{"product_id":"pirate-hunters-isbn-9780812973693","title":"Pirate Hunters","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNEW YORK TIMES\u003c\/i\u003e BESTSELLER • \u003cb\u003eNAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY \u003ci\u003eCHICAGO TRIBUNE • \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eA thrilling adventure of danger and deep-sea diving, historic mystery and suspense, by the author of \u003ci\u003eShadow Divers\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Finding and identifying a pirate ship is the hardest thing to do under the sea. But two men—John Chatterton and John Mattera—are willing to risk everything to find the \u003ci\u003eGolden Fleece,\u003c\/i\u003e the ship of the infamous pirate Joseph Bannister. At large during the Golden Age of Piracy in the seventeenth century, Bannister should have been immortalized in the lore of the sea—his exploits more notorious than Blackbeard’s, more daring than Kidd’s. But his story, and his ship, have been lost to time. If Chatterton and Mattera succeed, they will make history—it will be just the second time ever that a pirate ship has been discovered and positively identified. Soon, however, they realize that cutting-edge technology and a willingness to lose everything aren’t enough to track down Bannister’s ship. They must travel the globe in search of historic documents and accounts of the great pirate’s exploits, face down dangerous rivals, battle the tides of nations and governments and experts. But it’s only when they learn to think and act like pirates—like Bannister—that they become able to go where no pirate hunters have gone before.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Fast-paced and filled with suspense, fascinating characters, history, and adventure, \u003ci\u003ePirate Hunters\u003c\/i\u003e is an unputdownable story that goes deep to discover truths and souls long believed lost.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for \u003ci\u003ePirate Hunters\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“You won’t want to put [it] down.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “An exceptional adventure . . . Highly recommended to readers who delight in adventure, suspense, and the thrill of discovering history at their fingertips.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e (starred review)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “A terrific read . . . The book gallops along at a blistering pace, shifting us deftly between the seventeenth century and the present day.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eDiver\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Nonfiction with the trademarks of a novel: the plots and subplots, the tension and suspense . . . [Kurson has] found gold.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Dallas Morning News\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Rollicking . . . a fascinating [story] about the world of pirates, piracy, and priceless treasures.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Boston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “[Kurson’s] narration is just as engrossing as the subject.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Christian Science Monitor\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “A wild ride [and an] extraordinary adventure . . . Kurson’s own enthusiasm, combined with his copious research and an eye for detail, makes for one of the most mind-blowing pirate stories of recent memory, one that even the staunchest landlubber will have a hard time putting down.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly \u003c\/i\u003e(starred review)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The two contemporary pirate-ship seekers of Mr. Kurson’s narrative are as daring, intrepid, tough and talented as Blood and Sparrow—and Bannister. . . . As depicted by the author, they are real-life Hemingway heroes.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “[Kurson] takes his knowledge of the underwater world and applies it to the ‘Golden Age of Piracy’ . . . thrillingly detailing the highs and lows of chasing not just gold and silver but also history.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A great thriller full of tough guys and long odds . . . and: It’s all true.”\u003cb\u003e—Lee Child\u003c\/b\u003e“You won’t want to put [it] down.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “An exceptional adventure . . . Highly recommended to readers who delight in adventure, suspense, and the thrill of discovering history at their fingertips.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e (starred review)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “A terrific read . . . The book gallops along at a blistering pace, shifting us deftly between the seventeenth century and the present day.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eDiver\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Nonfiction with the trademarks of a novel: the plots and subplots, the tension and suspense . . . [Robert Kurson has] found gold.