Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Pirates: why the Royal Navy made the Golden Age piracy outbreak worse

Fans of The Republic of Pirates may be interested in my feature on how the Royal Navy responded to the rise of the Golden Age pirates in the new issue of Military History Quarterly.

"Quelling a Pirate Revolt," (Spring 2009, pp. 9-19) shows how Admiralty policies helped provoke the piracy outbreak and hampered the Navy's ability to respond to the threat. Based on previously unpublished accounts from the letters and logbooks of naval officers, the article sheds new light on how Blackbeard, Charles Vane, Sam Bellamy, Calico Jack Rackham and other pirates managed to destabilize three Trans-Atlantic empires. There's also a sidebar on the parallels with the recent Somalia piracy outbreak.

The piece isn't available online - they'd like you to subscribe to the magazine.

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