelson, his ailments, and his battle injuries in various mediums to show whether the portrayals are correct, how they may have affected Nelson, and how they shaped his image as a flawed, courageous hero who deserved his countrymen’s veneration.

Andrew Venn utilizes eyewitness accounts of Nelson’s tragic demise and compares them to two paintings of the admiral’s final moments in “William Beatty, Arthur Devis and the Death of Lord Nelson in Early Nineteenth-Century Literature and Art.” This allows Venn to demonstrate how this event impacted the legend surrounding Nelson’s death and how we perceive these events today.

“Nelson has more faces than a clock factory, but nobody today can be certain about what he really looked like.” (45) He has long been a favorite subject to portray, whether these depictions be fulsome or disparaging. This is the subject of cartoonist Pete Turner’s “Nelson in Caricature and Cartoon.”

In 1748, an author and former sailor penned a novel that became a big success. Its contents and his descriptions of the Georgian navy influenced many subsequent writers of the 18th century, even if those depictions weren’t as authentic as historical accounts show. Anthony Bruce discusses The Adventures of Roderick Random in “Tobias Smollet and the Early Georgian Navy.”

In spite of the fact that women played significant roles in the lives of Georgian navy men, historical novelists often portray them as peripheral entities. As Linda Collison points out in “Beyond Lady Barbara: Women as Portrayed in British Naval Fiction,” this often misleads readers into thinking that women played less than significant roles both at home and at sea.

It is during the Georgian era that the fouled anchor is introduced on the uniforms naval officers wore. Its popularity as a decorative item blossomed thereafter. Lily Style, an expert on Emma Hamilton and a direct descendant of her union with Horatio Nelson, explores the use of this symbol in “The Rise of the Fouled Anchor: The Visual Codification of the Royal Navy During the 1700s.”

France is often depicted as the ally who came to the aid of the American colonists in their bid to gain their freedom from Great Britain, but Chipp Reid reveals that Spain also played a significant role in the revolution. He also explains why few people are aware of this connection in “Spain and American Independence: The Best-Kept Secret of the Georgian Age.”

In addition to these thematic essays, the new editors of The Trafalgar Chronicle have chosen to include biographical portraits and three historic papers pertaining to the navy during the Georgian era. These include:

“Sir Andrew Pellet Green: Vice Admiral Thomas Fremantle’s Protégé” by Charles Fremantle
“Commander Sir James Pearl” by Sean Heuvel
“Captain John Houlton Marshall” by John Rodgaard and Lisa Heuvel
“Captain Ralph Willett Miller” by Gerald Holland
“The Popham Code Controversy” by Chris Coehlo
“Cornwallis, a Woman Named Cuba, and the Caribbean” by Barry Jolly
“A Second Naval War: The Immediate Effects of the American War on Royal Navy Operations, June 1812-July 1812” by Samantha Cavell

When combined with black and white illustrations, a few graphs and tables, and a center section of color plates, these essays are entertaining and, at times, fascinating. All the contributors are eminently qualified and, as always, The Trafalgar Chronicle provides informative glimpses into new research that leave indelible impressions on readers.



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Review of Assassins of Kantara

Assassins of Kantara by James Boschert

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The assassins infiltrate and strike without warning. No one defies the Master and lives, but this trio deserve special treatment. No one else matters, so death will come swiftly. But not for the three.

Talon de Gilles has always known this day would come. He comprehends exactly what awaits himself, his wife Rav’an, and his friend Reza. Perhaps not the particulars, but being raised by the Hashashini (or Assassins) make the peril all too real. A familiar face where it should not be. A servant who falls ill. Stealth where it is least expected. Now, the sanctuary Muscat offers is no more, leaving Talon and his family only one choice. To survive, they must flee in a manner in which the world once again swallows them from the Master’s long reach.

But danger trails no matter how far Talon travels. Many years have passed since he made a promise to a king. The time has come to fulfill his pledge, yet the journey is fraught with danger from bandits led by a Frank; the King of Jerusalem’s fragile health has his lords embroiled in a power struggle; and Salah Ed Din, leader of the Arabs, and his army will soon strike at the holy city. Equally disheartening is news that Talon has lost his mentor, a powerful leader among the Templars.

