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The Eighteenth Century -- Pirates
This book was first published by Oxford University Press in 1996.
The son of a clergyman, Nathan Gull is a pupil at a boarding school. One day he is summoned to the headmaster who tells him that his father has just died leaving behind a trail of debts. Nathan's fees for the last two terms have not been paid. Nathan has to leave the school at once.
While packing Nathan is set upon by a number of the school bullies. He is rescued by a senior pupil -- Tamo White who takes him to his private residence. Tamo is the son of a Madagascar pirate. His father had arranged for his son to be sent to England to be educated. Tamo had had three guardians but two of them are now dead. Tamo is sure he can persuade the third to take him back to Madagascar. He persuades Nathan to come with him. Nathan agrees and brings his sister Maud too.
They sail with Tamo's sole remaining guardian, a Captain Sheller. On the voyage they become friendly with the young navigator, Charles Hargreaves. When they arrive at Madagascar they discover the dreadful truth about Captain Sheller. He is a supplier to the pirates living on the island. Captain Sheller sells the navigator to the pirates. He intends to sell Maud too but Tamo, Nathan and Maud all manage to escape. They steal a boat and make their way to a village fifty miles down the coast where they stay and try to make a home. Rather surprisingly it is Maud who settles down the best. Nathan never accepts the primitive superstitions of the islanders. He realises that Madagascar is paradise but it is not his paradise. As for Tamo, he feels that he belongs nowhere, neither in England nor in Madagascar.
Then a pirate ship arrives in the bay and the pirates take over the village. The young navigator Charles Hargreaves is with them. So is Tamo's mother. The boys and Hargreaves are forced to help the pirates. They are told that they can never return to England because, if they do, they will hang in chains in Execution Dock. There is absolutely nothing romantic about these pirates. They are cruel and dissolute.
But Tamo and Maud both have an ingenious plan to rid the village of the pirates. Tamo's involves a hidden ship. An iron ship whose hull will never be eaten by worms, but a ship with design faults which are bound to cause its destruction. Maud's plan is even more startling. She turns the Madagascar festival of famadihana to her own use -- famadihana when the villagers dig up the bones of their ancestors and wash them and make the dead dance.
Do these plans succeed? Are the pirates driven from the village? Are Nathan, Maud, Tamo and Hargreaves able to return to England? Do they want to? We are given the answers -- and they are not all what we might expect.
This is a well researched and highly original story which moves at a good pace. It is well worth reading.
Geraldine McCaughrean got the idea for this book from a short note in Captain Charles Johnson's A General History of the … most notorious Pyrates … (1724). There mention is made of the pirate White who sent his son to England to be brought up in the Christian Religion, in hopes that he might live a better Man than his Father.
11+
Swashbuckling with a touch of romance.
1724. Nancy Kington is the daughter of a wealthy Bristol merchant. Then he loses most of his ships in a storm and is facing the ruination of his fortunes when he suddenly dies. His two sons arrange for Nancy to go out to his plantation in Jamaica and the younger son, Joseph, sails with her. Nancy is horrified by the cruelty she sees in Jamaica. She eventually makes friends with two of the slaves –– Minerva and her mother Phillis. She is warned by Joseph that she is being far too familiar but she is headstrong and ignores him. She does not realise that she is putting Phillis and Minerva in danger as Duke, the cruel overseer, is thinking of selling them.
Then Joseph tells her that she is to marry Bartholome, the rich but brutal owner of the neighbouring plantation. This is how Nancy can restore the family’s fortunes.
Then Nancy accidentally kills the overseer. With Minerva and Phillis she flees and joins a band of maroons –– or escaped slaves –– hiding in the mountains. Then Nancy and Minerva join a pirate crew and sail away from Jamaica. But Bartholome is determined to hunt Nancy down. Does he ever find her again?
And Bartholome is not Nancy’s only concern. Back in Bristol she had a childhood playmate, William. As they grew older their feelings for each other deepened until William left to go to sea. William is now a naval captain who is now hunting the pirates. What if he should capture the ship she is on?
