X marks the spot : the archaeology of piracy

cover image

Where to find it

Davis Library (4th floor)

Call Number
CC77.U5 X15 2006
Status
Available

North Carolina Collection (Wilson Library)

Call Number
C914 S628x
Note
Dustjacket.
Call Number
C914 S628x
Status
In-Library Use Only
Item Note
Dustjacket.

Summary

This collection piques the imagination with historical evidence about the actual exploits of pirates as revealed in the archaeological record. The recent discovery of the wreck of Blackbeard's Queen Anne's Revenge , off Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina, has provoked scientists to ask, What is a pirate? Were pirates sea-going terrorists, lawless rogues who plundered, smuggled, and illegally transported slaves, or legitimate corsairs and privateers? Highlighting such pirate vessels as the Speaker , which sailed in the Indian Ocean, and the Whydah , the first pirate ship discovered in North America (near the tip of Cape Cod), the contributors analyze what constitutes a pirate ship and how it is different from a contemporary merchant or naval vessel. Examining excavated underwater "treasure sites" and terrestrial pirate lairs found off the coast of Madagascar, throughout the Caribbean, and within the United States, the authors explore the romanticized "Golden Age of Piracy," a period brimming with the real-life exploits of Captain Kidd, Blackbeard, Henry Morgan, and the "gentleman pirate" Jean Lafitte. This book will appeal to the general public, with special interest to anthropologists, archaeologists, historians, and divers.

Contents

Introduction / Charles R. Ewen -- PART 1. PIRATE LAIRS -- Pirates and merchants: Port Royal, Jamaica / Donny L. Hamilton -- On the trail of Jean Lafitte / Joan M. Exnicios -- Contraband traders, lawless vagabonds, and the British settlement and occupation of Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras / J. David McBride -- A mariner's Utopia: pirates and logwood in the Bay of Honduras / Daniel Finamore -- PART 2. PIRATE SHIPS AND THEIR PREY -- Piracy in the Indian Ocean: Mauritius and the pirate ship Speaker / Patrick Lizé -- Christopher Condent's Fiery Dragon: investigating an early eighteenth-century pirate shipwreck off the coast of Madagascar / John de Bry -- The pirate ship Whydah / Christopher E. Hamilton -- The pirate ship Queen Anne's Revenge / Mark U. Wilde-Ramsing -- The Beaufort inlet shipwreck artifact assemblage / Wayne R. Lusardi -- Going to see the varmint: piracy in myth and reality on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, 1785-1830 / Mark J. Wagner, Mary R. McCorvie -- Identifying the victims of piracy in the Spanish Caribbean / Russell K. Skowronek, Charles R. Ewen -- PART 3. PIRATES IN FACT AND FICTION -- Pirate imagery / Lawrence E. Babits ... [et al.] -- X marks the spot - or does it?: anthropological insights into the origins and continuity of fiction and fact in the study of piracy / Russell K. Skowronek.

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