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Dallas Morning News\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Rollicking . . . a fascinating [story] about the world of pirates, piracy, and priceless treasures.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Boston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “[Kurson’s] narration is just as engrossing as the subject.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Christian Science Monitor\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “A wild ride [and an] extraordinary adventure . . . Kurson’s own enthusiasm, combined with his copious research and an eye for detail, makes for one of the most mind-blowing pirate stories of recent memory, one that even the staunchest landlubber will have a hard time putting down.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly \u003c\/i\u003e(starred review)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The two contemporary pirate-ship seekers of [Robert] Kurson’s narrative are as daring, intrepid, tough and talented as Blood and Sparrow—and Bannister. . . . As depicted by the author, they are real-life Hemingway heroes.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Captivating and alluring . . . a riveting tale . . . perfect for summer beach reading.”\u003cb\u003e—Fredericksburg \u003ci\u003eFree Lance–Star\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “[Kurson] takes his knowledge of the underwater world and applies it to the ‘Golden Age of Piracy’ . . . thrillingly detailing the highs and lows of chasing not just gold and silver but also history.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “John Chatterton and John Mattera . . . come across as modern heroes, the kind of men the modern world often finds it hard to make a place for. An enjoyable read, especially if you’ve got a thing for pirates.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A great thriller full of tough guys and long odds . . . and: It’s all true.”\u003cb\u003e—Lee Child\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e“Action and adventure on land and sea—you can’t ask for more. But Robert Kurson raises the ante in \u003ci\u003ePirate Hunters\u003c\/i\u003e with an array of mystery and a fleet of colorful characters spanning four centuries. This is a great summer read!”\u003cb\u003e—Michael Connelly\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “\u003ci\u003ePirate Hunters\u003c\/i\u003e is a fantastic book, an utterly engrossing and satisfying read. It tells the story of the hunt for the rare wreck of a pirate ship, which had been captained by one of the most remarkable pirates in history. This is a real-life \u003ci\u003eTreasure Island,\u003c\/i\u003e complete with swashbuckling, half-crazy treasure hunters and vivid Caribbean settings—a story for the ages.”\u003cb\u003e—Douglas Preston\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “A terrific read. I was pulled in from page one. Kurson brings us face to face with some of the most swashbuckling pirates ever to sail the Caribbean, even as he takes us underwater on a high-tech quest to discover the relics they left behind.”\u003cb\u003e—Daniel James Brown\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “There’s nothing in the world like buried treasure—and people hungry and obsessed enough to risk their lives for it. \u003ci\u003ePirate Hunters\u003c\/i\u003e isn’t just a good story—it’s a true one. Searching for the souls of its explorers, it takes you to the far tip of the plank and plunges you deep to the bottom of the ocean.”\u003cb\u003e—Brad Meltzer\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “\u003ci\u003ePirate Hunters\u003c\/i\u003e is a gripping account of two courageous divers’ quest to uncover the shipwrecked vessel of Joseph Bannister, one of history’s most infamous pirates. Robert Kurson will keep you on the edge of your seat in this high-stakes journey around the globe that ultimately teaches these explorers about much more than an old ship.”\u003cb\u003e—Sen. John McCain\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eRobert Kurson\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of the runaway bestseller \u003ci\u003eShadow Divers,\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eCrashing Through\u003c\/i\u003e.By 1684, Bannister had been making the London–Jamaica run for at least four years, delivering his cargos and building his reputation. In June of that year, however, the lord president of the Council of Jamaica received a disturbing letter from the island’s governor, Thomas Lynch: “One Bannister ran away with a ship, the \u003ci\u003eGolden Fleece, \u003c\/i\u003eof thirty or forty guns, picked up over a hundred men from sloops and from lee- ward [at Port Royal], and has got a French commission.”