Passion's Ransom


Book Description

A New York Times Bestselling AuthorNo one gets the better of Blythe Woolrich, who manages to run Woolrich Mercantile and keep her virtue intact among Revolutionary Philadelphia's unsavory characters. But Pirate captain Raider Prescott is intent on making quick money, and ransoming a proper Philadelphia lady seems the perfect scheme - until he discovers that her family has no money. Now he's stuck at sea with the headstrong "Woolwitch," a creature as vexing as she is lovely.




The Power of the Scabbard


Book Description

The Scabbard of Invincibility has finally had its powers restored and it is time to return it to Sabre Island. When Al and Owen travel there, they are delighted to meet up with their friend Captain Gunner. But can Gunner be trusted? Just try to resist the action-packed Dragon Blood Pirates series - and the lure of adventure and mystery on the high seas.




Ransome's Quest


Book Description

This fast-paced, engaging end to the Ransome Trilogy follows a tale of love and danger on the Caribbean Sea in the early 1800s. Captain William Ransome is searching for his sister, Charlotte, who has been captured by Salvadore, the infamous “Robin Hood of the West Indies.” When word comes that his wife, Julia, has been kidnapped by the evil pirate, Shaw, Captain Ransome and his crew frantically search the horizon for the two women he loves. After Charlotte is found, she emerges with revelations about Salvadore’s true identity and his willingness to help search for Julia. It’s news that sends shockwaves through the family. Will Captain Ransome trust Salvadore to help rescue his beloved wife? And what other secrets have been buried like long lost treasure in these waters? Romance, intrigue, and swashbuckling leaps of faith create a wonderfully heroic close to this beloved series.




The Ransom Drop


Book Description

When an oil tanker is hijacked by a novice band of Somali pirates, It's a near impossible problem to solve in one of the most remote and dangerous places on earth. A team of experts are called in with one job to do, save the lives of the crew. Can this 'A-team' do so? Can they prevent a massive environmental disaster, rescue the ship and its hundred million dollar cargo? There are reputations to be made, or lost... Winner of the AudioBookReviewer.Com 'Reviewers Choice' award and 'Best New Author 2021' Indies Today 5 star recommended! Multiple professional 5 star reviews from Readers Favourite, Prairies Book Review and BookView The Ransom Drop, a true to real life, military suspense thriller, that reveals the secrets behind the resolution of Somali piracy. It's factually correct, fictionally fantastic, and written by the guy who delivered some of the largest ransoms ever paid at sea.




The Desert and the Sea


Book Description

Michael Scott Moore, a journalist and the author of Sweetness and Blood, incorporates personal narrative and rigorous investigative journalism in this profound and revelatory memoir of his three-year captivity by Somali pirates—a riveting,thoughtful, and emotionally resonant exploration of foreign policy, religious extremism, and the costs of survival. In January 2012, having covered a Somali pirate trial in Hamburg for Spiegel Online International—and funded by a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting—Michael Scott Moore traveled to the Horn of Africa to write about piracy and ways to end it. In a terrible twist of fate, Moore himself was kidnapped and subsequently held captive by Somali pirates. Subjected to conditions that break even the strongest spirits—physical injury, starvation, isolation, terror—Moore’s survival is a testament to his indomitable strength of mind. In September 2014, after 977 days, he walked free when his ransom was put together by the help of several US and German institutions, friends, colleagues, and his strong-willed mother. Yet Moore’s own struggle is only part of the story: The Desert and the Sea falls at the intersection of reportage, memoir, and history. Caught between Muslim pirates, the looming threat of Al-Shabaab, and the rise of ISIS, Moore observes the worlds that surrounded him—the economics and history of piracy; the effects of post-colonialism; the politics of hostage negotiation and ransom; while also conjuring the various faces of Islam—and places his ordeal in the context of the larger political and historical issues. A sort of Catch-22 meets Black Hawk Down, The Desert and the Sea is written with dark humor, candor, and a journalist’s clinical distance and eye for detail. Moore offers an intimate and otherwise inaccessible view of life as we cannot fathom it, brilliantly weaving his own experience as a hostage with the social, economic, religious, and political factors creating it. The Desert and the Sea is wildly compelling and a book that will take its place next to titles like Den of Lions and Even Silence Has an End.




The New Pirates


Book Description

Piracy is a significant global threat to international sea-borne trade - the life-blood of modern industrial economies and vital for world economic survival. The pirates of today are constantly in the world's news media, preying on private and merchant shipping from small, high-speed vessels. Andrew Palmer here provides the historical background to the new piracy, its impact on the shipping and insurance industries and also considers the role of international bodies like the UN and the International Maritime Bureau, international law and the development of advanced naval and military measures. He shows how this 'new' piracy is rooted in the geopolitics and socio-economic conditions of the late-20th century where populations live on the margins and where weak or 'failed states' can encourage criminal activity and even international terrorism. Somalia is considered to be the nest of piracy, but hotspots include not only the Red Sea region, but also the whole Indian Ocean, West Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia and the South China Seas.




