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Pirates of the Chesapeake Bay: From the Colonial Era to the Oyster Wars
The story of Chesapeake pirates and patriots begins with a land dispute and ends with the untimely death of an oyster dredger at the hands of the Maryland Oyster Navy. From the golden age of piracy to Confederate privateers and oyster pirates, the maritime communities of the Chesapeake Bay are intimately tied to a fascinating history of intrigue, plunder and illicit commerce raiding. Author Jamie L.H. Goodall introduces infamous men like Edward "Blackbeard" Teach and "Black Sam" Bellamy, as well as lesser-known local figures like Gus Price and Berkeley Muse, whose tales of piracy are legendary from the harbor of Baltimore to the shores of Cape Charles.
160 pages, Paperback
Published February 24, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
May 6, 2022
Dr. Goodall has impressed me each moment that I have followed her work. From Twitter to this book, I am impressed with what knowledge she has presented to us about the history of pirates and how they touched the region I have spent almost all of my life. The book is an easy read in that Dr. Goodall presents it in a manner that flows fluidly and thus making it much easier to finish in a very short time. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the Chesapeake Bay history as well as anyone who might enjoy some connections to the pirates of the time.
March 2, 2020
This was a very readable series of stories about historical figures involved in piracy in the Chesapeake Bay. I found the text to be an enjoyable and well-written secondary source. Having not read or researched the primary sources, I had the impression that this book presents stories very closely following extant factual information; there isn't any "historical fiction" veneer, no speculation, no figurative language. The authentic stories are mostly interesting and well-presented enough that the book is still a good read.
I was surprised at the lack of authorial narrative; there's a bit of introduction, but there is very little glue language between stories or eras. There was also no conclusion wrapping up the themes of Chesapeake piracy history, which I thought was a missed opportunity.
I was surprised at the lack of authorial narrative; there's a bit of introduction, but there is very little glue language between stories or eras. There was also no conclusion wrapping up the themes of Chesapeake piracy history, which I thought was a missed opportunity.
January 22, 2022
Interesting tidbits but overall lacking
The book has a fair collection of anecdotes of various pirates and privateers over the centuries since colonialism. But the book was lacking in overall narrative. Many sections began or ended abruptly and didn't fill in the relevant background and follow through to give them proper historical significance. I did learn some interesting stories and gained an appreciation for the Chesapeake. The book seems like a good first draft.
The book has a fair collection of anecdotes of various pirates and privateers over the centuries since colonialism. But the book was lacking in overall narrative. Many sections began or ended abruptly and didn't fill in the relevant background and follow through to give them proper historical significance. I did learn some interesting stories and gained an appreciation for the Chesapeake. The book seems like a good first draft.
February 23, 2021
Sometimes people turn to piracy strictly because they want easy money. Other times they are driven to piracy. The latter is what happened to the first documented pirate of the Chesapeake Bay, a man named William Claiborne. His felonious activities occurred during the 1630s and are discussed in the introduction to Pirates of the Chesapeake Bay. Contrary to what this title suggests, Goodall describes her book as “a collection of stories that follow some of the Chesapeake’s most notorious pirates and valiant privateers and the local residents, merchants and government officials who aided, abetted and sometimes captured them.” (23) Her goals in bringing these individuals together in a single volume are to (a) identify who took part in these piratical acts and what role did they play; (b) locate where the nefarious exploits occurred; (c) explain why the Chesapeake Bay was both a haven and a target of piracy; and (d) identify what caused the depredations in this 200-mile region that extends from Havre de Grace, Maryland to Virginia Beach, Virginia to be suppressed. Of course, this supposes that all the depredations described within are acts of piracy. In actuality, they are not.
To achieve these objectives, she divides the book into five time periods: colonial (1630-1750), the Revolutionary War (1754-1783), the War of 1812 (1805-1815), the Civil War (1860-1865), and the Oyster Wars (1865-1959). (The latter is really about poaching, rather than piracy, although contemporary newspapers referred to those involved as “pirates.”) The majority of people mentioned will be unknown to most readers: Richard Ingle, Joseph Wheland Jr., George Little, John Yates Beall, and William Frank Whitehouse, among many others. A few – Lionel Delawafer (better known as Lionel Wafer, the pirate surgeon), William Kidd, Sam Bellamy, and Thomas Boyle, for example – are often discussed in books about pirates and privateers. Readers will also find a timeline of major conflicts, maps, pictures, glossary, notes, bibliography, and index.
