Benerson Little

Forthcoming December 2010: How History's Greatest Pirates Pillaged, Plundered, and Got Away With It: The Stories, Techniques, and Tactics of the Most Feared Sea Rovers from 1500-1800. Fair Winds Press. Narrative history based on detailed research, with an emphasis on tactics and "how they did it." Follow thirteen infamous pirates in detail as they raid major ships and pillage coastal villages!

Article in Issue 14 of Pirates Magazine, "In Defense of Alexandre Exquemelin."

Forthcoming September 2010: Pirate Hunting: The Fight Against Pirates, Privateers, and Sea Raiders from Antiquity to the Present. Potomac Books. A serious, detailed look throughout history at how to catch a predator on the high seas. The book's table of contents, preface, and press kit are posted on the publisher's website.

Notes and errata for both The Sea Rover's Practice and The Buccaneer's Realm updated.

Article in issue 13 of Pirates Magazine, on pirate language real and imagined: "The Language of Pirates."

A supplementary note in advance: regarding Isla de Muerto in the Bay of Guayaquil, an island more commonly known in the 17th century as Santa Clara, the name derives from its shape. Some of the Hacke copies of the famous captured Spanish derrotero or chart book note that the island "at a distance apears like a corps in a shroud” and "like the corps of a man in a shroud." Buccaneer adventurer William Dampier also noted that "it appears like a dead Man stretched out in a Shroud." From this would derive not only the island’s nickname, but also the myth that buccaneers massacred some of a Spanish treasure ship's crew there. In fact, the buccaneers never saw the ship. See the August 12, 2010 "Pieces of Eight" entry on the Commentary & News page for more information about the treasure ship.

Article, "The Origin of the Dread Pirate Banner, the Jolly Roger," in Pirates Magazine, available in bookstores and on newsstands. Ever wonder what the real origin of the Jolly Roger might be, beyond the usual theories? Just a hint: "Roger" had more meanings than just the usual ones given...

Regarding a brief note in the article, in which I suggested that the skull and bones may have a Barbary corsair origin, I ran across an early seventeenth century account, posted on the Internet, that noted the death's head among Barbary rovers, earlier than the early eighteenth century depiction I mentioned in the article. Unfortunately, I can't locate the URL, but will post it as soon as I find it. In the meantime, here's an online article from the British Telegraph about the restoration of a real pirate flag.

While working on chapters on Bartholomew Roberts and Edward Low for How History's Greatest Pirates..., I took a more detailed look at their flags. Low, Spriggs, and Harris flew identical flags, perhaps because they had sailed together (and I suspect Russel flew the same flag as well), and one of Roberts's flags seems to have been the foundation. We know that Spriggs and Roberts referred to their flags as the Jolly Roger, and Harris as "Old Roger." However, I am beginning to think that "Roger" was the common name for the "death"--the full figure of a skeleton--used on the flags, and thus for the flags themselves. It's easy to see a pirate responding telling a captured seamen or even his own captors that his flag is "Old Roger" or "Jolly Roger," for reasons I explain in the article. Hopefully soon I'll have depictions, based on actual descriptions, of many of these flags on the Pirate Hunting and How History's Greatest Pirates... pages.

Lectured on "Piracy as a Business Enterprise" (and for a few minutes on piracy in general) for the Huntsville Affiliate of the Institute of Supply Management (ISM) on February 11, 2010. My thanks to all for the warm reception.

Lectured on "Piracy from Antiquity to the Present Day" on February 3, 2010, at the University of Alabama in Huntsville Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. My thanks to Eleanor Carter and the OLLI for inviting me.

Gale Cengage Learning/​Greehaven Press, January 2010: an article comparing and, especially, contrasting piracy and terrorism, in Piracy on the High Seas (At Issue Series), edited by Noah Berlatsky. Table of contents link.

St. Lucie County TV: lecture on piracy given at the National Navy UDT-SEAL museum in September will be aired in January 2010, and will also be available for viewing online. My thanks to Mike Claus and the staff of St. Lucie County TV.

Spoke on November 19 in Huntsville, Alabama at J H Partners, an architecture firm with the excellent, even Renaissance, habit of inviting speakers not in any way associated with the firm's business or purpose. My thanks to Kathleen Maker and the entire staff of J H Partners.

