Imprint:
United Kingdom : Seaforth Publishing, 2010
Notes:
In the year 1719, Captain George Shelvocke, a poverty-stricken ex-naval officer, was offered the captaincy of a privateer, a ship licensed to attack and plunder ships of an enemy state, in this case the Spanish, and set off for South America in search of riches.
Shortly after rounding Cape Horn, one of the crew shot a black albatross - an event later to be immortalised in Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner - and his trouble began. Off Chile, with considerable loot onboard, his ship, the Speedwell, was wrecked in the Juan Fernandez Islands. Undaunted, he built another vessel and eventually, following a circumnavigation, returned to England, via Macao, loaded with Spanish plunder.
Back home, he was arrested for piracy and defrauding his shareholders, though he argued that he owed the original owners nothing, their ships having been honestly lost. The events of his privateering voyage are grippingly portrayed in this memoir and it still reads today as a fast-moving and incident-packed tale exposing the world of the maritime mercenaries and privateers, men who would take on anything and everything - for gold.
Bookmark Link:
https://hampshire.spydus.co.uk/cgi-bin/spydus.exe/ENQ/KIDS/BIBENQ?BRN=2922993
