David Cordingly

In "Seafaring Women," David Cordingly respectfully breaks down the stereotypes surrounding women in the maritime world. Both in literature and media, women have been portrayed as either vulgar, diseased virago types who work the docks or delicate, romantic, mournful ladies who wait for their men to return home. To counter this, Cordingly examines the Navy and merchants of Great Britain and America, specifically Boston and New York. As a result, the reality is that maritime women could be show more wives and prostitutes, trying to make ends meet, and still miss their husbands just as much. Women often took over their husband's shops and signed in their husband's name. Sometimes a sister or wife would be forced to take charge if a man returned broken and beaten by the sea. Men and women missed each other deeply, and excerpts from various letters are quite moving. The poorest of society weren't without feelings!

I enjoyed this more than Cordingly's "Under the Black Flag," in fact, I read several dramatic of the harrowing stories included out loud to my fiancé. The four star, instead of five, is only because two chapters focused on the love life of Admiral Nelson and John Paul Jones, which seemed out of place. Emma Hamilton was included of course, but their stories didn't quite fit the theme at the end. However, the book does cover every kind of woman at sea, by the sea, or related to the sea. Dockyard prostitutes, sailors' wives, whalers' wives, captains' wives, native women, female pirates and even lighthouse women! The latter was especially interesting to me, and Cordingly's enthusiasm makes it one of the best chapters. Narratively, this one was so much better than his "Under the Black Flag" because each chapter has a theme rather than enforcing a chronological order. This aspect of women's history is often overlooked, so I appreciated Cordingly's research! show less

This is the second non-fiction book in my entire life that I’ve reread. And, like Rebecca’s Revival, I enjoyed it just as much the second time!

Pirates are a fascinating topic for me – the highwaymen of the seas, they were cruel and barbarous in reality but have been romanticized in fiction. When I first read Under the Black Flag, it was during the running of Black Sails (which I maintain is a completely excellent series and worth watching even now, five years after cancellation). show more I’ve always been fascinated with pirates and generally any nautical fiction, so finding a solid non-fiction book about pirates served as equally entertaining and educational for me. There aren’t a lot of non-fiction books about pirates out there, so if you are curious to learn more about the real vagabonds of the seas, David Cordingly’s Under the Black Flag is about the best you’re going to get.

I don’t say that out of resignation. This book has an easy flow, memorable characters, and just enough high seas adventure to make the reader forget at times that it’s a non-fiction narrative. The research references are woven in carefully as to not interrupt the flow. It’s full of fascinating information while also comparing fictional pirates to real men. And, not once, does Cordingly romanticism pirates. In fact, there’s a section at the end where he reminds the reader piracy is not a thing of the past and is a desperate, gruesome, violent act. You get the impression that Cordingly is trying to ground his readers – there are far more Bluebeards than Jack Sparrows. Also worth noting: Under the Black Flag was published before Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean movie series, so there are no references or comparisons to that.

Cordingly pays attention to both male and female pirates, but his demographics lean heavily toward Caribbean pirates and those around the African continent than he does the ones in the Mediterranean. Under the Black Flag is a short book – 244 pages before you reach the extensive appendices – so it’s possible he wished to focus on the more known pirates. Although the subheading speaks of nonfiction vs. fiction pirates, there’s much more information about Captain Kidd and Jack Rackham than Captain Hook and Long John Silver. Personally, I prefer this, but some readers may be disappointed.

Otherwise, my only criticism is the heavy reliance on Captain Johnson’s A General History of Pyrates – this nonfiction early work is referenced frequently. It’s always ideal to go back to primary sources and while Cordingly does this as well, Captain Johnson’s collection features heavily. That said, it also appears there’s a very limited amount of firsthand information available, save the handful of testimonies of crew members and (prejudiced) seamen hunting the pirates and the odd ship’s log, journal, or such. Like ancient Greek history, it’s challenging to know the exactitude of events when you’re relying on the perspective of one man, and so it seems Captain Johnson is our Homer of pirate history.

With all that said, I genuinely, truly enjoy this book. Both times I read it, I’ve come out retaining so much more historical information. I really, really want to write a book about Anne Bonny or Grace O’Malley. And I still find the individual pirates utterly fascinating, to see what drove them to take up piracy in the first place. Under the Black Flag gives you so many stories and so much history in a very accessible format. Even though I’ve read it twice, I’m quite certain I’ll be digging into this book again to review pirate history. show less

David Cordingly was a curator at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich for twelve years and was responsible for their 1992 exhibition Pirates: Fact and Fiction, which proved to be so popular that (rather than the planned run of four months) it stayed open for three years. As the public appetite for pirates was evidently so strong, he was invited to write a book on the back of the exhibition. Life Among The Pirates is lively and easy to read, and sets out to explore the gulf between the show more popular perception of pirates and the harsh reality, stretching from the Elizabethan privateers in the Spanish Main to the nineteenth-century Chinese pirates under the command of the savvy former courtesan Mrs Cheng. It’s a great introduction to the subject and has left me burning to finally read Treasure Island...

For the full review, please see my blog:
https://theidlewoman.net/2013/06/15/life-among-the-pirates-the-romance-and-the-r... show less

"Under the Black Flag" by David Cordingly is a great overview of the most legendary exploits and infamous lives in the great annals of pirate history. He opens with the most well-known of the fictional pirates, namely Captain Hook and Long John Silver, before diving into privateers and buccaneers of early piracy. Here Cordingly focuses on Sir Francis Drake and Sir Henry Morgan. Morgan was certainly the most successful, becoming commander of the Jamaican fleet against the Spanish. From these show more two we learn of the unimaginable wealth that was being transferred from the New World back to Spain; wealth built on slavery and colonization, and every pirate wanted a piece of it. Cordingly goes on to cover the lives of Calico Jack, Anne Bonny, Mary Read, Bellamy, Roberts, Avery, Vane and others.

I'm conflicted though. It offered lots of new information, but the premise of "the romance" of piracy wasn't there. Where did the idea of the jolly pirate come from? Sir Henry Morgan insisted that he was the son of a gentleman, creating his own romantic past, but Cordingly doesn't expand on this point. Anne Bonny and Mary Read definitely gained their romantic status but one that is distinctively theirs, not a reflection on pirates as a whole. Though props to Cordingly for including French pirates in this one! He acknowledges that it was actually French corsairs like Jean Fleury, Francois le Clerc, and Francis L'Ollonais, "who led the attacks on Spanish treasure ships." The French made an appearance several times which was refreshing. He also mentions other seafaring women, mainly Mary Ann Talbot, Hannah Snell, and Cheng Shih! However, I struggled to find the connection between them all besides a history of general piracy. I'm afraid the reader must draw their own conclusions. Still, I took a lot of notes! He's definitely the expert! show less