From then on we follow Nancy and Minerva in their new life as pirates. We learn about going on the account and the pirates’ rules or laws and how each pirate had to sign the articles. There are details about the day to day shipboard routine. Sea battles are kept to a minimum and this book is not nearly as bloodthirsty as may be expected in a book about pirates. In fact from time to time the captain turned himself into an ordinary merchant and simply traded with his stolen goods.
The action is wide ranging from the Caribbean, up the eastern coast of America to New York, across the Atlantic to the Bight of Benin and finally to the pirate haven of Madagascar.
This book has been thoroughly researched and contains much detail about pirates. It also gives a good picture of the conditions the slaves lived in on the island of Jamaica. The author has given details of her sources on her own web site at www.celiarees.co.uk
Told in the first person by Nancy in the form of an account which she is about to take to Daniel Defoe. Which is a good way of emphasising that Defoe wrote a book which is a first class source about pirate life.
Young adult
It is 1716. Nine-year-old Jake Carpenter
is the son of a doctor but his father wants him to see something
of the world before beginning his medical studies. His uncle Will
is a seaman and it is agreed that Jake should go to sea with Will.
They journey to Charleston where they are to join a ship only
to find it has sailed early. But they are able to sign on aboard
another ship. Only when it is too late do they find that the captian
is a cruel and brutal man. But they just have to make the best
of it - and Jake still manages to keep a journal.
Jake sees over the ship, a brig, learns how to climb into a hammock
and makes friends with the ship's boy Abraham. He is assigned
as a helper to the carpenter but he has also to share in the general
running of the ship - washing down the decks and climbing the
mainmast.
Then the ship is attacked by pirates. The crew decide to join
the pirates - apart from the harsh captain and second mate who
are both marooned on an island.
So begins Jake's life as a pirate. A new captain is elected and
Jake copies out the ship's articles. They sail to a small island
where the ship is careened, take part in Henry Jennings' raid
on the Spanish salvage crew's camp and finally spend time in the
pirate colony on New Providence.
Then they hear of the amnesty for those who agree to take an oath
to give up piracy. Most of the crew agree to it and so ends Jake's
short career as a pirate.
This book is in A4 format. It is beautifully illustrated in colour
throughout and there are several full page spreads. The pictures
are both informative as in the case of the plan of the brig, and
amusing as with Jake's many facial expressions.
The story is both thrilling and fascinating but that is not all.
There are historical notes giving a brief history of piracy from
the Vikings to modern times. There is also a glossary and a note
on the historical sources.
The story may be about pirates' treasure but this book is in itself
something of a literary treasure. It may be for children but it
is so beautifully produced that it could also be enjoyed by many
adults.
Very highly recommended.
8+
This is the fourth book in the Magic Tree-House series.
Jack and Annie have found a tree-house in the woods near their home. It is filled with books. They know that if they open a book at a page with a picture, point to that picture and make a wish they will be taken back to that time in history. To get back home again they just have to find the book with the picture of their own home and wish to be back there.
This time it is a cold, wet day. They find a book with a picture of a sunny beach, a parrot in a palm tree and a ship on a blue sea. Always impulsive, Annie wishes to be there. Too late Jack sees the title of the book –– The Pirates of the Caribbean. They get captured by some fierce pirates led by Captain Bones and are taken aboard his ship. He thinks they can tell him where Captain Kidd’s treasure is hidden. Then Jack and Annie puzzle out the meaning of Captain Bones’ map. They all go back to the island and the pirates dig where the children tell them. But Captain Bones stands over them to make sure they do not escape. How are they going to get back to the tree house and home?
This book gives young readers a good introduction to pirates.. As well as the story this is done in two ways. Firstly by Jack reading out extracts from the book he has found and secondly by his habit of writing in his own notebook.
Children should enjoy the story and learn a lot from this book.
Illustrated in black and white throughout.
5-7
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