The Pirate Who Stole Scotland - William Dampier

The Pirate Who Stole Scotland - William Dampier written by Leon Hopkins and published by Pen & Sword Books - £25 - Hardback - Pages 228

Economic warfare is not a new phenomenon. In the protectionist climate of the

seventeenth century, trade embargoes, exclusions and boycotts were common.

England was among the most active nations when it came to using economic clout to get its own way. It did so to force Scotland to accept an Act of Union: to submerge its independence within a United Kingdom governed from London.

Instrumental in this attack upon the Scots was William Dampier, the principal subject of this book. He was an extraordinary man. A farmer’s son, he became the most travelled man of his generation. He was a pirate, a brute and a devious sociopath. But he was also a scientist and a talented writer who gave his readers accurate descriptions of previously unknown places, peoples, plants and animals. He was a daring explorer and an expert navigator who mapped coastlines and logged wind patterns and ocean currents. He led the first Royal Navy expedition to Australia, over 70 years before Captain Cook’s arrival.

Dampier’s writing made him famous, but not rich. It allowed him to rub shoulders with the leading men of his day; scientists such as Robert Hooke, Edmund Halley and Hans Sloane, businessmen such as Sir John Houblon (first governor of the Bank of England) and William Paterson, politicians such as James Vernon and Charles Montagu (first Earl of Halifax), and Admiralty men such as Admiral Sir George Rooke and Samuel Pepys.

And Dampier was in the pay of the English Government; an agent known to Queen Anne, in which capacity he engineered a financial disaster and political drubbing for Scotland.

William Dampier was a name I had heard of before, but had never really paid much attention to, but what a character, a man who seemed to have met everyone and done everything. Pirate, Financier, Scientist, Writer and much more. The book reveals his need to prosper, someone who was always trying to find that new thing or success that would improve his standing in society. My thought from reading this book was that he may not get the recognition he might deserve purely because many would see him as anti-Scotland, as so much money was put into various schemes that more or less forced Scotland into being a part of the Union. The writer has done a really good job in gaining what information he could find, and has helped write a clear book that has been made easier to read and understand. A really interesting book about a figure in history that should get more attention than he has.

The Pirate Captain Ned Low His Life & Mysterious Fate

The Pirate Captain Ned Low His Life & Mysterious Fate written by

Dr Nicky Nielson and published by Pen & Sword Books - £20 - Hardback - Pages 224

Edward ‘Ned’ Low’s career in piracy began with a single gunshot. While working on

a logging ship in the Bay of Honduras the quick-tempered Ned was provoked by the

ship’s captain. He responded by grabbing a musket and inciting a mutiny. Then the

London-born sailor and a dozen of his crewmates held a council, stitched a black

flag and voted to make war against the whole world preying on ships from any nation,

flying any flag. Low’s name became synonymous with brutality and torture during the

1720s as he cut a swathe of destruction from the shores of Nova Scotia to the Azores,

the coast of Africa and throughout the Caribbean. Ned Low’s life was one of failed

redemption: a thief from childhood who briefly rose in the world after moving to America,

only to fall again lower and harder than before. He was feared even by his own crew,

and during his life on the wrong side of the law he became infamous for his extreme

violence, fatalistic behaviour, and became perhaps one of the best examples of why

pirates were classed in Admiralty Law as hostis humani generis: the common enemies

of all mankind.

This book follows the life of Captain Ned Low, a man from very humble beginnings, I must admit I had not heard of Captain Ned Low but thanks to Pen & Sword Books my knowledge of piracy has started to increase thanks to three books I’ve read recently on different pirates. This book is very interesting in that the author Dr Nicky Neilson has done a great job in mixing educated opinions and sources of information. We have a great story mixed in with great information and sources, of a man who seemed to attain the ability to be quite a prolific pirate. This has been a great book that I’ve fully enjoyed, here’s hoping for books about other pirates.