Perhaps Acre offers a better sanctuary. After all, his friend and fellow Templar Max oversees Talon’s trading ventures. But all is not as it should be there, as Talon soon discovers. Max has been imprisoned. All of their property has been confiscated. And an enemy from the past has been amassing evidence to arrest Talon on charges of witchcraft. Time is not on his side. Word reaches Acre that Talon is coming and Max’s health quickly fades. To extricate his friend and the rest of his entourage will require cunning, stealth, and luck. Even then, nothing is assured. And where to go next in search of a safe haven?

From Muscat to Cyprus and Constantinople, this seventh book of Talon’s adventures whisks readers away on a perilous and serpentine journey. Enemies, as well as friends, from the present and the past are interwoven into a labyrinthine maze of intrigue, vengeance, and greed. Subplots from previous titles in the series come to fruition, but not without sacrifice. At the same time, Boschert lays the groundwork for the future. Fans of Talon’s previous adventures will find this story compelling. Those meet him for the first time will be grounded in the myriad twists and turns of this plot, but may want to read the earlier books first to fully grasp the many nuances of this intrepid tour de force.




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Review of The Life and Tryals of the Gentleman Pirate, Major Stede Bonnet

The Life and Tryals of the Gentleman Pirate, Major Stede Bonnet by Jeremy R. Moss

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


We think of him as a failure. A man who lurks in the shadows of a stronger personality. A man who squanders his slim chance of evading the hangman’s noose by escaping. Yet none of this is why he engages those interested in pirate history. What intrigues them is the why. What compels a successful and well-respected gentleman to jettison family, friends, position, and wealth to pursue a life of crime?

He was a member of the elite of Barbados. He inherited a vast plantation. He married well and had four children. He even served as a justice of the peace. Like most people, he carried emotional baggage, some of which stretched back to his childhood, and it impacted this “ideal” life. So much so that one day, he purchased a sloop, fitted it out as a pirate ship, hired a crew, and went on the account. His name was Major Stede Bonnet. But he was a landsman, one who possessed little knowledge of sailing – a fact that would earn him no respect from those who served under him. A near-fatal misstep eventually led him to cross paths with a much-feared pirate who was a legend in his own time – Blackbeard.

Within the pages of this book, Moss shines a light on Bonnet from birth to death. Although he provides no definitive answer as to why this gentleman went on the account – Bonnet took that answer to the grave – Moss does share several hypotheses on this question. Along the way, he allows readers to see “the man behind the mask,” so to speak. For example, while we might deem Bonnet the least successful of pirates, his actual ill-gotten booty would equate to between five and six million dollars today.

The book is divided into two parts: The Life of Stede Bonnet and Bonnet’s Trial and Its Aftermath. Moss consulted many primary documents, some of which he quotes at great length within these pages. Where scant information is known, he fills in gaps with particulars from Captain Johnson’s A General History of the Pyrates. (Although a secondary source, much of the material on Bonnet can be confirmed from contemporary original sources.) In addition to the pertinent quotations that begin each chapter, Moss includes five appendices and actual transcripts of the trials. There is no index or a bibliography containing full citations of works consulted, although footnotes do identify sources.

The Life and Tryals of Major Stede Bonnet is an absorbing revelation of a pirate who often gets short shrift in histories of the golden age of piracy. It serves as an excellent review of this man and his life, as well a methodical examination of imprudent choices and the resultant consequences of them.




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Review of Baylus C. Brooks' Sailing East

Sailing East: West-Indian Pirates in Madagascar by Baylus C Brooks

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


One of the most quoted resources on pirate history is a book published in 1724, written by an unknown author who called himself Captain Charles Johnson. The problem with A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates is that it is actually a blend of fact and fiction. Brooks makes it a point “to forget this flagrantly fickle source and focus entirely on only primary documents.” (Acknowledgements) This time around, he turns his attention to Western pirates who ventured into the Indian Ocean to plunder the riches of Mughal India and become a thorn in the English East India Company’s side.

When Henry Every captures the Gang-i-Sawai in 1695, he demonstrates to his fellow pirates just how rich the takings are in Eastern waters. Economically, India is the most important country in the world. And the Mughal emperor uses his clout to demand recompense for Every’s attack. Since Every has returned to the Caribbean, that’s where he is sought and, slowly, England and her colonies attempt to make the West Indies an undesirable hunting ground for pirates, especially after Woodes Rogers arrives in the Bahamas to bring an end to the pirate republic at New Providence.

