20 December 2006
There's truth in them Swashbuckling tales after all!
Pirates Ahoy! Looks like pirates are back in fashion — thanks to Hollywood and the antics of fictional Captain Jack Sparrow. Swashbuckling fun on the high seas is enjoying a renewed leap in popularity. Time for Thalamus to set the records straight and deliver a barrel of substantial historical truths.
Due for release on 2nd April 2007, PIRATES — PREDATORS OF THE SEAS (ISBN 978-1-902886-18-3) explodes many of the popular myths in a text written by Angus Konstam, one of the foremost authorities of maritime history. This lavishly illustrated volume provides fascinating insights into the exploits of the bloodthirsty sea dogs and highwaymen of the oceans.
Above right: A 19th-century print portrays Turgut Rais in a suitably ferocious pose. By modern considerations there is little to admire in the brilliant but cruel Barbary pirate. A typical example of his behaviour may be found in the 1554 sacking of Vieste, a small Italian town. Unable to take the castle, all the wounded, infirm and elderly or unfit for either ransom or for slavery were decapitated on a rocky outcrop later called chianca amara, the ‘bitter stone’. Illustration by Alexandre Debelle (1805–97)