Maritime History & Piracy

The mutiny on HMS Bounty, in the South Pacific on 28 April 1789, is one of history's truly great stories - a tale of human drama, intrigue and adventure of the highest order - and in the hands of Peter FitzSimons it comes to life as never before. Commissioned by the Royal Navy to collect breadfruit plants from Tahiti and take them to the West Indies, the Bounty's crew found themselves in a tropical paradise. Five months later, they did not want to leave.

In 1768 Captain James Cook and his crew set out on a small British naval vessel in search of a missing continent....

“Thoroughly engrossing . . . a spirited, suspenseful, economically told tale whose significance is manifest and whose pace never flags.” —The Wall Street Journal From The New York Times–bestselling author of The Ghost Map and Extra Life, the story of a pirate who changed the world...

The Shipwreck Hunter chronicles David L. Mearns' most intriguing finds. It describes the extraordinary techniques used, the detailed research, and the courage required to find a wreck thousands of feet beneath the sea, plus the moving human stories that lie behind these tragedies....

Everyone knows the story of the Titanic, but in terms of loss of life that catastrophe doesn't even figure as one of the 50 worst maritime disasters of the last three hundred years....

Set against the backdrop of the Age of Exploration, Black Flags, Blue Waters reveals the dramatic and surprising history of American piracy's "Golden Age" - spanning the late 1600s through the early 1700s - when lawless pirates plied the coastal waters of North America and beyond....

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY CHICAGO TRIBUNE A thrilling adventure of danger and deep-sea diving, historic mystery and suspense, by the author of Shadow Divers Finding and identifying a pirate ship is the hardest thing to do under the sea. But...

New York Times Best Seller “Gripping…this yarn has it all.” (USA Today) “A wonderful book.” (Christian Science Monitor) “Enthralling.” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) “A must-read.” (Booklist, starred review) A human drama unlike any other - the riveting and...

The story of the 16th-century’s epic contest for the spice trade, which propelled European maritime exploration and conquest across Asia and the Pacific.

Between 1606 and 1688, while the British had their hands full with the Gunpowder Plot and the English Civil War, it was highly skilled Dutch seafarers who mapped the land masses....

Frequently depicted as “Scandinavian scavengers”, warlike pirates, raiders, and invaders, the Vikings have lately surfaced from the depths of history to become pop culture’s most adored ruffians. For Prof. Fee, this recent craze for all things Viking is a mixed blessing....

Sean Kingsley and Rex Cowan tell the incredible story of the “Robin Hood of the Seas,” who absconded with millions during the Golden Age of Piracy and who harbored an even greater secret.

A century before Britain became involved in this terrible business, whole villages and towns in England, Ireland, Italy, Spain, and other European countries were being depopulated by slavers, who transported the men, women, and children to Africa, where they were sold....

A brilliant telling of the history of the common seaman in the age of sail and his role in Britain's trade, exploration, and warfare....

So Others May Live: Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers: Saving Lives, Defying Death is the award-winning untold story of the US Coast Guard's quiet but resolute rescue swimmers....

Immerse yourself in the captivating history of these magnificent vessels, and let Boro transport you to a time when ambition ran deep in the hearts of men. This meticulously researched book begins with the vision and the historical context that led to the inception of the Olympic-class ocean liners.

The growth of piracy led to a major surge in attacks in the Caribbean and along North America’s Atlantic seaboard. With the fragile maritime economy of the Americas threatened with collapse, major ports were threatened and trade brought to a standstill, the British government finally declared war.

In this grand and thrilling narrative, the acclaimed biographer of Magellan, Columbus, and Marco Polo brings alive the singular life and adventures of Sir Francis Drake, the pirate/explorer/admiral whose mastery of the seas during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I changed the course of history...

The Royal Navy to which Admiral Lord Nelson sacrificed his life depended on thousands of sailors and marines to man the great wind-powered wooden warships....

In The Dutch Moment, Wim Klooster shows how the Dutch built and eventually lost an Atlantic empire that stretched from the homeland in the United Provinces to the Hudson River and from Brazil and the Caribbean to the African Gold Coast....

The true, harrowing story of the ill-fated 1913 Canadian Arctic Expedition and the two men who came to define it....

It is impossible to understand our world today without understanding the last 100 years of Middle Eastern history. The history of the region in the 20th century is so varied and complex that it defies easy explanations....

After rewriting history with their discovery of a Nazi U-boat off the coast of New Jersey, legendary divers John Chatterton and Richie Kohler decided to investigate the great enduring mystery of history's most notorious shipwreck: Why did Titanic sink as quickly as it did? To answer the question...

In the tradition of Erik Larson's Dead Wake comes The Last Voyage of the Andrea Doria, about the sinking of the glamorous Italian ocean liner....

Discover the “fascinating and outrageously readable” account of the roguish acts of the first pirates to raid the Pacific in a crusade that ended in a sensational trial back in England—perfect for readers of Nathaniel Philbrick and David McCullough (Douglas Preston, #1 New York Times...

In the summer of 2023, the entire world fixated on a single news story that captured every headline on every media outlet: the search and rescue operation for OceanGate's Titan research submersible and the ultimate tragic fate of its five crew members. The media frenzy was fueled by many captivating storylines, but its primary focus was the villain at the center of it all, Stockton Rush: cofounder and CEO of OceanGate, and the ill-fated vessel's pilot and designer.

Beneath the Waves: A Global History of Diving is the ultimate deep dive into humankind’s relationship with the ocean—from ancient pearl divers to modern saturation missions and scuba exploration. Blending compelling storytelling, first-hand accounts, and over 2,000 years of history, Oliver Greyson takes listeners on a sweeping, global journey beneath the surface of our world’s waters.

Top 10 Pirate Myths takes you beyond the Hollywood sparkle and storybook charm to uncover the surprising truths behind history’s most misunderstood outlaws. Drawing on real historical records, maritime journals, and eyewitness accounts, Jasmine Dyggan separates fact from fantasy and reveals the remarkable human stories buried beneath centuries of myth.

Durante muchos años, la literatura, y ahora los medios de comunicación, han transmitido una imagen de la piratería que poco o nada tiene que ver con la realidad. En estas páginas, Javier Martínez-Pinna ha sometido a crítica esta visión para mostrarnos las atrocidades perpetradas por estos monstruos (Henry Morgan, El Olonés, Roque el Brasileño o Barbanegra) que hicieron del asesinato, la tortura y el crimen su forma de vida más característica.

In the early decades of the sixteenth century, mariners from across Europe forged a vast seasonal fishery along the coasts of the northwest Atlantic. Long before there was Newfoundland or Canada, Europeans called this floating colony Terra Nova, and they laid the foundation for a history of extracting food and fuel that extended into the twentieth century. Once one of the largest European colonies in the Atlantic basin, Terra Nova has never before been considered in its historical entirety or in a wider Atlantic context.