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Born to Be Hanged: The Epic Story of the Gentlemen Pirates Who Raided the South Seas, Rescued a Princess, and Stole a Fortune
Discover the “fascinating and outrageously readable” account of the roguish acts of the first pirates to raid the Pacific in a crusade that ended in a sensational trial back in England—perfect for readers of Nathaniel Philbrick and David McCullough (Douglas Preston, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Lost City of the Monkey God)
The year is 1680, in the heart of the Golden Age of Piracy, and more than three hundred daring, hardened pirates—a potent mix of low-life scallywags and a rare breed of gentlemen buccaneers—gather on a remote Caribbean island. The plan: to wreak havoc on the Pacific coastline, raiding cities, mines, and merchant ships. The booty: the bright gleam of Spanish gold and the chance to become legends. So begins one of the greatest piratical adventures of the era—a story not given its full due until now.
Inspired by the intrepid forays of pirate turned Jamaican governor Captain Henry Morgan—yes, that Captain Morgan—the company crosses Panama on foot, slashing its way through the Darien Isthmus, one of the thickest jungles on the planet, and liberating a native princess along the way. After reaching the South Sea, the buccaneers, primarily Englishmen, plunder the Spanish Main in a series of historic assaults, often prevailing against staggering odds and superior firepower. A collective shudder racks the western coastline of South America as the English pirates, waging a kind of proxy war against the Spaniards, gleefully undertake a brief reign over Pacific waters, marauding up and down the continent.
With novelistic prose and a rip-roaring sense of adventure, Keith Thomson guides us through the pirates’ legendary two-year odyssey. We witness the buccaneers evading Indigenous tribes, Spanish conquistadors, and sometimes even their own English countrymen, all with the ever-present threat of the gallows for anyone captured. By fusing contemporaneous accounts with intensive research and previously unknown primary sources, Born to Be Hanged offers a rollicking account of one of the most astonishing pirate expeditions of all time.
The year is 1680, in the heart of the Golden Age of Piracy, and more than three hundred daring, hardened pirates—a potent mix of low-life scallywags and a rare breed of gentlemen buccaneers—gather on a remote Caribbean island. The plan: to wreak havoc on the Pacific coastline, raiding cities, mines, and merchant ships. The booty: the bright gleam of Spanish gold and the chance to become legends. So begins one of the greatest piratical adventures of the era—a story not given its full due until now.
Inspired by the intrepid forays of pirate turned Jamaican governor Captain Henry Morgan—yes, that Captain Morgan—the company crosses Panama on foot, slashing its way through the Darien Isthmus, one of the thickest jungles on the planet, and liberating a native princess along the way. After reaching the South Sea, the buccaneers, primarily Englishmen, plunder the Spanish Main in a series of historic assaults, often prevailing against staggering odds and superior firepower. A collective shudder racks the western coastline of South America as the English pirates, waging a kind of proxy war against the Spaniards, gleefully undertake a brief reign over Pacific waters, marauding up and down the continent.
With novelistic prose and a rip-roaring sense of adventure, Keith Thomson guides us through the pirates’ legendary two-year odyssey. We witness the buccaneers evading Indigenous tribes, Spanish conquistadors, and sometimes even their own English countrymen, all with the ever-present threat of the gallows for anyone captured. By fusing contemporaneous accounts with intensive research and previously unknown primary sources, Born to Be Hanged offers a rollicking account of one of the most astonishing pirate expeditions of all time.
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First published May 10, 2022
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About the author
Keith Thomson
25 books148 followersKeith Thomson has been a semi-pro baseball player in France an editorial cartoonist for Newsday and a screenwriter. Now a resident of Alabama, he writes about intelligence and other matters for The Huffington Post. His novels include Once a Spy, a New York Times Best Seller, Twice a Spy and Pirates of Pensacola.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 370 reviews
May 23, 2022
A guy gets marooned on an island for three years and somehow that’s the least bonkers thing that happens in this book. The titular pirates attack Spanish naval ships in canoes. At one point they end up close to the Arctic Peninsula completely by accident. It’s not very often I find a nonfiction book that’s entertaining, well-researched, and well-written. I only wish there weren’t quite so many names to keep track of.
Thanks to the publisher for providing a copy!
Thanks to the publisher for providing a copy!
July 11, 2022
I had a really hard time focusing on this -- it might have been me, it might have been the weirdly staccato way the narrator performed the text. Solid writing and straightforward relation of historical events, lots of adventure at sea.
May 9, 2022
This book is fantastic! The history is well written, researched, explained with gold nuggets spread throughout inserted brilliantly.
