A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates is a 1724 book published in Britain, containing biographies of contemporary pirates. Its author uses the name Captain Charles Johnson, generally considered a pseudonym.

The real identity of the author was thought by some scholars to be Daniel Defoe, although this has since been disputed. The publisher Nathaniel Mist or somebody working for him are other suggested authors.^[1][2]

The book introduced many features which later became common in pirate literature, such as pirates with missing legs or eyes, the myth of pirates burying treasure, and the name of the pirates flag the Jolly Roger, of English pirate captain John "Calico Jack" Rackham. The author specifically cites two pirates as having named their flag Jolly Roger; Welsh pirate Bartholomew Roberts in June, 1721, and English pirate Francis Spriggs in December 1723.^[3]

The book was released in two volumes. The first mostly deals with early 18th century pirates, while volume II records the exploits of their predecessors a few decades earlier. In the first volume "Johnson" sticks fairly close to the available sources, though he embellishes the stories somewhat. He stretches the truth farther in the second volume, and includes the biographies of three subjects who may be entirely fictional. Nevertheless, the book was influential in shaping popular notions of piracy and provided the standard account of the lives of many individuals still famous in the 21st century.

The buccaneers profiled in volume I are Henry Every, James Martel, Blackbeard, Stede Bonnet, Israel Hands, Edward England, Charles Vane, Calico Jack Rackham, Mary Read, Anne Bonny, Howell Davis, Bartholomew ("Black Bart") Roberts, Thomas Anstis, Richard Worley, George Lowther, Edward Lowe, John Evans, Francis Spriggs, John Smith, John Gow, and Roche Braziliano.

Volume II features Thomas Tew, William Kidd, John Bowen, John Halsey, Thomas White, Thomas Howard, David Williams, Samuel Burgess, Nathaniel North, Christopher Condent, Samuel Bellamy, and William Fly, as well as biographies of the probably fictional captains James Misson, Lewis, and Cornelius.

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Cordingly, David. Under the Black Flag: The Romance and Reality of Life Among the Pirates. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1995.
• Charles Johnson (1724), A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates, a copy on the website of Eastern North Carolina Digital Library

[edit] Further reading

• Article comparing Johnson and Defoe