New York Times review:
That image you have in your mind of 17th-century pirates? Tattooed, gold-earringed guys swaggering about in thigh-hugging leather boots, clutching cutlasses between their teeth, glowering at the captives they send down the plank? Turns out it isn’t quite right. Though they did carry cutlasses — albeit not in their teeth — “none of them, it should be noted, wore boots — ever,” Keith Thomson tells us in BORN TO BE HANGED: The Epic Story of the Gentlemen Pirates Who Raided the South Seas, Rescued a Princess, and Stole a Fortune (Little, Brown, 371 pp., $15.99).
This is the larger-than-life tale of a raffish group of over 300 pirates, or buccaneers — most of them Englishmen — hired by an Indigenous leader in Panama in 1680 to rescue his granddaughter, who had been kidnapped by Spanish soldiers and was being held at their nearby garrison. The payment was the garrison’s gold, between 18,000 and 20,000 pounds of it, enough to set up each buccaneer for life. The buccaneers mulled it over (pirate crews, Thomson tells us, “were democracies ahead of their time, with egalitarian practices born both of their disdain for classism and their prior experiences at sea with whip-happy captains on exceedingly hierarchical European naval and merchant ships”) and took the job. It went so swimmingly that from there they went on to sack Panama City and then, for the next two years, thieved and murdered their way down the South American coast, loading up on gold, silver and gems while they coped with scurvy and skirmished with Spanish warships. They excelled at piracy but were inept in most other regards; primed by alcohol, dice games and a great deal of petty bickering, they almost did themselves in on more than one occasion.
Thomson does a fine job mining the historical record for all this swash and buckle. No fewer than seven of the buccaneers kept journals, from which he quotes liberally. What makes the book work, though, isn’t the research; it’s that it reads, quite literally, like a pirate novel.
Library Journal review:
⭑ Novelist Thomson (Once a Spy) follows a motley crew of English pirates on a voyage of plunder along the Pacific coast of South America in this rollicking historical account drawing on the contemporary journals of seven participants. Accepting a legally dubious “commission” from the chief of a local tribe, the 366 buccaneers—including naturalist William Dampier—trekked through the mountainous jungles of the Isthmus of Panama to rescue the chief’s captured granddaughter and raid the riches of Panama City. Spared the treacherous passage through the Straits of Magellan, the pirates proceeded to wreak havoc on Spanish ships and settlements throughout what were then known as the “South Seas,” scoring one improbable victory after another until stunned Spanish authorities finally fought back. Thomson fleshes out each audacious attack and narrow escape with wit and insight, delving into seafaring terminology and the customs of piracy as he relates the buccaneers’ brushes with mutinies, storms, and deadly flora and fauna. By focusing on the individuals who kept accounts of the adventure, Thomson humanizes the “Brethren of the Coast,” shedding light on their motivations, histories, and relationships.
VERDICT:
Every action-packed page is certain to thrill connoisseurs of piracy and seafaring history.
***
“It’s hard to believe that serious maritime history could be quite so fascinating and outrageously readable. Born to Be Hanged is one of those books you simply can’t put down, a true history of a band of buccaneers who embark on a two-year rampage along the Pacific coasts of Central and South America, undertaking a series of daring, insane, and bloody raids that are at times so improbable as to defy belief. This is a truly marvelous read and I highly recommend it.”—Douglas Preston, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Lost City of the Monkey God
***
“What a rollicking ride! Born to Be Hanged is serious narrative history delivered as gripping entertainment, with all the panache of an adventure novel. Keith Thomson unspools the excesses and escapades of the high seas in what we come to see is truly the Golden Age of Piracy. From the signing of the buccaneers’ initial charter to their life-or-death trial back in England two years later, I followed every battle, chase, and standoff with rapt attention. Thomson not only brings the seventeenth century to life in vivid detail; he weaves his humor and keen observations into the character studies of the pirates themselves. This book is a riveting historical delight not to be missed.”
—Keith O’Brien, author of the New York Times bestseller Fly Girls: How Five Daring Women Defied All Odds...
***
“Born to Be Hanged is swashbuckling narrative nonfiction at its best. Thomson skillfully weaves in the history and geopolitics of the period even as he puts the reader in the middle of an action-packed thriller that does not let up. By the end of this myth-busting, stranger-than-fiction tale, I wanted to raise a tankard of rum and toast the death-defying adventures of the greatest buccaneers of the seventeenth-century.”—James L. Swanson, author of the New York Times bestseller Manhunt: The Twelve-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer
***
“Born to Be Hanged is a thrilling tale of piracy in the South Seas, replete with pitched and bloody battles, treasure hoards, a daring rescue, violent storms, shifting allegiances, mutiny, and a dubious trial. It is full of so many fascinating details and surprising twists and turns that you will not want to put it down until the very end. A wonderful contribution to the history of piracy, and a welcome addition to every pirate lover's library.”—Eric Jay Dolin, bestselling author of Black Flags, Blue Waters: The Epic History of America’s Most Notorious Pirates
***
“Born to Be Hanged tells the dazzling true story of one of the brashest, riskiest, and all-out swashbucklingest pirating adventures ever attempted—a mission that takes an outmanned band of English buccaneers across one deadly jungle, over two oceans, through the heart of the Spanish Main, and into endless trouble. Along the way, they come upon plenty of treasure—and readers will, too.”—Miles Harvey, author of The King of Confidence
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