Pirates


Book Description

“In his lively, vivid history of pirates, Lehr finds some striking continuities from ancient to modern times.” —Foreign Affairs A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year In the twenty-first century, pirates have regained a central place in Western culture, thanks to an odd combination of a blockbuster film franchise and a dramatic rise in piracy around the Horn of Africa. In this global history of the phenomenon, maritime terrorism and piracy expert Peter Lehr casts fresh light on pirates. Ranging from the Vikings and Wako pirates in the Middle Ages to modern-day Somali pirates, Lehr delves deep into what motivates pirates and how they operate. He also illuminates the state’s role in the development of piracy throughout history: from privateers sanctioned by Queen Elizabeth to pirates operating off the coast of Africa taking the law into their own hands. After exploring the structural failures that create fertile ground for pirate activities, Lehr evaluates the success of counter-piracy efforts—and the reasons behind its failures. “Informative and often entertaining . . . Lehr traces the global history of piracy, quoting judiciously from an array of historians and sources to make his case” —The Times “Groundbreaking . . . provides a detailed analysis of the causes of piracy [and] reveals the operations of pirates ignored in most previous histories.” —David Cordingly, author of Under the Black Flag “Policymakers would do well to read it, as would aspiring pirates in search of career advice.” —Financial Times




Blood Ransom


Book Description

For the first time in history, the navies of every superpower on the planet have united against a common enemy – a couple of thousand rag tag underfed men and boys. Crammed together in tiny open boats, they range up to a thousand miles from their home shores. Armed with ancient AK47s and rocket propelled grenades, they scour the western Indian Ocean. No-one knows how many simply die at sea. But occasionally these modern-day pirates hit the jackpot, seizing vessels and crews that will be ransomed for millions of dollars. This is a war that's estimated to cost the world economy $18 billion every year, and has so far seemed impossible to win. John Boyle is a lawyer turned filmmaker. Whilst filming for National Geographic on the war against the Somali pirates, he found himself meeting victims on every side, and being drawn into the incredibly complex situation. The phenomenon of modern-day piracy has horrified the world; the Somalis being demonised and released hostages gaining near celebrity status. But few people have any understanding of the overall picture, and in this book John takes us with him on his investigation, giving us a unique insight into the ongoing war. John builds up the story using his experiences on the ground and interviews with key figures, including prosecution and defence lawyers, a prison governor, pirates serving life sentences, freed hostages, and a skipper of a Maersk containership identical to that captured in the Captain Philips film. Each chapter strips back the well-known issues to the gritty realities underneath them: Somalia's recent history; why young men and boys are choosing to risk their lives and freedom at sea; the reality of being a modern-day pirate; the tactics and technologies being used by the international navies and shipping vessels; capture and trial; and what happens next.




Andrew Ranson: St Augustine's Pirate


Book Description

When his mother, the duchess, dies in childbirth, Andrew Ranson is abandoned by his father, the Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, who provides the black wet nurse funds to raise him as her own in Jamaica. After he goes to sea, Andrew learns of his heritage and collides with his father's upper-class world in England and America. While a captive in Spanish St. Augustine, Andrew saves the town from the 1702 invasion by English forces from Carolina. Andrew Ranson: St. Augustine's Pirate intertwines international intrigue as European powers battle for control of Florida and its all-important shipping lanes. Lust, piracy, financial ruin, and unrequited love also play their part in behind-the-scene views of events that established America, including the purchase of Mt. Vernon by the father of George Washington. Andrew Ranson: St. Augustine's Pirate received a medallion for being one of the ten historical fiction finalists in the Florida Writers Association's 2014 Royal Palm Literary Awards.




Piracy in Somalia


Book Description

Piracy in Somalia sheds light on an often misunderstood world, oversimplified and demonized in the media and largely decontextualized in scholarly and policy works. It examines the root causes of piracy in Somalia, its impact on coastal communities, local views about it, and the measures taken against it. Drawing on six years' worth of extensive fieldwork, Awet Tewelde Weldemichael amplifies the voices of local communities who have suffered under the heavy weight of illegal fishing, piracy and counter-piracy and makes their struggles comprehensible on their own terms. He also exposes complex webs of crimes within crimes of double-dealing pirates, fraudulent negotiators, duplicitous intermediaries, and treacherous foreign illegal fishers and their local partners. In so doing, this book will help inform regional and global counter-piracy endeavors, avoid possible reversals in the gains so far made against piracy, and identify the gains that need to be made against its root causes.




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