New Pirate/Maritime Books

[Red Maria]

An Atlas of maritime Florida by Roger C. Smith ... [et. al.]

Gainesville : University Press of Florida, 1997.

ISBN 081301512X

Very good Sources & Further Reading guide.

[Zephyr]

Thank you so much, yer a wonder!

I'm thinking a' printing a T shirt that says "Please, don't let me walk into a Border's" or "stop me before I buy another book", but I'm concerned someone might take it seriously......

[Red Maria]

Thank you so much, yer a wonder!

I'm thinking a' printing a T shirt that says "Please, don't let me walk into a Border's" or "stop me before I buy another book", but I'm concerned someone might take it seriously......

Your welcome! And bit your tongue! There is no such thing as too many books! :) Be glad I didn't post the book on ship building timber used on navy vessals c 129-1792. Tlak about maritime minutiae !

[faucon de mer]

I have been reading "Raiders and Rebels" by F Sherry. Though probably a standard book of the trade, it gives a surprisingly fresh look at the big picture of pyracy and its cause and effects due to historical events. A first rate read.

[Zephyr]

Thank you so much, yer a wonder!

I'm thinking a' printing a T shirt that says "Please, don't let me walk into a Border's" or "stop me before I buy another book", but I'm concerned someone might take it seriously......

Your welcome! And bit your tongue! There is no such thing as too many books! :) Be glad I didn't post the book on ship building timber used on navy vessals c 129-1792. Tlak about maritime minutiae !

You're right (never too many books), and post away, maybe it would explain what scantlings are (the closest I'e been able to get is that it has something to do with timers, or timber sizes)..........Z

[hitman]

Ok mates got a question for you does anyone publish a book on common piratical arms from the small arms to the cannon and conversley one about the weapons of the royal navy from the same time frame. I should proably know this but .........

[Red Maria]

Be glad I didn't post the book on ship building timber used on navy vessals c 129-1792. Tlak about maritime minutiae !

You're right (never too many books), and post away, maybe it would explain what scantlings are (the closest I'e been able to get is that it has something to do with timers, or timber sizes)..........Z

The book I'm talking about has is a facsimile of Parlimentary papers reagrding the the various type of wood used in navy vessal and their procurement. Stuff about the difficulties in getting the softwoods needed for mast (pine and such) which there wasn't much of in Britian.

It's part of a series of facsimile books on maritime history. Some of the other titles are:Artes of navigation by Martin Cortes 1561, The history of travel in the West & East Indies by Pietro Martire d'Anghiera et al 1577, The seaman's secrets by John Davis 1633 etc.

I looked up scantlin in the OED. Here's what it said:

With Reference to the measurment of timber & stone... and of ships or other vessels .. As applied to timber the word usually denotes the sectional dimensions (thicknees & breadth) of a beam etc. in contradistinction to the lenght. In shipbuilding used in singular or plural for the dimensions of the various parts of a vessal, regarded collectively.

Sounds like it could mean the difference between a 6 ft 2x4 vs a 10 ft 2x4 of the meaurments of the kneel or the planks etc.

[Red Maria]

Ok mates got a question for you does anyone publish a book on common piratical arms from the small arms to the cannon and conversley one about the weapons of the royal navy from the same time frame. I should proably know this but .........

Boarder away v. 1 & 2 by William Glickerson. Volume 1 covers edged weapons. from daggers to cutlasses. with a chapter on weapons in hand which cover belaying pins etc. v. 2 cover fire arms from pistols to cannons.

[Red Maria]

I haven't posted any books in awhile because the Library hadn't recieved anything on the subject till now. Here are some recent acquisitions:

Villains of all nations : Atlantic pirates in the golden age / Marcus Rediker Boston : Beacon Press, 2004. ISBN 0807050245

Return to Treasure Island and the search for Captain Kidd / Barry Clifford with Paul Perry. New York : William Morrow, 2003.

ISBN 0060185090

The Barbary corsairs : warfare in the Mediterranean, 1480-1580 / by Jacques Heers ; translated by Jonathan North. London : Greenhill ; Mechanicsburg, PA : Stackpole Books, 2003. ISBN 1853675520

Hello sailor! : the hidden history of gay life at sea / Paul Baker and Jo Stanley London ; New York : Longman, 2003. ISBN0582772141

[Longarm]

I just finished: A Pirate of Exquisite Mind /Explorer Naturalist and Buccaneer: The Life of William Dampier By Diana & Michael Preston Walker Publishing Company, Inc. ISBN 0-8027-1425-0

This was very interesting, I'm going to have two find his books. I had no idea that the works of Capt. Cook, Charles Darwin and Daniel Defoe were inspired by and even copied from Dampier. He may not have been a very successful buccaneer or even a leader of men but, his talents for observation and deduction more than made up for it.

[Lady Seahawke]

You might be interested in these...

A History of Pirates - Blood and Thunder on the High Seas

by Nigel Cawthorne

Pirates and The Lost Templar Fleet - The Secret Naval War Between the Knights Templar and The Vatican

by David Hatcher Childress

Secret Societies of America's Elite - From the Knights Templar to Skull and Bones

by Steven Sora

(the last one may not sound like it but has some great information on those that profited from piracy)

All of them are very interesting.

[Nelson Cooke]

Shipmates, I'd tell you that the following book, due out in April from St. Martin's Press, is the best-written and funniest pirate book of all time. But as I wrote it, that wouldn't be too objective.

Pirates of Pensacola

[JoshuaRed]

This was very interesting, I'm going to have two find his books. I had no idea that the works of Capt. Cook, Charles Darwin and Daniel Defoe were inspired by and even copied from Dampier. He may not have been a very successful buccaneer or even a leader of men but, his talents for observation and deduction more than made up for it.

