The Buccaneers of America

by Alexandre Olivier Exquemelin

Other authorsJack Beeching (Introduction), Alexis Brown (Translator)

Paperback, 1969

Status

Available

Call number

972.9

Genres

Collection

Your library

Publication

Penguin Classics (1969), Paperback, 233 pages

Description

John Esquemeling (better known as Alexandre Olivier Exquemelin) (c. 1645-1707) was a French barber-surgeon best remembered for this classic account of the buccaneer pirates of the West Indies. After travelling to Tortuga in 1666, Esquemeling joined the buccaneer company of Henry Morgan, one of the most successful and notorious privateers of the period. This volume, first published in English in 1684, and now reissued from the 1893 reprint, contains Esquemeling's detailed account of Morgan's dramatic exploits and adventures. Covering the period 1668-1674, Esquemeling recounts in fascinating detail Morgan's infamous attacks on Spanish-controlled ports in Cuba, Hispaniola and Costa Rica, and vividly describes the sack of the city of Panama and its aftermath in 1671. This work was the first account published in English of the lives of the buccaneers, and remains one of the most important sources for descriptions of seventeenth-century piracy.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member empress8411

This is a thick, hefty book. Full of the dastardly exploits of famous pirates, including Captain Morgan and L'Ollonais, it's marvelous history of those sea-dogs. It's a bit lengthy at points and can sometime get bogged down in minute details, but that doesn't detract from the overall story.

Esquemeling probably sensationalize the details a bit, but the general story rings truth. This is considered the best historical accounts of pirates during the late 1600s, and one of the only ones told from an eye-witness. If you are a pirate affecinado, this is a must read.

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LibraryThing member antiquary

Henry Morgan maintained this book was libellous, and I believe some modern scholars agree it may exaggerate the evil of some pirates, but it is still a basic source for piracy in the 17th century.

LibraryThing member DinadansFriend

A period piece, no doubt about that!
If you needed a single source to rip off for adventure stories, well, this is your victim. We based a seventeenth century role playing game on it, and seldom needed anything else except stock market reports and "How to Sail" books. Read your child this book, and

they'll be cured of pirates for life, or bent for a career of delinquency on the Stock exchange. I would not be without a copy of these publications.
Esquemeling published his book in 1682, in french and 1684 in English. Ringrose was a shipmate of Sharpe the privateer, and was killed during his second voyage, with Swan in 1686. His journal has been bound with the Esquemeling since the publication in 1685.

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LibraryThing member lritchie1150

Disturbing non fiction account of the lives of pirates in the Carribean, including Henry Morgan's sacking of Panama. Coupled with Marcus Reddiker's The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea and Peter Leeson's the Invisible Hook, and if you can ignore the brutality of it all, it's a fascinating look at the

foundations of the self-organizing, democratic labour movement that would later develop in North America. Let no man be pressed into service.

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