Articles

St. Augustine Documents From The 1500s, Now Being Digitized, Reveal Truth Of The Oldest Permanently Occupied City In The U.S

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — Inside a Catholic convent deep in St. Augustine’s historic district, stacks of centuries-old, sepia-toned papers offer clues to what life was like for early residents of the nation’s oldest permanently occupied city. These parish documents date back to 1594, and they record the births, deaths, marriages and baptisms of the people [...]

May 29, 2013 admin Articles 0

Interview with Mark Keating author of Pirate Devlins novels

I bought Mark Keating’s novel, The Pirate Devlin, on a whim one day as I was browsing in Barnes & Noble. That turned out to be a great choice. The Pirate Devlinhad me mesmerized. Here was a literate, exciting adventure novel unlike any other “pirate” tale I had ever read. We struck up a long-distance friendship on [...]

April 30, 2013 admin Articles, Books, Interviews 0

The True History Of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag

We speak with Colin Woodard, the historian who literally wrote the book on the golden age of piracy. His insight offers plenty of hints about what to expect in the upcoming game. Colin Woodard is no stranger to the world of pirates. His 2008 book, The Republic of Pirates, is a thorough and fascinating glimpse [...]

April 16, 2013 admin Articles, Games 0

The Execution of Thomas Doughty by Francis Drake by David Wesley Hill

I learned of the trial and execution of Thomas Doughty from The World Encompassed by Sir Francis Drake, a history of the second circumnavigation of the globe. Despite its title this book was not written by Drake himself but by a nephew thirty years after Drake’s death. According to The World Encompassed, Doughty and Drake were good friends [...]

April 15, 2013 admin Articles 1

Did Pirates Wear Eye Patches? By Benerson Little

“Did pirates wear eye patches?” The short answer: Only if they had lost eyes to disease or injury, and this was no more prevalent among pirates than among fighting seamen and soldiers. The Mythbusters television show and other speculators have only added to the myth by working backward from the proposition, that is, “If pirates [...]

April 10, 2013 admin Articles 0

Pirates of the Original Panama Canal

Like an illuminated skyline at sea, two dozen cargo ships wait along Panama’s Caribbean coast. One after another, they enter Limon Bay and then the Gatun locks, three hydraulic chambers that lift the ships 85 feet above sea level. They exit into Gatun Lake and then the Chagres River. After 28 miles, through a cleaved mountain [...]

March 28, 2013 admin Articles, Pirates In the News 1

Belize Pirates

The story usually begins when the settlements began, in the 1600s. But the Maya had settlements here on Moho Caye centuries before that. And the site at Altun Ha that the Maya occupied for over 1200 years before their mysterious collapse is thought to date back to around 250 BC . Beginnings in Belize are [...]

March 17, 2013 admin Articles, History 0

Instructions for Privateers by Pauline

On May 2nd of 1780 the Continental Congress of the fledgling U.S.A. did something that hadn’t been done by what they would have termed a “civilized nation” for close to 400 years: they issued instructions to the captains and commanders of private armed vessels carrying Continental letters of marque. This essential act of congress would [...]

March 8, 2013 admin Articles 0

The Canadian Pirate by Pauline

Today’s pirate comes to us once again from the pages of Philip Gosse’s The Pirate’s Who’s Who. He seems full of vigor and a lust for life that not all the characters in Gosse’s encyclopedic compendium of freebooters’ lives share. He is a curious sort, as well, for his birthplace; although there were probably a number of [...]

February 23, 2013 admin Articles, Biographies 0

Pirates of the Galapagos Islands

The Spanish considered the Galapagos Islands an anathema, calling them “Las Encantadas,” the bewitched islands. When enshrouded in mist, they were difficult to find, and the area’s gentle winds gave sailors the sensation that the islands themselves were moving instead of their ships. Though conveniently located, the Islands couldn’t be relied upon to provide a [...]

January 13, 2013 admin Articles, History 0