Books
The Pirates of the Caribbean

If you are looking to end your summer with a breezy historical narrative, chose Colin Woodward’s The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down. Woodward focuses on the Golden Age of Piracy (1715-1725) by telling the story of “The Flying Gang” as the conglomeration of pirates in New Providence, Bahamas, called themselves. However, he focuses in on the lives of three of most famous of that era: “Black Sam” Bellamy, Edward “Blackbeard” Teach [or Thatch as some claim his surname was] and Charles Vane.

The story really begins with the War of Spanish Succession (1701-1714) and the problems that conflict caused in the Caribbean. The Spanish drove the British out of the Bahamas early in the conflict which according to Woodward opened the door for piracy by leaving a lawless area of many islands. But, possibly more importantly, the hiring of privateers by all sides to prey on each other was the whetting of appetites for personal piracy. In fact, the man who brought the Pirate Republic to an end was Woodes Rogers, a famous privateer for the UK during the war.

Privateers turned to piracy, that is, personal enrichment instead of piracy for king and country, when the war ended. There was a large complement of men available from privateer days as well as unemployed, disgruntled military sailors and black slaves. Because the Caribbean islands had many colonial possessors and all suffered damage during the war, the Caribbean was a wide open place for privateering turned piracy.

Woodward’s story is fast paced and rollicking. Rogers became the governor of the Bahamas by appointment of King George in 1718 but the threat of piracy did not really begin to abate until Charles Vane was hanged in 1720. The reconstruction of the confrontation between Balckbeard and his men on the Adventure and Robert Maynard of HMS and his men on he Jane at Okracoke Inlet, NC, on 21 October 1718, is truth stranger that fiction. It rivals any fiction you will ever read.

While Bellamy, Blackbeard and Vane meet tragic, violent ends, the story of Rogers is just as tragic. During the war, in which he was a hero, being the only privateer to capture a Spanish galleon, he suffered serious, life threatening injuries from the fighting. To return as governor of the Bahamas he had to put out 20,000 pounds of his own, which he was never repaid by the Crown. He drove the pirates from the Bahamas but could not save himself. He went into bankruptcy and landed in debtors prison, a disgraced hero.

The book is well researched and written. Some of the author’s premises you may have trouble swallowing. He posits that the pirates introduced democracy to the new world. How? By running their ships in a democratic manner…all hands decided on where they went, what vessels they attacked and even who was their captain. They shared equally the captured booty and the captain only had absolute authority in battle situations. Vane’s fate was a case in point. He was deposed as captain and put off his ship. He had a small sloop that eventually was marooned as a result of a storm on the Bay of Honduras. He was taken on by a passing ship, later recognized and arrested. He was taken to Jamaica for trail and hanging, an ignoble and whimpering end to one of the most viscious of the Caribbean pirates.

Did the democratic impulse that developed in the New World come from pirates? That may be a little too much romanticism. Yet, compared to the Disney 3quel about Caribbean pirates, this book is a refreshing look at the historical place of the Pirate Republic. The rise of pirate power is analyzed from a world stage and gives us insight into what happens yet today. Remember in Afghanistan the Mujahideen were empowered by the west to run out the Soviets. When the job was done what happened? They disintegrated, there was no order and in the chaos the Taliban arose to rule being more ruthless and oppressive than the Russians. Enjoy a dose of history of the Caribbean that has been little understood because of the heretofore romanticized pirates and also apply it to what goes on today. As the saying goes: There is no new news, just old news happening to new people!