The Pirates of Panama: A True Account by a Pirate

by Alexandre Olivier Exquemelin

The Pirates of Panama presents a true account of the famous adventures and daring deeds of Sir Henry Morgan and other notorious freebooters of the Spanish Main. Written by John Esquemeling, a Dutch merchant clerk who turned to piracy and served under Captain Morgan, witnessing and participating in their crimes, the book offers a firsthand account of many different aspects of piracy and the life of pirates.Esquemelingdescribeshow the democracy works among the pirates, the ruthlesscircumstances that they undergone, along with the terror they imposed upon those they seized.

Genres: History, Pirates

100 pages, Paperback

First published September 27, 2015

About the author

Alexandre Olivier Exquemelin (also spelled Esquemeling, Exquemeling, or Oexmelin) was a French writer best known as the author of one of the most important sourcebooks of 17th century piracy, first published in Dutch as De Americaensche Zee-Roovers, in Amsterdam, by Jan ten Hoorn, in 1678.

Born about 1645, it is likely that Exquemelin was a native of Harfleur, France, who on his return from buccaneering settled in Holland, possibly because he was a Huguenot. In 1666 he was engaged by the French West India Company and went to Tortuga, where he stayed for three years. There he enlisted with the buccaneers, in particular with the band of Henry Morgan, whose confidante he was, probably as a barber-surgeon, and remained with them until 1674. Shortly afterwards he returned to Europe and settled in Amsterdam where he qualified professionally as a surgeon, his name appearing on the 1679 register of the Dutch Surgeons' Guild. However, he was later once again in the Caribbean as his name appears on the muster-roll as a surgeon in the attack on Cartagena in 1697.

- Source: Wikipedia