Longarm, after reading the Pirate of Exquisite Mind book I had the same reaction: "I need MORE!". I found a nice two volume set of all Dampier's works at www.abebooks.com. Pricey, but worth every penny, with the engravings, fold out maps (centerfolds of the 18th century), etc...

[Zath Chauvert]

Arrr! I've been raiding galleys!

Unfortunately, these have been galleys in the printing/publishing sense of the word rather than nautical ones. But a pirate can dream, can't she?

Anyway, I recently got my hands on an uncorrected proof of a book called The Pirates Laffite: The Treacherous World of the Corsairs of the Gulf, by William C. Davis. I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but it has 200+ pages of endnotes and bibliography, so it looks like it was well researched (or at least well documented). If anyone else is interested in it, the book is supposed to be in stores this May.

On the fictional end of the shelf, I also acquired a galley of a novel called Kingston By Starlight, by Christopher John Farley, which is yet another telling of the story of Anne Bonny/Mary Read/Jack Rackam. This one is due out in June.

[Belladonna Bess]

I loved "A pirate of exquisite mind". I too now want to read his original books. Where the hell I'm going to get copies in NZ I don't know though.

Since I'm a botanist by profession and a keen naturalist, his story was my sort of stuff (piracy is just a minor sideline compared to my botanical obsession, honest!).

I've not seen Dampier's botanical specimens, but I've handled those of Banks and Solander (botanists on the Endeavour with Cook) and it is pretty damn cool to think about people who picked bits of plant more than 200 years ago and the bits of plant are safely preserved and still easily identifiable.

[Belladonna Bess]

Well, unexpectedly, my local library actually has William Dampier's books (the 1906 edition with the complete books in 2 volumes). And even on the general shelves and not hidden away in some stack! So I'm reading it now.

For those interested, the 2 volumes are known collectively as "Dampier's Voyages", published in 1906 by E. Grant Richards in London, edited by John Masefield. The text for most of it seems to be from the 6th edition, but it includes as footnotes some of the comments that were in Dampier's draft that never made it to publication.

Also on the subject of pirate books, I've just read "The Pirate Wars" by Peter Earle (mentioned in the first post of this topic), and found it very interesting and it seemed pretty good information.

I've also read "Pirates and Buccaneers" by Gilles Lapouge (ISBN 1844301192 I think), and while it is full of pretty pictures, most of them are from the 19th or 20th centuries or undated (and many of the undated ones just don't look contemporary with their subject matter). I get the impression that the factual content of the text is a little wayward as well. Not one I'd recommend.

[Red Maria]

I

This was very interesting, I'm going to have two find his books. I had no idea that the works of Capt. Cook, Charles Darwin and Daniel Defoe were inspired by and even copied from Dampier. He may not have been a very successful buccaneer or even a leader of men but, his talents for observation and deduction more than made up for it.

Also he was the inspiration for Lemuel Gulliver for Jonathan Swift. :)

[JoshuaRed]

I've also read "Pirates and Buccaneers" by Gilles Lapouge (ISBN 1844301192 I think), and while it is full of pretty pictures, most of them are from the 19th or 20th centuries or undated (and many of the undated ones just don't look contemporary with their subject matter). I get the impression that the factual content of the text is a little wayward as well. Not one I'd recommend.

LOL - Oddly enough I just found that at Border's last weekend and picked it up on sale, purely for the stellar graphic design and layout. The book was originally published in/for Thailand, so a lot of the text just sounds weird in translation. Melodramatic, completely out of whack. The pics are mostly 19th/20th century, but there are a TON of them reproduced in excellent quality in large coffee-table format, and most have never been used in any Western pirate book.

The Dampier 2 Volume set edited by Masefield is the same one I have - I highly recommend it. The added footnotes and court martial info are gold.

[Red Maria]

Feeding Nelson's navy : the true story of food at sea in the Georgian era /Janet Macdonald

London : Chatham, 2004.

ISBN 186176233x (hbk.)

[Red Maria]

Compass :a story of exploration and innovation / by Alan Gurney.

New York :W. W. Norton, 2004 ISBN 0393050734

[Red Maria]

Well the Library finally got in A pirate of exquisite mind : explorer, naturalist, and buccaneer : the life of William Dampier / Diana & Michael Preston.ana & Michael Preston. A fine book indeed. If any of you women are looking for great names there are some listed in it as names of ladies of easy virtue. Among them are: No-conscience Nan, Salt-Beef Peg & Buttocks-de-Clink Jenny. All described as "Hot Amazons". Gotta love it!

[Lady Seahawke]

I recently got a new book entitled "The Pirate Dictionary" by Tery Breverton.

Ok, we KNEW someone was going to do this ...dang too bad I didn't think of it.

It even has a listing under "Pirate and buccaneer Prizes" that gives the most successful capture and raids with date, Captain, ship prize or place looted and the value at the time. along with lots of other interesting information.

[Captain Jacob Badger]

Top book.....got it mesel'........printed in wales no less....arrrrr

[Captain Jim-sib]

At the Charleston Maritime Festival, I had the honor and pleasure to have the author James L. Neslon in the tent next to mine. The creator of the Brethern of the Coast series has a new book, The Only Life That Mattered, about lady pirates Bonney & Reed. A sample chapter can be found at his website: http://www.jameslnelson.com

[PirateQueen]

James L. Nelson's "new" book: you know, of course, that this book was published a few years ago, but released under Nelson's pseudonym, Elizabeth Garrett, with the title "The Sweet Trade".

I love Nelson's work, and "The Sweet Trade" was the best treatment of the Anne Bonney/Mary Read story I had ever read. No wonder! Nelson was actually the author!