Pirates: The Golden Age of Piracy: A History From Beginning to End Kindle Edition

The introduction wasn’t necessary with exactly the same lines repeated in the following chapters. As a matter of fact it was kind of weird to start reading Chapter 1 after reading the introduction because I was reading what I just read in Introduction second time in a row.Except that I would like to highly rate this book. Off the beginning the book hooks the serious readers into a depth of the story introducing a realistic history, not a Hollywood-driven, made-up fairy tale of adventurers.(Kindle Ed., p. 1)...The Golden Age of Piracy arose from a time when the powers of Europe were locked in a fierce battle for naval and mercantile supremacy, and as the fortunes of the nations ebbed and flowed, so did piracy.These early lines make clear the reason I wanted to read this book.(Kindle Ed., p. 9)...In later years, an English monarch would use her sailors—called pirates by the Spanish who were victimized by their raids—to replenish the royal treasury and attack her enemies even as she pretended to know nothing about their deeds...This book is so real: That was how unofficial, unorganized the English Navy was in the 16th and 17th centuries. On the other hand, the French Navy under Bourbon Dynasty, officially supplied and armed under the flag of the nation, prevailed over the English until the 18th century.Today at school and everywhere we’ve been taught that there a rivalry between England and France was going on since the Hundred Years’ War, but seriously it was France, which dominated and led the European affairs and global economy from the mid-17th century to the early-19th century. We often forget that the mighty British naval power first had to overcome the established French naval power in the global water passages to take over the position as the global hegemon in the 19th to early-half of the 20th century.(Kindle Ed., pp. 10-11)When Elizabeth I ascended to the throne, her sailors were described as pirates by other nations. The English colony at Roanoke, Virginia was a base for attacks on Spanish shipping. However, there were ramifications to English piracy, as English business interests suffered losses in the water on their own coasts. The monarchy wanted its own routes to be safe from attack, but the merchants and towns that it commissioned as privateers were not paid from the royal treasury and had to outfit their ships at their own expense. The terms of commission permitted them to capture the wealth on the ships in order to recoup their own losses, which meant that instead of easing the problem of piracy, the merchants opted to win back lost money by plundering anyone with goods worth stealing. Elizabeth I’s state papers confirm that hundreds of complaints and petitions for compensation were issued, but punishment was inconsistent and lax. When pirates in the Straits of Dover seized the ship carrying the Queen’s emissary to the French court, a dozen of the emissary’s retainers were killed and property was stolen. Because the Queen was the victim of this attack, hundreds of pirates were jailed, but only three were hanged. The Queen displayed that characteristic pragmatism for which she was known. She made use of the pirates whose wealth benefited her, and chastised them when other monarchs complained. The criminals who sabotaged English shipping were heroes when they attacked England’s foes. Elizabeth took a share of the booty, and provided ships for the pirates. Pirates who had patrons in government provided profit for those officials. The pirates themselves often found that success awaited them.This was the real face of the renowned English naval power, whose tale was created in the 19th to 20th century under the British lead of the global order. And the idea was supported by the English victory against the Spanish Armada in 1588, although the Habsburg-Spanish Maritime Empire remained the head of global order until its defeat to Bourbon-France by the mid-17th century. It is unwise to believe that the ultimate Spanish decline immediately ensued by that one defeat in 1588, while we all know the United States today in 2018 still remains the head of our global order despite its humiliating defeat in Vietnam back in the 1970s.The examples and evidence of the real face of English naval power in the 16th to 17th century continue throughout pages.(Kindle Ed., pp. 11-12)Elizabeth didn’t have the money to build a wartime Navy, and the Spanish, the might of Europe, were about to launch their Armada against her small nation. In order to protect English commercial interests, she instituted privateering, which commissioned privately owned vessels with letters of marque from the Crown which allowed them to interrupt and capture the ships of their enemies during times of war. The letters provided for prizes—contraband from an enemy—to be confiscated by an Admiralty Court with a division of the goods going to the privateers, other officials, and the Crown. Privateering, which had existed as a practice before the threat of the Armada, became sanctioned in the 1580s as war loomed. Letters of reprisal allowed the bearer to pursue operations that interrupted enemy shipping even though there was not yet a declaration of war against that enemy. Privateers with the promise of government sanction and enemy prizes set to their work with alacrity. Martin Frobisher was called into service and given command of a squadron of ships when the Spanish Armada threatened in 1588. He was enraged when Sir Francis Drake, a pirate who was rewarded with a knighthood for his prize-taking prowess, seized a Spanish ship as part of the spoils of war. Frobisher said, “".....she (the Spanish Galleon) had spent her masts, then like a coward he (Drake) kept by her all night because he would have all the spoil. He thinketh to cozen us of our shares of 15 Thousand ducats: but we will have our shares or I will make him spend the best blood in his belly: for [I have] had enough of those cozening cheats already." Frobisher wasn’t irate at the taking of the ship; he was furious because Drake was taking more than his legitimate share of the plunder. Frobisher himself earned a knighthood for his distinguished service during the Armada engagement. Under Elizabeth, the duality of this authorized pirate was exhibited through the careers of not only Francis Drake but also Sir Walter Raleigh, John Hawkins, Richard Grenville, and the Gilberts, whose climb in rank did not suffer from their pirate leanings. As Sir Henry Mainwaring, pirate turned admiral of the navy under King James I, put it “...the State may hereafter want such men who are commonly the most serviceable in war."(Kindle Ed., p. 21)The sacking of Porto Bello, Panama City, and Maracaibo by England’s Henry Morgan was enormously lucrative and, as was the case for other Englishmen, eventually led to a knighthood, this one from King Charles II. The honor would have been disputed by the nations whose ships he plundered...Even under Charles II, whose reign went through the late-half of the 17th century from 1660 to 1685, during the early years of the French championship in Europe and over the global water passages building huge colonies in India, Africa and especially in North America, the English pirates had to work for English Navy. At the time the English got through their Civil War, whereas the French just won the global warfare against the Habsburg Empire by 1660, and so parliamentary England had much less colonies compared to those of monarchical France under the centralized and united power of “absolute” Bourbon Dynasty, though England’s rise was to come rather soon with her unification with Scotland as the United Kingdom of Great Britain in the early-18th century.(Kindle Ed., p. 13)Spain was a barometer of the viability of the pirate trade, and behind Spain was the power of the Roman Catholic Church and the nation’s own religious zeal. Changes were coming to Europe, the effects of which would ripple throughout the New World. Religion, which had proved so destructive an element to the stability of Europe, would also plant divisive seeds in the New World. The Thirty Years War lasted from 1618-1648 and included not only the doctrinal conflict between Protestants and Catholics that the Reformation had incited, but also between Catholic powers Spain and France. The war itself was actually fought in Germany; casualties devastated the population, but war was not contained by Europe’s boundaries. As the power of Spain diminished in Europe, the effects would eventually be seen in Spain’s colonial empire. Dependence on slave labor from Africa increased among the plantations, ranches and mines. Fewer troops guarding the Spanish Main weakened the settlements. The economy of Spain became stagnant...The book just proves all my points presented in my book “Admiral Lee and the First Global War.”(Kindle Ed., p. 17)The wealth of the Spanish Empire provided the world with its first global currency. Known as pieces of eight, these coins—the front of which bore the coat of arms of the Hapsburg dynasty which ruled Spain—were used from South America to the Philippines but were accepted all over the commercial world. One coin would have been the equal of a fifty-pound note in today’s economy, ample reason for the zest with which the pirate entrepreneurs sought to plunder Spanish ships.I agree and disagree: Yes, it was the Habsburg-Spanish power that established the first global currency, but it was silver, which Spain had the most abundant revenue in the world from its vast colonies in the Americas.(Kindle Ed., p. 27)...Many travelers were on their way to make their annual Haj to Mecca, the religious pilgrimage required of devout Muslims. The pirates would ambush the pilgrims along with the merchants of the East India Company off the coasts of Malabar, Coromandel, and Reunion Island, which was owned by France...In the middle of the Indian Ocean: The English and Dutch East India Companies were not colonial territories yet. Although the English East India Company was established in 1603, Indian ports and passages were not under the English naval control until Great Britain won the conflict with France over India and North America in the mid- to late-18th century. Until then it was France, which controlled the most important Indian ports and passages in the Indian Ocean.Lastly I’d like to point out the difference between the pirates of France and England of the time that this book has missed: Like the book says there were French pirates, actually leading global pirates targeting the rich Spanish booty, but they were “pirates” for France, whereas the English pirates were like “national naval forces” for England at the time.

