MOST NOTORIOUS PIRATES

In 1724 'A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates' went on sale in Charles Rivington's shop near St Paul's Cathedral and was an immediate success. By 1726 it had been expanded to a two-volume edition, and in 1734 formed part of an extensive volume that now included the outrageous exploits of highwaymen, street robbers and other scoundrels. The volume includes such famous characters as Edward Teach, Blackbeard, and John Rackam, Calico Jack, who had two female pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read disguised among his crew. Some of the other 25 famous outlaws are William Kidd, Bartholomew Roberts, Henry Morgan, Captain Avery, Major Stede Bonnet, Captain Charles Vane, Captain John Rackam, and John Gow. Of the most famous, the Scotsman William Kidd was hanged (twice because the first time the rope snapped) in London in May 1701, and his body then gibbeted at Tilbury Point on the Thames. Henry Avery probably died in poverty in Barnstaple in 1714, his extraordinary ill-gotten wealth having run through his fingers like sand. Blackbeard, the notorious Englishman Edward Teach, was killed in battle with the Royal Navy in November 1718. That year Royal Navy Captain Woodes Rogers defeated an entire colony of pirates in the Bahamas and accepted the surrender of 2000 men. Calico Jack and ten of his crew were hanged in Jamaica in November 1720. An enormous number of other pirates were also captured and executed, estimates ranging from 400-600 between 1716 and 1726. The curse of piracy had been lifted by legal changes and better maritime policing. Blending fact and fiction, many of the details have been verified by historical research and others have endured for centuries to influence the popular image of pirates in literature, film and television. These are tales that cross the Atlantic in both directions, to the new worlds of the west and the coasts of Africa. 396pp, lovely woodcut illus.