The Monarchs of the Main

Tortuga provides the starting point for Walter Thornbury's account of the buccaneers and their place in the Spanish Main. Published in 1855, this first volume traces the connections between hunters, planters and sea rovers, setting their activities within struggles among French, English and Spanish colonial powers. Its chapters cover hunting methods, food, dress, apprentices' hardships and the rules used to divide rewards and govern crews.

A substantial preface explains Thornbury's use of earlier accounts, including writings by men who served with the buccaneers. Individual adventures accompany the discussion of customs: Barthelemy Portugues equips a small vessel at Jamaica and leads an attack on a much larger Spanish ship. The combination of social detail, historical argument and accounts of conflict gives readers several ways into the subject. It offers a nineteenth-century view of maritime life shaped by risk, discipline and competing ambitions.