First, if you'll note my reviews, I do not get a NetGalley offer and praise it up and down hoping for print recognition. I've skewed most because most newly written books have proven to me to be demonstrably worthless.
I find the usual issue are political views being lodged into the narrative and then flogging the reader with the views over and over again. I get it if the book is prefaced upon political ideas. Even found one writer expounding political gunk throughout a horrid history of Looney Tunes cartoons!
Writer Thomson writes history as history should be written, as it happened with supporting documentation. Thomson also does what is rare to find in most histories ever written, dates and years of happenings. This so much aids the reader as to context and connecting ongoing events. This last is the spine that all else emanates as the narrative pours out extensive details and stories of the travels of the pirating privateers and those they encounter. Additional background is sprinkled that adds to the shine of the history with, no doubt, exclamations of, "Oh! I didn't know that!" I love the way he connects various everyday items of today to the goings-on in the late 1600s.
The writing is also crisp and vibrant. There's more than the occasional writer who makes history as a fictional novel. This is far better than that. The writing excels between what could be dry history and fictional dialogue to support the narrative. Thomson skillfully maneuvers the documented historical perspectives into a solid presentation that compels reading more and more. In this case it's the wonder of who survives and how.
Well worth reading and likely to lead in those that don't even like history or pirates. For those of us who has history as part of our profession, this is a must-read.
Bottom line: I recommend this book. Ten out of ten points.
First, if you'll note my reviews, I do not get a NetGalley offer and praise it up and down hoping for print recognition. I've skewed most because most newly written books have proven to me to be demonstrably worthless.
I find the usual issue are political views being lodged into the narrative and then flogging the reader with the views over and over again. I get it if the book is prefaced upon political ideas. Even found one writer expounding political gunk throughout a horrid history of Looney Tunes cartoons!
Writer Thomson writes history as history should be written, as it happened with supporting documentation. Thomson also does what is rare to find in most histories ever written, dates and years of happenings. This so much aids the reader as to context and connecting ongoing events. This last is the spine that all else emanates as the narrative pours out extensive details and stories of the travels of the pirating privateers and those they encounter. Additional background is sprinkled that adds to the shine of the history with, no doubt, exclamations of, "Oh! I didn't know that!" I love the way he connects various everyday items of today to the goings-on in the late 1600s.
The writing is also crisp and vibrant. There's more than the occasional writer who makes history as a fictional novel. This is far better than that. The writing excels between what could be dry history and fictional dialogue to support the narrative. Thomson skillfully maneuvers the documented historical perspectives into a solid presentation that compels reading more and more. In this case it's the wonder of who survives and how.
Well worth reading and likely to lead in those that don't even like history or pirates. For those of us who has history as part of our profession, this is a must-read.
Bottom line: I recommend this book. Ten out of ten points.
July 9, 2022
Beyond danger, intrigue, adventure. Pirates, Buccaneers. Difficult read. Fleets or crews of unholy or obscure alliances and brutal divisions. Complex read for geography and people.
Do not take this on unless you have a superior tolerance for straight factual. History the way it was primarily taught before the end of the last century. Without theory, agenda philosophy or some overlooking suppositions. It's "just the facts" folks.
Wilder than the Wild West. So many niches and straights or jagged cubby holes in the Caribbean and South American or Atlantic shoreline bays too. Perfect for various ships to hide and tuck.
Overall I was amazed at the amount of leniency as much as the executions between them all. And the treacherous solutions of the Kuna too. Hanging seems merciful in comparison. And slavery at times having the better route to staying alive.
Do not take this on unless you have a superior tolerance for straight factual. History the way it was primarily taught before the end of the last century. Without theory, agenda philosophy or some overlooking suppositions. It's "just the facts" folks.
Wilder than the Wild West. So many niches and straights or jagged cubby holes in the Caribbean and South American or Atlantic shoreline bays too. Perfect for various ships to hide and tuck.
Overall I was amazed at the amount of leniency as much as the executions between them all. And the treacherous solutions of the Kuna too. Hanging seems merciful in comparison. And slavery at times having the better route to staying alive.
November 26, 2024
The book opens with the history of pirating in the late 1600s and explains that the various concepts of the swashbuckling pirate that are seen in today’s literature are not quite the reality of such men.
Pieced together from primary sources, the journals of various pirates themselves. It relies on firsthand accounts supported by meticulously researched information, to bring 17th century pirating to a new level. The author a group of seaworthy English pirates whose raids in the South Seas covered a litany of activities from rescuing a native princess to hijacking Spanish ships and attacking Spanish forts and towns from Panama to the Isla Duque de York.
