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PIRACY WAS A BUSINESS by Cyrus H. Karraker

PIRACY WAS A BUSINESS

By

Publisher: Richard R. Smith

A socio-historical study of the very mixed art of plunder takes its story from earliest times through the 18th century heyday and underlines how this profession set the pattern for racketeering and political alliance with crime. Whether sea robber, buccaneer, corsair, privateer or trader, they were all the same breed of thieves as they rendezvoused at St. Mary's, Madagascar, ravaged New York, New Jersey, the Carolinas, collected in the Caribbean, were sent packing from the Bahamas and with the coming of steam, metal ships and communication --driven to extinction. From Barbarossa, to Blackbeard, Bonnet, Lafitte and others, the romance and glamor is wiped off and the reality of men earning a living in the best ships and with the best mechanics by anti-social practices is painstakingly revealed. A high assay of pirate gold here-for the student.