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Saturday, November 12, 2011

REVIEW: The Sea Rover's Practice

The Sea Rover's Practice: Pirate Tactics and Techniques, 16301730The Sea Rover's Practice: Pirate Tactics and Techniques, 16301730 by Benerson Little

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The Sea Rover's Practice by Benerson Little, is a great read for those who want to delve into the tactics and techniques used from 1630 to 1730 by pirates and privateers in the Caribbean.  Author Little is a former Navy SEAL who also teaches fencing.  His love of history, military experience, and his skill with swordplay is very apparent in this highly readable book. 

For those of use who want to delve deeper into the subject of piracy, his appendices are invaluable. I also very much appreciate that Little has taken the trouble to keep an updated PDF file of errata and commentary for this book on his author's web site, www.benersonlittle.com.

I very much enjoyed the way Little draws numerous parallels between the 17th and 18th century sea raiders and modern special operations units like the U.S. Navy SEALs.  Little calls attention to the intelligence gathering activities used by sea rovers to select their targets and corroborate information. Little reveals the sea rovers as sophisticated operatives who used their knowledge of the sea to carry out successful shore raids and take valuable cargo at sea.

Little has written a number of books on pirates.  I also have How History's Greatest Pirates Pillaged, Plundered, and Got Away With It:  The Stories, Techniques, and Tactics of the Most Feared Sea Rovers from 1500-1800 and I will review this book shortly.  Little's book, Pirate Hunting:
The Fight Against Pirates, Privateers, and Sea Raiders From Antiquity to the Present
is high on my to-read list.



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