British Piracy in the Golden Age:

History and Interpretation, 1660–1730

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Editor: Joel H Baer

Through rare primary resources and new editorial matter this four-volume facsimile edition moves away from the personality cult of the pirate to encourage a more comprehensive view of Golden Age piracy. This new approach allows an exploration of how and why crews actually arose and how they responded to the complexities of eighteenth-century life. Highlighted are hitherto unexplored topics, such as the period’s conflicting attitudes to ‘entrepreneurial’ pirates, once employed by wartime navies; incentives to piracy within the law; religion and piracy; the function of criminal biography; and the unfiltered voice of the underclass.

The edition includes descriptions of the actions of individuals alongside contemporary discussions of the piracy problem through books, journals, newspaper articles, essays, reviews, proposals, pamphlets and sermons from Britain and its colonies. Piracy law and the prosecution of pirates are illustrated in parliamentary bills, treaties, trials, legal instructions and commentaries, proclamations and privateering commissions. Imaginative works that appeared in various forms such as verse, broadside ballads and fiction also feature. Drawing on works from a longer period than is usually identified as the ‘Golden Age’, the edition will interest scholars of Early Modern and eighteenth-century history, Atlantic history, maritime history, colonialism and legal studies.

• For the purposes of contextualisation, rare texts from the early seventeenth century have also been included
• Full editorial apparatus includes a substantial general introduction, section introductions, headnotes, endnotes and a consolidated index in the final volume
• An appendix lists Class Numbers of primary sources held in the UK National Archives
• Each facsimile page is digitally cleaned and enhanced, significantly improving on the quality and legibility of the original

Sample pages

• Volume 4: Benjamin Colman, It is a Fearful Thing to Fall into the Hands of the Living God (1726)
• Volume 2: An Account of the Tryals of Captain J Golden (1694)

Contents

Volume 1: General Accounts

Anthony Nixon, Newes from Sea, of two Notorious Pyrats, Ward the Englishman and Danseker the Dutchman (1609); Sir Henry Morgan’s Voyage to Panama 1670 (1683); Philip Ayres, The Voyages and Adventures of Capt. Barth., Sharp and Others in the South Sea (1684); Selections from British and American newspapers and journals including, American Weekly Mercury, Boston Gazette, Boston News Letter, British Journal, London Journal, Mist’s Weekly Journal, Post Boy, and Weekly Journal or British Gazetteer

Volume 2: Trial Accounts

The Lives, Apprehensions, Arraignments, and Executions, of the 19 Late Pyrates (1609); The Grand Pyrate, or, The Life and Death of Capt. George Cusack, the great Sea Robber with an Account of all his Notorious Robberies both at Sea and Land: together with his Tryal, condemnation, and Execution (1675); An Account of the Tryals of Captain J Golden (1694); Tryals of Joseph Dawson (1696); The Arraignment, Tryal and Condemnation of Captain William Kidd (1701); A full Account of the Proceedings in Relation to Capt. Kidd (1701); The Tryal of Captain Thomas Green and his Crew (1705); The Case of Capt. Tho. Green, Commander of the Ship Worcester, and his Crew, tried and condemned for Pyracy & Murther, in the High Court of Admiralty of Scotland (1705); The Arraignment, Tryal, and Condemnation of Captain John Quelch (1705)

Volume 3: Trial Accounts, Legal History, Commentary

The Trials of Eight Persons Indited for Piracy (1718); The Tryals of Major Stede Bonnet (1719); The Tryals of Captain John Rackam (1721); The Tryals of Thirty-Six Persons for Piracy (1723); The Trials of Five Persons for Piracy (1726); The Tryals of Sixteen Persons for Piracy (1726); A Discourse of the Laws relating to Pirates and Piracies (1726); Alexander Justice, A General Treatise of the Dominion of the Sea (1724); Piracy Destroyed, or, a Short Discourse Shewing the Rise, Growth and Causes of Piracy (1701); Marquis of Carmarthen, Reasons for Reducing the Pirates at Madagascar (c.1707); Alexander Smith, 'Introduction', The Third Volume of the Compleat History of the Lives, Robberies, Piracies, and Murders committed by the Most Notorious Rogues, &c (1720); Daniel Defoe, Mists Weekly Journal (1721)

Volume 4: Advice to Seamen, Dying Speeches, Fiction and Ballads

Henry Valentine, Four Sea-sermons (1635); The Mariner’s Divine Mate (1670); An Account of the Behaviour, Dying Speeches, and Execution of Mr. John Murphey, for High Treason, and William May, John Sparcks, William Bishop, James Lewis, and Adam Foresith for Robbery, Piracy and Felony (1696); An Account of the Behaviour and last Dying Speeches of the Six Pirates, that were Executed on Charles River, Boston (1704); Cotton Mather, Faithful Warnings to Prevent Fearful Judgments...Brief Discourse Occasioned by a Tragical Spectacle of a Number of Miserables under Sentence of Death for Piracy (1704); Paul Lorrain, The Ordinary of Newgate: his Account of the Behaviour, Confession, and Last Speech of Capt. Alexander Dolzell, a Pirate (1715); Cotton Mather, Instructions to the Living, from the Condition of the Dead (1717); Cotton Mather, Useful Remarks: an Essay upon Remarkables in the Way of Wicked Men: A Sermon on the Tragical End, unto which the Way of Twenty-six Pirates brought Them; at New Port on Rhode Island (1723); Josiah Woodward, The Seaman’s Monitor, or, Advice to Sea Faring Men (1723); Benjamin Colman, It is a Fearful Thing to Fall into the Hands of the Living God (1726); The famous Adventures of Captain John Avery of Plymouth, a Notorious Pirate (1809); Bold Captain Avery (c.1770)

Reviews

'British Piracy in the Golden Age is as valuable a find as the gold, silver, and jewels that Henry Every uncovered when he captured the Ganj-i-sawai...nowhere else will you find such a diverse collection of documents that cover all aspects of piracy in one set of books. Each document and each volume is one to be studied and savored, much as a connoisseur appreciates the finest wines and delicacies.'
– Cindy Vallar, Pirates and Privateers
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'The wealth and variety of these facsimile texts is exhilarating.'
– David Buisseret, Nautical Research Journal

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