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

by Colin Woodard (Author) "THE SLOOP ARRIVED in the afternoon of April Fool's Day 1696, swinging around the low, sandy expanse of Hog Island and into Nassau's wide, dazzlingly..." (more)
Key Phrases: great sloop, pirate republic, prize sloop, Royal Navy, New Providence, Port Royal (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From 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 © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
The early eighteenth century was the so-called golden age of piracy, particularly in the Caribbean. Although much of the romantic musings about "pirate honor" is nonsense, an unusual group of pirates, led by Edward "Blackbeard" Teach and Sam Bellamy, actually set up a functioning government in the Bahamas with pretensions to establishing a form of social justice. Their "republic" attracted deserting sailors who could not tolerate harsh naval discipline, runaway slaves, and impoverished farmers. In this republic, called New Providence, a rough but democratic and egalitarian ethos apparently took hold. But, according to Woodard, the British government saw the existence of this independent entity as an intolerable threat. So, on the theory of sending a thief to catch a thief, they sent Woodes Rogers, a former privateer, to crush the republic. This breezy, fast-moving book is filled with exciting action and colorful characters. It will provide general readers and those with a special interest in the period much enjoyment. Jay Freeman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; 1 edition (May 7, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0151013020
• ISBN-13: 978-0151013029
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #117,658 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #87 in	Books > History > Americas > Caribbean & West Indies

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rousing story of the Caribbean pirates, May 5, 2007

By	Steven A. Peterson (Hershey, PA (Born in Kewanee, IL)) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Colin Woodard has authored a wonderful history of the pirates of the Caribbean in their heyday, with the prime years being 1715-1725. The lives of Jack Sparrow and Long John Silver fascinate us; the real pirates, as depicted by Woodard, are perhaps even more interesting.

He tells the story of the "pirate republic," headquartered in the Bahamas. He uses the term "republic" purposefully. He contends that (and this appears to me to be hyperbole) the pirates fueled (page 1) ". . .the democratic sentiments that would later drive the American revolution." Some fascinating tidbits related to this thesis: pirates shared their spoils relatively equally; rank-and-file pirates elected and deposed ships' captains; decisions were often made in what Woodard calls "open councils"; runaway slaves sometimes came aboard as pirates and were often treated as equals by their fellow pirates. As Woodard notes (page 4): "The pirate gangs of the Bahamas were enormously successful. At their zenith they succeeded in severing Britain, France, and Spain from their New World empires, cutting off trade routes. . . ."

The primary figures covered in this book are three pirate leaders, Samuel ("Black Sam") Bellamy, Edward ("Blackbeard") Thatch, and Charles Vane. Of course, many others are mentioned as well, including "Calico Jack" Rackham, Benjamin Hornigold, Josiah Burgess, Henry Jennings, Anne Bonny, and Mary Read. The fourth primary character is the man who devoted himself to destroying the pirate republic--Woodes Rogers. The book tells the story of the pirates and their depredations. It also tells the story of Rogers, who made it his aim to destroy those pirates.

All in all, a rip roaring volume. The book tells of the poor living conditions in ships, the collaboration of some political leaders with the pirates, the role of the pirates in American waters, and so on. Basically, this is a nice volume to introduce one to the real Caribbean pirates, not just the film versions thereof.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The politics of piracy., May 24, 2007

By	Paul Tognetti "The real world is so much more... (Cranston, RI USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

