The sea destroyed the evidence of most of what happened on it. What survives tends to be the trial afterwards, which is why so much of pirate history is written in the words of a court, a gallows and a chained body left in the tide.
Every story in Pirates & the sea
London · 1701The Pirate Hanged Twice In One MorningA respected captain became a public scapegoat for piracy, and even his execution refused to go as planned.
Hamburg · 1401The Pirate Whose Skull Was Stolen TwiceLegend says his headless body kept walking past his own men after execution, and his skull was later stolen from a museum.- Nantucket, Massachusetts · 1820The Wreck That Inspired Moby DickA real sperm whale rammed and sank a Nantucket ship, leaving its crew to face the unthinkable to survive.
King William Island · 1845The Doomed Voyage To The Northwest Passage129 men and the most advanced polar ships on earth vanished into the Arctic ice without a trace.
Gravelines · 1588The Armada's Graveyard After The BattleEngland celebrated a legendary naval victory, but thousands more Spanish sailors died in the storms and wrecks that followed.
Portobelo · 1596The Dragon Spain Wanted DeadSpain put a fortune on the head of the English privateer who circled the globe and burned their ports, and church bells rang when he finally died.
Baltimore, County Cork · 1631The Village Sold To Barbary SlaversA captured fisherman guided Barbary corsairs into an Irish village at night, betraying his neighbours into slavery to save his own life.
Nantes · 1343The Widow Who Became A Pirate For RevengeAfter the King of France beheaded her husband, a noblewoman sold everything, took to the sea, and hunted French ships for years.
Cape Cod · 1717The Pirate's Sunken Promise To His LoveA poor sailor turned pirate to win a fortune for the woman he loved, and his treasure ship vanished for over 260 years.
Cape Lopez · 1722The Reluctant Pirate Who Became KingPressed into piracy against his will, a Welsh sailor became the most successful pirate in history before a warship caught him at breakfast.
Boston, Massachusetts · 1789America's First Woman Hanged For PiracyA farm girl drawn to the docks confessed to almost every crime imaginable the day before she was hanged in Boston.
Charleston, South Carolina · 1718The Gentleman Pirate's Doomed VoyageA wealthy Barbados planter walked away from his family and fortune to become a pirate, and it ended on the gallows in Charleston.
Ocracoke Island, North Carolina · 1718The Pirate Who Wore Smoke And Fire Into BattleHe lit fuses under his hat brim before boarding ships, becoming a living nightmare that terrified crews into surrender.
North Atlantic Ocean · 1912The Stewardess Who Survived Three Sinking ShipsNot expected to survive childhood, a stewardess goes on to live through disaster aboard all three of the White Star Line's sister ships.
North Atlantic Ocean · 1912The Band That Played Until The EndAs lifeboats load and the deck tilts toward the water, eight musicians keep playing without being ordered to.
Bab-el-Mandeb Strait · 1695The Pirate King Who Vanished With The TreasureHe mutinied over unpaid wages, hunted down the richest treasure fleet afloat, and then simply disappeared forever.
Greenwich, London · 1593The Pirate Queen Who Sailed To See A QueenAt sixty-three, a sea-captain and pirate chieftain sailed straight to England to demand an audience with Elizabeth I.
Negril · 1720The Last Two Pirates Standing Were WomenWhen pirate hunters boarded the ship, the drunken crew hid below — only two fighters remained on deck, both women.
Wapping, London · 1701The Pirate Hunter Who Became A PirateSent to hunt pirates for the Crown, he was hanged for piracy himself when the politics turned against him.
Hansan Island · 1592The Crane's Wing That Crushed a FleetA decoy fleet lured Japanese warships into open water, straight into a U-shaped trap that sealed their fate.
Port Royal · 1692The City That Sank in MinutesContemporaries called it the wickedest city on earth. In three minutes the sand it was built on turned to liquid and took two thirds of it into the harbour.- Execution Dock, London · 1700The Body Left to Rot in the TidesA tarred corpse was caged in iron and hung above the river, left for the rising tides to slowly consume.
- Lundy Island · 1242The Pirate Lord of Lundy IslandA pirate nobleman ruled from a fortified island stronghold until the King engineered a four-stage execution to break him.
- Amsterdam · 1853The Naval Punishment Worse Than the LashDragged beneath the ship across barnacle-covered wood, few survived the infections that followed, if they survived at all.