Sources for pirate history.
Read the sources. Understand their limits. Follow the argument.
What counts as evidence
Archaeological entries identify objects and explain their context. Early narratives report events through their authors’ selection and judgment. Modern museum and technical references supply a further layer of interpretation. The articles keep those layers separate.
The early printed account
The 1724 General History was published under Captain Charles Johnson’s name. Its authorship is disputed. It is a near-contemporary compilation with a strong authorial voice, not a neutral or unmediated pirate testimony. In particular, it reports that Roberts’s signed articles were discarded: the printed rules are not presented here as surviving originals.
Images and reconstructions
The scene artwork and illustrated reference plates were generated for this edition. The plates use an original painted museum-reference treatment; they are not reproductions from a museum or publisher. Generic object studies are not identified archaeological finds, and generated ship details are not construction plans. They are modern interpretations, clearly captioned, not archival photographs, recovered plans or exact reconstructions of a named vessel. Images illustrate a topic; they do not prove the historical claim.
Corrections retained
Our sources include different museum statements about walking the plank. The chapter does not treat that practice as an established routine. Dated archaeological counts stay dated, and missing artifacts are not rendered as recovered facts. Later rig terminology is identified as a teaching aid.
Source catalogue
A General History of the Pyrates (1724)
Published under the name Captain Charles Johnson · Early printed account; public-domain text
Authorship is disputed. A near-contemporary compilation, not a surviving signed pirate code or a neutral transcript. Cite its claims as reported claims.
The pirate ship’s journey
North Carolina Queen Anne’s Revenge Project · Archaeological project / historical synthesis
Voyage dates may use different calendars; this chapter avoids an exact capture day.
Ship components
NC Office of State Archaeology · Archaeological collection
A small surviving portion cannot establish a complete deck plan.
Arms and armament
NC Office of State Archaeology · Archaeological collection
Recovery counts on this page are dated to 2015; they are not current totals.
Cannon
NC Office of State Archaeology · Archaeological collection
Dated inventory, not all guns ever carried by the ship.
Bladed weapons
NC Office of State Archaeology · Archaeological collection
No complete bladed weapon recovered in the cited account; do not invent its missing blade.
Bar shot
NC Office of State Archaeology · Archaeological collection
Explains intended use, not the result of every shot.
Langrage
NC Office of State Archaeology · Archaeological collection
One observed load does not establish every gun’s load.
Grenades
NC Office of State Archaeology · Archaeological collection
Historical interpretation only; no operating instructions.
Sustenance
NC Office of State Archaeology · Archaeological collection
Containers and cargo cannot by themselves establish a daily menu.
Faunal remains
NC Office of State Archaeology · Archaeological collection
A mixed assemblage is not a complete diet sample.
Tools and instruments
NC Office of State Archaeology · Archaeological collection
Some artifact functions remain unidentified.
Dividers
NC Office of State Archaeology · Archaeological collection
A recovered instrument is evidence of equipment, not proof of a particular route calculation.
Sounding weight
NC Office of State Archaeology · Archaeological collection
Measures local water depth rather than latitude or longitude.
Life at sea in the age of sail
Royal Museums Greenwich · Museum overview
Covers several centuries and naval/merchant experience. Not a pirate-specific ration schedule.
Pirate myths debunked
Royal Museums Greenwich · Museum interpretation
Its categorical plank claim differs from another RMG explainer. We use a narrower evidence claim.
Why do pirates say ‘arrr’?
The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis · Museum interpretation
Explains the modern stereotype, not every historical sailor’s speech.
A sloop rigged as a brigantine, circa 1740 (SLR0229)
National Maritime Museum, Greenwich · Collection record
A Royal Navy example after the chapter’s main period, used only to show overlapping terms, not a pirate vessel.
Harrison’s clocks and the longitude problem
Royal Museums Greenwich · Museum history of science
Later chronology explains why a mature chronometer is anachronistic for 1718.
Time and Longitude gallery
Royal Observatory Greenwich · Museum overview
Latitude capability does not imply an accurate position under every condition.
Port and starboard
NOAA National Ocean Service · Modern terminology reference
Modern explanatory labels; earlier English sources may use larboard instead of port.