Lectured on piracy and pirate hunting at the National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum, Ft. Pierce, Florida on September 17. Both the audience and museum staff and volunteers were extraordinarily receptive, and have my utmost gratitude. The museum now houses the Maersk Alabama lifeboat, complete with bullet holes, in which Capt. Richard Philips was held hostage. Formal unveiling was September 14. A link to the museum is located in the right column.

Short article previewing the lecture, in the Vero Beach Press-Journal and TCPALM (Florida's Treasure Coast and Palm Beaches). Online video of the lecture available via St. Lucie County television.

The Sea Rover's Practice was reviewed on strategypage.com. Noteworthy is the point that SEAL Team experience brings a certain insight into pirate tactics, and that this experience coupled with the study of piracy may suggest solutions to the modern scourge of the sea, the Somali pirates. The review is available here and at NavySEALs.com. Excerpts of this and other reviews are available on The Sea Rover's Practice page.

"Scimitars, Swivel Guns, & Firepots: Digging for Pirates in Denmark," part two, published in No Quarter Given.

Piracy News and commentary separated from the Commentary page. Links to each are posted in the index at the top of the page.

The Sea Rover's Practice is now available in an Amazon.com Kindle edition.

The Sea Rover's Practice is discussed in a Washington ProFile article on modern piracy. The link is to the Russian version (an English version will be linked if and when available). A version translated by Google into English is available here under the title "Algorithms filibuster," and may also be accessed directly via Washington ProFile's website. Washington ProFile is a much reprinted Russian language Internet newspaper with a readership in the tens of millions.

December 16. Guest post on the subject of piracy versus terrorism on MountainRunner, a blog on public diplomacy and strategic communication. See also my commentary posts of October 7 and 19.

Nov-Dec. Provided technical advice on pirate weapons and tactics for an episode of the forthcoming Deadliest Warrior series on Spike TV.

Commentary section added to website.

"Scimitars, Swivel Guns, & Firepots: Digging for Pirates in Denmark," part one, published in No Quarter Given.

Author signed books at the Southern Kentucky (SOKY) Book Festival, April 19, 2008, and appeared on the "Murderous Queens, A Lost Continent, & Swashbuckling Pirates: Truth & Fiction in History" panel with authors David King, Robert A. Prather, and Robert McCammon. Mr. King is the author of Finding Atlantis and Vienna 1814, Mr. Prather of The Strange Case of Jonathan Swift and the Real Long John Silver, and Mr. McCammon of horror novels including Boy's Life, as well as the recent historical mysteries Speaks the Nightbird and The Queen of Bedlam.

Monthly (or mostly so) newsletter "News of Ships, Sailors, and the Sea" begun. Click on Sea News above to sign up or read past issues.

The Buccaneer's Realm: Pirate Life on the Spanish Main, 1674-1688 is available in hardcover by Potomac Books. Check bookstores, the publisher's website, or click on the FetchBook or BookFinder links for a list of online stores stocking The Buccaneer's Realm and The Sea Rover's Practice.

Author featured in a Huntsville Times article (September 20) by Ann Marie Martin.

Author discusses pirate tactics in The History Channel's "Pirates: Terror on the Mediterranean" episode of Digging for the Truth. The episode, originally intended as a two hour season opener, was moved to a slot later in the season, apparently due to the dropping of one of the hosts, which in turn required some footage to be re-shot. Unfortunately, this resulted in the episode being cut in half, leaving most of the Denmark footage, which included detailed demonstrations of swordplay, a swivel cannon, and incendiary firepots, on the floor.

The Sea Rover's Practice: Pirate Tactics and Techniques, 1630-1730 is available in trade paperback.

Author featured in The History Channel's documentary, True Caribbean Pirates.

"Tidewater Places and Pirates: A Visit to Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown" published in No Quarter Given.

"Close Fights at Sea: Boarding Ship-to-Ship 1630-1730" and "A Brief Note on Powder Chests" published in No Quarter Given.

The Sea Rover's Practice: Pirate Tactics and Techniques, 1630-1730 is published in hardcover by Potomac Books.