The Portsmouth Propeller Club welcomes maritime author Eric Jay Dolin who will present on the Golden Age of piracy in America. Dolin’s new book, Black Flags, Blue Waters: The Epic History of America’s Most Notorious Pirates, addresses the popular misconceptions and stereotypes of piracy and discusses the brutal realities of living such a life. Dolin's presentation will focus on the time period between the late 1600s through the early 1700s when infamous pirates such as Blackbeard, Captain Kidd, and Edward Low sailed North American waters and beyond. At first, American colonists supported pirate attacks against the British Crown but then grew to violently oppose them.
Dolin discusses the evolution of the relationship between pirate and colonist and highlights pirate enemies including governor John Winthrop, evangelist Cotton Mather, and founding father Benjamin Franklin.