Pirates and Privateers

When one of the oldest and richest of the treasure galleons sank in 1641, more than forty years passed before the wreck was discovered.

After the flota reassembled in Havana, Cuba for the return trip to Spain, they sailed north and east until they reached the latitude of forty degrees before crossing the Atlantic Ocean. The journey lasted approximately two months. The later they departed the New World for Spain, however, the greater their risk ...

With Christopher Columbus’ discovery of the New World, Spain gained control of a vast overseas empire with great riches. The king needed this treasure to fund the frequent wars that depleted the royal coffers. In time the area Spain controlled became known as the Spanish Main. Between 1492 and 1830 the ...

Clumsy and slow, but seaworthy, this ship above all others fired a pirate’s imagination. Galleons guarded the treasure bound for Spain and the king’s coffers. A single captured prize could make a pirate rich--if he caught her. Yet as stalwart as the galleon appeared, she was actually quite fragile when pitted ...

What are the origins of the word "viking?" Why did the Norse plunder? What did they wear? What weapons did they favor? Are the written accounts of their raids accurate? How did they impact history? Did women become pirates?

With names like Ivar the Boneless, Eric Bloodaxe, and Thorfinn Skullsplitter, the Norse raided far and wide, instilling fear in their victims and plundering lands where many eventually settled. Who were these pirates and what did it mean to go í víking? Why did the litany "A furore Normannorum libera nos, ...

Pirates didn't fear death. Rather they expected it. Many died from disease or in battle, while others faced an executioner. A gruesome death (dancing the hempen jig) awaited condemned pirates. They often joked about hanging, but only until they stood on the gallows.

Although often seen as lawless, pirates sailed under agreements that included methods of punishment should they disregard the oaths they signed. They also inflicted various forms of punishment and torture on their victims. Some of these accounts appear brutal in the extreme, but people of the past lived in a harsh ...

While Blackbeard was perhaps the most notorious of the pirates of the Golden Age, he wasn't the only pirate whose name has survived. Among those recorded in the annals of history are women and gentlemen who chose to follow a different calling than the one society deemed appropriate.

For forty years from around 1690 until 1730, the most famous pirates sailed the High Seas. Writers such as Robert Louis Stevenson and J. M. Barrie, painters like Howard Pyle, and Hollywood in films like Captain Blood made these pirates of the Golden Age of Piracy immortal. They, themselves, were legends ...