Pirates and the Lost Templar Fleet: The Secret Naval War Between the Templars & the Vatican [Paperback]

David Hatcher Childress (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Adventures Unlimited Press (September 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1931882185
• ISBN-13: 978-1931882187
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #547,547 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #92 in Books > History > Europe > Vatican

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Rehashed, and not really anything new, July 27, 2004

By 

TemplarMason (Ogden, UT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pirates and the Lost Templar Fleet: The Secret Naval War Between the Templars & the Vatican (Paperback)

I came to this book thinking that I would find some link between the Knights Templar and Pirates, but boy was I looking in the wrong place. The author had maybe 20 pages of new stuff and the rest of the book was a rehash on every other Templar Treasure book out there. And then just to piss you off, he never gives you any evidence that the Templars were in fact the Pirates. Do yourself a favor and go read the 20 pages about the pirates in a bookstore and save some cash.

25 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Repetitive and unrevealing, September 12, 2004

By 

J. Hamlin (Round Rock, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pirates and the Lost Templar Fleet: The Secret Naval War Between the Templars & the Vatican (Paperback)

This book is typical of Childress' books--mildly entertaining, but ultimately vaccuous. Chldress gives credence to every half-baked rumor and legend while failing to provide any level of decent support for his basic premise. If you're soldiered through his some of his other books you'll find material virtually rehashed word for word. If you like a collage of hodge podge stories and fabrications, you'll have fun enough but don't expect much in the way of substance.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars a pirated book that lost its way, October 19, 2006

By 

Ashtar Command "Seeker" (Stockholm, Sweden) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pirates and the Lost Templar Fleet: The Secret Naval War Between the Templars & the Vatican (Paperback)

David Hatcher Childress is a prolific writer of books on alternative history and conspiracy theory. However, neither friend nor foe will like this one. People like myself who don't find conspiracy theory convincing, will reject it for that reason. But even those who believe will be disappointed. "Pirates and the Lost Templar Fleet" contains nothing new. It's essentialy a rehash of ideas taken from other and more well-written books. In a sense, this book by Childress is "pirated".

My main problem with it, however, is not so much the conspiracy theories themselves. Obviously, a conspiracist writer believes in conspiracies. That goes with the territory. My main problem is that the book also contain many purely factual errors.

For instance, Childress writes that the Seljuk Turks ruled their empire from Constantinople-Istanbul around the year 1090. Come again? In reality, the Seljuk Turks never conquered Constantinople. That was accomplished by the Ottoman Turks, but only in 1453! "Around the year 1090", Constantinople was still the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which was neither Muslim nor Turk. This is not a minor error. Indeed, it's common knowledge that Constantinople fell to the Muslims in 1453. At least it should be to writers of medieval history.

Childress further claims that the Templars set up the Kingdom of Jerusalem. But the Templars didn't even exist during the First Crusade! He writes that the Normans who conquered Sicily before the crusades were Templars. Once again: there were no Templars at that time.

Most of these factual errors have no direct bearing on the conspiracy theories advocated by the writer. But some do. Childress wonders why the Templars were founded at all. After all, the Knights Hospitaller already existed, so why the need for a second order to defend the Holy Land? Surely, Childress believes, the Templars must have been formed for some other and more mysterious purpose? A reasonable question. The "only" problem with it, is that the Knights Hospitaller didn't defend the Holy Land at the time of the Templars' founding. They were originally a purely charitable fraternity! Indeed, the Hospitaller knights didn't become militarized until over a decade after the formation of the Templars. Thus, there was nothing strange about the Templars: they were indeed formed to militarily defend the crusader states.

Occasionally, I suspect that the author of this book tries to pull a fast one. Thus, Childress writes about the mysterious region of "Catalunya" and the language "Catalunian" which is supposedly related to Phoenician. But there is nothing mysterious about Catalonia (a region in Spain). It's about as mysterious as Downtown Manhattan. Nor is the Catalonian language a Semitic language. Indeed, it's very closely related to Spanish. Childress must know this, since by his own admission he has visited Catalonia. So what are you trying to pull, brother?

No, this book only gets one star out of five. It completely looses its way, somewhere in mid-transit to Arcadia. Or Catalunya.