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Pirates

Even the name "Daniel Defoe" was a pseudonym of sorts—born Daniel Foe, Defoe added the first syllable to his last name to sound more aristocratic.

The Author of ‘Robinson Crusoe’ Used Almost 200 Pseudonyms

Daniel Defoe honed his pen on political writing before he came to the novel

Anne Bonny and Mary Read are just two of the famous female pirates who pillaged their way to fame.

Women Who Shaped History

The Swashbuckling History of Women Pirates

When women roamed the high seas in search of fortune, freedom, and sometimes revenge

The Ilban people of East Borneo captured these six warrior skulls in a single battle. They tossed the heads into a fire pit to cure and then wrapped them in vines to suspend their prize from the rafters of the community longhouse.

Explore Haunting Relics of Death With New Photography Book

Placenta-wiping fetuses are only the tip of the frightberg

A grave marker in Kingston's Hunt's Bay Cemetery carved with a skull and crossbones and Hebrew lettering

The Forgotten Jewish Pirates of Jamaica

Today, some tour operators and cultural historians are calling attention to the country’s little-known Jewish heritage

New Research

Denmark’s Earliest Kings Were Also Pirates

Viking piracy laid the groundwork for the Danish monarchy

Cool Finds

‘Captain Kidd’s Treasure’ Has Finally Been Discovered

Archaeologist hope their discovery of a 121-pound bar of silver is just the beginning

Ransom money is dropped near the ship MV Faina in 2009 while the ship was occupied by pirates

Cool Finds

Robot Ships And Pepper Spray—the Latest in Pirate-Fighting Tech

New technology developments are looking to combat piracy and terrorism on the high seas

Sunrise over the Straits of Malacca.

Cool Finds

The Waters Around Malaysia, Not Somalia, Are the World’s Worst for Pirates

More than 40 percent of pirate attacks over the last two decades took place in Southeast Asia

Abandoned Scottish Boats

Cool Finds

All Known Shipwrecks in Scotland Are on This Map

The Scottish coastline is treacherous, as this interactive map of shipwrecks shows

The Last Days of Blackbeard

An exclusive account of the final raid and political maneuvers of history’s most notorious pirate

From the Editor

Introducing our February 2014 issue

People Pirated Many More Files (And Many Fewer Ships) in 2013

While there were zero Somali pirate hijackings this year - the amount of content that was uploaded to The Pirate Bay this year increased by 50 percent

With his stylish clothes and powdered wig, Stede Bonnet (in a c. 1725 woodcut) stood out among the bearded, unkempt, ill-mannered pirates with whom he sailed.

The Gentleman Pirate

How Stede Bonnet went from wealthy landowner to villain on the sea

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Treasure Quest

For more than a decade, American Robert Graf has combed the waters of a Seychelles island for a multimillion-dollar booty stashed by pirates 300 years ago

Capture of the Pirate, Blackbeard, 1718, Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, painted in 1920

A Fury from Hell—or Was He?

As underwater archaeologists pull artifacts from what may be the wreck of Blackbeard’s flagship, historians raise new questions about the legendary pirate

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Tangier

Tales of pirates, diplomacy and espionage frame America’s liaison with the exotic city

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