WHO WERE THE PIRATES? Daring figures who swooped on treasure ships and returned home with golden cargoes? Brutal sea-thieves who showed no mercy to their victims? Bold adventurers who financed travel by nautical theft? In fact they were all these things and more. The term "pirate" means simply "one who plunders on the sea", but those who led this life fell into several categories: "privateers" were sea-raiders with a government licence to pillage enemy ships; "buccaneers" were 17th-century pirates who menaced the Spanish in the Caribbean; "corsairs" were privateers and pirates who roved the Mediterranean. In the words of Bartholomew Roberts (p. 39), all were lured by the promise of "plenty..., pleasure..., liberty and power".

Robbers of the seas

Pirates of Ancient Greece

Pirates of the Roman world

Raiders of the North

The Barbary coast

The corsairs of Malta

The privateers

The Spanish Main

New World privateers

Navigation and maps

The buccaneers

Weapons

Pirates of the Caribbean

Women pirates

The Jolly Roger

Pirate treasure

Piracy and slavery

Life at sea

Food on board

Life on land

Pirates of the Indian Ocean

Desert islands

The French corsairs

American privateers

Pirates of the China seas

Punishment

The pirates defeated

Pirates in literature

Pirates in film and theatre

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Who's who?

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Glossary

Index