Buccaneers of America by John Esquemeling dates t

Buccaneers of America by John Esquemeling dates to 1678 and has had an interesting history as a book. It was first published in Dutch in Amsterdam under the title De Americaeneche Zee-Roovers. It was next published in a Spanish translation in 1681, and the English version appeared in 1684. The author was originally listed as Alexander Olivier Exquemelin, but in the first english translation he was identified as John Esquemeling. The hero of the story in the English version was Morgan the Pirate, with the author representing himself on the title page as a buccaneer "who was present at these tragedies." The publisher of the Spanish edition questioned the identity of the author and the truth of the tale he tells, though the author insists that this is a true account "of Sir Henry Morgan, our English Jamaican Hero" and his exploits. This is precisely what the book entails, telling of Morgan and specifically of his attacks on Porto Bello, Panama, and other islands in the Caribbean region. Esquemeling says he was present at these events and participated, and he tells his story in a lively and detailed fashion that says much not only about the events described and about the man the author makes into a hero, but also about the times and the way of life in this part of the world during this era.

Esquemeling's book was very influential and was one of several works that contributed to the image of the pirate that persists to this day. The pirates constituted a continuing mena

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alliances among them. Esquemeling explains the nature of the buccaneering life into which he was compelled, and he also provides some history of pirating, beginning with Pierre le Grand, or Peter the Great, on the Island of Tortuga. The piracy described by Esquemeling is as much a political as a criminal act. Pierre le Grand directed his energies at the Spanish ships he saw as taking the wealth way from France and the people of the island. The Spanish responded by sending military boats out to protect their ships and to find and punish the pirates. Esquemeling offers interesting accounts of the way the pirate vessels were outfitted, what sorts of goods were taken along, how the goods captured were divided, and so on. He also indicates ways in which the hierarchy is developed and maintained so that leaders are selected and order is preserved among the pirates themselves, as in the following: They observe among themselves very good orders. For in the prizes they take, it is severely prohibited to every one to usurp anything in particular to themselves. Hence all they take is equally divided. . . . (Esquemeling 60). The elevation of the role of the buccaneer to that of political tool and cultural force was not merely a

Category: History - B