Outcasts of the Sea : Pirates and Piracy

Paddington Press Ltd. Very Good/Very Good. 1978. First Edition. Hard Cover. 8vo 0448226170 Dust jacket complete, unclipped, in a clear protective sleeve.Black cloth with bright gilt titling on spine. Slight bump. Illustrated end papers. No ownership inscription. 256 pages clean and tight. Surrounded by a powerful aura of glamor and excitement, the pirate inhabited a wide, wild, lawless world of fierce independence. Here might was right, chivalry was not dead, and fame and riches awaited anyone courageous enough to grasp them. And as this world grew smaller and more civilized he faded away, leaving only rumors of buried treasure and legends of swashbuckling adventure to thrill the minds of a later age. The legends we know: Robert Louis Stevenson and Errol Flynn alone would have ensured their survival. The realities have been less accessible. But in this new book Edward Lucie-Smith has turned a perceptive eye upon the pirate in his totality: as he was, as he has been seen by others, and as he saw himself. In a survey of piracy ranging from the marauding exploits of ancient Greeks in the Mediterranean to the "vachtjacking" phenomenon in the 1970S the author tells the whole story. It turns out to be more exciting than the legends suggest, though more squalid, treacherous and dangerous too. .