This is an interesting summary of piratical and privateering activity in a vital, but often overlooked, region that introduces readers to individuals rarely discussed in other maritime history books. That said, some missteps call into question this historian’s research. For example, on page 36, the vivid description of a body gibbeted in May 1699 in the Thames River is identified as being that of Captain Kidd. Four pages later, the text reads, “On May 23, 1701, Kidd ultimately met his fate at the end of the hangman’s noose.” (In 1699, Kidd was in American colonial waters trying to clear his name after sailing the Quedah Merchant to the West Indies.) On page 45, Sam Bellamy’s first victim is identified as the Whidah. He had already captured at least two vessels the previous year after going on the account. In fact, when he captured the Whidah, he was aboard the Sultana, which he had taken in December 1716. Nor did the pirates run Whidah aground, as stated on page 47. A severe nor’easter drove her ashore. The final paragraph states: “Sam Bellamy and his few surviving crewmembers were imprisoned, condemned and executed for piracy. They met their makers at the end of the hangman’s noose.” While several members of Bellamy’s crew were hanged, Bellamy was not one of them and they weren’t aboard Whidah at the time that she sank. He died in the shipwreck. Only two men survived Whidah’s sinking; Thomas Davis was acquitted while John Julian was sold into slavery.
To achieve these objectives, she divides the book into five time periods: colonial (1630-1750), the Revolutionary War (1754-1783), the War of 1812 (1805-1815), the Civil War (1860-1865), and the Oyster Wars (1865-1959). (The latter is really about poaching, rather than piracy, although contemporary newspapers referred to those involved as “pirates.”) The majority of people mentioned will be unknown to most readers: Richard Ingle, Joseph Wheland Jr., George Little, John Yates Beall, and William Frank Whitehouse, among many others. A few – Lionel Delawafer (better known as Lionel Wafer, the pirate surgeon), William Kidd, Sam Bellamy, and Thomas Boyle, for example – are often discussed in books about pirates and privateers. Readers will also find a timeline of major conflicts, maps, pictures, glossary, notes, bibliography, and index.
This is an interesting summary of piratical and privateering activity in a vital, but often overlooked, region that introduces readers to individuals rarely discussed in other maritime history books. That said, some missteps call into question this historian’s research. For example, on page 36, the vivid description of a body gibbeted in May 1699 in the Thames River is identified as being that of Captain Kidd. Four pages later, the text reads, “On May 23, 1701, Kidd ultimately met his fate at the end of the hangman’s noose.” (In 1699, Kidd was in American colonial waters trying to clear his name after sailing the Quedah Merchant to the West Indies.) On page 45, Sam Bellamy’s first victim is identified as the Whidah. He had already captured at least two vessels the previous year after going on the account. In fact, when he captured the Whidah, he was aboard the Sultana, which he had taken in December 1716. Nor did the pirates run Whidah aground, as stated on page 47. A severe nor’easter drove her ashore. The final paragraph states: “Sam Bellamy and his few surviving crewmembers were imprisoned, condemned and executed for piracy. They met their makers at the end of the hangman’s noose.” While several members of Bellamy’s crew were hanged, Bellamy was not one of them and they weren’t aboard Whidah at the time that she sank. He died in the shipwreck. Only two men survived Whidah’s sinking; Thomas Davis was acquitted while John Julian was sold into slavery.
November 7, 2022
Pirates and the Chesapeake Bay, how could anyone ignore this book? I got wind of its publication from a regional TV program called Pa. Books. The show hosted Jamie Goodall and she spent an hour discussing her research and her other publications regarding this same subject, Pirates along the East Coast of the United States. She was a good speaker, with personality and sophistication, so I was hooked. Jamie deserves credit for her intensive research on this subject. Her bibliography is extensive and if one wants more information or research opportunities regarding pirates, she provides the sources.
I did not feel that her writing style matched her speaking skills, and I sensed a lot of cut and paste from her research material; the subject matter still held the magic for me.
I was born in Baltimore and feel quite familiar with the Maryland portion of the Bay, so when she tells of pirate landings in Crisfield or Tangiers Island or even Sandy Point where my father and I fished, I know these places and can connect very well to her story.
What impacted me most in her story telling was how dangerous living close to our coast was for fisherman and people inhabiting all the small towns and villages on both shores of this Bay. Her narrative includes the colonial period up to the fifties and it was lawless. The causes were foreign incursion into the Bay during our Revolution, slave traders on the hunt, or the divisions of the Civil War or Pirates, or the violence of the Oyster wars, it was a dangerous place to live!
The pirate stories are great, yet they are not Walt Disney productions. These people who make their living as pirates are the lowest of the low, they demonstrate very little humanity and kill at the least provocation. The governments of Maryland and Virginia were hard pressed to control the vast areas of inlets, rivers and streams on this large Bay, yet things had to be done to stop these murderous thugs from adversely affecting the economy of the Region and protecting the safety of its citizens.