\u003cbr\u003e Bannister, in fact, had no commission, but he most certainly had stolen the \u003ci\u003eGolden Fleece, \u003c\/i\u003eand he’d done so with a single purpose—to turn pirate. His actions hardly could have been bolder. It was near unheard of for a transatlantic captain, especially one as well regarded and trusted as Bannister, to “go on the account,” as it was said of pirating. Even in Port Royal, where everything happened, few had seen anything like this.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Lynch didn’t sit around and wait for Bannister to return to his senses. Instead, he ordered the \u003ci\u003eRuby, \u003c\/i\u003ethe biggest and deadliest war- ship in the Jamaica fleet, to go after the \u003ci\u003eGolden Fleece. \u003c\/i\u003eA monster rated at 540 tons, with forty-eight cannons and a crew of 150, the \u003ci\u003eRuby \u003c\/i\u003ewas a pirate killer down to her timbers.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Bannister did not intend to make it easy for Lynch’s enforcers. Since stealing the \u003ci\u003eGolden Fleece, \u003c\/i\u003ehe had picked up additional crew, robbed a Spanish vessel, and made his way to the Cayman Islands to take turtles and gather wood. But the \u003ci\u003eRuby \u003c\/i\u003esurprised him there, and her captain, David Mitchell, and his crew captured Bannister and put an end to his six-week pirate career.\u003cbr\u003e Lynch was delighted.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Last night,” he wrote, “the \u003ci\u003eRuby \u003c\/i\u003ebrought in Bannister. He took him at Caymanos; he has about 115 men on board, most of the veriest rogues in these Indies. I have ordered the ship and the men to be de- livered into the Admiralty and commanded the judge immediately to proceed against them, because we do not know how to secure or keep such a number. We conclude they’ll be found guilty of piracy.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The case against Bannister was airtight. Not only had he stolen the \u003ci\u003eGolden Fleece, \u003c\/i\u003ehe had taken two Spaniards captive after attacking their boat. The testimony of those two men alone would secure a conviction. By now, Bannister could only hope for leniency, but if he expected it, he’d chosen the wrong governor under which to become pirate.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “I intend if it proves so to make a terrible example of the captain, his lieutenant, officers, and all the men that have committed other crimes as many of them have,” Lynch wrote, “and hope the severity may have some influence on the other rogues that swarm in these In- dies.”\u003cbr\u003e By that, Lynch meant Bannister would hang. His crew, if lucky, might be whipped, jailed, or put into irons or stockades. If unlucky, they might follow Bannister to the gallows.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The pirates were returned to Port Royal and held aboard the \u003ci\u003eRuby \u003c\/i\u003epending trial. One might have expected Bannister to use the time to pen letters of good-bye or to contemplate eternity; instead, he waited for a break in his captors’ attention, then managed to get word to on- shore associates to bribe the two Spanish witnesses against him. It was an audacious plan and one that, even if the connections were made, seemed doomed given that the Spaniards had been rescued by the Royal Navy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e At trial, a strong case was made against the pirates. But when it came time for the Spaniards to testify, they swore “backward and for- ward” that they had sold their boat and cargo to Bannister, and that he had paid them to serve as crew aboard the \u003ci\u003eGolden Fleece\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e If that testimony shocked the prosecution, at least the governor could still rely on the jury, who were certain to see through the ruse. But this was Port Royal, where ordinary folk, remembering who’d made their town rich and had infused it with spirit, still counted pi- rates as neighbors and friends. They returned with a verdict: not guilty. Bannister had cheated the hangman.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Already a sick man, Lynch suffered “such disturbance of mind” from the verdict that, according to accounts, he died of it a week later. By all rights, his replacement should have set Bannister free. Instead, Hender Molesworth tried to convince the jury to reverse itself, but the jurors wouldn’t budge. Worse, Bannister threatened to sue the captain of the \u003ci\u003eRuby, \u003c\/i\u003e“as though [Bannister] were the honestest man in the world.” That was more than Molesworth could take. Stretching the boundaries of the law—if not breaking them—he had Bannister re- arrested and charged. Bail was set at three hundred pounds, a staggering amount in an age when the annual wage for a seaman might be twenty pounds.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Somehow, Bannister raised the money and, at least for the moment, remained free. He was not, however, permitted to leave Port Royal, and in any case was likely too broke to do it. To make certain he entertained no thoughts of fleeing, officials cut down the sails of the \u003ci\u003eGolden Fleece\u003c\/i\u003e. By January 1685, five months after the original charges against him were thrown out, Bannister was still languishing in Port Royal, waiting to be retried.