Book Description

"From Roman times, pirates were known as hostis humani generi, "enemies of the human race." This special definition distinguished pirates from all other criminals and meant they could be hunted down across the earth without consideration for borders or extradition treaties. This at least was the international rhetoric, but reality in colonial America was a different story." "When Rhode Island gentleman - and infamous pirate - Thomas Tew began his notorious career in the early 1690s, it was with the official sanction of Bermuda Governor Isaac Richier. When he returned to Newport in 1693 loaded down with "a prince's ransom worth of stolen gold, silver, and sundry goods," he was given a hero's welcome and met at the dock by Rhode Island Governor Samuel Cranston, who presented him at Newport society dinners and made him the toast of the town. Later, for a fee of 500 pounds sterling, Cranston gave Tew another license to "harass the French." In 1694, looking for backers for yet another pirating voyage, Tew traveled to New York, where he was met by Governor Benjamin Fletcher and was "highly caressed by His Excellency, in a coach and six horses, and presented with a gold watch to engage him to make New York his port at his return."" "Nor was Thomas Tew the only pirate to enjoy the support of governors, leading citizens, and merchants. Blackbeard, Captain Kidd, Henry Every - almost every infamous scoundrel of the "Golden Age of Piracy" (roughly 1660 to 1725) - did their plundering under the sponsorship and protection of England's colonial governors in the Americas. And virtually every governor was on the take. Pirates entertained merchants and their families aboard ships in New York Harbor and auctioned booty from the docks of Virginia's port towns." "Combining true tales of derring-do with revelations he unearthed from forgotten government archives in England, the Carolinas, Rhode Island, Jamaica, and elsewhere, Douglas Burgess demonstrates how this flaunting of England's prerogatives helped shape the American character and American notions of independence."--BOOK JACKET.