Outskirts Press, INC.

DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES

Piracy can be traced back to ancient civilizations as early as 1350 b.c. in Egypt and North Africa. The Sea Peoples were maritime raiders who were the first pirates disrupting trade routes and attacking coastal settlements. Years later there was the Golden Age of Piracy which occurred between 1650 and 1730. During this time, roughly 10,000 pirates rode the waves through the North Atlantic and Indian Oceans, significantly shaping European history, and of this group, about one-third were former slaves. The pirates of this era were a diverse mix of individuals with a variety of backgrounds and nationalities, but they all shared one important characteristic – they were driven by a desire for wealth, adventure, and the pursuit of freedom outside the law. Pirates were revolutionary individuals. While their actions were abhorrent at times, such as pilfering goods, ruthless murders, involvement in the slave trade; pirates were among the first bastions of liberty in a world in which liberty was a radical idea at that time. The true story of pirates is a story of freedom and liberty and rejection of the monarchial system of government. Piratical society was determined “by the people.” This idea is revealed in the United States Constitution and Declaration of Independence where, “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…” Pirates were the first to live up to the meaning of this phrase. These are the tales of murder, mutiny, shipwrecks and treasure on the high seas. A famous pirate once said, “No mercy did we ever show, for dead men tell no tales.”