Great Pirate Stories

Chapter 1 of 20 00 - Forward

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Running time: 8 h 47 min
Language: English
Readers: Ernest, Esther, Ian Hatley, James Christopher, Marian Martin and 7 others

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Piracy embodies the romance of the sea at its highest expression. It is

a sad but inevitable commentary on our civilization, that, so far as the

sea is concerned, it has developed from its infancy down to a century or

so ago, under one phase or another of piracy. If men were savages on

land they were doubly so at sea, and all the years of maritime

adventure--years that added to the map of the world till there was

little left to discover--could not wholly eradicate the piratical germ.

It went out gradually with the settlement and ordering of the far-flung

British colonies. Great Britain, foremost of sea powers, must be

credited with doing more both directly and indirectly for the abolition

of crime and disorder on the high seas than any other force. But the

conquest was not complete till the advent of steam which chased the

sea-rover into the farthest corners of his domain. It is said that he

survives even today in certain spots in the Chinese waters,--but he is

certainly an innocuous relic. A pirate of any sort would be as great a

curiosity today if he could be caught and exhibited as a fabulous

monster.

(Summary from text)