He is undeniably a redoubtable historical figure. It is a curious fact that the commerce of the seas was cradled in the lap of buccaneering. The constant danger of the deeps in this form only made hardier mariners out of the merchant-adventurers, actually stimulating and strengthening maritime enterprise.
Buccaneering--which is only a politer term for piracy--thus became the high romance of the seas during the great centuries of maritime adventure. It went hand in hand with discovery,--they were in fact almost inseparable. Most of the mighty mariners from the days of Leif the Discoverer, through those of the redoubtable Sir Francis Drake down to our own Paul Jones, answer to the roll-call.
It was a bold hardy world--this of ours--up to the advent of our giant-servant, Steam,--every foot of which was won by fierce conquest of one sort or another. Out of this past the pirate emerges as a romantic, even at times heroic, figure. This final niche, despite his crimes, cannot altogether be denied him. A hero he is and will remain so long as tales of the sea are told. So, have at him, in these pages!
The Piccaroon 1 From _Tom Cringle's Log_. By MICHAEL SCOTT.
The Capture of Panama, 1671 23 From _The Buccaneers of America_. By JOHN ESQUEMELING.
The Malay Proas 52 From _Afloat and Ashore_. By JAMES FENIMORE COOPER.
The Wonderful Fight of the _Exchange_ of Bristol with the Pirates of Algiers 61 From _Purchas, His Pilgrims_. By SAMUEL PURCHAS.
The Daughter of the Great Mogul 89 From _The King of the Pirates_. By DANIEL DEFOE.
Barbarossa--King of the Corsairs 97 From _Sea Wolves of the Mediterranean_. By E. HAMILTON CURREY, R.N.
Morgan at Puerto Bello 115 From _The Buccaneers of America_. By JOHN ESQUEMELING.
The Ways of the Buccaneers 126 From _Buccaneer Customs on the Spanish Main_. By JOHN MASEFIELD after JOHN ESQUEMELING.
A True Account of Three Notorious Pirates 132 From _The Buccaneers of America_. By HOWARD PYLE, ED.
Narrative of the Capture of the Ship _Derby_, 1735 196 By CAPTAIN ANSELM.
Francis Lolonois, the Slave Who Became a Pirate King 209 From _The Buccaneers of America_. By JOHN ESQUEMELING.
The Fight between the _Dorrill_ and the _Moca_ 232 From _The Indian Antiquary_, Vol. 49.