Outlaws of the Atlantic: Sailors, Pirates, and Motley Crews in the Age of Sail

With a keen eye for interesting characters, historian Rediker (The Amistad Rebellion) delivers a brisk narrative about the “ordinary” men who traversed the Atlantic interlocking networks of empire and early capitalism. Edward Barlow, who went to sea in the mid-1600s at age 13, represents the Englishmen who chose to earn a living aboard ship. Henry Pitman, on the other hand, was forced into his seafaring adventures, having been sentenced to servitude in Barbados in 1685 as punishment for a political crime. He escaped by boat, encountering pirates and indigenous Americans on his journey home. But pirates, disruptive sailors, and unwilling passengers are the real stars. During the early 1700s, pirates threatened the stability of Britain’s empire, seizing property and damaging international trade. In the late 18th-century, sailors played a major role in the American Revolution, particularly in raising awareness of the horrors of Royal Navy press gangs. Meanwhile, African slaves regarded ships as locations of resistance, fomenting uprisings as they tried to destroy the lucrative slave trade (the dramatic 1839 Amistad case actually hinged less on slavery than on legal definitions of piracy). As Rediker’s nifty book demonstrates, on the high seas there was a fine line between hero and criminal. Illus. (Aug.)