Jamie does a good job telling the stories of the fight to eradicate piracy. Her stories are compelling and at times funny.
The story of the pirate Thomas Boyle is to me a funny story. Boyle was an audacious character who was part pirate and part privateer. He sailed through the English Channel and along the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland. During this time, he won eighteen prizes including a brig. Boyle gave a proclamation to the captain of the brig and freed him to post it at Lloyd’s coffee house in London. His proclamation was to forbid English ships from leaving their ports under threat of seizure, of course, this was a ridiculous statement because while he had been successful, his armada was one ship. His depredations were so bothersome that the Morning Chronicle of London remarked, “The whole coast of Ireland, from Wexford round by Cape Clear to Carrick Fergus, should not have been, for about a month, under the unrestricted domination of a few petty fly-by-nights from the blockaded ports of the United States is a grievance equally intolerable and disgraceful”. Boyle’s success affected British morale and caused their insurance rates to skyrocket. Some of the underwriters even refused to insure British ships and their cargoes for fear of their imminent loss.
There are many stories of men like Thomas Boyle and most not so humorous but always compelling. Jamie presents a fascinating history of the Chesapeake Bay and the Eastern Coast of the US when it was dominated by pirates and privateers.
I did not feel that her writing style matched her speaking skills, and I sensed a lot of cut and paste from her research material; the subject matter still held the magic for me.
I was born in Baltimore and feel quite familiar with the Maryland portion of the Bay, so when she tells of pirate landings in Crisfield or Tangiers Island or even Sandy Point where my father and I fished, I know these places and can connect very well to her story.
What impacted me most in her story telling was how dangerous living close to our coast was for fisherman and people inhabiting all the small towns and villages on both shores of this Bay. Her narrative includes the colonial period up to the fifties and it was lawless. The causes were foreign incursion into the Bay during our Revolution, slave traders on the hunt, or the divisions of the Civil War or Pirates, or the violence of the Oyster wars, it was a dangerous place to live!
The pirate stories are great, yet they are not Walt Disney productions. These people who make their living as pirates are the lowest of the low, they demonstrate very little humanity and kill at the least provocation. The governments of Maryland and Virginia were hard pressed to control the vast areas of inlets, rivers and streams on this large Bay, yet things had to be done to stop these murderous thugs from adversely affecting the economy of the Region and protecting the safety of its citizens.
Jamie does a good job telling the stories of the fight to eradicate piracy. Her stories are compelling and at times funny.
The story of the pirate Thomas Boyle is to me a funny story. Boyle was an audacious character who was part pirate and part privateer. He sailed through the English Channel and along the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland. During this time, he won eighteen prizes including a brig. Boyle gave a proclamation to the captain of the brig and freed him to post it at Lloyd’s coffee house in London. His proclamation was to forbid English ships from leaving their ports under threat of seizure, of course, this was a ridiculous statement because while he had been successful, his armada was one ship. His depredations were so bothersome that the Morning Chronicle of London remarked, “The whole coast of Ireland, from Wexford round by Cape Clear to Carrick Fergus, should not have been, for about a month, under the unrestricted domination of a few petty fly-by-nights from the blockaded ports of the United States is a grievance equally intolerable and disgraceful”. Boyle’s success affected British morale and caused their insurance rates to skyrocket. Some of the underwriters even refused to insure British ships and their cargoes for fear of their imminent loss.
There are many stories of men like Thomas Boyle and most not so humorous but always compelling. Jamie presents a fascinating history of the Chesapeake Bay and the Eastern Coast of the US when it was dominated by pirates and privateers.
May 27, 2020
Pirates of the Chesapeake Bay is a great book for anyone who wants to learn about the pirates that roamed the massive bay--and the many pirates you've likely heard of who were among them. For anyone interested in piratey things, this is a must-own book. The book is presented in what I would term vignettes or snapshots of individual pirates or mini-biographies, broken into a few main sections mostly separated by time. Among the more interesting things in the grander vista of American history is the role that pirates and privateers (pirates by another name, really) played in the Revolutionary War and even the American Civil War. The book is exquisitely detailed and organized in endnotes for primary sources and secondary sources and easy to use. Again, a must for anyone who wants this book to be one of many in their quest to learn about pirates.
