Of course the "Real Story" of Piracy is much different! Or is it? Most of the historical accounts on piracy can be traced back to one or two sources, Primarily Defoe's work titled A General History of Pyracy. Defoe is probably more famous for his book Robinson Crusoe.
Defoe treatise on piracy is suspect at best. His General History was written for consumption in the daily news papers of London. It was not a scholarly work by any stretch. Most of his sources were never verified and it is quite possible that some of his stories are embellished to say the least. For instance, Bartholomew Roberts is often credited with plundering over 400 ships, yet he was pirate for a mere four years. If you do the math, it means he was plundering a ship every 3 or 4 days. This is not a remarkable feat, its an impossible feat.
The same can be said of the two female pirates Mary Read and Anne Bonny. For the most part they are minor players in the world of piracy, yet somehow over two hundred years later we have histories of their early childhood. In many ways we know more about these two women than we do Sir Henry Morgan (No they weren't lesbians, so stop asking).
The problem is it is hard to separate the myth from fact and perhpas it is best if we don't try too hard and let these legends live on with as much color and dash that they can possess.
With this in mind, let's take a look at some of the wonderous tales of these most dangerous Pirates.