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e He was still waiting when, on a dark night in late January, he began to make his way through the narrow streets of Port Royal. As he crept past taverns and brothels and sleeping families, fifty men were already at work aboard the \u003ci\u003eGolden Fleece, \u003c\/i\u003emoving furiously but making no sound. Before long, Bannister reached Thames Street, which ran along the wharf on the northern side of town. There, he rushed for the\u003ci\u003eGolden Fleece, \u003c\/i\u003etied up at the docks, and stole aboard his former ship. Sails were hoisted and lines cut, and soon the vessel picked up the breeze and moved out into the harbor.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Landlocked to the east, the harbor offered only one way out, to the south, and that is where Bannister steered. To make it into the open Caribbean, he had to hope that no one in town noticed the \u003ci\u003eGolden Fleece \u003c\/i\u003emissing, or sounded the alarm at the sight of a ship moving in the dead of night. Even then, he would have to pass the twenty-six cannons at Fort James and, in the unlikely event he were still living after that, turn south and get by the thirty-eight cannons, and hundreds of men, at Fort Charles. At any point along the way, he might be spotted by Royal Navy ships anchored just a mile to the west, or by men at work in nearby Chocolata Hole. If such a thing as a suicide mission existed in seventeenth-century Port Royal, Joseph Bannister had just embarked on it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Generally, winds were calm at night in Port Royal, but on this evening Bannister picked up a fresh breeze off the land and began moving west along the town’s docks, maybe as fast as five knots, or about six miles per hour. Before long, he reached Fort James. Per- haps because of the hour, or because the garrisons there never expected such an unlikely event, it seems no one fired on the \u003ci\u003eGolden Fleece, \u003c\/i\u003eor even took notice of her. For the moment, Bannister and his crew remained safe.\u003cbr\u003e Now rounding Port Royal’s western shore, Bannister headed south toward Fort Charles, about a half mile in the distance. By now, he might have been fifteen minutes into his rush toward freedom, but he had at least another fifteen minutes to go—critical moments that would determine whether he and his crew lived or died.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Soon, he could see the guns at Fort Charles, the most heavily fortified place in all of Jamaica. Staying within a few hundred yards of the shore, he ordered his men to ready their “plugs,” chunks of mattress or wood they’d brought to fill holes in the ship they knew would be made when the cannons at Fort Charles began firing.     \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e A moment later he was at the northern end of the fort and sailing the \u003ci\u003eGolden Fleece \u003c\/i\u003efor all she was worth, waiting for the explosion of cannons but hearing nothing more than the wind in his sails and the crashing of waves against his ship. He was perhaps ten minutes from freedom, but they would be the most dangerous minutes of his life.\u003cbr\u003e Passing the first of the cannons, he braced for destruction. Any one of the guns at Fort Charles could be deadly from a half mile. Thirty- eight of them together, aimed at a single enemy just a few hundred yards away, couldn’t miss.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Bannister kept sailing, passing more of the guns, waiting for explosions, drawing nearer to the open Caribbean. Now abreast of Fort Charles, he might have begun to have hope of slipping by undetected, but as he passed the fourteenth cannon, someone at Fort Charles caught sight of him and notified Major Beckford, the fort’s commander. Moments later, Beckford sounded the alarm and ordered his cannoneers into action.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Never before fired in anger, the guns at Fort Charles rang furiously now, a series of concussions that shook all of Port Royal and must have caused townsfolk to think a foreign force was invading. At the sound, local militiamen would have been roused by their duty officer and run toward Fort Charles with their muskets. Now that the town was alert, Bannister’s only hope was that darkness would conceal him.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e He would not be so lucky.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Cannonballs slammed into the \u003ci\u003eGolden Fleece, \u003c\/i\u003efirst one, then an- other, then a third, but Bannister’s men stuffed the splintered holes with plugs, and the ship kept sailing, and even though the cannons continued to roar the rounds began to fall short, and in a few minutes the \u003ci\u003eGolden Fleece \u003c\/i\u003ehad reached the open seas, and in another few she disappeared into the mist. By now, the navy ships would have been roused to action, but they were almost certainly anchored and could not hope to get going so suddenly, and soon the \u003ci\u003eGolden Fleece \u003c\/i\u003eand her captain were gone.