The Pirates Own Book

Description

Readers fascinated by the cruel and magic world of the pirates are in for a real treat with this extraordinary compilation by Charles Ellms. First published in 1837, the book comprises stories gathered from various sources spanning over a century of pirate history, some of the sources dating back to the beginning of the 18th century and it also provides a very vivid and enjoyable account of the age of pirates.

The collection features pirate biographies just as much as pirate legends. The book covers not only events from the lives of the most infamous buccaneers – pirates specializing in attacking Spanish ships in the Caribbean -, but stories about the corsairs plundering the Barbary Coast and pirates from other regions as well. Some of the stories are anecdotal, others make reference to credible historical sources and the book also comes with maps to illustrate the events described in the stories, making it all more real and more palpable for the reader.

Not much is known about the author’s life, but one thing is sure: he was fascinated with history, especially with the history of life at sea, of pirates and their deeds. Besides The Pirates Own Book, he wrote and published several other books that provided insight into what life was like on a ship in the 17th-18th century – in 1836 he published his Shipwrecks and Disasters at Sea that contained detailed accounts of nautical tragedies, then in 1841 he further elaborated the subject in The Tragedy of the Seas, a book that included stories of disasters on rivers and lakes as well.

Ellms is usually criticized for embellishing the stories he adapts from authentic historical sources, but even so, his books, especially The Pirates Own Book provide a truly fascinating and insightful account of the cruel and bloody, but often very heroic lives of the pirates.
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