Skull And Saltire Pirates - Stories Of Scottish Piracy

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Details: Pirates! The word is enough to send a shiver through your timbers. A nation such as the Scots, with its seafaring tradition, inevitably has a history of lawlessness at sea. From the earliest times, shrewd sailors realised that, by branching out as government agents, privateers or freelance plunderers, they could make more than just a living. Nautical Scots played a part in the Golden Age of Piracy, in the seventeenth century, most notably in the Caribbean & the Indian Ocean. But the story of Scottish piracy probably stretches back to Roman times & reaches up to the present day. In this exploration of a little-known aspect of Scottish seafaring, Jim Hewitson hauls up the anchor, hoists the Jolly Roger & takes us into some unexpected waters to meet characters such as: Kirkcudbright-born John Paul Jones, founder of the US navy, hero to the Americans, rogue pirate to the British; Sweyn Asleifsson, an Orkney-based pirate who spent half the year as a peaceful farmer & the other as a wild sea raider; & Greenocks Captain Kidd, the notorious piratical stereotype, who turns out to be more of a naive fall guy than a swashbuckling adventurer. Ideal for: The adventurer in anyone. This paperback book has 236 pages & measures: 23.3 x 15.5 x 1.8cm.