So much of a purely fictional nature has been related of these sea-rovers that many of the statements contained herein will come as a distinct surprise, for time and tales have woven a glamour and a deal of misconception about them. But even stripped of all romance, with their histories before us, the “Brethren of the Main” retain enough and to spare of adventure, deeds of daring, and picturesque villainy, and many of the true stories of these men are more thrilling, more astounding than any the imagination could invent. When such stories are made more vivid by a setting of actual present-day scenes, or are read in the very places and in the same surroundings in which the buccaneers held forth, their interest is enhanced, while the whole neighborhood is given an added attraction. The author, who has lived and traveled in the West Indies and about the shores of the Caribbean for nearly thirty years, knows every island and town intimately. Being deeply interested in the history of the vicinity and particularly in the reckless freebooters who frequented it, he has written this narrative of a most novel cruise. A cruise taken in a real pirate ship manned by a native West Indian crew some of whom were lineal descendants of notorious buccaneers; and while not all the Caribbean islands or the lands and towns of the Spanish Main were visited, those places are included which are of particular interest from an historical point of view and their associations with the freebooters. The volume is not intended as a guide-book, but rather as a colorful account of the places visited on this unusual cruise; a description of many little-known, out-of-the-way corners; with mention of their most interesting features, the customs of the people, a bit of their turbulent past and their somnolent present, and their existing relics of buccaneer days. TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE I Among the Caribbees 3 Reasons. The romantic isles. The Vigilant. A real pirate ship. The Virgin Islands. Dead Man’s Chest. Sam, the descendant of the pirate chief. The Vigilant’s crew. Trouble comes to the Vigilant. Arguments. My happy family. II St. Thomas and Its Past 22 First view of St. Thomas. Charlotte Amalie. The people. Shops and commodities. The home of bay-rum. Wet and dry. Odd wares. The ships’ graveyard. Blackbeard’s Castle. The pirates’ haunts. III The Buccaneers in the Virgin Isles 38 The lairs of the buccaneers. Buccaneers and pirates. Queer conditions. When life was cheap. Interesting characters. A buccaneer poet. Blackbeard and his ways. The end of Blackbeard. IV On the Way to St. John 58