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
terrorized the populations of the coastal towns. To them, piracy was a
way of life, and the great sea-powers of the day couldnt 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. Thomass 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.
