~ Synopsis

It was a harsh life for those who went 'on the account', constantly overshadowed by the threat of death - through violence, illness, shipwreck, or the hangman's noose. The lure of gold, the excitement of the chase and the freedom that life aboard a pirate ship offered were judged by some to be worth the risk.

Helen Hollick explores both the fiction and fact of the Golden Age of piracy, and there are some surprises in store for those who think they know their Barbary Corsair from their boucanier.

Everyone has heard of Captain Morgan, but who recognises the name of the aristocratic Frenchman Daniel Montbars? He killed so many Spaniards he was known as 'The Exterminator'.

The fictional world of pirates, represented in novels and movies, is different from reality. What draws readers and viewers to these notorious rogues of the high seas?

What are the facts behind the fantasy?


~ Reviews

Pirates Truth and Tales is a highly entertaining mine of fascinating information about all things piratical in (principally, but not exclusively) the so-called Golden Age of piracy, which spanned the late 17th to the early 18th centuries in the Caribbean and along the eastern seaboard of what was to become the USA.
...
You can read it from cover to cover, or dip into it for nuggets of information about all sorts of pirate related subjects, such as: the constant labour required to keep a wooden sailing ship seaworthy, the different flags that various pirates flew (not all skull and crossbones), medicines of the age (horrible and useless), seamen's superstitions, sea shanties of the period (some rather rude), the history of rum and methods of production, and the fledgling tobacco industry (a cargo worth stealing, if there were no Spanish galleons to be had).

And lots, lots more.
Amazon reviewer