Pillaging the villages. Walking the plank. Peg legs, parrots and swashbuckling. Pirates are known for many things; author Colin Woodard wants democracy to be one of them.
"The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down," the latest book by the Maine-based author, was released this week. It spins a fact-based tale of a collection of pirate captains — including Edward "Blackbeard" Teach and "Black Sam" Bellamy — who established a crude form of government in the Bahamas during the eighteenth century.
"Even saying government is probably a little bit too strong a term for it," said Woodard. "It was a social revolt of some sort. In the consciousness of these people, they were rebelling against the ship owners and the merchants who’d made their lives horrible. Brutal discipline, being cheated out of your money, a lot of people being kidnapped to serve on these vessels."
Woodard’s book explains how this fragile democracy came about, and why the pirates who populated it were actually better suited for such organization than their legends would have us believe.
"Within their own ship, they had to be organized. You can’t sail a large vessel with anarchy," he said. "All of these pirates were sailors or mariners. There were rules, so they were extended to this pirate republic. There was no ruler per se, but there was an extension of the rules of the ship where they could elect or depose their captains."
Blackbeard, for example, was enormously charismatic — a pirate, and a bit of a politician. "If you were going to be voted captain of the vessel, you had to be charismatic and all the other romantic things associated with that," said Woodard.
Explaining the unappreciated professionalism of a pirate crew is one of many myth-busting opportunities Woodard capitalizes on in his book. "It dispels some myths but strangely enough confirms some unlikely ones. They were partying hard and drinking and all that other stuff; but they were also coherently organized when they needed to conduct some incredibly strategic attacks," he said. "I think most crews that were successful were able to do both."
WOODARD WILL discuss "The Republic of Pirates" on Thursday, May 17 at 7 p.m. at Olsson's Books & Records-Old Town, 106 S. Union St. He’s getting strong early press for the book, including an appearance on NPR. "It’s a good read and it’s historically accurate, but it’s a page-turner," he said.
Woodard first began thinking about his pirates book while researching "The Lobster Coast," a best-selling book in New England about coastal Maine. He wanted an opportunity to explore the fascinating stories of the Colonial period; pirates, he thought, were a perfect entry point for those stories and for a mass audience.
He began poring over documents that hadn’t been scrutinized by too many other authors over the last few decades. "I went to the National Archives in Britain and read captain’s logs of the captains that were pursuing them and governor’s letters and customs books that survived. I was able to go back in some cases and find descriptions of vessels and match them up," he said.
The descriptions he found were vivid and detailed, to the point where he was able to rely on weather reports by ship captains to set scenes in his book.
Beyond the concept of a pirate democracy, Woodard said his book also explores the surprising civility of the pirates.
"Many of them were blood-thirsty sociopaths, but a lot of them were remarkably discrete in their use of force," he said. "There’s no evidence that Blackbeard ever killed anybody prior to his final battle to the death with the royal navy. The captains would report that the pirates treated them very civilly."
One thing that hasn’t changed is the pirates’ place within popular culture. Even back in the eighteenth century, it was clear that these pirates had cult followings amongst the citizens — to the point where authorities were perturbed by it. "You read the letters, and these guys were folk heroes for the common people at the time," he said.
Sort of how one Capt. Jack Sparrow has become a mythic folk hero for millions of young swashbucklers. Speaking of which: Was Woodard aware that Disney was releasing its third "Pirates of the Caribbean" film less than a month after his book is published?
"You don’t say?" Woodard said wryly, acknowledging that his book’s release date was moved up from the summer to the spring.