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Bannister’s escape blindsided Governor Molesworth. Still, he couldn’t hide a grudging respect for the captain. Writing to an English colonial official, he said of the getaway: “[It came as] a great surprise to me, for I thought Bannister’s want of credit would prevent him from ever getting the ship to sea again . . . yet now he has obtained credit from some persons underhand, and has his ship well fitted in every respect. It was done so artfully that no one suspected it, or I should have found some pretext for securing him.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Impressed though he might be, Molesworth wasted little time in going after Bannister, sending Captain Edward Stanley in the four-gun sloop \u003ci\u003eBoneta \u003c\/i\u003eto hunt down the \u003ci\u003eGolden Fleece\u003c\/i\u003e. A light ship with a crew of perhaps ten, the ship was likely the smallest in the Jamaica fleet, but Bannister had surrendered to the navy with little struggle months earlier, and Molesworth surely expected more of the same.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e For all she lacked in size, the \u003ci\u003eBoneta \u003c\/i\u003ewas fast, and it didn’t take her long to catch up to the \u003ci\u003eGolden Fleece\u003c\/i\u003e. When she did, however, Captain Stanley thought better of engaging the more powerful ship and her thirty guns. Instead, he sent a note to Bannister warning that he would face new charges for piracy unless he returned to Port Royal with the \u003ci\u003eGolden Fleece\u003c\/i\u003e. Bannister denied being a pirate, telling Stanley he was simply headed to the bay of Honduras for logwood. Helpless to do more, Stanley sailed back to Port Royal empty-handed.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Bannister wasted little time adding to his pirate crew, recruiting tough guys looking for adventure and a fast path to riches—brave men who understood, with Bannister’s new reputation, that the Royal Navy was coming, and that they would be pursued by merciless hunters charged with bringing them down.\u003cbr\u003e By now, Molesworth must have realized that Bannister did not in- tend to go gently. He sent warships to chase every report of Bannister’s plunders, but when the frigates arrived they were always too late. This continued for months as Bannister took prizes across the Caribbean and Atlantic.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e In April, however, Molesworth caught a break. The \u003ci\u003eRuby \u003c\/i\u003ehad tracked Bannister to the Île-à-Vache, a small island off the southwestern tip of Hispaniola (now Haiti), a notorious pirate hangout, and a place once used by Henry Morgan as an operating base. But as Captain Mitchell closed in, he found not one pirate ship but five, each nearly the size of his own. The \u003ci\u003eGolden Fleece \u003c\/i\u003ewas among them, and Bannister was in the company of four French privateers, including the infamous Michel de Grammont.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Against any one of these pirates the \u003ci\u003eRuby \u003c\/i\u003eheld an advantage. Against them all, she couldn’t hope to survive. So Mitchell demanded of Grammont, likely by pulling up alongside his ship and shouting, that Bannister be arrested and turned over for serving under a foreign commission. It shouldn’t have surprised him that Grammont and the other French pirates refused to give over Bannister to the \u003ci\u003eRuby\u003c\/i\u003e. That kind of flouting of English authority must have rankled an accomplished navy captain like Mitchell, but he deemed it prudent “not to insist further.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Three months later, in July 1685, Grammont helped lead a historic pirate raid on the Mexican port city of Campeche, in which a landing force of seven hundred pirates sacked the town, took prisoners, and burned the city before leaving with their plunder. It is possible, perhaps even likely, that Bannister and his crew were among those invading pirates, as he was in Grammont’s company in the months leading up to the raid. But no one knows for sure.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Later that year, the \u003ci\u003eGolden Fleece \u003c\/i\u003ewas spotted sailing alone off the western coast of Jamaica. This time, Molesworth sent two ships after Bannister, but neither could find him. Every month, Bannister took more prizes and, with quick footwork and deft escapes, continued to blacken the eyes of Molesworth, the Royal Navy, and England. By January 1686, Molesworth seemed to be losing hope. “Captain Mitch- ell will receive orders . . . for the arrest of Bannister,” he wrote to an official in London, “whom he is as likely to encounter on this voyage as on any other.” Meaning he was not likely to find him at all.