Overview

One hundred and fifty years ago the Royal Navy fought a daring campaign against ruthless pirates and won. On West African shores they killed 'The King of the Pirates', Bartholomew Roberts and captured his fleet. Scores of his men were executed by the Admiralty Court. On the Barbary Coast of North Africa pirates preyed on shipping in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic as they had done for centuries and they terrorised the populations of the coastal towns. To them, piracy was a way of life, and the great sea-powers of the day couldn't stop them. Then, in one of the most remarkable - and neglected - anti-piracy operations in maritime history, the Royal Navy confronted them, defeated them and made the seas safe for trade. This is the subject of Graham A. Thomas's compelling new study of one of the most pernicious episodes in the history of African piracy. As he tells this compelling story, he uncovers the long tradition of piracy and privateering along the African shore. Vividly he describes attacks not only in the Mediterranean but also on the other side of the continent, along the shores of West Africa and around Madagascar. But perhaps the most telling sections of his narrative concern critical engagements that stand out from the story - the daring rescue of the British merchant ship The Three Sisters by HMS Polyphemus in 1848 and the actions of the battleship HMS Prometheus against the Rif pirates a few years later. His account is based on documents held at the National Archives and other original sources. It gives a fascinating inside view into the way in which the Royal Navy responded to the menace of piracy in the nineteenth century. AUTHOR: Graham A Thomas is an author and a historian.

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9781399013567

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The author reveals the broad brushstrokes of the operation, as well as several of its most notable clashes... -- Military Heritage Magazine Especially in looking at Barbary and the Rif, Thomas objectively presents the Navy's challenges, constraints, successes, and failures. -- Naval Historical Foundation

Especially in looking at Barbary and the Rif, Thomas objectively presents the Navy's challenges, constraints, successes, and failures. -- Naval Historical Foundation

Author Information

GRAHAM A. THOMAS is a historian specialising in British naval and maritime history in the eighteenth century. He has also written on aerial warfare in the Second World War and Korea. He works as an information officer for Defence Equipment and Support Information Systems Services and formerly he was chief reporter for the Ministry of Defences magazine Focus. His most recent publications include Pirate Hunter: The Life of Captain Woodes Rogers and, with Craig Cabell and Allan Richards, Captain Kidd: The Hunt for the Truth.

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