Tag: piracy (Page 2 of 2)

1690 to 1695 – The Archenemy and the Wife #CaptainKiddHistory

July 28, 2017 / Katie L. Carroll

Here is the third installment of #CaptainKiddHistory. These historical tidbits about Captain William Kidd are told by Billy, the main character of my upcoming middle grade adventure PIRATE ISLAND. Billy discovered and wrote down these tidbits while doing research to find Kidd’s lost treasure but before he actually looked for it on Pirate Island. Let’s give a big welcome to Billy!

1690 to 1695 – The Archenemy and the Wife

by Billy Bonny

Credit: Captain Kidd in New York Harbor, ca. 1920 painting by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris. Public Domain.
Billy’s comment: Kidd looks a little too much like Captain Hook here!

If you want to know who was a real, cutthroat pirate, just look up Robert Culliford. He happened to be one of the English members of the crew who mutinied against the French captain and then became a crew member of the Blessed William (see my last entry Mutineer and Captain). Later while sailing in the West Indies, Culliford mutinied against Kidd and stole the ship and all the loot Kidd and the crew had earned in the war. Throughout his life, Culliford never even bothered to pretend to be a privateer but was a pirate through and through. More on that scallywag later, though!

Meanwhile, Kidd had earned a name as a successful privateer and headed to New York City. There he met Sarah Bradley Cox Oort, a woman of many names because even though she was only in her early twenties, she already had two widows. She was rich, too, thanks to her first dead husband. Her second husband suffered a mysterious death and shortly after, she married Kidd. Some historians pointed out the suspicious timing and think Kidd was involved in the death, but there’s no evidence to support that. One theme of Kidd’s life (and death) seems to be taking the fall for things he may or may not have done.

The full list of #CaptainKiddHistory posts by Billy Bonny:

January 1654? – A Legend is Born

1688 to 1689 – Mutineer and Captain

1690 to 1695 – The Archenemy and the Wife

December 1695 to September 1696 – Privateer, Not Pirate

September 1696 to October 16, 1697 – The Bucket Incident

1698 to April 1699 – A Privateer Prize and the Return of the Archenemy

June 1699 – Proof of Treasure

July 6, 1699 to May 23, 1701 – Trial and Execution

PIRATE ISLAND blurb:

A thrice cursed island, a legendary pirate treasure, and one not-so-brave boy. What could possibly go wrong?

For centuries, the whereabouts of Captain William Kidd’s lost pirate treasure has remained a mystery. When Billy’s best friend, Andy, proposes they look for it on nearby Pirate Island, Billy thinks it’s just another one of their crazy adventures. It’s usually Billy who ends up in trouble as a result, but he goes along for the ride…like always. The more he delves into the life and death of Kidd, the more he thinks the treasure is real and that it might be buried on the small island in Long Island Sound. Billy—nope, call him William—becomes obsessed with the captain of the same first name. He even believes he’s possessed by Kidd’s restless soul. Now he and the spirit of a long-dead pirate are leading the crazy adventure on Pirate Island. And what they find is far bigger than the treasure they imagined.

Now available for pre-order! Get it on Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Kobo, IndieBound, and many other of your favorite book sellers.

1688 to 1689 – Mutineer and Captain #CaptainKiddHistory

July 14, 2017 / Katie L. Carroll

Here is the second installment of #CaptainKiddHistory. These historical tidbits about Captain William Kidd are told by Billy, the main character of my upcoming middle grade adventure PIRATE ISLAND. Billy discovered and wrote down these tidbits while doing research to find Kidd’s lost treasure but before he actually looked for it on Pirate Island. Let’s give a big welcome to Billy!

1688 to 1689 – Mutineer and Captain

Credit: Howard Pyle, via Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain.
Billy’s comment: That’s more like how I pictured Kidd!

by Billy Bonny

In the lost years from Kidd’s birth (in 1645 or 1654…see my last entry about his unknown date of birth) to the late 1680s, Kidd made his way from Scotland to the Caribbean. If you know anything about pirating in this time period, the Caribbean was the place to be. There were also what were called privateers there as well. A privateer is sort of a legal pirate. Where a pirate goes around attacking and stealing from any ship they feel like it, a privateer has the backing of their government to attack ships from any country they are at war with. The loot would then have to be shared with the government.

