''A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates'' is a 1724 book published in Britain containing

biographies A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or c ...

of contemporary

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

s,''A general history of the robberies & murders of the most notorious pirates''. By Charles Johnson.
Introduction and commentary by Emmett Remis. Conway Maritime Press, 2002. which was influential in shaping popular conceptions of pirates. Its author uses the name

Captain Charles Johnson Captain Charles Johnson was the British author of the 1724 book ''A General History of the Pyrates, A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates'', whose identity remains a mystery. No record exists of a captain b ...

, generally considered a

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

for one of London's writer-publishers. The prime source for the biographies of many well-known pirates, the book gives an almost mythical status to the more colourful characters, and it is likely that the author used considerable licence in his accounts of pirate conversations. The book also contains the name of the pirate flag the

Jolly Roger Jolly Roger is the traditional English name for the flags flown to identify a pirate ship preceding or during an attack, during the early 18th century (the later part of the Golden Age of Piracy). The flag most commonly identified as the Jolly ...

and shows the skull and bones design. First appearing in Charles Rivington's shop in London, the book sold so well that by 1726 an enlarged fourth edition had appeared. It pandered to the British public's taste for the exotic; revelling in graphic stories on the high seas. English naval historian

David Cordingly David Cordingly is an English naval historian with a special interest in pirates. He held the position of Keeper of Pictures and Head of Exhibitions at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England for twelve years. David Cordingly organis ...

writes: "It has been said, and there seems no reason to question this, that Captain Johnson created the modern conception of pirates." Scottish novelists

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...

(author of ''

Treasure Island ''Treasure Island'' (originally titled ''The Sea Cook: A Story for Boys''Hammond, J. R. 1984. "Treasure Island." In ''A Robert Louis Stevenson Companion'', Palgrave Macmillan Literary Companions. London: Palgrave Macmillan. .) is an adventure no ...

'') and

J. M. Barrie Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, (; 9 May 1860 19 June 1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland and then moved to London, where he wrote several succ ...

(author of ''

Peter Pan Peter Pan is a fictional character created by List of Scottish novelists, Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and Puer aeternus, never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending ...

'' featuring

Captain Hook Captain James Hook is a fictional character and the main antagonist of J. M. Barrie's 1904 play ''Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up'' and its various adaptations, in which he is Peter Pan's archenemy. The character is a pirate captain ...

) both identified Johnson's ''General History of the Pyrates'' as one of their major influences, and Stevenson even borrowed one character's name (

Israel Hands Israel Hands, also known as Basilica Hands, was an 18th-century pirate best known for being second in command to Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard. His name serves as the basis for the name of the villainous sidekick in Robert Louis Steven ...

) from a list of Blackbeard's crew which appeared in Johnson's book.

Authorship

The author, who uses the name Captain Charles Johnson, has remained unknown in spite of numerous attempts by historians to discover his identity.John Robert Moore ''Defoe in the Pillory, and Other Studies.'' pp. 126–141. New York: Octagon Books, 1973. In 1932, a literary scholar and writer named John Robert Moore posited that

Daniel Defoe Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, trader, journalist, pamphleteer and spy. He is most famous for his novel ''Robinson Crusoe'', published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its ...

be acknowledged the author of ''A General History''. Other sources, including a 2004 paper, suggest that the author could have been publisher

Nathaniel Mist Nathaniel Mist (died 30 September 1737) was an 18th-century British printer and journalist whose ''Mist's Weekly Journal'' was the central, most visible, and most explicit opposition newspaper to the whig administrations of Robert Walpole. Whe ...

(or somebody working for him). Author

Colin Woodard Colin Woodard (born December 3, 1968''Woodard, Colin 1968–'' In: ''Contemporary Authors'', Gale, 2008) is an American journalist and writer, known for his books '' American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America ...

, in ''The Republic of Pirates'', considers attribution of Johnson's work to Defoe to be erroneous, and prefers the hypothesis that Johnson was indeed Mist.

''A General History'' introduced many features which later became common in pirate literature, such as pirates with missing legs or eyes, the notion of pirates burying treasure, and the name of the pirate flag the

. The author specifically cites two pirates as having named their flag Jolly Roger (named after the first Pirate and his crew): Welsh pirate

Bartholomew Roberts ) , type=Pirate , birth_place = Casnewydd Bach, near Puncheston, Pembrokeshire, Wales, Kingdom of England , death_place = At sea off of Cape Lopez, Gabon , allegiance= , serviceyears=1719–1722 , base of operations= Off the coast of the Americ ...

in June 1721, and English pirate

Francis Spriggs Francis Spriggs (died 1725?) was a British pirate who, associated with George Lowther and Edward Low, was active in the Caribbean and the Bay of Honduras during the early 1720s. Early career Although much of his early life is unknown, Francis S ...

in December 1723.Charles Johnson (1724), ''A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates'', pp. 250, 411-12 The book gives an almost mythical status to the more colourful characters, such as the infamous English pirates

Blackbeard Edward Teach (alternatively spelled Edward Thatch, – 22 November 1718), better known as Blackbeard, was an English Piracy, pirate who operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of Britain's Thirteen Colonies, North American colon ...

and

Calico Jack John Rackham (26 December 168218 November 1720), commonly known as Calico Jack, was an English pirate captain operating in the Bahamas and in Cuba during the early 18th century. His nickname was derived from the calico clothing that he wore, whi ...

