Buccaneers of the Caribbean
Jon Latimer

Buccaneers of the Caribbean

The term ‘buccaneer’ is often used synonymously with ‘pirate’, and has become associated with the trappings of pirate living - skull and crossbones, pieces of eight and buried treasure, ‘yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum’. But buccaneers and pirates were not the same; though many acts of the buccaneers were indeed piratical, they operated on very different terms to the pirates of the later, so-called ‘Golden Age’ of the eighteenth century. Seventeenth century buccaneers were privateers. They were licensed to attack the Spanish as instruments of policy by the governments of England, France and Holland, and as such they helped to create the basis of three new empires. Thus they had huge historical significance, going far beyond that of the merely criminal pirates that followed them. Buccaneers of the Caribbeanwillfill an important gap in our understanding of a unique development in imperial history, providing the first complete account of these early sea-marauders since Clarence H. Haring in 1910. It will draw on a considerable body of material never incorporated into a popular account of the period, including Dutch, Spanish and French sources, and told through the eyes of sailors, soldiers, and ordinary people of the period, using personal letters, diaries and memoirs. A must-have book for all maritime buffs and armchair adventurers!

Book Details:

  • Author: Jon Latimer
  • On Submission
  • Rights Sold
    • UK: Weidenfeld
    • US: Harvard University Press
Jon Latimer

Jon Latimer

Jon Latimer was born in Prestatyn, Flintshire in 1964. He attended Swansea University in 1982, ostensibly to study Geography, but love of the sea meant that he left with a degree in Oceanography instead. He then enjoyed a varied and interesting career working as an oceanographer and environmental scientist.Jon also served in the Territorial Army for sixteen years. Commissioned in The Royal Welch Fusiliers he served with the 1st and 3rd Battalions and with 4th Battalion, Royal Regiment of Wales, as well as on attachment with 1/15th Royal New South Wales Lancers and with the staff of 4th Armo...
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Book Reviews

  • "…a comprehensive and often compelling alternative to the Pugwash/Jack Sparrow school of buccaneering…this excellent book. Latimer is good on the political and economic history of colonialism – his book’s subtitle is How Piracy Forged an Empire – but he is at his best when describing the set-piece assaults against mainland colonies like Panama, Porto Belo and Campeche. His account of the English attack on Maracaibo had me on the edge of my seat."
    Literary Review