So Kidd finds himself working on a French privateer ship when England and France go to war. Kidd and the other English members of the crew mutiny and sail the ship to Nevis, an island in the Caribbean that was an English colony. This is when he first becomes captain of a ship, which is renamed Blessed William. It’s pretty cool that they named the ship after him. It became Kidd’s job to defend Nevis from the French and pay himself and his crew with whatever loot they took from the French. In the eyes of English law, even with the mutiny on the French ship, Kidd is a privateer and hasn’t really broken the law (though I’m sure the French weren’t too happy with him).

The full list of #CaptainKiddHistory posts by Billy Bonny:

January 1654? – A Legend is Born

1688 to 1689 – Mutineer and Captain

1690 to 1695 – The Archenemy and the Wife

December 1695 to September 1696 – Privateer, Not Pirate

September 1696 to October 16, 1697 – The Bucket Incident

1698 to April 1699 – A Privateer Prize and the Return of the Archenemy

June 1699 – Proof of Treasure

July 6, 1699 to May 23, 1701 – Trial and Execution

PIRATE ISLAND blurb:

A thrice cursed island, a legendary pirate treasure, and one not-so-brave boy. What could possibly go wrong?

Now available for pre-order! Get it on Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Kobo, IndieBound, and many other of your favorite book sellers.

January 1654? – A Legend is Born #CaptainKiddHistory

June 30, 2017 / Katie L. Carroll

Today marks the start of a new feature here on the Observation Desk called #CaptainKiddHistory. These historical tidbits about Captain William Kidd are told by Billy, the main character of my upcoming middle grade adventure PIRATE ISLAND. Billy discovered and wrote down these tidbits while doing research to find Kidd’s lost treasure but before he actually looked for it on Pirate Island. Let’s give a big welcome to Billy!

January 1654? – A Legend is Born

by Billy Bonny

Credit: 18th century portrait of William Kidd by Sir James Thornhill. Public domain. Billy’s comment: Totally not how I picture Kidd looking (way too stuffy and proper).

Pointing out the day someone is born seems kind of boring. But in the case of someone legendary like Captain William Kidd, it’s totally worth noting. The trouble is that no one is quite sure when he was actually born. Some sources claim he was born in 1645 and others in January of 1654. That’s a nine-year difference; a lot can happen in nine years. That’s like two-thirds of my whole life! (My birth date is June 22, 2004…just so you know for sure if I ever become famous one day.) It is known that he was born in Scotland, but no one is sure exactly where.

Even worse, there is no good evidence of what he was up to until the late 1680s. That’s 30 or 40 years of lost history when it comes to Kidd. I know he lived a long time ago, but you’d think the life of an infamous pirate (or not-pirate as I would say…but that’s a later post) would be better documented. What about all those non-famous people that lived at the time? Is there any record of them ever being alive? It kind of makes me happy to be alive now when it’s so easy to find out what everybody is up to.

The full list of #CaptainKiddHistory posts by Billy Bonny:

January 1654? – A Legend is Born

1688 to 1689 – Mutineer and Captain

1690 to 1695 – The Archenemy and the Wife

December 1695 to September 1696 – Privateer, Not Pirate

September 1696 to October 16, 1697 – The Bucket Incident

1698 to April 1699 – A Privateer Prize and the Return of the Archenemy

June 1699 – Proof of Treasure

July 6, 1699 to May 23, 1701 – Trial and Execution

PIRATE ISLAND blurb:

A thrice cursed island, a legendary pirate treasure, and one not-so-brave boy. What could possibly go wrong?

Now available for pre-order! Get it on Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Kobo, IndieBound, and many other of your favorite book sellers.

Cover Reveal for ALLIANCES by S. Usher Evans

December 18, 2014 / Katie L. Carroll

In this last guest post of the year, I’m pleased to host author S. Usher Evans revealing the cover for the second book of the Razia series, ALLIANCES. Make sure to check out the teaser chapter and enter the giveaway!

