Topics for Further Research

Here is a list of topics to look up in books or encyclopedias if you would like to research the subject of pirate costuming further. It would be a good idea to visit a library and look them up in several traditional sources as well as on the internet.

People

Samuel Bellamy – (Black Sam, Prince of Pirates) An English pirate who operated in the Caribbean.

Stede Bonnet – (The Gentleman Pirate) A Barbadian pirate who operated in the Atlantic Ocean, along the east coast of the United States and in the Caribbean sea.

Anne Bonny – An Irish pirate who plied her trade in the Caribbean.

Sir Francis Drake – An English sea captain, privateer, navigator, slaver, a renowned pirate, and politician of the Elizabethan era. An actual pirate who buried treasure.

Henry Every – An English pirate who operated in the Atlantic and Indian oceans.

Jean Fleury – A 16th-century French naval officer and privateer. He is best known for the capture of two out of the three Spanish galleons carrying the Aztec treasure from Mexico to Spain in 1522.

William Fly – An English pirate who raided New England shipping.

Admiral Sir John Hawkins – An English “seadog.”

William Kidd – (Captain Kidd) A Scottish sailor remembered for his trial and execution for piracy, although he may have been only a privateer. Otherwise an actual pirate who buried treasure on an island.

Jean Lafitte – A pirate and privateer in the Gulf of Mexico in the early 19th century.

François Le Clerc – A 16th-century French privateer, originally from Normandy. He is credited as the first pirate in the modern era to have a “peg leg”.

Edward Low – A notorious English pirate during the latter days of the Golden Age of Piracy.

Henry Morgan – One of the most notorious and successful privateers from Wales, and one of the most dangerous pirates who worked in the Spanish Main.

Howard Pyle – Author of Howard Pyle’s Book Of Pirates, some of the illustrations of which have appeared on PEERS flyers.

John Rackham – (Calico Jack) An English pirate captain who operated in the Caribbean. He is famous for the design of his Jolly Roger flag and for having two female crew members, Mary Read and Anne Bonny.

Mary Read – An English pirate who operated in the West Indies.

Bartholomew Roberts – A Welsh pirate who raided shipping off the Americas and West Africa. Also known as Black Bart but this risks confusion with Black Bart of the American West.

Edward Teach – (Blackbeard) A notorious English pirate who operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of the American colonies.

Charles Vane – An English pirate who preyed upon English and French shipping.

N.C. Wyeth – American artist and illustrator who painted a series of illustrations for Treasure Island. The illustrations are excellent material for costume ideas.

General topics

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