So the pirates turn their attention to the East. This is where Brooks begins “the tale of the last West Indian pirates who, cornered by social progress, drawn by legend, and such gilded fantasies of the last generation of buccaneers, sailed east for Madagascar.” (23) This examination of these pirates begins and ends with Olivier LeVasseur, better known as la Buse or the Buzzard. The intervening chapters discuss the capture of the British East India Company’s Cassandra, captained by James Macrae; plundering the Indian ports of Bombay, Goa, and Cochin; Edward Congdon; the capture of the Nossa Senhora do Cabo and her passenger, the Viceroy of Goa; an anti-piracy squadron; and Richard Taylor, a pirate who eventually seeks a pardon and employment from the Spanish.

The hallmark of Brooks’ investigations is that he relies only on primary documents to tell the pirates’ stories, and he vets these sources to determine their reliability, a process he shares as the tales unfold. Readers meet many pirates – including Thomas Cocklyn, Howell Davis, Jasper Seager, and Edward England – but this is far more than just a pirate history. Interwoven throughout the narrative are discussions on connected topics, such as captives Captain William Snelgrave and Richard Lasinby, Jacobitism and Stuart Anti-government Conservatism, Johnson’s Edward England versus the real Edward England, and Edward Congdon versus Christopher Condent. Interspersed throughout the book are maps, illustrations from documents, and pictures. Footnotes are included instead of endnotes, as are a spreadsheet showing the ships seized by LeVasseur, Cocklyn, and Davis while Snelgrave was a prisoner, and See references identifying where topics are covered in greater detail. Aside from a twenty-two-page index, there are also seven appendices. These are: A list of ships allegedly taken by pirates on the African Coast in spring-summer 1719; The London Journal, 17 February 1722; Snelgrave Letter – 30 April 1719; Snelgrave Letter – 1 August 1719; Snelgrave Deposition – 20 January 1721; Three Lasinby Narratives – March 1722; and Detail of HMS Phoenix Log Entries 22 February – 24 April 1718.

Sailing East is an invaluable and illuminating tool for people seeking primary documentation on pirate history. Its focus on western pirates in the waters around Africa and the Indian Ocean is a refreshing departure from the normal fare of Caribbean piracy.




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Review of Baylus C. Brooks' Dictionary of Pyrate Biography

Dictionary of Pyrate Biography 1713-1720 by Baylus C Brooks

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Over the years, a number of biographical dictionaries have been published that focus on pirates, or pirates and subjects of peripheral interest. The primary time period of these books focuses on the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This volume further narrows this span to the most prolific period of pirate history, known as the golden age of piracy. What sets Dictionary of Pyrate Biography apart from all other similar volumes is its content, making it both unique and vital to anyone seeking quality information on these sea marauders.

Perhaps, Brooks says it best: “This book is an attempt to retell the stories of each pirate, but only from the actual primary source records available.” (2) As he explains, one of the go-to resources that researchers often consult and quote is the 1724 edition of Captain Johnson’s A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates. Relying on this book isn’t the best documentary evidence because the true identity of the author is unknown; the chapters are a blend of fact and fiction; and it’s a secondary resource that fails to identify where the author secured his information. To provide historians, researchers, and pirate aficionados with a resource that is more accurate and provides citations for the quoted documents, Brooks compiled this collection. He began with the list of 209 pirates who took advantage of the King’s pardon in 1718 and surrendered to Captain Vincent Pearse. From there, he expanded the contents through his own research and with the help of other experts.

A number of entries consist only of the fact that they gave themselves up to Pearse. Many entries provide additional details about individual pirates. What these are not are cohesive, seamlessly interwoven narratives of each pirate. Instead, they begin with a brief paragraph that includes known biographical details – such as birthplace and date, piratical career, and, if captured, what became of the person – after which are quotations from contemporary documents pertaining to the individual. Where feasible, these are quoted in full. It is up to the reader to sift through and decipher the provided information, and then do further research to fill in the gaps. The length of each entry depends on the person and what is known about him or her. It can be as short as a single sentence or extend from a few paragraphs to several pages.

While the majority of individuals in this dictionary, which is arranged alphabetically by last name, are pirates, readers will also find entries on pirate hunters, naval personnel, victims, merchants, captives, and governors. Most are men, but there are a few women. The inclusion of a handful of personages is unclear, since their connections to pirates are murky at best. (Examples of these are Colonel Daniel Axtell, who is connected with regicide, and Dr. William Axtell, who petitioned to rebuild Port Royal after it was destroyed twice.) Many names will be unfamiliar to readers, but others are quite well-known: Stede Bonnet, Anne Bonny, Colonel William Rhett, Governor Alexander Spotswood, Captain William Snelgrave, and Edward Thache to name a few. (One name that is absent is Governor Woodes Rogers, but Brooks assures me that this oversight will be corrected in the second edition.)

