Under the Black Flag: The Romance and the Reality of Life Among the Pirates - Hardcover

Cordingly, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0679425608 ISBN 13: 9780679425601

Publisher: Random House, 1996

Synopsis

For this rousing, revisionist history, the former head of exhibitions at England's National Maritime Museum has combed original documents and records to produce a most authoritative and definitive account of piracy's "Golden Age." As he explodes many accepted myths (i.e. "walking the plank" is pure fiction), Cordingly replaces them with a truth that is more complex and often bloodier. 16 pp. of photos. Maps.

About this title

Review:

Though literature, films, and folklore have romanticized pirates as gallant seaman who hunted for treasure in exotic locales, David Cordingly, a former curator at the National Maritime Museum in England, reveals the facts behind the legends of such outlaws as Captain Kidd, Blackbeard, and Calico Jack. Even stories about buried treasure are fictitious, he says, yet still the myth remains. Though pirate captains were often sadistic villains and crews endured barbarous tortures, were constantly threatened with the possibility of death by hanging, drowning in a storm, or surviving a shipwreck on a hostile coast, pirates are still idealized. Cordingly examines why the myth of the romance of piratehood endures and why so few lived out their days in luxury on the riches they had plundered.

About the Author:

David Cordingly was for 12 years on the staff of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England, where he was curator of paintings and then head of exhibitions. He is a graduate of Oxford and the renowned author of the definitive book on pirates, Under the Black Flag, as well as Seafaring Women and Cochrane: The Real Master and Commander. Cordingly lives with his wife by the sea in Sussex, England.

About this edition

• Publisher: Random House
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0679425608
• ISBN 13: 9780679425601
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 296