As the journey comes to an end and the surviving buccaneers find themselves back in England facing charges for pirating, there is a sense that the excitement of the first three-quarters of the book has lagged, that said it is well worth reading if you're a history nerd or looking for good piratical inspiration .
Pieced together from primary sources, the journals of various pirates themselves. It relies on firsthand accounts supported by meticulously researched information, to bring 17th century pirating to a new level. The author a group of seaworthy English pirates whose raids in the South Seas covered a litany of activities from rescuing a native princess to hijacking Spanish ships and attacking Spanish forts and towns from Panama to the Isla Duque de York.
As the journey comes to an end and the surviving buccaneers find themselves back in England facing charges for pirating, there is a sense that the excitement of the first three-quarters of the book has lagged, that said it is well worth reading if you're a history nerd or looking for good piratical inspiration .
September 5, 2023
An entertaining narrative account of the misadventures of some (mostly) English buccaneers audaciously attacking the "Spanish Main" from Panama and thence over land and sea (via a series of captured vessels) to what is today Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Chile. My main takeaway is that, when one sets the romanticism surrounding 17th century piracy in the Caribbean aside, these men were noteworthy principally for violence, ruthlessness and opportunism and, though the Spanish authorities they so vexed were hardly "good guys" either, one can't help but feel pity for the civilians and natives caught up in their raids and intrigues.
It appears avoiding acute scurvy during long sea voyages was something these men couldn't do.
It appears avoiding acute scurvy during long sea voyages was something these men couldn't do.
July 25, 2022
The sensationalized subtitle makes it sound almost silly, but this is a well researched, well written account of a group of pirates, mostly Englishmen, who band together to prey upon Spanish ships and Spanish settlements along the coasts of Central and South America. They cross the jungles of the Panama isthmus with the help of indigenous guides, storming a Spanish garrison along the way, before commandeering ships in the Bay of Panama. Their objective is to take Panama City. The author draws upon the journals kept by a number of men in the party who chronicled the events, including William Dampier, a botanist, Lionel Wafer, ship's surgeon, and Basil Ringrose, a mathematician fluent in several languages including Latin. They seem unlikely pirates (or privateers, as they'd have preferred it, although at this time a peace had been concluded between England and Spain and so pirates they were), but they clearly all had a taste for risk, violence, and brutality.
June 1, 2022
I can't really say this is a terrible book, it just did not hold my interest. I listened to 2 full CDs, and realized that I did not care. The situations and the names blurred together, causing me to see that I did not need to waste my time. Your mileage may vary.
May 28, 2024
Not just a collection of facts.
October 20, 2022
Have I mentioned my obsession with the subject of pirates lately?
Based in part on first hand accounts from some of the pirates themselves, this fascinating and engaging account of piracy off the South and Central American coast in the 1680s made for a wildly entertaining read.
Based in part on first hand accounts from some of the pirates themselves, this fascinating and engaging account of piracy off the South and Central American coast in the 1680s made for a wildly entertaining read.
August 10, 2022
Interesting but a bit too dry for me.
May 23, 2025
Even though the title sounds like a fictional adventure story, this is an historical retelling (at least as much as you can depend on pirates’ retellings). The events these pirates went through sound like what Hollywood would script. I actually found myself picturing Jack Sparrow and the crew of the Black Pearl but had to remind myself they were real, sinful pirates. The writing was great and the author wrote clearly. It was entertaining and easy to read. At times I did find myself zoning out at details but then he would pull me back in with such a fun fact or interesting detail. I would recommend.
February 10, 2025
I have a new fascination with pirates.
August 31, 2022
Great for: Intermediate Pirate lovers, Those with great patience, and those who don't give a hoot about the aformentioned princess...
Okay for: me.
I have thoughts. I enjoyed parts of this book, which were few and far between, and maybe the last 30 pages that summed a lot of things up and talked about the "gentlemen" pirate subjects of this book in a faster paced way.
The parts I loved were those about everyday pirate life, the hardships a pirate would face and how anticlimactic mutinies actually were.
I didn't love the majority of the "battle" scenes that went on an on (in my opinion) and I could have cared less--which is odd considering I think that's what a lot of people sign up for in this type of book.
The book annoyed me in it's marketing. The rescue of a princess was mentioned in the title, as WELL as she was talked about in the first chapter--the opening lines of the book talked about the Kuna princess--this is what hooked me. Alas, that was basically all that was mentioned of her. Awesome. I feel jipped.
