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Born to be hanged : the epic story of the gentlemen pirates who raided the south seas, rescued a princess, and stole a fortune / Keith Thomson.

Summary:
The year is 1680, in the heart of the Golden Age of Piracy, and more than three hundred daring, hardened pirates - a potent mix of low-life scallywags and a rare breed of gentlemen buccaneers - gather on a remote Caribbean island. The plan: to wreak havoc on the Pacific coastline, raiding cities, mines, and merchant ships. The booty: the bright gleam of Spanish gold and the chance to become legends. So begins one of the greatest piratical adventures of the era - a story not given its full due until now. Inspired by the intrepid forays of pirate turned Jamaican governor Captain Henry Morgan - yes, that Captain Morgan - the company crosses Panama on foot, slashing its way through the Darien Isthmus, one of the thickest jungles on the planet, and liberating a native princess along the way. After reaching the South Sea, the buccaneers, primarily Englishmen, plunder the Spanish Main in a series of historic assaults, often prevailing against staggering odds and superior firepower. A collective shudder racks the western coastline of South America as the English pirates, waging a kind of proxy war against the Spaniards, gleefully undertake a brief reign over Pacific waters, marauding up and down the continent. With novelistic prose and a rip-roaring sense of adventure, Keith Thomson guides us through the pirates' legendary two-year odyssey. We witness the buccaneers evading Indigenous tribes, Spanish conquistadors, and sometimes even their own English countrymen, all with the ever-present threat of the gallows for anyone captured. By fusing contemporaneous accounts with intensive research and previously unknown primary sources, this book offers a rollicking account of one of the most astonishing pirate expeditions of all time.

Record details

  • ISBN: 9780316703611
  • ISBN: 0316703613
  • Physical Description: ix, 371 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm
  • Edition: First edition.
  • Publisher: New York, NY : Little, Brown and Company, 2022.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 317-356) and index.
Subject: Morgan, Henry, 1635?-1688.
Pirates > History > 17th century.
Piracy > Panama > History.
Piracy > Pacific Coast (Latin America) > History.
Trials (Piracy) > England > History.
Piracy > Panama > History > 17th century.
Pirates > Panama > History > 17th century.
Panama > History > 17th century.

Available copies

  • 19 of 19 copies available at SPARK Libraries.

Holds

  • 0 current holds with 19 total copies.
Show Only Available Copies
Location Call Number / Copy Notes Barcode Shelving Location Status Due Date
Albright Memorial Library 910.45 THOMASO (Text) 50686016169927 Adult Nonfiction Available -
Cambria County Library 910.45 T483b (Text) 85131001830018 CACM Non-Fiction Available -
Claysburg Area Public Library 910.4 Tho (Text) 10CLA00100772I Adult Nonfiction Available -
Dillsburg Area Public Library Adults 910.4 THO Nonfiction (Text) 34001001415536 Adult Area Available -
Fleetwood Area Public Library 972.8702 THO (Text) 33249024367652 Non-fiction Available -
Gettysburg Library 910.45 THOMSON (Text)
Endowment: C. Kilburn Roulette Named Endowment, 2022
35740635843113 Nonfiction Available -
Green Free Library (Wellsboro) 910.45 THO (Text) 92525462 GFWM Main Room Available -
Indian Valley Public Library 910.45 Thomson History (Text) 39427103653440 Nonfiction Room: Adult Nonfiction Available -
North Pocono Public Library 910.45 THOMSON (Text) 50691010947161 Adult Nonfiction Available -
Pottsville Free Public Library 910.45 T384 (Text)
Bookplate: Presented by the Bohorad family in memory of Dr. William R. Davidson
30003009101427 Adult Nonfiction Available -

Summary: The year is 1680, in the heart of the Golden Age of Piracy, and more than three hundred daring, hardened pirates - a potent mix of low-life scallywags and a rare breed of gentlemen buccaneers - gather on a remote Caribbean island. The plan: to wreak havoc on the Pacific coastline, raiding cities, mines, and merchant ships. The booty: the bright gleam of Spanish gold and the chance to become legends. So begins one of the greatest piratical adventures of the era - a story not given its full due until now. Inspired by the intrepid forays of pirate turned Jamaican governor Captain Henry Morgan - yes, that Captain Morgan - the company crosses Panama on foot, slashing its way through the Darien Isthmus, one of the thickest jungles on the planet, and liberating a native princess along the way. After reaching the South Sea, the buccaneers, primarily Englishmen, plunder the Spanish Main in a series of historic assaults, often prevailing against staggering odds and superior firepower. A collective shudder racks the western coastline of South America as the English pirates, waging a kind of proxy war against the Spaniards, gleefully undertake a brief reign over Pacific waters, marauding up and down the continent. With novelistic prose and a rip-roaring sense of adventure, Keith Thomson guides us through the pirates' legendary two-year odyssey. We witness the buccaneers evading Indigenous tribes, Spanish conquistadors, and sometimes even their own English countrymen, all with the ever-present threat of the gallows for anyone captured. By fusing contemporaneous accounts with intensive research and previously unknown primary sources, this book offers a rollicking account of one of the most astonishing pirate expeditions of all time.

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