To many, stories about pirates evoke mixed feelings. On the one hand, there are the exciting tales of adventures in the open seas and the great wealth that went with it, on the other, the sad loss of innocent human lives and the disruption of genuine trade and economic activity so essential to commercial growth and development. This brief book gives the reader a full picture of this exciting story and the controversy it generated over the years.In the Middle Ages, this economic activity was referred to as the Golden Age of Piracy, and getting involved in it was not only extremely rewarding but also fashionable. Some governments and even rich people ventured into it for enrichment. Business flourished and big pirate names like Willian Kidd, Grace O’Malley, Target Rais and the fearful Blackbeard became the talk of society. Economically, piracy was a source of quick income and everyone wanted a piece of the action. Surprisingly, even Queen Elizabeth became fully involved not only in taking a share of the booty but also by providing ships for the pirates.People looking for a quick fortune piracy was the right answer. Preying on innocent ships in the oceans was simple: it took only 4-5 nimble fighters with light arms to jump onto the cargo ship, arrest the crew and take over the ship. Asking for a ransom was routine and the running price was (in today’s money) around $600,000. Business flourished and spread to the Americas (especially the Caribbean region) and as far east as the Indian seas. Media glorified piracy and pirates were referred to as heroes. In later years, Hollywood saw a good opportunity and started romanticizing pirate movies using famous actors (Errol Flynn, Tyrone Powers, Douglas Fairbanks) and making a fortune while delighting the movie crowds.How are we to look back at this exciting period in Europe? There is no doubt it was a dynamic economic period with sudden wealth spreading to all classes including the nobility and even the royals. But was it all ethical and proper business? Or were people driven by greed and lawlessness and thus blinded toward the old moral principles set by religions and social principles? For, who cared about the huge material and human losses incurred by those pirates who captured ships, their cargo and the crews? It seems that authorities turned a blind eye and put ethics aside while counting the booty. And to add insult to injury they cushioned events with kind and romantic words: criminal pirates became ’heroes’ and were represented in movies by famous actors; preying on innocent ships and crews was an ‘adventure’; even the whole series of vicious crimes became The Glorious Age of Piracy!!It took years, if not centuries, for governments to realize the damage that was being done. This free-for-all robbery was starting to hurt the interests of business within Europe itself and especially for the major players - Spain, England and France. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, lawlessness was gradually stopped, security was tightened and decency found its way back. And those gangsters who rebelled and refused to obey the new laws were chased, captured one by one and hanged. Sadly for them, the Glorious Age of Piracy had come to an end.FR QubeinSept. 2019