Though the vignette model makes looking up individuals easy and thus, combined with the excellent endnotes and secondary sources, an excellent resource tool, I was disappointed that it did not seem to have a main thesis or argument. Aside from pirates appearing in chronological order and based around a central piece of geography (the Chesapeake Bay), little connected these stories or tied them into a larger historical narrative. This is why I feel like I can only give it three stars. I enjoyed it and learned a number of things, but I wanted to see more connective tissue between the mini-biographies of the pirates. All and all, I recommend it.
I will be looking forward to Dr. Goodall's next book.
Though the vignette model makes looking up individuals easy and thus, combined with the excellent endnotes and secondary sources, an excellent resource tool, I was disappointed that it did not seem to have a main thesis or argument. Aside from pirates appearing in chronological order and based around a central piece of geography (the Chesapeake Bay), little connected these stories or tied them into a larger historical narrative. This is why I feel like I can only give it three stars. I enjoyed it and learned a number of things, but I wanted to see more connective tissue between the mini-biographies of the pirates. All and all, I recommend it.
I will be looking forward to Dr. Goodall's next book.
January 26, 2024
This book is a short and engaging journey through the lives of pirates and privateers in or from the Chesapeake Bay region. The book is organised into five eras: the Colonial era, the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the American Civil War and the Oyster Wars. In each section it has sub-sections on individuals and/or events which help tell the story of piracy or privateering in or from the Chesapeake Bay at the time.
It is accessible and well-written, with a number of period illustrations that help provide context to the writing. It is very well-edited, with only a handful of minor slips, and nothing material. The text is supported by a bibliography, reference notes, an index and a timeline of major conflicts (conflicts often influencing piracy and privateering). The book draws on contemporary documents as well as secondary sources, and is more than a summary of existing works.
All up it was an enjoyable read and an interesting introduction to a number of interesting characters and events – I have read little on things maritime prior to late 19th century, and this book has increased my interest in earlier periods.
It is accessible and well-written, with a number of period illustrations that help provide context to the writing. It is very well-edited, with only a handful of minor slips, and nothing material. The text is supported by a bibliography, reference notes, an index and a timeline of major conflicts (conflicts often influencing piracy and privateering). The book draws on contemporary documents as well as secondary sources, and is more than a summary of existing works.
All up it was an enjoyable read and an interesting introduction to a number of interesting characters and events – I have read little on things maritime prior to late 19th century, and this book has increased my interest in earlier periods.
September 20, 2024
A quick, easy read on the pirates of the Chesapeake bay. I learned a lot from this short book such as how the Chesapeake Bat is good for trading, the history of the bay and it’s trading patterns, what exactly is a pirate, the big name pirates like Billy the Kidd and Blackbeard, plus the lesser name pirates and how they became pirates to their untimely deaths. I also learned about how certain wars affected trading in the Bay and read short stories of pirates around that timeframe and how they impacted the trading system. It’s a great coffee table book!
April 10, 2021
Having grown up in Maryland, the Chesapeake Bay is a big part of Maryland's past and present. The author covers the range from colonial Maryland under the Calvert family all the way up to the Oyster Wars of the mid-20th century.
The specific content is something I knew very little specifics about - I knew about the Golden Age of Piracy, but not so much the extent of privateering during the Civil War or the Oyster Wars.
The specific content is something I knew very little specifics about - I knew about the Golden Age of Piracy, but not so much the extent of privateering during the Civil War or the Oyster Wars.
May 5, 2022
This was a good introductory book to the pirates of the Chesapeake. The stories were brief overviews to the men who spent their lives on these waterways. However I found myself wishing there was a bit more depth to the stories. It breezed through a lot of history in a very brief page count. Still it is a great place to start for someone looking to learn more about the history of the region and the people that sailed it's waters.
September 26, 2021
Granted, this is a subject I knew little about, but this book filled in quite a few gaps in my knowledge. It is a short book, but it reads quickly and is full of information. As a West-Coaster, I knew little about the Oyster Wars in particular, and this book was quite helpful in correcting that. If you are at all interested in the history of piracy in America, I highly recommend this book.
December 8, 2022
Fascinating topic, about which Goodall gives what should be a good overview, but given some egregious factual errors in the sections about some of the historical figures discussed that I'm quite familiar with (particularly Sam Bellamy) I have no way of knowing how much of this material is factually correct. From an author with a history degree I'd have expected better research.
September 23, 2024
It’s a good introduction to the topic. But there are so many different characters in so many different episodes that it became confusing. I feel like with more depth in the different episodes it would be much more interesting. It’s a very deep chaser trove of interesting history. And this does a good job sparking my interest.
March 19, 2020
Thoroughly enjoyed reading about the history in the Chesapeake area. A well written, easy to read book. Will certainly look forward to reading more from this author and also reading more about the history of this region.
