A pirate's life no more : the pardoned pirates of the Bahamas / Steven C. Hahn.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hahn, Steven C., 1968- author.

Series:

Early American places

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Pirates--Bahamas--History--18th century.

Pirates.

Piracy--Government policy--Great Britain--History--18th century.

Piracy.

Pardon--Bahamas--History--18th century.

Pardon.

Pirates--Bahamas--Biography.

Pirates--Great Britain--Colonies--Biography.

Piracy--Atlantic Coast (U.S.)--History--18th century.

Piracy--Caribbean Area--History--18th century.

Genre:

Biographies.

Other Title:

Pardoned pirates of the Bahamas

Place of Publication:

Athens, Georgia : The University of Georgia Press, [2025]

Summary:

"In 1718, the British crown in the Bahamas pardoned 209 mariners accused of piracy. In A Pirate's Life No More, Steven C. Hahn explores the lives of these mariners. In addition to the standard sources employed by maritime historians, he utilizes local administrative records from Britain and its American colonies, such as property, court, and church records. As such, he sheds new light on the ordinary activities in which they were engaged when not involved in piracy, and explores how they coped in the Bahamas and elsewhere after being pardoned. By focusing holistically on pirates, the book reclaims their humanity, connects the story of piracy at sea with the land-based communities that sometimes supported it, and illuminates the entangled histories of far-flung places in the Atlantic world. This study reveals that, for most individuals, forays into piracy were fleeting and opportunistic. Moreover, class, age, and regional divisions beset the pirate community, thereby precluding adherence to any single ideology justifying their actions. The pardon was most attractive to mariners possessing greater social and economic capital, which explains why so many of them were able to return to their homes and quickly return to honest maritime work"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction: Young, resolute, and wicked fellows?

The call of the sea

A new Madagascar

"All mad to go a wrecking"

The pardon and its discontents

"Pirates expelled - commerce restored"

A pirate's life no more

The respectable pirates of New York

Conclusion: Noncanonical pirates

Appendix A: Pearse's list of pardoned pirates.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780820373454

0-8203-7345-1

9780820373461