There were just a lot of missed opportunities to me as far as giving a bit more detail or clarification. i.e. Talking about an amputation on board and what tools would have been used, then showing an illustration of said tools, but not captioning or pointing out what exact tools WERE used (just a little detail I would have appreciated) and that occured a few other times as far as the pictures to reference. There was even a date mentioned as being one that was significant to a particular pirate, but then I reference the map and that date and it's corresponding location on the map just wasn't there. Call me a stickler, but that wasn't even a small detail, it was a huge moment to one of these guys and somehow didn't even have a date on the map!? Oy.
I wanted to like it more--but based on the good reads intepretation of 2 stars being "it was okay," that's exactly my sentiment. When my husband asked me how it was, I went "it was..okay." There you have it folks.
Okay for: me.
I have thoughts. I enjoyed parts of this book, which were few and far between, and maybe the last 30 pages that summed a lot of things up and talked about the "gentlemen" pirate subjects of this book in a faster paced way.
The parts I loved were those about everyday pirate life, the hardships a pirate would face and how anticlimactic mutinies actually were.
I didn't love the majority of the "battle" scenes that went on an on (in my opinion) and I could have cared less--which is odd considering I think that's what a lot of people sign up for in this type of book.
The book annoyed me in it's marketing. The rescue of a princess was mentioned in the title, as WELL as she was talked about in the first chapter--the opening lines of the book talked about the Kuna princess--this is what hooked me. Alas, that was basically all that was mentioned of her. Awesome. I feel jipped.
There were just a lot of missed opportunities to me as far as giving a bit more detail or clarification. i.e. Talking about an amputation on board and what tools would have been used, then showing an illustration of said tools, but not captioning or pointing out what exact tools WERE used (just a little detail I would have appreciated) and that occured a few other times as far as the pictures to reference. There was even a date mentioned as being one that was significant to a particular pirate, but then I reference the map and that date and it's corresponding location on the map just wasn't there. Call me a stickler, but that wasn't even a small detail, it was a huge moment to one of these guys and somehow didn't even have a date on the map!? Oy.
I wanted to like it more--but based on the good reads intepretation of 2 stars being "it was okay," that's exactly my sentiment. When my husband asked me how it was, I went "it was..okay." There you have it folks.
March 15, 2023
One of my favorite childhood memories was playing mini-golf with my parents at a pirate themed course. They had many signs throughout that chronicled the lives of various pirates. This was quite the adventure and I’d definitely be interested in reading more about these pirates and their journals. Very interesting read.
May 31, 2024
DNF at 20%
This was an interesting book and I really wanted to love it but the writing style just wasn't holding my attention. It seemed so straightforward/textbooky and even though it had interesting and entertaining moments overall I was a little bored and it was taking too much brain power to try to read it.
This was an interesting book and I really wanted to love it but the writing style just wasn't holding my attention. It seemed so straightforward/textbooky and even though it had interesting and entertaining moments overall I was a little bored and it was taking too much brain power to try to read it.
May 26, 2022
This was a fun read. These men decided to go and be pirates in the south seas. They stole millions from the Spanish that was busy raping the new world. The book lays out the diarists that were among the pirates. I am amazed that these account survived for more than 300 years.
July 11, 2022
This book reads like an unlikely fiction novel, which makes it all the more delicious as it is a true account. I found it engaging and fascinating as a motley crew of buccaneers attempt to make their fortune by raiding the ‘south seas’
January 7, 2025
Super fun telling of adventure, survival and pirating. So much information and detail into the people involved while still keeping this non-fiction captivating and engaging.
I loved all the different snippets and sidebars of what things and phrases were.
It continues to blow my mind the true stories that have happened in the past and how crazy the retellings can portray them to life. The author did an amazing job with this book and can tell so much research was put in.
I think going forward all of these non-fiction, seafaring books will be held up to the standard of “The Wager” and this slots in right behind it!
So good! A must read for anyone interested in the genre.
I loved all the different snippets and sidebars of what things and phrases were.
It continues to blow my mind the true stories that have happened in the past and how crazy the retellings can portray them to life. The author did an amazing job with this book and can tell so much research was put in.
I think going forward all of these non-fiction, seafaring books will be held up to the standard of “The Wager” and this slots in right behind it!
So good! A must read for anyone interested in the genre.
March 14, 2025
In a captivating narrative, Thomson tells the tale of a daring, swashbuckling adventure by (mostly) English pirates, or buccaneers, who go to great lengths and face daunting odds to acquire their booty. Along the way Thomson dispels some of the mythology surrounding pirates of the age, but the facts don't fly in the face of a great story. In fact, if it wasn't for some of the educated, higher class pirates who recorded their adventures in journals and memoirs, this story could've never been told at all.
November 7, 2025
I really enjoyed this book. If all history books were told the was that this history of pirates is told than many more people would enjoy history.