April 25, 2021
I ma kinda of biased since my best friend is the one who wrote the book but this was very informative without being dry and dull as I tend to find when it comes to non fiction books. The stories of the different pirates will keep you interested and the book has been researched extensively.
September 21, 2020
Superb book. Very educational. I know of pirates but not this history of pirates. Hope Jamie Goodall writes more books like this
March 26, 2021
A solid history, full of interesting characters, but lacks the kind of through-line or big picture that a regional history like this really makes possible.
May 2, 2021
Lots of information about an interesting period of time.
May 13, 2021
Good collection of a regional waterway stories, but lacks what I was hopping for- an overall narrative to tie it together.
August 3, 2021
Fascinating topic but the prose is a little lacking. I would have loved a meaty conclusion trying to tie some of these themes together as the book examines a staggering 200+ year long history.
January 26, 2022
A nice summary but too breief.
March 2, 2022
Rather short, but there was not but so much pirate activity on the Chesapeake.
May 15, 2022
Maybe if I enjoyed battle scenes more, I would have found this more engaging.
November 15, 2022
Interesting read
I did not know much about this aspect of Chesapeake history and found it vey interesting to read this book. I recommend it.
I did not know much about this aspect of Chesapeake history and found it vey interesting to read this book. I recommend it.
July 19, 2024
This book felt too much of a report rather than a story.
June 6, 2022
Had to read about about my gggggggg-grandfather, a notorious picaroon
June 19, 2025
So, I was on vacation in Virginia about two weeks ago and decided to pick this up as I'm fascinated by pirates, and wasn't familiar with their history with the Chesapeake Bay.
Some familiar faces popped up, such as Blackbeard and Captain Kidd, but what really got me were the stories of piracy from the Civil War and into the 20th century. I think that most of us just kind of assume that piracy ended after the Golden Age and then restarted in a much different way over a couple of decades in the waters surrounding the African continent. Seeing these stories from eras not associated with nautical piracy was really fascinating. Something I've never really thought about in regards to the Civil War is the tension between Maryland and Virginia as they bordered one another and were on opposite sides of the conflict. Being as the two states share the Chesapeake Bay, it only stands to reason that much of the aggression between them played out in naval warfare. The follow up to this was something I didn't expect in the slightest. After the Civil War the Bay's oyster industry exploded to the point where violence broke out between both different kinds of oyster harvesters and the oyster harvesters and the governors who desperately tried to regulate the industry in hopes of preventing the oyster beds of the Bay from being completely depleted. The stories there are really fascinating, most notably that the Oyster Wars didn't officially end until 1959 when two unarmed men were attacked (with one dying) by the Maryland Oyster Navy.
I love these kinds of stories. History is so fascinating because it often rivals fiction for sheer weirdness. The book was excellent all the way through, especially as Goodall started to warm up to the storytelling aspects of recounting these historical events as she went along. My only complaint is the length. It clocked in at just over 130 pages, and some of the stories that she started ended up not being finished within this book. I like her writing, so I'd have loved it if this book were twice as long. This doesn't hurt the book at the end of the day, though. It's breezy read that's absolutely worth delving into.
Some familiar faces popped up, such as Blackbeard and Captain Kidd, but what really got me were the stories of piracy from the Civil War and into the 20th century. I think that most of us just kind of assume that piracy ended after the Golden Age and then restarted in a much different way over a couple of decades in the waters surrounding the African continent. Seeing these stories from eras not associated with nautical piracy was really fascinating. Something I've never really thought about in regards to the Civil War is the tension between Maryland and Virginia as they bordered one another and were on opposite sides of the conflict. Being as the two states share the Chesapeake Bay, it only stands to reason that much of the aggression between them played out in naval warfare. The follow up to this was something I didn't expect in the slightest. After the Civil War the Bay's oyster industry exploded to the point where violence broke out between both different kinds of oyster harvesters and the oyster harvesters and the governors who desperately tried to regulate the industry in hopes of preventing the oyster beds of the Bay from being completely depleted. The stories there are really fascinating, most notably that the Oyster Wars didn't officially end until 1959 when two unarmed men were attacked (with one dying) by the Maryland Oyster Navy.
I love these kinds of stories. History is so fascinating because it often rivals fiction for sheer weirdness. The book was excellent all the way through, especially as Goodall started to warm up to the storytelling aspects of recounting these historical events as she went along. My only complaint is the length. It clocked in at just over 130 pages, and some of the stories that she started ended up not being finished within this book. I like her writing, so I'd have loved it if this book were twice as long. This doesn't hurt the book at the end of the day, though. It's breezy read that's absolutely worth delving into.
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