Table of Contents

Volume 1: General Accounts Anthony Nixon, Newes from Sea, of two Notorious Pyrats, Ward the Englishman and Danseker the Dutchman (1609); Sir Henry Morgan's Voyage to Panama 1670 (1683); Philip Ayres, The Voyages and Adventures of Capt. Barth., Sharp and Others in the South Sea (1684); Selections from British and American newspapers and journals including, American Weekly Mercury, Boston Gazette, Boston News Letter, British Journal, London Journal, Mist's Weekly Journal, Post Boy, and Weekly Journal or British Gazetteer Volume 2: Trial Accounts The Lives, Apprehensions, Arraignments, and Executions, of the 19 Late Pyrates (1609); The Grand Pyrate, or, The Life and Death of Capt. George Cusack, the great Sea Robber with an Account of all his Notorious Robberies both at Sea and Land: together with his Tryal, condemnation, and Execution (1675); An Account of the Tryals of Captain J Golden (1694); Tryals of Joseph Dawson (1696); The Arraignment, Tryal and Condemnation of Captain William Kidd (1701); A full Account of the Proceedings in Relation to Capt. Kidd (1701); The Tryal of Captain Thomas Green and his Crew (1705); The Case of Capt. Tho. Green, Commander of the Ship Worcester, and his Crew, tried and condemned for Pyracy & Murther, in the High Court of Admiralty of Scotland (1705); The Arraignment, Tryal, and Condemnation of Captain John Quelch (1705) Volume 3: Trial Accounts, Legal History, Commentary The Trials of Eight Persons Indited for Piracy (1718); The Tryals of Major Stede Bonnet (1719); The Tryals of Captain John Rackam (1721); The Tryals of Thirty-Six Persons for Piracy (1723); The Trials of Five Persons for Piracy (1726); The Tryals of Sixteen Persons for Piracy (1726); A Discourse of the Laws relating to Pirates and Piracies (1726); Alexander Justice, A General Treatise of the Dominion of the Sea (1724); Piracy Destroyed, or, a Short Discourse Shewing the Rise, Growth and Causes of Piracy (1701); Marquis of Carmarthen, Reasons for Reducing the Pirates at Madagascar (c.1707); Alexander Smith, 'Introduction', The Third Volume of the Compleat History of the Lives, Robberies, Piracies, and Murders committed by the Most Notorious Rogues, &c (1720); Daniel Defoe, Mists Weekly Journal (1721) Volume 4: Advice to Seamen, Dying Speeches, Fiction and Ballads Henry Valentine, Four Sea-sermons (1635); The Mariner's Divine Mate (1670); An Account of the Behaviour, Dying Speeches, and Execution of Mr. John Murphey, for High Treason, and William May, John Sparcks, William Bishop, James Lewis, and Adam Foresith for Robbery, Piracy and Felony (1696); An Account of the Behaviour and last Dying Speeches of the Six Pirates, that were Executed on Charles River, Boston (1704); Cotton Mather, Faithful Warnings to Prevent Fearful Judgments...Brief Discourse Occasioned by a Tragical Spectacle of a Number of Miserables under Sentence of Death for Piracy (1704); Paul Lorrain, The Ordinary of Newgate: his Account of the Behaviour, Confession, and Last Speech of Capt. Alexander Dolzell, a Pirate (1715); Cotton Mather, Instructions to the Living, from the Condition of the Dead (1717); Cotton Mather, Useful Remarks: an Essay upon Remarkables in the Way of Wicked Men: A Sermon on the Tragical End, unto which the Way of Twenty-six Pirates brought Them; at New Port on Rhode Island (1723); Josiah Woodward, The Seaman's Monitor, or, Advice to Sea Faring Men (1723); Benjamin Colman, It is a Fearful Thing to Fall into the Hands of the Living God (1726); The famous Adventures of Captain John Avery of Plymouth, a Notorious Pirate (1809); Bold Captain Avery (c.1770)

Reviews

This four-volume set of primary documents and early publications deals with maritime piracy in the seventeenth and eighteenth century. These republications* include both rare and popular books, pamphlets, and documents from the time period in which they were first written. Baer chose to use the wider time frame of the Golden Age, encompassing both buccaneers and the more infamous pirates familiar to the layman, because how piracy was viewed politically and criminally changed during these years.The first volume, which contains general accounts of piracy, demonstrates how pirates coalesced into what we know as the marauders of the Golden Age as well as their decline. Each selection concerns a distinct, but different, threat to commerce and life, whether it appeared as a story, in a government document or mariner's journal, or in newspapers. Volumes two and three deal with the legal aspect of piracy: trials, histories, applications, and commentaries. They contain reports of thirteen pirate trials, perhaps the largest collection of such in one place. The introduction to this subject is one of the most concise and easy-to-understand explanations of maritime law (as it pertains to pirates) that I've read. The last volume primarily contains sermons and spiritual advice given by preachers to sailors and pirates, but it also contains dying speeches from and ballads about pirates.British Piracy in the Golden Age is as valuable a find as the gold, silver, and jewels that Henry Every uncovered when he captured the Ganj-i-sawai, or that all pirates dreamed of as they searched for the Spanish treasure ships laden with the riches of the New World and bound for King Philip's coffers. Nowhere else will you find such a diverse collection of documents that cover all aspects of piracy in one set of books. Each document and each volume is one to be studied and savored, much as a connoisseur appreciates the finest wines and delicacies. http://www.cindyvallar.com/britishage.html