. It provides the standard account of the lives of many people still famous in the 21st century, and has influenced pirate literature of Scottish novelists

and

.
A general history of the robberies & murders of the most notorious pirates.
' Introduction, p. viii The book was released in two volumes. The first mostly deals with early 18th-century pirates, while Volume II records the exploits of their predecessors a few decades earlier. In the first volume, the author sticks fairly close to the available sources, though he embellishes the stories somewhat. He stretches the truth farther in the second volume and includes the biographies of three subjects who may be entirely fictional. The book has been hugely influential in shaping popular notions of piracy. The pirates profiled in Volume I are: *

Anne Bonny Anne Bonny (8 March 1697 – disappeared April 1721), sometimes Anne Bonney, was an Irish pirate operating in the Caribbean, and one of the few female pirates in recorded history. What little that is known of her life comes largely from Capta ...

* Bartholomew ("Black Bart") Roberts *

Calico Jack Rackham John Rackham (26 December 168218 November 1720), commonly known as Calico Jack, was an English pirate captain operating in the Bahamas and in Cuba during the early 18th century. His nickname was derived from the Calico (fabric), calico clothing t ...

Charles Vane Charles Vane (c. 1680 – 29 March 1721) was an English pirate who operated in the Bahamas during the end of the Golden Age of Piracy. Vane was likely born in the Kingdom of England around 1680. One of his first pirate ventures was under the l ...

Edward England Edward England ( –1721) was an Irish pirate. The ships he sailed on included the ''Pearl'' (which he renamed ''The Royal James'') and later the ''Fancy'', for which England exchanged the ''Pearl'' in 1720. His flag was the classic Joll ...

Edward Low Edward "Ned" Low (also spelled Lowe or Loe; 16901724) was a notorious pirate of English origin during the latter days of the Golden Age of Piracy, in the early 18th century. Low was born into poverty in Westminster, London, and was a thief from ...

e *

* George Lowther *

Henry Every Henry Every, also known as Henry Avery (20 August 1659after 1696), sometimes erroneously given as Jack Avery or John Avery, was an English pirate who operated in the Atlantic and Indian oceans in the mid-1690s. He probably used several aliases ...

Howell Davis Howell Davis (ca. 1690 – 19 June 1719), also known as Hywel and/or Davies, was a Welsh pirate. His piratical career lasted just 11 months, from 11 July 1718 to 19 June 1719, when he was ambushed and killed. His ships were the ''Cadogan'', ' ...

* James Martel * John Evans *

John Gow John Gow (c. 1698–11 June 1725) was a notorious pirate whose short career was immortalised by Charles Johnson in the 1725 work ''The History and Lives of All the Most Notorious Pirates and Their Crews''. Little is known of his life, except f ...

Mary Read Mary Read (1685 – 28 April 1721), also known as Mark Read, was an English pirate. She and Anne Bonny were two famous female pirates from the 18th century, and among the few women known to have been convicted of piracy at the height of the " ...

Richard Worley Richard Worley (died 1718/19) was a pirate who was active in the Caribbean Sea and the East Coast of the American Colonies during the early 18th century. Piracy He is first recorded leaving New York with a small boat and a crew of eight men ...

* Philip Roche *

Stede Bonnet Stede Bonnet (1688 – 10 December 1718) was an early 18th-century English/Barbadian pirate, also known as the Gentleman Pirate for the reason that he was a moderately wealthy landowner before turning to a life of crime. Bonnet was born in ...

* Thomas Anstis Volume II features: *

Christopher Condent Christopher Condent (fl. 1710s), born in Plymouth in Devon, was an English pirate who led the return to the Eastern Seas. Career Christopher Condent's real name is uncertain. He has been known under the surnames Condent, Congdon, Coudon, Connor o ...

* John Bowen * John Halsey * Nathaniel North *

Samuel Bellamy Captain Samuel Bellamy ( c. 23 February, 1689 – 26 April 1717), later known as "Black Sam" Bellamy, was an English sailor, turned pirate, who operated in the early 18th century. He is best known as the wealthiest pirate in recorded history, an ...

* Samuel Burgess * Thomas Howard *

Thomas Tew Thomas Tew (died September 1695), also known as the Rhode Island Pirate, was a 17th-century English privateer-turned-pirate. He embarked on two major pirate voyages and met a bloody death on the second, and he pioneered the route which became kn ...

William Fly William Fly (died 12 July 1726) was an English pirate who raided New England shipping fleets for three months in 1726 until he was captured by the crew of a seized ship. He was hanged in Boston, Massachusetts and his body publicly exhibited as a ...

William Kidd William Kidd, also known as Captain William Kidd or simply Captain Kidd ( – 23 May 1701), was a Scottish sea captain who was commissioned as a privateer and had experience as a pirate. He was tried and executed in London in 1701 for murder a ...

* David Williams as well as biographies of the probably fictional captains James Misson, William Lewis, and John Cornelius. File:Bonney, Anne (1697-1720).jpg,

from a Dutch version of Charles Johnson's book of pirates. File:Bbeard Sword.jpg, Edward Teach aka

, as engraved by Benjamin Cole in the 1724 edition File:Rackham, Jack.jpg,

1725 edition File:Every,Henry.JPG,

1725 edition File:HowellDavies.jpg,

1728 edition File:Bonnet.gif,

1725 edition

Notes

References

, ''Under the Black Flag: The Romance and Reality of Life Among the Pirates''. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1995. * Charles Johnson (1724),
A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates
', a copy on the website o
East Carolina University Digital Collections

External links

Volume I

* * ** Transcription: *

Volume II