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Still, Molesworth continued to plan for the day, however unlikely, that he would lay his hands on Bannister. Rather than allow him to bribe another witness or go free on bond, he would bring him to trial “very suddenly,” and not at Port Royal but at a court outside the town, with a jury “more sensible of the damage we suffer by privateering than are the generality of people in Port Royal.”\u003cbr\u003e By May, Molesworth might have abandoned all hope of capturing Bannister, but it was in that month that two vessels arrived at Port Royal from Dublin with a report from their captains that Bannister had plundered their cargos. That news should have hardly surprised Molesworth, but a last bit of information stood him up in his seat. Bannister, the men said, was headed to Samaná Bay to careen—a process that could take weeks and would immobilize his ship. Molesworth is- sued an order to two of the navy’s powerful warships, the \u003ci\u003eFalcon \u003c\/i\u003eand the \u003ci\u003eDrake\u003c\/i\u003e. Their mission: find and destroy Bannister.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e At Molesworth’s order, the two frigates sailed for Samaná Bay. The \u003ci\u003eFalcon, \u003c\/i\u003ecommanded by Captain Charles Talbot, could carry up to forty-two guns; the \u003ci\u003eDrake, \u003c\/i\u003ehelmed by Captain Thomas Spragge, sixteen.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e They arrived several days later and found Bannister and the \u003ci\u003eGolden Fleece, \u003c\/i\u003ealong with a smaller vessel, identity unknown, “fit to go on the careen.” Here was the chance Molesworth had been waiting for. A ship on the careen, even one as strong and well commanded as the \u003ci\u003eGolden Fleece, \u003c\/i\u003eremained highly vulnerable to attack. The warships began to close in.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e For an ordinary pirate captain, this meant the end. But Bannister had taken precautions, having ordered several of his cannons onto land in two separate batteries, hidden in trees and aimed into the bay. Whether he would attempt to use them against two Royal Navy frig- ates, armed with as many as fifty-eight guns and manned by superior personnel, was another matter entirely.\u003cbr\u003e By surrendering now, Bannister would have hope. He would have his day in court, where he could deny being a pirate, or claim he’d been forced into it by the French, or beg Molesworth for leniency, or bribe another witness or jury. If he chose to fight now, he could never know if his crew, outmanned, outclassed, and pinned down, would follow him into battle and engage a world-class force like the Royal Navy. Far better, it would have seemed to ordinary pirates, to suffer the lashes in Port Royal than go to their dooms like that.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The warships drew closer. It was now midafternoon, and the navy captains should have seen signs of surrender. Instead, they heard the sounds of a trumpet.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Bannister’s cannons roared to life from behind the trees, and after that the muskets rang out—a barrage by the pirates that rained down on the navy ships. The frigates returned fire, maneuvering into position and trading salvos into the evening, each side pounding the other, men dying and suffering, the \u003ci\u003eGolden Fleece \u003c\/i\u003eand the smaller vessel alongside her being torn into by navy cannonballs and musket fire. By all rights, the battle should have lasted an hour or two. Yet the next morning, it was still going strong.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e And it continued, bloody and violent, into a second day, until both the \u003ci\u003eFalcon \u003c\/i\u003eand the \u003ci\u003eDrake \u003c\/i\u003efound themselves out of gunpowder and ammunition. By this time, the pirates had killed or wounded twenty-three navy crewmen, and stood poised to kill more. Unable to mount any further offensive, the frigates sailed away—a stunning, almost unbelievable victory for the pirates.\u003cbr\u003e At least for the moment.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The navy ships, Bannister knew, would return as soon as they could be rearmed and refitted. That meant he and his remaining crew needed to leave Samaná Bay in a hurry. But the \u003ci\u003eGolden Fleece \u003c\/i\u003ehad been badly damaged and lay nearly sunk. The smaller vessel, however, must have remained seaworthy, as Bannister and most of his men seemed to have made their escape on her.New York Times bestseller; Author of Shadow Divers","brand":"Random House Trade Paperbacks","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46300841935077,"sku":"NP9780812973693","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780812973693.jpg?v=1767734809","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/pirate-hunters-isbn-9780812973693","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}