LibGuides: Primary Sources: Pirates, Privateers & Buccaneers: Pirates, Privateers & Buccaneers

Online Sources: Pirates, Privateers & Buccaneers

Kraus Collection of Sir Francis Drake
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This collection is provided by the Library of Congress. "Sir Francis Drake, English explorer and naval strategist, circumnavigated the earth from 1577-1580. During these travels, Drake visited the Caribbean and the Pacific claiming a portion of California for Queen Elizabeth and waging battles on the Spanish. This collection comprises important primary and secondary materials accumulated about Drake’s voyages throughout the then Spanish territory of the Americas. Texts are in English, Latin, German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish and French."
Mariners' Museum Library & Archives
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"... holds the largest maritime history collection in the Western Hemisphere." The collection includes over 1,750,000 items ranging from books and magazines, to rare materials, vessel plans, and photographs. The website provides access to the Library's online catalog and finding aids. An image database is also available for searching.
Spoils of War: Privateering in Nova Scotia
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From the Nova Scotia Archives this site includes:
- digitized original log-books for the privateers Charles Mary Wentworth (1799-1800), Nelson (1802) and Dart (1813)
- a virtual exhibit telling the story of war-at-sea, 1793-1815, using digitized content selected from Halifax newspapers, court records and government documents of the time
- a guide to relevant primary sources (i.e. archival records) held at NSARM
- a comprehensive list of secondary sources (i.e. library materials) that have been published on Nova Scotia privateering over the years.
The Buccaneers of America in 3D
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"Explore The Buccaneers of America with a 3D digital
model to simulate turning the pages of a real book."

Online exhibit from the Library of Congress.
Piracy Trials - Law Library of Congress
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"The Law Library of Congress has digitized its collection of pre-1923 piracy trial. This historical collection of piracy trials is critical for understanding how the various nations of the world handled piracy issues before the year 1900."
The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 1674-1913
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"A fully searchable edition of the largest body of texts detailing the lives of non-elite people ever published, containing 197,745 criminal trials held at London's central criminal court. "
Library of Congress - Digital Collections - Capital and the Bay
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"...The Capital and the Bay comprises first-person narratives, early histories, historical biographies, promotional brochures, and books of photographs in an attempt to capture in words and pictures a distinctive region as it developed between the onset of European settlement and the first quarter of the twentieth century. Works published after that time generally pose copyright challenges that prevented their inclusion."

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Primary source materials may contain language or images that are considered to be offensive in today's world.

These materials are a reflection of the language and culture of the time period in which they were written.

Book Sources: Pirates, Privateers & Buccaneers

A selection of books/e-books available in Trible Library.
Click the title for location and availability information.

Off campus access instructions (for e-books)