There are a few drawbacks to accessing the valuable information contained in this book. Variant spellings are only listed with the main entry for the pirate. For example, the user has to know that documentation for Blackbeard will only be found under Edward Thache. There are no see references to this entry if you look under Blackbeard, Theach, Teach, or Thatch. Although the appendix contains a list of those pirates who surrendered to Captain Pearse, there is no master index or table of contents and no list of pirates who served under specific captains. For example, if you’re looking for all the pirates connected to Stede Bonnet, you need to know their names ahead of time or page through the entire book in hopes of finding them.

Testimonies are included with some entries. These are invaluable, but they aren’t easy to read because of the ink color chosen to differentiate between Query and Response. The questions are in black, but the answers are in light gray, which is difficult to see, let alone read.

On the other hand, there are advantages to this book beyond the primary documents. Brooks includes maps, photographs of actual sources, pictures, and family trees throughout the book. Among these are examples of Round Robins, a way of signing a paper without any one name being higher than another. Everything is footnoted on each page, so readers readily know where the material comes from. Another notable feature is the inclusion of a few “unknown pirate” entries; their deeds are known, but their names have been lost to history.

“Treasure” is a word intricately associated with piracy, and this volume is indeed a treasure as invaluable as any the sea marauders acquired during the golden age. It provides at one’s fingertips a wealth of knowledge that will save countless precious hours of research, which may, in turn, unearth even more material that will be included in future editions of this work. The Dictionary of Pyrate Biography belongs in every collection where the truth about pirates and their deeds is highly sought and prized.




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Review of MaryLu Tyndall's Timeless Treasure

Timeless Treasure by MaryLu Tyndall

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Her family has long been cursed. Her father is the latest to be incarcerated, but he abandoned her when she was six months old and now that her mother has passed, Lexie Cain is alone, penniless, and homeless. Her mother’s legacy – a gold coin and 300-year-old letters signed by Stede Bonnet – offers her a slim hope. According to her mother, the pirate is a distant relative and pirates buried their treasure, didn’t they? With no other options open to her, Lexie heads to Charleston, South Carolina, hoping the etchings on the coin and clues in the letters will lead her to the trove.

Although his beloved son died in 1712 and four years have passed, Stede Bonnet is still haunted and tormented by the loss. He has a wife, other children, wealth, and a good reputation, but Barbados is more a prison than a home. His only saving grace is the love of his life, Melody Rogers, but she is not his wife and must now accompany her father to Charles Town where he will endeavor to save the souls of the pirates and other scoundrels living there. Stede’s only option is to leave his life behind and go on the account. Perhaps plundering will gain him a new fortune on which he and Melody can live one day soon. To that end, he builds a pirate ship, hires a crew, and sets sail. But he is a soldier, not a sailor, and gaining the crew’s respect proves a difficult and perilous task.

Barret Johnson, a handsome history professor at Charleston Southern University, feels truly blessed. He has a family, comes from money, has a job, and is working on a new book about Stede Bonnet that might garner him an award that will allow him to continue his research on South Carolina pirates. The woman with a tattoo who barges into his office irritates him. He doesn’t believe a word Lexie says, but if there’s even a slim chance that the letter she shows him is authentic, he must pursue this new avenue of research.

Lexie thinks Barret is arrogant and the less contact she has with him, the better – but she needs his help to understand her ancestor’s writings. No one else knows as much as he does about Bonnet, but Barret is not the only one interested in the letters. Someone is stalking her. Then someone breaks into her apartment. Barret comes to her rescue, and the more time he’s with her, the more of an enigma she becomes. She has so little, but goes out of her way to help others even less fortunate than herself. He’s determined to protect her, even when her stalker proves that he is willing to do anything and harm anyone, especially those closest to her, to get the letters and the coin.

This inspirational romance will captivate readers with its two parallel love stories. One takes place in present-day Charleston, the other in the past. The outcomes differ, but Tyndall deftly contrasts the differences between those who have and those who have not. She does an excellent job portraying Blackbeard and Stede Bonnet, weaving a plausible tale that fills in the blanks that history has left of their association. Bonnet may be an ineffective pirate and not necessarily likeable, but readers will sympathize with his predicament. Lexie’s and Barret’s emotional struggles pull at the heartstrings in a deftly woven love story that will become a cherished favorite.



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