 Pirates and Privateers
The History of Maritime
Piracy
Cindy Vallar, Editor
& Reviewer
P.O. Box 425,
Keller, TX 76244-0425
Books for Adults ~ Law: Crime, Punishment, & Pirate
Hunting
Convicts in the Colonies: Transportation Tales
from Britain to Australia
by Lucy Williams
Pen & Sword, 2018, ISBN 978-1-52671-837-2, US
$39.95 / UK £19.99
review by Irwin Bryan
Here
is a book that looks deeply into the lives of some
of the convicts who are sentenced in court to be
transported to Botany Bay, the first colony
established in New South Wales, Australia. Through
their lives we learn about criminal justice and
punishment in Great Britain. We delve into the
places where convicts are kept, conditions on the
ships that transport them across the oceans, and
the dangers they face along the way. Readers are
told about life in the different colonies that are
eventually formed and how free convicts live out
their years as members of a developing country.
Our guide is an author who works on a major
project to create individual histories for as many
as possible of the 168,000 people transported to
Australia between 1787 and 1868. In a lengthy
introduction, she explains her background as “a
social historian of women, crime, and deviance,”
(xii) and that stories of female convicts are used
wherever possible. An added caution reminds
readers that any implied compassion expressed for
these convicts does not mean the victims of their
crimes should be forgotten.
The opening chapter takes a close look at the
criminal justice system. This includes information
about trials, sentencing, and waiting for years
before being shipped out of the country. Male
criminals, including juveniles, are mostly kept in
hulks (old wooden warships with the masts and
cannons removed and modified to house prisoners in
one room below the upper deck). The longer a
prisoner is kept on a hulk the more their health
deteriorates before the long voyage to Australia.
Women are mostly kept in the same gaol they are in
before trial and transported with other women onto
ships just for women convicts.
Next, the dangers faced on the voyage are
explored. These include rampant disease and death
from the conditions aboard and a diet that doesn’t
include fresh food or vegetables for a prolonged
time. Convicts are lost in several shipwrecks and
even a mutiny.
The stories of three convict women are told. One
involves a lucky escape with several male convicts
in an open boat. The second woman becomes a
wealthy businesswoman. The third has twenty-one
children and thousands of descendants who help to
populate the country.
There are three different
colonies where convicts are shipped:
Botany Bay (relocated to Sydney), Van
Diemen’s Land (now Tasmania), and Western
Australia (Freemantle). A chapter is
devoted to each colony.
Conclusions are
then presented by the author. These include the
costs and benefits Australia experiences during
the eighty years of transportation and for at
least another seventy years when the last convict
passes away. One appendix features the texts of
quoted letters showing the original spelling and
lack of punctuation. Another appendix lists many
resources that can be used to trace transported
convicts and their stories. There is a section for
suggested reading and an index as well. The inset
has twenty-four, mostly color, images of the
places convicts are housed and some of the
convicts mentioned in this book.
Anyone with an interest in the development of
Australia or the transportation of convicts can
learn from this text and enjoy the up-close look
at the individuals whose own words are used to
describe what they see and experience.
Review Copyright ©2019 Irwin Bryan
Enemies of all Humankind: Fictions
of Legitimate Violence
by Sonja Schillings
Dartmouth College, 2017, ISBN 978-1-5126-0016-2,
US $40.00
Also available in other formats
The concept of hostis humani
generis dates back to Cicero, when he
uses this phrase to describe pirates as the
enemies of all humankind. What Schilling does
in this latest volume in Darmouth’s Re-mapping
the Transnational series is to show the
evolution of this concept and the application
and use of legitimate violence to defeat these
enemies from when it is first applied to
pirates up to today’s terrorists, particularly
as it pertains to the growth and maturation of
America.
The author divides the book into four parts
and uses both fiction and non-fiction to
showcase her argument.
Introduction
Part I. The Emperor and the
Pirate: Legitimate Violence as a Modern
Dilemma
1. Augustine of Hippo: The
City of God
2.
Charles Johnson: A General History of
the Pyrates
3.
Charles Ellms: The Pirates’ Own Book
Part
II. Race, Space, and the Formation of the Hostis
Humani Generis Constellation
4. Piratae and Praedones:
The Racialization of Hostis Humani Generis
5.
John Locke, William Blackstone, and the
Invader in the State of Nature
6.
Hostis Humani Generis and the
American Historical Novel: James Fenimore
Cooper’s The Deerslayer
Part
III. The American Civilization Thesis:
Internalizing the Other
7. The Frontier Thesis as a
Third Model of Civilization
8.
The Democratic Frontiersman and the
Totalitarian Leviathan
9.