Sloop: single-masted rig
UK Sailmakers · Sailmaker’s modern technical glossary
Modern vocabulary aid, not proof that every historical vessel called a sloop had this arrangement.
Friendship’s rigging and ship-rig terminology
US National Park Service, Salem Maritime · Archived technical explanation of a replica
Explains terminology using a replica of a 1797 merchant vessel; not a pirate-ship reconstruction.
Why do pirates say arr?
Royal Museums Greenwich · Museum explainer with contrary wording
Used only to retain the disagreement. Do not import its unsupported health or universal drink claims.
The Buccaneers in the West Indies in the XVII Century (1910)
Clarence Henry Haring; Project Gutenberg transcription · Early twentieth-century historical study; public domain in the USA
An older secondary study drawing on colonial records and earlier narratives. Its imperial framing, racial generalizations and claims about national character are not adopted as fact. Not a substitute for current scholarship.
History of the Buccaneers of America (1816)
James Burney; Project Gutenberg transcription · Nineteenth-century historical compilation; public domain in the USA
Later than the events. Burney selects and compares earlier voyage narratives; his reconstruction is not an eyewitness record of every episode. Period ethnographic and colonial judgments require critical reading.
The Pirates of Panama / The Buccaneers of America (1914 edition)
Alexandre Olivier Exquemelin; edited and illustrated by George Alfred Williams · Later English edition of a seventeenth-century narrative; public domain in the USA
This is the 1914 edited English edition, not the 1678 Dutch original. Its introduction explicitly describes abridgment and adaptation for juvenile readers. Retained as an edition-comparison source, not the default text for new historical claims. Compare the 1684 edition before using a disputed detail.
A Sea Grammar (1627)
John Smith; Early English Books Online / Text Creation Partnership · Seventeenth-century seafaring manual; TCP transcription released under CC0
A prescriptive manual from 1627, not the operating rules of every merchant, naval or pirate vessel. The TCP text preserves gaps and transcription uncertainty. Modernized explanations here do not reproduce its period medical or physical theories as current advice.
Bucaniers of America (1684 English edition)
Alexandre Olivier Exquemelin; printed for William Crooke; EEBO/TCP transcription · Early English translation through a Spanish version; TCP transcription released under CC0
This 1684 English edition is not the 1678 Dutch original. Translation, selection, authorial position and transcription gaps remain part of the evidence. Attribution to a participant does not make every anecdote independently verified.
An Universal Dictionary of the Marine (1769)
William Falconer; Project Gutenberg transcription · Eighteenth-century technical dictionary; public domain in the USA
Published 1769, later than most events in this chapter. Used as a dated terminology comparison, not proof that an earlier pirate carried a particular instrument or followed later naval regulations.
Archipielago de las Perlas, from Ringrose’s South Sea Waggoner
Royal Museums Greenwich, National Maritime Museum · Museum manuscript catalogue; item P/32(43)
The record describes this manuscript and the captured Spanish source behind it. It does not make every later drawing a direct eyewitness survey or license reuse of the catalogue photographs.
Backstaff made by Will Garner for Oliver Thompson, 1734
Royal Museums Greenwich, National Maritime Museum · Museum object catalogue; NAV0041
A specific 1734 instrument, not an object recovered from a named pirate vessel. Its lens and other details should not be assigned automatically to every earlier backstaff.
What is longitude?
Royal Museums Greenwich · Museum explanation of geographic coordinates and time
Modern explanatory framework. Historical charts may use different reference meridians; no claim that all early navigators used modern Greenwich coordinates.
Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, 1669–1674 (1889)
Edited by W. Noel Sainsbury; Her Majesty’s Stationery Office · Nineteenth-century calendar of colonial documents; public-domain printed text
The calendar contains abstracts and transcripts, not a substitute for every original manuscript. The downloaded searchable copy is machine OCR; doubtful readings require collation. A commander’s report or deposition remains an interested claim even when preserved in an official record.
Bucaniers of America, the second volume (1685)
Basil Ringrose; printed for William Crooke; EEBO–TCP transcription · Participant voyage narrative, published 1685; CC0 keyboarded transcription
The published journal is a mediated participant account. Its nationalist praise, judgments about peoples and claims about motives are not adopted as neutral fact. The XML marks damaged and missing text; page images are not the CC0 transcription.