It is a subject that I had previously given very little thought to. Even as a kid I never found the subject of pirates to be all that interesting. I don't know why. However, over the past couple of years I have had occasion to read a pair of phenomenal books about the slave trade. I found both Ron Soodalter's "Hanging Captain Gordon" and Charles Rappleye's "Sons of Providence" to be absolutely spellbinding. So when I recently came across Colin Woodward's new book "The Republic of Pirates" I simply could not resist.
There is an old saying that counsels if you want to find out why things happen the way they do then simply "follow the money". This is essentially the route Colin Woodward takes in "The Republic of Pirates". After reading this book it is now clear to me why so many men made the fateful decision to turn away from "legitimate" authority and engage in the act of piracy. For many of these men had very legitimate economic and political issues with those in power in England in the early 18th century and most of these concerns were simply not being addressed. One by one and for very personal reasons men made the decision to rebel against the authorities who were holding them down. Before long a large group of like minded individuals would set up shop at an island known as New Providence in the Bahamas and would begin a period of plunder and terror that would last for nearly a decade. Operating all along the eastern coast of America and in the Carribean these daring men succeeded in wreaking havoc and disrupting trade between the European powers and their various colonies in the New World as well as the very lucrative trade with the Far East. In the pages of "The Republic of Pirates" you will read the fascinating stories of dozens of the men who made names for themselves during this period. Colin Woodward devotes a considerable amount of time tracking the careers of three of these men. Charles Vane, Sam Bellamy and Edward Thatch, better known as "Blackbeard" were among the most feared and successful of the pirate leaders. You will also meet one Woodes Rogers, the man King George would eventually tap to quell the uprising and restore order to the high seas.
For the most part I did enjoy reading "The Republic of Pirates". Having said that I must admit that I was a bit overwhelmed at times trying to keep up with the comings and goings of all of the players in this drama. Drawing from the epic 1724 book "A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates" and a great many other documents from the period that survive to this day "The Republic of Pirates" is an extremely thoughtful, well-researched and scholarly work. Recommended.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Real Pirates of the Caribbean, May 8, 2007

By	R. Hardy "Rob Hardy" (Columbus, Mississippi USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

As I write this, Johnny Depp is about to bring us a third installment of his characterization of Captain Jack Sparrow, who defines the romantic villain of the colorful pirate for our times. He is following a long tradition, of course. Pirates were admired rogues even in their own times, and the tradition continued long after classical pirating was history, through Robert Louis Stevenson in _Kidnapped_, James Barrie in _Peter Pan_, Gilbert and Sullivan in _The Pirates of Penzance_, and countless Hollywood versions. We have International Talk Like a Pirate Day every 19 September; the styles of no other rascals or robbers have so completely become part of our entertainment culture. Yet, according to _The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down_ (Harcourt), the popular pirate is a legend carried on from only a narrow decade, 1715 to 1725, which author Colin Woodard calls the Golden Age of Piracy. There were pirates before, and we even now have contemporary pirates with armaments far more fearsome than cannon and sword. Woodard shows, however, that the image we have of pirates is a not very exaggerated version of the specific scoundrels from the western Atlantic almost three hundred years ago.

Authorities during the Golden Age of Piracy found it useful to spread stories about how pirates were addicted to murder, rape, and chaos; there is no doubt that some pirates were of this variety, but pirates were folk heroes in their time. They were seen by many as nautical Robin Hoods, stealing from wealthy merchants and giving to poor sailors. The pirate ship was a democratic organization, with the crew voting on who should be captain. The captain had absolute authority during combat, but after the battle, he could be voted out of office. Unlike on a privateer, the captain got perhaps half a share more than an ordinary sailor in the profits made by the ship. Folk heroes or not, the pirates valued and used their terrifying image for their own purposes. No pirate used the image more fully than Blackbeard, formerly Edward Thatch. He braided his hair and beard and used ribbons in them, but most memorably in battle he tied fuses to his hat and beard, lighting them so that his head had an appearance of being infernally surrounded by smoke and fire. He knew exactly what he was doing; one ship after another would surrender without firing a shot when Blackbeard and his similarly wild-looking crew were spied. Blackbeard was a threatening apparition, but before his final battle, he had to do little but threaten; there is no evidence that in all his other actions he ever killed anyone. The pirates indeed set up a colony in the Bahamas known as New Providence. It was a haven for pirate sailors, of course, but also for runaway slaves and for farmers who had not been able to get a start in the plantations of the American colonies. The main force to break up the republic was Woodes Rogers, who came up with the brilliant plan of offering a pardon to pirates who would take it, causing an acrimonious split within the colony. Rogers took out personal loans to finance protection of British interests and wound up in debtor's prison. Eventually his creditors took pity on him and he was sprung.

Rogers was thereupon able to participate in the writing of _A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates_, which restored his reputation; he ultimately got compensation from the king, and was restored to governorship of the Bahamas. _A General History_ was a bestseller and is still in print, giving a fairly sympathetic picture of the pirates from which Woodard, and all others depicting pirates, have drawn extensively. Pirates of the Caribbean loom large in our culture, and not just because of Disney. Woodard has given us a means of understanding just how the short-lived but colorful Golden Age of Piracy got to be such a source of continued interest.