He drank tea rather than rum. He banned women and gambling on his ships. He never made his prisoners walk the plank, preferring to invite them into his cabin for a friendly chat.And during the course of his extraordinary two-and-ahalf-year career as a pirate captain, he captured 400 prizes and brought trade in the eastern Caribbean to a virtual halt.
In this enthralling book, Richard Sanders tells the remarkable story of Bartholomew Roberts, greatest of the Caribbean pirates. Combining ground-breaking research with vivid story-telling, Sanders brings to life a fascinating all-male world, full of theatre and ritual, far richer and more complex than the pirate stereotype. Grippingly written and full of adventure, intrigue and insight, If a Pirate I Must Be is a tale of pirates as they really were - and of the strange and cruel world that produced them.