British Pirates and Society, 1680-1730

Pirates contributed to the British understanding of trans-oceanic navigation, patterns of trade and remote communities. This knowledge advanced imperial expansion, which helps to explain why contemporary attitudes towards piracy were ambivalent. This book, an engaging study of vested interests and conflicting ideologies, shows how pirates were portrayed in trial reports, novels, legal documents, sermons, ballads and newspapers. It throws light on contemporary ideals of leadership and masculinity, gives insight into the domestic life of pirates, and offers comparisons with our experience of piracy today.

Dr Margarette Lincoln is Deputy Director and Director of Research and Collections at the National Maritime Museum, part of Royal Museums Greenwich, London. Before taking up a museum career she was an academic and has published widely in eighteenth-century studies. Her books include Representing the Navy: British Sea Power 1750-1815 (2002), Naval Wives and Mistresses 1745-1815 (2007), and the catalogue for the Museum's special exhibition, Nelson & Napoléon, edited in 2005. She was a trustee of the London Library from 2009 to 2013.