The Admirable Adventures and Strange Fortunes of Master Anthony Knivet by Anthony Knivet; Vivien Lessa de Sá (Editor)
Call Number: G460 .K5517 2015
ISBN: 1107090911
: An English Pirate in Sixteenth-century Brazil
The Atrocities of the Pirates by Aaron Smith
Call Number: Online - free -Google Books
The Buccaneers of America... by A. O. (Alexandre Olivier) Exquemelin
Call Number: Online - free -Google Books
Continuation of a Voyage to New Holland by William Dampier
Call Number: Online - free - Project Gutenberg
Daily Life of Pirates by David F. Marley
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Call Number: Online - Ebook Central
ISBN: 9780313395635
Publication Date: 2012-01-01
Includes a Documents section.
Documents Concerning English Voyages to the Spanish Main, 1569-1580 by Irene A. Wright (Editor)
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Call Number: Online - Ebook Central
ISBN: 9781409414384
I .Spanish Documents selected from the Archives of the Indies at Seville; II. English Accounts, Sir Francis Drake revived, and Others Reprinted
English Privateering Voyages to the West Indies, 1588-1595 by Kenneth R.Andrews
Call Number: G161 .H156 2d ser., no.111
documents relating to English voyages to the West Indies from the defeat of the armada to the last voyage of Sir Francis Drake, including Spanish documents contributed by Irene A. Wright
Further English Voyages to Spanish America, 1583-1594 by Archivo General de Indias
Call Number: G161 .H156 2d ser., no.99
Documents from the Archives of the Indies at Seville Illustrating English Voyages to the Caribbean, the Spanish Main, Florida, and Virginia. Translated and edited by Irene A. Wright
A General History of the Pyrates by Daniel Defoe
Call Number: G535 .D43 1999
ISBN: 0486404889
A General History of the Pyrates... by Daniel Defoe; Charles Johnson
Call Number: Online - free - Internet Archive
Global Piracy: A Documentary History of Seaborne Banditry by James E. Wadsworth
Call Number: G535 .W34 2019
ISBN: 135005819X
The Golden Age of Piracy in China, 1520-1810 : A Short History with Documents by Robert J. Antony
Call Number: Online - Ebook Central
ISBN: 9781538161548
The History of the Buccaneers of America by A. O. Exquemelin
Call Number: Online - Free - University of Michigan Librar
The Illustrated Pirate Diaries by Alexander Exquemelin
Call Number: Oversize F2161 .E913 2008
ISBN: 9780061584480
Ireland's Pirate Queen : The True Story of Grace O'Malley by Anne Chambers
Call Number: DA936.O45 C53 2003
ISBN: 1567318584
See the appendix for primary documents
I Sailed With Chinese Pirates by Aleko E. Lilius
Call Number: DS727 .L55 2009
ISBN: 9881815444
"Globetrotting journalist Aleko E. Lilius sets out to infiltrate these mysterious pirate gangs and is eventually taken into the confidence of South China’s notorious pirate queen, Lai Choi San."
The Journal of Jean Laffite: the Privateer-Patriot's Own Story by Jean Lafitte
Call Number: F374 .L2 2009
ISBN: 1441415599
A Lady's Captivity Among Chinese Pirates in the Chinese Seas by Fanny Loviot
Call Number: Online - free - Project Gutenberg
Memoirs of a Buccaneer
Call Number: G537.L516 A32
New Light on Drake by Zelia Nuttall et al
Call Number: Online - free - Internet Archive
A Collection of Docuements [sic] Relating to his Voyage of Circumnavigation, 1577-1580 (1914)
New Voyage Round the World by William Dampier
Call Number: G420 .D3 1968

Also available free online through Project Gutenberg Australia
The Official Letters of Alexander Spotswood, Lieutenant-Governor of the Colony of Virginia, 1710-1722 by Alexander Spotswood
Call Number: Online - free - Library of Congress
"contain a number of references to pirates, particularly to Blackbeard, who was brought to justice under Spotswood's orders."
https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/pirates/index.html
Piracy in the Early Modern Era : An Anthology of Sources by Kris Lane and Arne Bialuschewski
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Call Number: Online - Ebook Central
ISBN: 9781624668265
Pirates Through the Ages Reference Library by Jennifer Stock
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Call Number: Online - GVRL
ISBN: 9781414486628
See volume 1 for primary sources
Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents by John F. Jameson
Call Number: Online - free - Project Gutenberg
Spanish Documents concerning English Voyages to the Caribbean, 1527-1568
Call Number: G161 .H23 2d ser., no. 62
Selected from the Archives of the Indies at Seville by I. A. Wright.
The Tryal of Capt. William Kidd for Murder & Piracy by William Kidd
Call Number: Online - free - HathiTrust
upon six several indiciments, as also the tryals of Nicholas Churchill, James Howe, Robert Lamley, William Jenkins, Gabriel Loff, Hugh Parrot, Abel Owens, Richard Harilcorn, Darby Mulins, at the Admiralty sessions held at the Old Bailey, London, on the 8th & 9th of May, 1701, Edited with a biography & bibliography by Don C. Seitz, LUPP, D,
Dampier's voyages by William Dampier
Call Number: Online - Free - Early Canadiana Online
Consisting of a new voyage round the world, a Supplement to the Voyage round the world, Two voyages to Campeachy, a Discourse of winds, a Voyage to New Holland, and a vindication, in answer to the chimerical relation of William Funnell.
Voyage to New Holland by William Dampier
Call Number: Online - free - Project Gutenberg
Works Issued by the Hakluyt Society
Call Number: Various

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