Alliances_CoverOnly ALLIANCES by S. Usher Evans

Piracy is a Game. Whom do you trust?

Lyssa Peate has found a tenuous balance between her double lives – the planet-discovering scientist and space pirate bounty hunter named Razia. No longer on probation, Razia still struggles to be thought of as more than a chocolate-fetching joke, and Lyssa can’t be truthful to those closest to her. But both lives are turned upside-down when feisty government investigator Lizbeth Carter shows up to capture the same pirate Razia is after.

Lizbeth’s not interested in taking Razia’s thunder; rather, she convinces the caustic bounty hunter to help solve a mystery. Somebody’s hiring pirates to target government ships, and there’s a money trail that doesn’t make any sense. From the desert planet of D-882 to the capital city on S-864, the investigation leads them deeper and deeper into a conspiracy that reaches to the highest levels of the Universal Government – and to one of the most painful chapters in Lyssa’s past.

Pre-orders for Alliances will be available on Amazon Kindle begin January 1, 2015.

Double Life, Book 1 in the Razia Series, is available now on the following stores:

http://www.amazon.com/Double-Life-Razia-Book-1-ebook/dp/B00KXCR422/

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/double-life-s-usher-evans/1119269005?ean=2940045836302

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/double-life/id864156016?mt=11

Chapter One Teaser:

The room was dark, with a single, dingy lamp hanging over a table where three men sat, each holding a hand of cards. They said little, except for the occasional grunt or movement to tap their grungy mini-computers to up their ante. The first sighed and rubbed the scruff around his chin. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette and a lighter.

“You hear that Llendo is running for re-election?” he said, cigarette dangling from his mouth.

“What else is new?” The short, squatty man and whose toes barely brushed the floor, threw a few chips into the virtual pile using his mini-computer. “The guy’s a puppet. There ain’t nothin’ that comes out of his mouth that ain’t been sent through the ringer about a million times.”

The other two men chuckled and shuffled around their cards. The third man, with a long face and sallow complexion, pulled two more cards for his own hand and shuffled them together and apart again.

“But who else is there to vote for?” he asked, counting his cards and stacking them together again.

“That general? You know that buffoon Peate works for him. He ain’t getting my vote until I know he’s gonna play along.”

The second shrugged and said, “Nobody’d vote for him in a million years.”

“You and your millions.” The third rolled his eyes. “Everything you say has been done a million times.”

“Bah, can it,” the first barked. “And hurry up and make your move.”

“I’m taking my time. Don’t want to get fleeced again,” the third said. “You’re all a bunch of crooks.”

“Takes one to know one.” The second man peered at his cards through a pair of thick glasses, hunched over.

“I am retired,” the first man said, sitting back and taking a long drag of his cigarette. “None of that piracy crap for me anymore. Getting too dangerous for me.”

“Gonna break a nail?” the second snorted. “Bad enough you got that girl. Whatsherface.”

“I hear she’s doing all right,” the third said. “Kidnapped Jukin Peate’s brother and held him for ransom last year.”

“And what’s she done since then?” the second said.

“More than you’ve done.”

“I’m just saying, it’s unnatural to have a woman out with the men,” the first said. He paused for a moment and began to smile. “Although I can’t say I hate seeing her scamper around ‘882.”

“Shame she doesn’t wear tighter pants,” the second said. “I seen pictures. She wears these baggy things. I bet if she wore something that made her look like a girl, she wouldn’t even have to fight nobody.”

“She could come capture me any day of the week. I don’t care what she looks like,” the third said. “I’d lay down and let her do whatever she wanted to me.”

“Care to test that theory?”

The three looked up sharply at the sound of a distinctly female voice in the doorway.

“Hey, hey,” the first man said, standing up. “We don’t want no trouble. We’re retired here, lady.”

“You are,” Razia said, stepping into the light with a smirk on her face. She turned her eyes on the third man in the room. “He isn’t.”

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