While the content is relatively interesting, the book is too short to give any depth or understanding to the topic. The scope of the book is too broad to work in this format of "hourly histories." If you are going to write a history book to be read in an hour, it has to be very focused to be worthwhile. This book is a very brief overview of the age of Pirates, ending with a short synopsis of the present day threat from Somali pirates that was in the news a few years ago. Famous pirates are given only a few paragraphs at most, and the general history, while containing some interesting tidbits here and there, is highly superficial. It reminded me more of an essay, rather than a book. I think I got two things out of this book. One, a lot of famous British sea captains were also pirates, like Walter Raleigh and Francis Drake; and two, that there was a "Golden Age of Piracy." In my mind until now, I never gave piracy any sort of time-frame. But it seems pirates like the ones we have in our imagination were mostly relegated to a few hundred years. The book also seems to blur the distinction between pirate, buccaneer, and privateer, but it certainly makes you want to read further. There was some repetition of paragraphs in the beginning, which implies that it wasn't so carefully edited, but all in all, if you have never read anything about pirates before, you will find it a quick and interesting read. If you have, you won't get much out of this at all.

READ THIS REVIEW BUT NOT THE BOOK, which is actually of less interest and so poorly written and very over priced at nearly 9 pounds for what amounts to a junior school project at 84 pages.It is a broad meander around a complex and highly interesting subject that has so many colourful characters and tales attached to it it could practically write itself. It really needed to a focus of one area of the life and democracy of the Pirate era instead of trying to touch on everything which gives it very little substance.Even the flimsy covers artwork is a badly copied and -stretched to fit the size of the book. Bad show all round there. If I were a pirate then this writer (to say author would insult people who actually know how to write !) would be walking a plank for incompetence and fraud !!

The whole of page 1 is a repeat of the intro on the back cover (approx 200 words; the whole of pages 2 and 3 are repeated on pages 4 and 5 (approx 450 words; there are numerous typo errors indicating the text has not been properly edited; the whole 42 page BOOKLET printed in a large font (hardly a BOOK) is full of words and very little substance. It adds nothing of value that cannot be found on one, possibly two websites by surfing the net. In short, an overpriced amateur offering.

A really useful guide to piracy from Greek times to present. The book covers how piracy was condoned and encouraged in times of war and trade war. It's surprising how much you can learn in an hour or so.

A couple of interesting bits on individuals that I wasn’t familiar with. As an aside, Captain William Morgan lived at Llanrumney Hall, Cardiff, which is today the home of Llanrumney Rugby Club.