I thought it might be of interest to some readers to get a little peek into some of the research that went into "Port Royal", so I decided I'd post some of the pictures I used with a little explanation for each one.

For a start, this is a map of Port Royal, "the most sinful city in the world" at its peak:

And here is a reconstruction of some of the shop houses near the dockside.

The end of Port Royal came not from invasion or the Royal Navy, but from a huge earthquake that sent half the city to the bottom of the sea:

Here is a map of the sea routes used to travel from Europe to the Spanish Main:



























Next, we have some details of the clothing that the people wore. This is a period illustration of an English gentleman's attire in 1663:


































A lady's dress from the same period:

































A less formal summer dress:

































Since "Port Royal" is an erotic book, it was necessary to see how the English people of that time and in a place such as a pirate's den did it, so I located a rare copy of a 17th century sex manual. Yes, they actually had them. The illustrations are X-rated, so I'll only show you the cover:



































What is a pirate tale without ships. Here is a diagram of the rigging of a large warship.










































Some detail of its guns:































And finally, a very rare photograph of white slaves (indentured servants) in Barbados.



















I hope this has been an enjoyable taste of the kind of research that goes into a book like Port Royal.