The Republic Of Pirates : Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down

An entrancing tale of piracy colored with gold, treachery and double-dealing (Portland Press Herald), Pulitzer Prize-finalist Colin Woodward's The Republic of Pirates is the historical biography of the exploits of infamous Caribbean buccaneers. In the early eighteenth century, the Pirate Republic was home to some of the great pirate captains, including Edward "Blackbeard" Teach, "Black Sam" Bellamy, and Charles Vane. Along with their fellow pirates -- former sailors, indentured servants, and runaway slaves -- this "Flying Gang" established a crude but distinctive democracy in the Bahamas, carving out their own zone of freedom in which servants were free, blacks could be equal citizens, and leaders were chosen or deposed by a vote. They cut off trade routes, sacked slave ships, and severed Europe from its New World empires. For a brief, glorious period the Republic was a success as the pirates became heroes in the eyes of the people. Drawing on extensive research in the archives of Britain and the Americas, award-winning author Colin Woodard tells the dramatic untold story of the Pirate Republic that shook the very foundations of the British and Spanish Empires and fanned the democratic sentiments that would one day drive the American revolution.

The Republic of Pirates features the 18th-century pirates Edward “Blackbeard” Teach and “Black Sam” Bellamy, both of whom rose from England's underclass to become wealthy, notorious, and enormously powerful. Along with their associates in the Bahamas-based Flying Gang, Teach and Bellamy banded together to form a pirate cooperative, culminating in a form of government in which blacks were equal citizens, the rich were imprisoned, and a sailor could veto his captain by egalitarian means. For a brief, glorious period they were astoundingly successful, and so disruptive to shipping that the governors of Jamaica, Virginia, Bermuda, and the Carolinas all began clamoring for intervention. One man volunteered to take on the pirates—a man named Woodes Rogers, once a privateer himself and now the owner of a merchant fleet. Rogers vowed he would not rest until he had destroyed Teach and Bellamy. Here is the true story of the rise and fall of the Republic of Pirates.

Publishers Weekly

Woodard (The Lobster Coast) tells a romantic story about Caribbean pirates of the Golden Age (1715-1725)-whom he sees not as criminals but as social revolutionaries-and the colonial governors who successfully clamped down on them, in the early 18th-century Bahamas. One group of especially powerful pirates set up a colony in the Bahamas. Known as New Providence, the community attracted not only disaffected sailors but also runaway slaves and yeomen farmers who had trouble getting a toehold in the plantation economy of the American colonies. The British saw piracy as a threat to colonial commerce and government. Woodes Rogers, the governor of the Bahamas and himself a former privateer, determined to bring the pirates to heel. Woodard describes how Rogers, aided by Virginia's acting governor, Alexander Spotswood, finally defeated the notorious Blackbeard. Woodard's portrait of Rogers is a little flat-the man is virtually flawless (courageous, selfless, and surprisingly patriotic), and the prose is sometimes breathless (they would know him by just one word... pirate). Still, this is a fast-paced narrative that will be especially attractive to lovers of pirate lore and to vacationers who are Bahamas-bound. Maps. (May)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

This book gives a thrilling account of a virtually unexplored chapter in the golden age of piracy. Here is the true story of the men who built the Republic of Pirates -- and the man who brought it down. In the early eighteenth century, a number of the great pirate captains joined forces, including Blackbeard, Black Sam Bellamy, and Charles Vane. This infamous "Flying Gang" was more than simply a band of thieves. Many of its members were sailors, indentured servants, and runaway slaves who turned to piracy as a revolt against the conditions they suffered on ships and plantations. Together they established a crude but distinctive democracy in the Bahamas, carving out their own zone of freedom in which servants were free, blacks could be equal citizens, and leaers were chosen or deposed by a vote. - Jacket. Front Cover Front Flap Front Matter Half Title Also by Colin Woodard Title Copyright Dedcication Contents The Republic of Pirates Early 18th Century Caribbean Prologue: The Golden Age of Piracy Chapter One: The Legend (1696) Chapter Two: Going to Sea (1697–1702) Chapter Three: War (1702–1712) Chapter Four: Peace (1713–1715) Chapter Five: Pirates Gather (January–June 1716) Chapter Six: Brethren of the Coast (June 1716–March 1717) Chapter Seven: Bellamy (March–May 1717) Chapter Eight: Blackbeard (May–December 1717) Chapter Nine: Begging Pardon (December 1717–August 1718) Chapter Ten: Brinksmanship (July–September 1718) Chapter Eleven: Hunted (September 1718–March 1720) Epilogue: Piracy's End (1720–1732) Acknowledgments Endnotes Index Draws on historical research to recount the exploits of the infamous "Flying Gang", a group of pirates who, in the early eighteenth century, banded together to establish a crude but distinctive democracy in the Bahamas in which servants were free, blacks were equal, and leaders were chosen by a vote Describes how a group of powerful pirate captains joined forces to create a powerful den of thieves, which led to a distinctive form of democracy in the Bahamas, one that ultimately was destroyed by a merchant fleet owner and former privateer