Free Agency and the Pure Woman Paradox
10.
The Foundational Pirata in Richard
Wright’s Native Son
Part
IV. “It Is Underneath Us”: The Planetary
Zone in between as an American Dilemma
11. The Institutional Frontier:
A New Type of Criminal
12.
Who Is Innocent? The Later Cold War Years
13.
Moshin Hamid’s The Reluctant
Fundamentalist and the War on Terror
Conclusion
The
book also includes a list of abbreviations,
endnotes, an extensive list of the works
cited, and an index.
Victims of violence rarely control what
happens to them, but over time, especially in
Western tradition, the idea of legitimate
violence – the use of force to subdue
aggression – has been employed to defend
innocent targets. What Schilling does in this
book is show how the theory of legitimate
violence has developed and evolved over time;
how discussions on hostis humani generis
are and have been maintained throughout the
history of the United States; and how the
parameters of both have changed over the
centuries to warrant the protection of new
victims.
Who are the perpetrators who fall under the
umbrella of hostis humani generis and
against whom legitimate violence is permitted?
The initial enemies are pirates, but the
passage of time has also permitted slavers,
torturers, and terrorists, as well as any
group that commits crimes against humanity, to
be so labeled. While the concept of hostis
humani generis is actually a legal
fiction, its close association to piracy often
leads scholars to believe they must first
understand the pirate in order to comprehend
why such people warrant the labeling of
"enemies of all humankind." Schilling
disagrees with this belief for two reasons.
First, the definition of “pirate” changes over
time, and that flexibility introduces
inconsistency into such an analysis. Secondly,
other perpetrators of violence replace pirates
as such enemies. This is why she refers to hostis
humani generis as a constellation, a
group of people related by their violent acts
against innocent people.
The first two parts of this study are of
particular interest to those who study and
read about pirates, although Barbary corsairs,
Somali pirates, and comparisons to the sample
texts in chapters two and three are mentioned
elsewhere. In the first section, Schilling
discusses the origin of hostis humani
generis and Saint Augustine’s broadening
of the concept. This constellation finally
comes into its own in the 16th century as
European countries extended their borders to
include territories in the New World. The
second section focuses more on the law and
invaders, such as the renegadoes from
the Barbary States.
While many readers will clearly understand
that some texts that are used here to support
her argument fall definitively into either
non-fiction or fiction, Schilling doesn’t
clarify that Johnson’s A General History
of the Pyrates and Ellms’s A
Pirates’ Own Book are actually a mix of
both. These two authors interweave facts with
imagination to better capture their readers’
interest. Overall, Enemies of All
Humankind is a thought-provoking,
scholarly examination that will stimulate
interesting discussion on a topic that has
particular relevance not only to the study of
the past but also to global events unfolding
every day in our own world.
Review Copyright ©2017 Cindy Vallar
Murder & Mayhem
in Essex County
by Robert Wilhelm
The History Press, 2011, ISBN
978-1-60949-400-1, US $19.99
The
stories in this book take place in Essex
County, Massachusetts. They are a mix of
truth and legend, but the author allows the
reader to draw his/her own conclusion about
each one. Wilhelm presents this collection
in a chronological sequence, from the
earliest days of the Massachusetts Bay
Colony to 1900. The introduction sets the
scene and provides historical background the
general reader may not know. Each chapter
includes black-&-white photographs of
people, artifacts, and places pertaining to
the subject matter.
The murders discussed within these pages
include Mary Sholy (1636), John Hoddy
(1637), Ruth Ames (1769), Captain Charles
Furbush (1795), Captain Joseph White (1830),
Charles Gilman (1877), Albert Swan (1885),
Carrie Andrews (1894), John Gallo (1897),
and George Bailey (1900). The culprits are
both male and female, from a variety of
backgrounds, and the victims range in age
from children to adults. The mayhem includes
accounts of witches, Indian captives, arson,
and pirates (Thomas Veal, John Philips, and
Rachel Wall).
If more than one version of the crime
exists, Wilhelm provides all of them. If a
primary document exists, he incorporates it
into the telling. All the chapters are
fascinating, but the one most pertinent to
us concerns the pirates of Essex County. I
am familiar with John Philips and Rachel
Wall, but Thomas Veal is new to me, and I
particularly like this chapter because these
aren’t rogues that appear often in other
volumes.
The only drawback concerns a handful of
illustrations that don’t fit the mood
instilled by this collection of slaughter
and villainy. They are too comic-like and
detract from the gritty, historic feel that
the crimes engender. Despite this objection,
readers interested in murder, mayhem, and
true crime will enjoy this journey to the
dark side.
