Pirates In Their Own Words

by E.T. Fox

For the first time in 300 years, Pirates in Their Own Words is a collection of original documents relating to the 'golden age' of piracy. Letters, testimonies, witness accounts and other primary source documents written by the pirates themselves, their victims, and the men who hunted them down.

Genres: Pirates, Nonfiction

396 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 25, 2014

Reviews

[Mark Matzeder]

Editor E. T. Fox transcribed a treasure trove of previously unpublished primary source documents pertaining to the Golden Age of Piracy--late 17th/early 18th Century. Despite the odd spellings, abbreviations, and grammar the chosen documents lend colorful details to many accounts familiar to aficionados of the subject. The book paints both despondents and subjects with humanity while giving a glimpse of some extraordinary brutality.
Future printings might benefit from an additional proofreading, but such printing errors as I found were not--too--distracting.

[Mark Matzeder]

This is a magnificent resource for anyone interested in the Golden Age of Piracy. It IS 17th/18th century English, so not easy to read, but worth the effort.

[Matthew]

Pirates in Their Own Words is about as close to time traveling to the 'golden age' of piracy as you can get. This collection of documents, when presented together with minimal (but always interesting, helpful, and insightful) commentary by the author, really felt like opening a small window into the personal lives of the pirates, forced men, and victims of piracy at the time.

The collection feels well balanced and as a whole left me with a much better understanding of what it must have been like back then, to be in any of these situations. The documents range from the exciting to the mundane, and all are equally fascinating. A first hand account of an attack by pirates, a letter from a pirate's wife, a will, a list of items taken from a pirate sloop, etc.

I enjoyed that the documents were presented as written and not simply summarized- and had fun noticing some of the differences in language present at the time. 'Snapt' instead of 'shot' when talking about shooting at someone with a pistol, for example. I also had no idea the phrase 'blow his brains out.' has been around for so long!

Aside from a few typos in the text (spell check must be tricky when your book is filled with reproductions of 280 year old documents in their original spellings) I very much enjoyed Fox's introductions to each of the section of the book: Pirates, Forced Men, Pirate's Victims, Trials, and Misc. Documents. As well as his commentary and footnotes throughout.

Very enjoyable read!