Alexandre Olivier Exquemelin.
Bucaniers of America,
or, A True Account of the Most Remarkable Assaults
Committed of Late Years upon the Coasts of the
West-Indies. London: for W. Crooke, 1684-5.
Alexandre Exquemelin spent twelve years among
pirates serving as a surgeon, and this work is
considered the most important early history of
piracy. Originally published in Dutch in 1678, it
was soon translated into a number of languages and
reached a public that was hungry for stories of
pirates and privateers. The distinction between the
two classes is often imprecise, but essentially
privateers acted during times of war under the
recognition of a national government (which granted
"letters of marque" authorizing their holders to
capture ships of hostile nations) but outside the
confines of an established navy.
Although piracy has attained a veneer of
romanticism, Exquemelin makes no effort to conceal
the frequent barbarities he witnessed among the
pirates. The pages exhibited here depict the pirate
Francis L'Ollonais, whom one author has described as
"so utterly base that it would be impossible for
anyone to look upon him as a hero". In the
illustration to the left, L'Ollonais is depicted
removing the heart of an enemy and feeding it to
another. (This is in some disagreement with the
text, which describes L'Ollonais himself chewing on
the heart "like a ravenous Wolf".)
Josiah Woodward. The Seaman's Monitor: or, Advice
to Sea-faring Men...to Which Is Now Added, A
Seasonable Admonition against Mutiny and Piracy.
London: J. Downing, 1723.
Josiah Woodward was a member of the Anglican clergy
who sought to reform the manners and customs of
various groups of English society, largely through
tracts published under the auspices of the Society
for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge. His
Seaman's Monitor was quite popular, with 14 editions
in print between 1705 and 1799.
Abraham Anselm. A Faithful Narrative of the Capture
of the Ship Derby . . . by Angria the Pirate. London: S. Osborn, 1738.
The Derby, a ship belonging to the East India
Company, was captured off the Coast of Malabar (off
south-west India) in 1735. The present work is a
collection of letters and affidavits outlining the
course of the attack on the Derby and the
imprisonment of her crew by the pirate Angria, who
led a powerful group of pirates in the area. The
passage on display here reprints a letter from the
ship's purser to friends in London, in which he
describes Angria's rough treatment of the English
prisoners.