Birds of Prey by Wilbur Smith.
Sir Francis Courtney and his son Hal are sailing around the tip of South Africa aboard the pirate ship Lady Edwina. They are sanctioned by King Charles II to capture ships of the Dutch East India Company and begin by taking The Resolution. Courtney’s series, book 1. Violence and explicit descriptions of sex. RC 48319.

The Black Swan by Rafael Sabatini.
Priscilla Harradine, the orphaned daughter of the Leeward Islands governor, sails home to England with old family friend Major Sands. Also on board is buccaneer Monsieur Charles de Bernis, who poses as Priscilla’s husband when they are captured by the pirate Tom Leach. Some violence and some strong language. RC 62389.

Captive Passions by Fern Michaels.
Sirena Cordez is accompanying her devout sister Isobel to Java for Isobel's arranged marriage to Dutch Regan van der Rhys. When pirates attack their ship, Sirena and a young shipmate are the only survivors. Blaming van der Rhys for the attack, Sirena devises a plan for revenge. She will be his devout, mourning widow to cover her true identity, that of the avenging pirate Sea Siren! Captive series, book 1. Strong language, violence, and explicit descriptions of sex. RC 35469.

Caribbean by James A. Michener.
Michener weaves fifteen threads of time together in a multicolored history of the Caribbean, ending with a cruise where the descendants of the protagonists meet. Beginning with the peaceful Arawaks who were defeated by the cannibalistic Caribs, he writes of the Mayas, Christopher Columbus, Sir Francis Drake, the pirate Henry Morgan, and so on through history to Fidel Castro. RC 30339.

Empire of Blue Water: Captain Morgan’s Great Pirate Army, the Epic Battle for the Americas, and the Catas
by Stephan Talty.
Highlights the adventures of Welshman Henry Morgan, whose arrival in the Caribbean in 1655 shaped the New World. Describes Morgan’s attacks on Spanish ships--at the behest of the British--from his base in Jamaica over the next thirty years. Violence and strong language. RC 63678.

Expedition Whydah: The Story of the World's First Excavation of a Pirate Treasure Ship and the Man who Found Her by Barry Clifford with Paul Perry.
The author recounts his lifelong fascination with the legend of pirate Sam Bellamy and his ship Whydah, which wrecked off the coast of Cape Cod in 1717. Details the expedition to locate the ship and develop an archaeological record of the artifacts.
RC 51241.

Far Tortuga by Peter Matthiessen.
A haunting, symbolic novel in which Captain Avers sails from Grand Cayman Island with a ragged crew in an old schooner to hunt for turtles. In the course of the doomed voyage, legends and sea tales are exchanged. Told in a spare, poetic style. Explicit descriptions of sex. Strong language. BR 2899.

Frenchman's Creek by Daphne Du Maurier.
Romantic adventure set in England during the Restoration period in which the central figures are the lovely Lady Dona, her slow-witted husband, and a dashing French pirate who captures the lady's love, but not the lady. BR 3329.

Grania: She-King of the Irish Seas by Morgan Llywelyn.
Lusty, melodramatic saga based on the life and legends of the sixteenth-century pirate-chieftain Grace O'Malley, often called Grania of Ireland. A formidable warrior, this seafaring leader of Irish clans fought to preserve her people's lands from the forces of the English Queen Elizabeth. Explicit descriptions of sex. RC 24360.

A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Arthur Warren Hughes.
An adventure fantasy first published in 1929. A hurricane razes the Thornton home in the West Indies and the children are sent to England. Word reaches the parents that the children have been captured by pirates. Some violence. RC 43203.

The Island by Peter Benchley.
A journalist and his young son travel to a remote spot southeast of the Bahamas to investigate the disappearance of hundreds of boats carrying more than two thousand people. The obsessed reporter and the boy unwittingly sail into a sinister sea drama that plunges them into a nightmarish struggle to survive. Some strong language and some explicit descriptions of sex.
RC 13842, BR 4180.

