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978-0-89587-098-8
0-89587-098-3
$17.95 hardcover
6" x 9"
204 pages
glossary, bibliography
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They were bold, arrogant,
brutal. They strode the rolling deck of a ship more easily than the tame
streets of a town. They were wealthy--some beyond the wildest dreams of
the governors and kings who first supported them, then pursued them.
They were the pirates of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and
they terrorized shipping lanes and coastal villages around the world.
The pirates in this book
sailed far and wide, but all made their mark on the Atlantic coast. Some
made their home there, such as the notorious Blackbeard, who anchored
his ship off Ocracoke Island and lived for a time in Bath, North
Carolina. Others put ashore just long enough to change seafaring
history, such as the rakish "Calico Jack" Rackham, whose
chance meeting in Providence, Rhode Island, with a spirited redheaded
girl would give the world another legendary pirate--the beautiful Anne
Bonny.
Though popular culture has
created an image of a "typical" pirate, plying his trade with
dash and vigor beneath his skull-and-crossbones flag, in reality these
men--and women--were of character and background as varied as the flags
they flew. In this collection of pirate tales, you will meet scions of
colonial aristocrats like Rhode Island's Thomas Tew and the dandified
Stede Bonnet of Barbados; off-spring of unassuming farm families like
Pennsylvanian Rachel Wall and Massachusetts' Charles Gibbs; and those
like Edward Low of England, who escaped lives of desperate poverty and
squalor by putting to sea. What these men and women had in common was a
yearning for excitement, a love for the seafaring life, and a taste for
the wealth that piracy could provide.
Romance, danger, suspense,
adventure--all this and more awaits you on board the tall ships with the
pirates of the Atlantic coast. Join them now for a voyage you will never
forget.
about the author
Nancy Roberts is the award-winning author of over twenty books that
have collectively sold over a million copies, including Georgia
Ghosts. A sought-after lecturer and storyteller, she also
teaches creative-writing classes in schools, universities, and public
libraries. She lives in Charlotte, North Carolina. |
