The Sea Dogs: Privateers, Plunder and Piracy in the Elizabethan Age

by Neville Williams

Hardcover w / dustjacket. First edition copy. Stated First American Edition. Like new; no internal markings; has only lost its Brand New shine. No pricing stickers. No remainder mark. DJ is nearly fine. Stored in sealed plastic protection. In the event of a problem we guarantee full refund. 1975. Hardcover w / dustjacket

Genres: History, Pirates, Nonfiction, Tudor Period

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1975

Reviews

[P.J. Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

When the New World was discovered by Europeans in the late fifteenth century, Spain claimed it, tolerating no interlopers. The pope made it official. This book is about the English response. Denied peaceful trade with the Spanish Indies, the English took to plundering Spanish settlements and treasure ships, and to worldwide exploration to find places open to English settlement. Francis Drake circumnavigated the globe in his search for plunder and financial prospects. Later Thomas Cavendish did the same. Also covered are Welsh and Cornish pirates who preyed on ships in the English and Bristol channels, and early trading companies, such as the East India Company.

There is bias in this book, English pride in the "daring and enterprise" that transformed "England into the foremost maritime power." English crimes are acknowledged, but the author concludes that the sea dogs “wrote a glorious chapter in England’s history.”

This book is too detailed to interest a general audience, but is recommended to anyone interested in piracy, in early exploration, in Elizabethan England, or in the origins of the British Empire. It draws on Spanish archival records, narratives from the Hakluyt Society, Admiralty records in London, and other primary sources. Illustrated and indexed, with bibliography. Some illustrations are in full color.

[Redsteve · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good general history of the Elizabethan "Sea Dogs", not just as pirates and privateers, but as explorers, colonists (although this role was pretty much crippled through an emphasis on piracy/privateering), merchant adventurers, and men of war (for most of the latter 16th Century, these men WERE the English navy).