October 4, 2024
Fun read about a crew of pirates in the 1680s. An engaging narrative style for a history, with the events and figures involved themselves remarkable and engaging. To me it captured what makes pirates of this time a compelling historical subject without romanticizing or whitewashing, though by the author’s own admission the primary sources are largely the chronicles of the pirates themselves, so it should be understood in that context. Taken with all that in mind I’d say it’s a good read for someone with a passing interest in learning a bit more about the subject
October 8, 2024
Great book!
July 19, 2025
A great tasty bite of pirate adventure perfect for some summer travel. Written with what feels like a similar level of detailed sourcing and careful research that you’d expect to see from Erik Larson, this book feels like a more fun, lighter version of the typical Dad History nonfiction novel.
September 29, 2023
yea pirates!!
May 9, 2022
Who loves Non-Fiction that doesn't read like it? Me, this girl, right here!🤣🤣
I've been on a roll lately with books landing in my lap that are full of facts, adventure, fast-paced reading and interesting stories. Born to Be Hanged is another one to add to that list!
I have always been fascinated by pirates and the era surrounding them. Out on the open seas, causing trouble and stirring up a racous wherever they go...yup definitely my style. I definitely got that, and much more with this one. There was a lot more to being a "privateer" than I thought, including how the English pirates fought with the Spaniards. Tre cool 😎
This is definitely for those who enjoy books like this, but I would recommend for anyone who wants to delve into this time in history. I mean treasure, bloody battles, kidnapped princess, and adventure after adventure. It makes for a fun read.
I sincerely appreciate Little Brown & Co. for providing me with a review copy. All opinions expressed herein are mine and mine alone.
I've been on a roll lately with books landing in my lap that are full of facts, adventure, fast-paced reading and interesting stories. Born to Be Hanged is another one to add to that list!
I have always been fascinated by pirates and the era surrounding them. Out on the open seas, causing trouble and stirring up a racous wherever they go...yup definitely my style. I definitely got that, and much more with this one. There was a lot more to being a "privateer" than I thought, including how the English pirates fought with the Spaniards. Tre cool 😎
This is definitely for those who enjoy books like this, but I would recommend for anyone who wants to delve into this time in history. I mean treasure, bloody battles, kidnapped princess, and adventure after adventure. It makes for a fun read.
I sincerely appreciate Little Brown & Co. for providing me with a review copy. All opinions expressed herein are mine and mine alone.
November 10, 2022
I think that people have a preconceived notion of what a pirate is. In childhood, we have Captain Hook, dressed in his ruffled shirt and large hat looking quite fancy. We have the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. We have Hook from Once Upon A Time. I have certainly been guilty of thinking pirates were leather pants and frilly shirt wearing, long beard having, large hat owners. As a historian, I have learned a good deal about the Somalian pirates, but very little about pirating in the Golden Age of Piracy. This particular book covers a period of two years, beginning in 1680, when a large group of pirates gathered in the Caribbean to formulate a massive raiding extravaganza on the Pacific coast. I had no clue about any of this until reading this book.
I really, really enjoyed this book. I liked that it read like an adventure novel. A lot of people are turned off by nonfiction because they think that history cannot be exciting and must always be dry and boring, but the author of this book did a great job in keeping the interest of the reader. I liked how he made the pirates in the book come back to life when relating their adventures and experiences. The research was well done, and I learned a great deal. I am really glad that I took a chance on this book. I would highly recommend it for people who are curious about pirates. It was a lot more interesting than the couple of other pirate books I have read in the past.
I really, really enjoyed this book. I liked that it read like an adventure novel. A lot of people are turned off by nonfiction because they think that history cannot be exciting and must always be dry and boring, but the author of this book did a great job in keeping the interest of the reader. I liked how he made the pirates in the book come back to life when relating their adventures and experiences. The research was well done, and I learned a great deal. I am really glad that I took a chance on this book. I would highly recommend it for people who are curious about pirates. It was a lot more interesting than the couple of other pirate books I have read in the past.
October 20, 2022
An intriguing romp with an unlikely cast of characters. This is history at its best. More enjoyable to read than most modern novels with never a dull moment. The only thing dry in the book was the Atacama desert.
I found myself completely immersed in the story to the point where I couldn't wait to see what happens next. Absolutely brilliant!
I found myself completely immersed in the story to the point where I couldn't wait to see what happens next. Absolutely brilliant!
June 3, 2022
Not my “cup of tea.”
July 18, 2023
DNF. I wanted to like this but I could not get through it. While the topic is great, I could not get past the writing style, using language that’s far more complicated than necessary.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 370 reviews