What are you reading right now ?

[CaptainSatan]

[LookingGlass]

Shipmates,

At the risk of sounding like a scurvy promoter, if you haven't picked up a copy of Piracy: the Complete History by Angus Konstam, then you should. It does exactly what it says on the box - particualrly for the so-called "Golden Age".

_____________

I'd also like to wade into the debate about Kevin Duffus' new Blackbeard book. I take issue with one description of this as being "well researched".

Angus, I will gladly cross swords with you on your claim that my book was not "well researched," and that I have never "pored through the archives in London" as you have. 

For starters, let's deal with the issue of Capt. Brand's "invasion force." I remind you of what is written on page 242 of your book, Blackbeard—America's Most Notorious Pirate: "Captain Brand would command the main force of the expedition, which would march across country from the James River to Bath town on the Pamlico River... It would cross the boundary line between the two colonies... then head south through Plymouth to attack Bath town from the land. The captain's force consisted of around two hundred men, half sailors and the rest a company of Virginia militia." This, I suppose, is your version of a well-researched account. 

However, the records at the British Archives at Kew, which I have pored over diligently, simply don't support what you have written. On September 14, 1721, Capt. Gordon, Brand's counterpart on the HMS Pearl, wrote to the Lords of Admiralty that when Brand went into the colony of North Carolina, he “went by land a single gentleman, and a Servant, to apprehend Thatch with the assistance of the Gentlemen of that country who were weary of that rogue’s insolence.” I have found no evidence nor record that states that Brand lead a column of 200 men. Please point me to the source for your claim. Also, kindly show me a map or other document that reflects that Plymouth, NC, had been established by 1718. 

I don't fault you for believing Brand may have led an invasion force in greater numbers than just his Servant. Robert Lee wrote as much, as have others. One respected historian wrote that "Capt. Brand's forces hacked their way south through the trackless Dismal Swamp," even though there were as many as six well-established roads linking colonial NC and VA, including the Carolina Road leading from the wharf on the Nansemond River at present day Suffolk and which followed the route of today's White Marsh Rd. and Highway 32. Another author uncertain of the geography wrote that Brand and a small contingent of sailors set out from Hampton on horseback, which would have caused them to ride many miles northwestward in order to find a ferry to cross the James River. 

If you have indeed read my book, you would know that my research of the original letters at the archives proves that Maynard did not "time his arrival off Ocracoke just after dusk on Thursday, November 21," as you have written. While passing Roanoke Inlet early on the 20th, Maynard received intelligence from a passing sloop that the sloop Adventure had been aground in the Pamlico Sound. In his letter to the Admiralty of February 6, 1718/19, Capt. Brand wrote of Maynard: “they spoke with a vessel that acquainted them they had seen Thach’s sloop the Monday before on Brant Island Shoals a ground and a sloop with him helping him off.” After sailing directly there and searching the length of the shoals, Maynard and his two sloops sailed eastward to Ocracoke, arriving from the Pamlico Sound and dropped anchor in Ship Channel. Maynard did not anchor overnight outside the potentially deadly inlet of Ocracoke as so many have written, including Lee, Cordingly and yourself.

Incidentally, according to the logbooks of the Lyme and the Pearl, November 21, 1718 was a Friday, and the engagement at Ocracoke took place on Saturday morning.

You discredit my research abilities, so it is only fair for me to point out some issues I have with your research. On page 251 of your book, you write that "As the range closed to less than three hundred yards, Thomas Miller, the quartermaster, noticed that Blackbeard, who was at the helm of his sloop, was heading directly toward the landing beach of Ocracoke Island... According to Johnson, Miller tried to warn Blackbeard of the danger, but the pirate captain knocked him aside and sent him sprawling.” I searched every word written by Johnson but could not find this account. Lee however, retells the same story, but he correctly cites the source as Addison Whipple’s 1957 book, Pirates—Rascals of the Spanish Main, the only source for this event. Whipple’s book is primarily fiction and embellishments of Charles Johnson’s GHP, and the account of Blackbeard’s and Miller’s struggle over their heading came entirely from Whipple’s imagination. Additionally, in the King’s warrant for payments to Capt. Brand and Capt. Gordon for the destruction of Thatch’s crew, Miller was listed as a common sailor, not a quartermaster, and nowhere have I found any official statement that Miller held such a position.

There is much more that I would like to illuminate, such as our difference of opinion concerning the purported execution of Blackbeard’s crew members at Williamsburg. You state that their trial took place on March 12, as did Robert Lee. However, Alexander Spotswood wrote to Lord Cartwright on February 14, 1718/19 that “the prisoners have been brought hither and tryed, and it plainly appears that the ship they brought into Carolina was after the date of His Majesty’s pardon.” I indeed “pored” over the records at the British Archives and there is absolutely no credible report that all thirteen men were hanged. In fact, four of the names you list on page 271 of your book appear in the records of Bath for many years after their so-called “hanging,” not just on property deeds but as witnesses in depositions and estate matters. Furthermore, if you read the log of the HMS Pearl, two pirates were delivered by longboat from Williamsburg to the entrance of the Hampton River to be hanged on January 28, 1718/19, and later, four of the African crew members, who were tried separately on March 12, were delivered to Hampton. According to the official records, none of the pirates were executed at Williamsburg as you have so colorfully described. Again, the only extant source—albeit not a primary source—for the purported executions of 13 pirates is Charles Johnson’s GHP.

I relish an honest debate of the facts. I also appreciate the challenges of attempting to overturn established history, poorly founded or not. But I am also frustrated and disappointed by mean-spirited, dishonest and cowardly misrepresentations from people who should ideally be respectful fellow researchers. I am hardly daunted by these snipes and ambushes—it gives me added confidence that I am doing something right.

