The Pirate King: The Strange Adventures of Henry Avery and the Birth of the Golden Age of Piracy

by Sean Kingsley, Rex Cowan

Overview

The incredible story of the “Robin Hood of the Seas,” who absconded with millions during the Golden Age of Piracy and who harbored an even greater secret.

Henry Avery of Devon pillaged a fortune from a Mughal ship off the coast of India and then vanished into thin air—and into legend. More ballads, plays, biographies and books were written about Avery’s adventures than any other pirate. His contemporaries crowned him "the pirate king" for pulling off the richest heist in pirate history and escaping with his head intact (unlike Blackbeard and his infamous Flying Gang). Avery was now the most wanted criminal on earth. To the authorities, Avery was the enemy of all mankind. To the people he was a hero. Rumors swirled about his disappearance. The only certainty is that Henry Avery became a ghost.

What happened to the notorious Avery has been pirate history’s most baffling cold case for centuries. Now, in a remote archive, a coded letter written by "Avery the Pirate" himself, years after he disappeared, reveals a stunning truth. He was a pirate that came in from the cold . . .

In The Pirate King, Sean Kingsley and Rex Cowan brilliantly tie Avery to the shadowy lives of two other icons of the early 18th century, including Daniel Defoe, the world-famous novelist and—as few people know—a deep-cover spy with more than a hundred pseudonyms, and Archbishop Thomas Tenison, a Protestant with a hatred of Catholic France.

Sean Kingsley and Rex Cowan's The Pirate King brilliantly reveals the untold epic story of Henry Avery in all it's colorful glory—his exploits, his survival, his secret double life, and how he inspired the golden age of piracy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781639365951
Publisher:	Pegasus Books
Publication date:	04/02/2024
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	101,331
Product dimensions:	9.70(w) x 12.90(h) x 6.50(d)

About the Author

Dr. Sean Kingsley is a marine archaeologist who has explored over 350 wrecks from Israel to America. Off the UK he identified the world’s earliest Royal African Company English ‘slaver’ ship. Sean writes for National Geographic and is the founder of Wreckwatch magazine about the world’s sunken wonders. He is the author of God's Gold: A Quest for the Lost Temple Treasures of Jerusalem and Enslaved: The Sunken History of the Translatlantic Slave Trade (with Simcha Jacobovici), also available from Pegasus Books.

Rex Cowan is a former lawyer turned shipwreck hunter, author and broadcaster. He served in the Royal Air Force and has a law degree from King’s College London and is also a Fulbright scholar. He has since become Britain’s most successful shipwreck hunter and worked with John Le Carré on A Century of Images. Photographs by the Gibson Family and Castaway and Wrecked.

Editorial Reviews

02/26/2024

In this twisty account, marine archeologist Kingsley (Enslaved) and shipwreck hunter Cowan (Castaway and Wrecked) trace the life of 17th-century pirate Henry Avery. In 1696, Avery led a fleet of pirate ships in an attack against a Mughal convoy on its way to Mecca loaded with a fortune in gold, silver, and silk. After snagging this monumental score, Avery disappeared, mystifying embarrassed British officials and the furious Mughal emperor, souring international relations, and making Avery a popular figure in British song and legend. In 1978, shipwreck hunter (and Cowan’s late wife) Zélide Cowan discovered evidence of Avery’s post-1696 existence in the form of a partially encrypted letter in the Scottish Record Office. Addressed in 1700 from “the pirate Avery” to an underling of spymaster (and Archbishop of Canterbury) Thomas Tenison, the letter referenced a completed mission. Pointing to author Daniel Defoe’s work as a spy in the same ring, as well as Defoe’s writings seemingly inspired by Avery’s life, the authors speculate that Avery and Defoe were close friends. This line of conjecture stretches thin, but fascinating descriptions of turn-of-the-18th-century espionage pieced together from archival scraps more than compensate, and other claims hold more water (such as that Britain probably offered Avery a secret pardon in exchange for the treasure). It’s a winding yarn. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Enslaved vividly explores these disturbing sunken archeological archives.”

Nature

"A very important book. Through shipwrecks and the investigations of a small group of underwater explorers, Jacobovici and Kingsley tell the story of slavery in monstrous, unflinching detail. It's a story that needs to be told and Jacobovici (a brilliant storyteller) and Kingsley (a master maritime archaeologist) give it to us point-blank. It's more than a book; it's a message never to be forgotten.

Mensun Bound

"Kingsley and Cowan have pulled together the story of Henry Avery, one of the most colorful yet mysterious pirates of the early eighteenth century. The authors do an excellent job evoking the past and bringing Avery and his milieu to life. Fans of pirate stories will be treated to a rousing tale and in the process will learn about how history and historians work."

Booklist

"Cowan and Kingsley’s account of pirate history, woven within a broader narrative of religious tensions, international trade and Anglo-Scottish relations during the Stuart era, is a worthy tale to tell. Avery’s story sizzles with drama, and to consider his possible interaction with Defoe is tantalizing. Proof, once again, that our understanding of the past is written in the sand, and for those who dive deep enough, there are treasures lurking, and sparkling jewels waiting to be uncovered."

The Times (London)

"Sean Kingsley and Rex Cowan's The Pirate King, like all good historical mysteries, begins with archival drama. Messrs. Kingsley and Cowan use this letter to tell a story of 'three of the greatest characters of this age,' tying Avery to Daniel Defoe, the author of 'Robinson Crusoe,' and Thomas Tenison, the archbishop of Canterbury. A pirate, a writer and an archbishop. What on earth––or sea––could connect these three men? A dramatic narrative "

The Wall Street Journal

Enslaved vividly explores these disturbing sunken archeological archives.”

Nature Lib

2024-01-13
An account of the life of a notorious British pirate and the first English novelist as they intersected in the shadowy world of royal espionage.

In 1978 in Edinburgh, a letter found by historian Zélide Cowan opened up the hidden life of the brash pirate Henry Avery, thought to have vanished once he engineered his attack on the riches-laden Mughal ship Ganj-i Sawai (Gunsway in English) in 1695. A traumatized youth brought up around the docks of Bideford and Plymouth in Devon, Avery turned to piracy as retribution after being disinherited. He managed to turn the mutinied ship Charles II into the murderous Fancy and set out for Madagascar, lying in wait in the Red Sea for the passing Gunsway and returning with fabulous riches for the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, the “ruler of 158 million people.” As marine archaeologist Kingsley and shipwreck hunter Cowan recount, Avery made a fortune and apparently disappeared, with a huge bounty on his head and his crew hunted far and wide. Meanwhile, his contemporary Daniel Foe (nom de plume Defoe), son of a prosperous candlemaker, became a failed merchant and dissenting pamphleteer, promoting the reign of William of Orange and later Queen Anne. Much of his work led him to imprisonment. The letter seems to reveal that Avery and Foe were friends—both avid Protestants, both fascinated by the sea—and co-conspirators for the royal spy agency, helping to plot the union of England and Scotland in 1707. Moreover, the research shows that Avery did not vanish, but actually bought his freedom and royal protection by working like Foe as a spy. The authors untangle a web of conspiracy and subterfuge to create an engaging story of the golden age of piracy, following the adventures of two enormously enterprising men.

An intriguing unraveling of a mystery that “beggars belief.

Kirkus Reviews