Review Copyright ©2012 Cindy
Vallar
Outlaws! Adventures of
Pirates, Scoundrels, and Other Rebels
by Laurent Maréchaux
Flammarion, 2009, ISBN 978-2-0803-0107-9,
US $45.00 / Can $54.00 / UK £27.50 / EUR
€40.00
No
one is born an outlaw. They are made.
These are the individuals whom the
author showcases in this coffee-table
book. No matter into what
classification they fall, each lives
outside the law. Each suffers an
untimely death of a mother or father at
a young age or experiences a tragic
event that forever alters his or her outlook on
life and the world around them. Although
we know these men and women break the
law, they fascinate us. According to the
author, “We should not . . . rush to
judge the errant ways of these
idealistic vagabonds. They deserve our
recognition. Without them, the maps of
this world would be less colorful, our
taxes and rights would be less human,
democracy . . . would be lacking in
imagination, and our eternal quest for a
better world would be nothing but an
outmoded fancy.” (page 10)
Divided into six groupings, the book
introduces readers to the familiar and
the stranger, the distant and the near
past, the western and the eastern. Each
section begins with a short introduction
that makes the reader ponder the
rightness or wrongness of these
individuals’ actions and those of
society. Either a color or
black-&-white, full-page portrait of
the individual outlaw introduces us to
him or her. Other illustrations
accompany the text, which talks about
this person’s life and death over four
to six pages. The book concludes with
notes and a bibliography.
Of particular
interest to readers of Pirates and
Privateers is the section titled
“The Black Sail and the Call of the High
Seas.” The author begins with a quote
from Alexandre Exquemelin, the buccaneer
surgeon who writes The Buccaneers of
America:
Alive
today, dead tomorrow, what does it
matter whether we hoard or save. We
live for the day and not for the day
we may never live.
This perfect
quote neatly sums up the pirates’
philosophy. Few readers may be familiar
with the first outlaw showcased, Jehan
Ango, but one of the corsairs who sail
for this shipowner and privateer is Jean
Fleury, the first to capture a Spanish
treasure galleon. The other pirates
profiled are: the Barbarossas; Sir
Francis Drake; François l’Olonnais;
Bartholomew Roberts; Edward Teach; Anne
Bonny, Calico Jack Rackham, and Mary
Read; Olivier Mission, the Monk
Caraccioli, and Thomas Tew; and Ching
Shih. A page from Drake’s 1598 log is
reproduced, as are several period maps.
While an earlier profile discusses Robin
Hood as both fictional and real, the
same does not occur in the summary about
Olivier Mission, whom many historians
believe to be fictitious.
Another
person of interest to pirate enthusiasts
appears in the section “Desert Devils,”
for one of Renaud de Châtillon’s
occupations is that of pirate. His name,
like others, may not be familiar to
readers, but others will be: Henry David
Thoreau, Jesse James, Billy the Kid,
Calamity Jane, Richard Francis Burton,
Lawrence of Arabia, Bobby Sands, and
Bonnie and Clyde.
Outlaws!
is an intriguing book and even the cover
art taunts the reader to look inside.
This is a well-rounded, international
collection of those who live on the
fringes of society. Each account is
compelling and fascinating. The quotes
that begin each chapter are well chosen
and thought-provoking. The author
himself is something of a rebel so he
knows whereof he writes.
Perhaps the
quote that begins the “City Hoodlums and
Urban Gangs” section best clarifies the
outlaw and sums up this book:
Some
will turn me into a hero, but there
are no heroes in crime. There are
just men who . . . are marginal, and
who don’t respect laws because laws
are made for the rich and powerful.
– recorded testament of Jacque Mesrine
Quelch’s
Gold: Piracy, Greed, and Betrayal in
Colonial New England
by Clifford Beal
Praeger, 2007, ISBN 978-0-275-99407-5,
US $44.95 / UK £25.95
In 1703, Charles,
a brigantine, mysteriously sets sail
from Marblehead, Massachusetts. She
returns ten months later, and her
captain and most of her crew find
themselves under arrest for piracy.
Within the pages of this book, Beal
explores the case of John Quelch and
the government officials involved in
his arrest and trial, for some
consider what happens to be “the
first case of judicial murder in
America."
Divided
into three sections, the book
explores the crime, pursuit,
punishment, and reward. The account
is absorbing and well-researched,
but at times, the author interrupts
the flow to provide important
information to help place the events
into their proper time and place.
Perhaps a different rendering may
have enabled readers to better
follow the story. Despite this, Beal
deftly weaves a tale of intrigue and
abuse by authorities to prosecute
Quelch for piracy.
Review Copyright
©2007 Cindy Vallar
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