Respectfully,

Kevin Duffus

author, The Last Days of Black Beard the Pirate

p.s.: You begin your post with the words “At the risk of sounding like a scurvy promoter,” then take a shot at me for my “self-plugged” book. Curious.

[Capn Bob]

Since I'm currently playing HPS Sims fine game, France 1940, I've picked up a copy of Alistair Horne's comprehensive account of the same events, "To Lose a Battle: France 1940"

But I'm also thinking of picking up the library copy of Fraser's "The Reavers"

And...half hour later, and I've done just that...same sort of set-up as "The Pyrates", an ahistorical historical costume epic.

Edited June 9, 2009 by Capn Bob

[Mission]

Manila Espionage by Claire Phillips. The history of the Philippines during World War II is fascinating...and rather sad. It was not our best moment.

[Red-Handed Jill]

My ex's mother was MacArthur's wife's personal nurse during that time. Apparently she was having a nervous breakdown due to the danger everyone was in because of her husband's cowardly incompetence. I learned more about Douglas MacArthur than I wanted to but I can say that anyone who considers him a hero should look elsewhere. So many needless deaths...

[Mission]

My ex's mother was MacArthur's wife's personal nurse during that time. Apparently she was having a nervous breakdown due to the danger everyone was in because of her husband's cowardly incompetence. I learned more about Douglas MacArthur than I wanted to but I can say that anyone who considers him a hero should look elsewhere. So many needless deaths...

You would probably really like Claire Phillips, Jill. She started a Japanese night club in occupied Manila and recruited a bunch of women to get the Japanese officers drunk and worm secrets out of them. She also used the money from her club to funnel supplies into the POW camps. She was one sharp, brave woman.

[blackjohn]

I'm reading the first draft of a supplementary set of rules for a role playing game book. This set of rules covers "everything" from the Stone Age up to 1730. I'm amazed at some of the stuff people know about other time periods. I'm also amazed at some of the stuff people assume about the era from the mid-1600s to 1730. I just wish I didn't have some of the knowledge gaps that I have. For instance, there's a whole section on medicine. I'd love to comment on it, but that's not my forte.

[Cheeky Actress]

I wish it was something more....reenactment related. The instructions to my new washing machine. Ya, I know...you'd think it would be obvious on how to use it, wouldn't you?!

[Raphael Misson]

Writing for Story by Jon Franklin and Chuck Jones: Conversations by Maurine Furniss.

[Tartan Jack]

At the moments . . .

Rob Roy MacGregor: His Life and Times, by W H Murray

On the Trail of Bonnie Prince Charlie, by David R Ross (light, casual reading)

[Capn Bob]

Just got finished reading "To Lose a Battle: France 1940", by Alistair Horne

[Joe Pyrat]

[Tartan Jack]

Read it.

REALLY good book on a person who blockaded your primary place of residence!

Need to read again, when I get the time.

[Capn Bob]

Now reading "Buccaneers of the Caribbean: How Piracy Forged an Empire", by Jon Latimer. currently on page 155

[Red Cat Jenny]

Still trying to finish "Scents of Eden" it's a fascinating read relly...

[blackjohn]

Dune

back to reading it after a short hiatus... fantastic book... I don't understand why I've never been able to get this far into it in in the two other times I've tried reading it in the past.

[Ransom]

Got this one at the library yesterday, and can barely put it down. Great book.

A Pirate of Exquisite Mind — Explorer, Naturalist and Buccaneer: The Life of William Dampier by Diana & Michael Preston

With maps, prints, and quotes from his letters and journals, it is a fascinating read.

[Raphael Misson]

Got this one at the library yesterday, and can barely put it down. Great book.

A Pirate of Exquisite Mind — Explorer, Naturalist and Buccaneer: The Life of William Dampier by Diana & Michael Preston

With maps, prints, and quotes from his letters and journals, it is a fascinating read.

That's probably because the original book is also fascinating - plus you know it's PC. :)

[William Brand]

The Count of Monte Cristo. Unabridged.

[Raphael Misson]

Dear Donald, Dear Bennett: The Wartime Correspondence of Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer and The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr., and E.B. White.

[Capn Bob]

Taking a little break from pyratical reading (namely cuz I'm out of new titles to read in my collection...so I'm reading "The German Way of War" and "Endkampf". Endkampf is of particular interest because it relates the end of WW2 occurances in a set of small German towns in middle Franconia, including and especially Bad Windsheim, which is the town I lived in during my year in Germany.

[Dorian Lasseter]

Tobacco Coast: A Maritime History of Chesapeake Bay in the Colonial Era

by Arthur Pierce Middleton

http://www.amazon.com/Tobacco-Coast-Chesapeake-Paperback-Bookshelf/dp/0801825342

Quite informative and not a dry read.

[LadyBrower]

I picked up RB: The Widow Maker by CC Colee and the next two books of the trilogy this past weekend at Lockhouse. The author was there. Apparently, these books are pirate smut (yey!) So far (a few chapters in) so good. I like the characters.

Oh, and my books are autographed. =) I'm so special.

[CaptainSatan]

[Pew]

Tobacco Coast: A Maritime History of Chesapeake Bay in the Colonial Era

by Arthur Pierce Middleton

http://www.amazon.com/Tobacco-Coast-Chesapeake-Paperback-Bookshelf/dp/0801825342

Quite informative and not a dry read.

That's on my "wish list" in Amazon. . .

Currently reading "The Blackbirder" by James T. Nelson.