Walter Thornbury

The Monarchs of the Main: a Classic Account of the Buccaneers & Pirates of the Great Age of Sail Walter Thornbury

High adventure on the seas for plunder and profit

This well known account of the 'gentlemen of the black flag' by Thornbury was originally published in three volumes under the title Monarchs of the Main; the original edition is complete in this good value, single volume Leonaur edition. Sea Rovers, Filibusters, Privateers, Buccaneers and Pirates-regardless of their title these predators of the waves have endured as long as sea trade itself, although they are especially associated with the Spanish Main of the Caribbean. Strictly speaking there is some distinction between those who operated under license from their own governments and those who were simply criminals, but reality was somewhat different. These were violent, desperate seafarers with a taste for adventure, blood and gold. The man who was a pirate one day would readily be a buccaneer the next-and vice-versa. Nevertheless, there has always been an abiding interest in the romantic aspects of these free spirits, whose allegiance was mainly to their own swaying decks. That fascination is as strong today, in fiction and on the cinema screen, as it was when classics such as Treasure Island first saw print. Within the pages of this book readers will discover the real life activities of infamous figures such as Lolonnois the Cruel, Montbars the Exterminator, Sir Henry Morgan, Sawkins, Sharp, Ravenau de Lussan and many other 'monarchs of the Main.'
Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket; our hardbacks are cloth bound and feature gold foil lettering on their spines and fabric head and tail bands.