Lafitte the Pirate by Lyle Saxon.
An account of the pirate-patriot Jean Lafitte originally published in 1930. Jean and Pierre Lafitte arrived in Louisiana in the early part of the nineteenth century and opened a blacksmith shop. Jean became the leader of the Baratarians, a group of smugglers, and in 1812 the British tried to enlist their aid against the American forces. The pirates turned patriots and helped defeat the British, but after the war Jean reverted to piracy once more. RC 32796.

The Mad Ship by Robin Hobb.
Continues the tale of the Vestrit clan and their liveship Vivacia in Ship of Magic (RC 54149). The trading ship is under command of the pirate king Kennit while Captain Haven and his son, Wintrow, are hostages. Althea and her lover, Brashen, sail a "mad ship" in pursuit. Liveship Traders series, book 2. Some strong language. RC 54150.

The Magnificent Savages by Fred Mustard Stewart.
New York City, 1850. Young Justin Savage, the illegitimate son of one of the wealthiest ship owners in America, is sent to China as a cabin boy to learn the trade as well as escape the clutches of his half-brother. For the next fifteen years, Justin becomes a vagabond pirate until he is wealthy enough to return to regain his father's company. Savage Family series, book 1. Prequel to The Young Savages (RC 46483). Some violence and some descriptions of sex. RC 46482.

On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers.
Young John Chandagnac is just a bookkeeper and a puppeteer when he sails off to Haiti in 1718 to reclaim his father's lost plantation and inheritance. But when he enters the Caribbean Sea, the demonic pirate and master of voodoo, Blackbeard, commandeers his ship and forces the young man into piracy, sorcery, and strange battles against foes both human and supernatural. RC 28796.

Pirates by Linda Lael Miller.
Phoebe Turlow, newly divorced and out of a job, decides to take advantage of a "free vacation" in the Caribbean. When she arrives, Phoebe feels she has come home though she has never been here before. But then she gets off her hotel elevator and finds herself back in 1780 in the home of a pirate! Some strong language and some explicit descriptions of sex. RC 45053.

The Pirates Laffite: The Treacherous World of the Corsairs of the Gulf by William C. Davis.
Account of Pierre and brother Jean Laffite, who fled revolutionary France for the New World. Traces their business and privateer enterprises along the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, their exploits assisting American forces during the War of 1812, and their changing allegiance when they later spied for Spain. RC 60698.

The Pyrates by George MacDonald Fraser.
Adventure spoof set in the seventeenth-century in which the handsome hero, Captain Ben Avery, is sent on a mission to present an invaluable crown to the king of Madagascar. When his ship is beset by pirates, Avery tries to retrieve the six bejeweled points of the crown from the notorious raiders. RC 21719.

Red Rover by James Fenimore Cooper.
Classic maritime adventure set in the years just before the American Revolution. Disguised as a common sailor, Lieutenant Henry Ark sets out to trap an elusive pirate called the Red Rover. Following a storm and a mutiny, Ark--along with a charming young woman and her governess--is rescued by the pirate himself. 1827. RC 51156.

The Sea-Hawk by Rafael Sabatini.
Escapade that sends Sir Oliver, a Cornish gentleman and commander of one of her majesty's ships on an odyssey of piracy, passion and plunder from the shores of England to the bloody coast of Arabia. RC 56510.

Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea by Gary Kinder.
Interweaves an account of the 1857 sinking of the SS Central America that carried a cargo of gold bullion and minted coins with the story of the shipwreck's discovery in 1988 by Tommy Thompson. Describes Thompson's feat of developing technology to locate and retrieve artifacts from a wooden-hulled ship in eight thousand feet of water. RC 46507.

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Young Jim Hawkins finds a map in a dead seaman's possessions. His friends, Squire Trelawney and Doctor Livesey, realize it's a treasure map. They hire a ship, unaware that the crew includes the pirate Long John Silver. For grades 6-9 and older readers. 1881. RC 52436, BR 13682.

Under the Black Flag: The Romance and the Reality of Life among the Pirates by David Cordingly.
Dispels the romantic fantasy about swashbuckling pirates and exposes them as brutal, violent criminals. Highlights their daily lives, the major ports where they thrived, the pets commonly kept, and the eventual demise of their class by government sanction. Includes notorious women and infamous buccaneers. BR 12465.