"Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum" - Long John Silver
Early Roman plays have plots based on pirate kidnappings and ransoms. Julius Caesar was himself kidnapped by pirates. He got friendly with the crew, joked with them and lived happily for a time until the money was stumped up. Then he had them all slaughtered. Cutthroat business, piracy!
My two favourite books on the subject:
Pirates! by Jan Rogozinski 1995 also publ. as
The Wordsworth Dictionary of Pirates 1997 ISBN 1-85326-384-2
This book is fab. It has pictures from books, films, pamphlets and is arranged alphabetically on every subject to do with piracy. Great on a stormy day.
A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates
by Catain Charles Johnson
ISBN 0-85177-919-0
The Johnson book was attributed to Daniel Defoe for many years, but the jury's still out on who the real author was. His knowledge of the sea and vivid descriptions of sea life make one suspect he was, in fact, a retired pirate. Every pirate film, book or reference since has its roots in this book. Read it. You'll love it.