A New Voyage Round the World (1697), with collected voyage texts
William Dampier; James Knapton; EEBO–TCP transcription · Voyage writing and later collected parts; CC0 keyboarded transcription
Dampier writes as an involved traveler, not an impartial observer. His racial, colonial and medical judgments are not present-day facts. The catalogue describes a multi-volume set; individual parts and dates must be distinguished. Volume 3 is absent from this transcription.
The Arraignment, Tryal, and Condemnation of Captain William Kidd (1701)
Printed for J. Nutt, London; Library of Congress Law Library digitization · Public-domain printed trial account,1701
Read as a published account of allegations, testimony, judicial directions and verdicts. OCR is defective and is not a modern critical transcript. The trial verdict does not make every witness assertion independently established; this site does not claim to have inspected the lost or separately held French passes.
The Tryals of Joseph Dawson and others (1696)
Contemporary English or Scottish printed record; EEBO–TCP keyboarded transcription · Public-domain 1696 text; CC0 transcription
A proclamation states authorities’ information and demands; a trial print records allegations, witnesses and judgments. Neither makes every accusation an independently established fact. Named suspects are not automatically convicted defendants. TCP gaps and spelling variations remain.
Lords Justices’ proclamation against Henry Every,17 July 1696
Contemporary English or Scottish printed record; EEBO–TCP keyboarded transcription · Public-domain 1696 text; CC0 transcription
A proclamation states authorities’ information and demands; a trial print records allegations, witnesses and judgments. Neither makes every accusation an independently established fact. Named suspects are not automatically convicted defendants. TCP gaps and spelling variations remain.
Lords Justices’ further proclamation against Henry Every,1696
Contemporary English or Scottish printed record; EEBO–TCP keyboarded transcription · Public-domain 1696 text; CC0 transcription
A proclamation states authorities’ information and demands; a trial print records allegations, witnesses and judgments. Neither makes every accusation an independently established fact. Named suspects are not automatically convicted defendants. TCP gaps and spelling variations remain.
Scottish proclamation for apprehending Henry Every,18 August 1696
Contemporary English or Scottish printed record; EEBO–TCP keyboarded transcription · Public-domain 1696 text; CC0 transcription
A proclamation states authorities’ information and demands; a trial print records allegations, witnesses and judgments. Neither makes every accusation an independently established fact. Named suspects are not automatically convicted defendants. TCP gaps and spelling variations remain.
A Cruising Voyage Round the World (1712; 1928 reprint)
Woodes Rogers; 1928 edition with introduction and notes by G. E. Manwaring; Project Gutenberg · Participant voyage narrative in a later public-domain edition
Distinguish Rogers’s journal from Manwaring’s 1928 introduction and notes. Rogers writes as a commander accounting for his decisions and profits. Reported medical explanations and national or racial judgments are not adopted as modern science or neutral fact.
Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies,1717–1718 (1930)
Edited by Cecil Headlam; HMSO1930; 1964 facsimile reprint · Calendar of early-eighteenth-century state papers; public-domain historical text
The inspected copy is a later reprint and imperfect OCR of the calendar, not every original manuscript. A governor’s dispatch is an interested report. Distinguish reported arrival, landing, writing and receipt dates; period disease theories are not modern diagnoses.
Eight reales: National Maritime Museum object sheet, MEC1639
Royal Museums Greenwich / National Maritime Museum · Museum educational object description
The illustrated 1782 object postdates the main pirate chapter. Its edge treatment is not a claim about every earlier coin.
Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
Project Gutenberg; novel in a later illustrated edition · Primary literary text
A work of fiction. Its events and characters are not documentary evidence of a historical pirate company.
Treasure Island,1883: Library of Congress catalogue
Library of Congress · Bibliographic record and digitized book
Establishes the edition and publication date, not the historical truth of the fictional narrative.
The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe
Project Gutenberg; public-domain literary text · Primary literary text
A novel. Compare specific features with historical accounts without treating the fictional narrator as Selkirk or asserting a single proven model for every episode.
This AI-assisted edition does not claim independent historian review. Public correction submissions and newsletter services are not connected.