Dimensions
156 x 234 x 10mm
The Life and Times of John Ward, the most Infamous Privateer of his Times.
The first fifty years of John Ward's life were those of an ordinary seaman. But, in 1603, he celebrated his half- century by leading a mass desertion from the Navy of James I, stealing a vessel, and defecting to the Ottoman Empire's outpost at Tunis. There he set himself up as a privateer under the protection of the Pasha of Tunis; rejuvenating the Muslim Barbary Corsairs and leading them in successful attacks against Christian shipping. Wealthy as a lord, Ward purchased a palatial mansion and set up a mock court in which he presided over a scruffy band of English and European renegades, issuing decrees and receiving obeisance like a king. But Ward secretly wanted to go home and began negotiations for a pardon with King James I. He failed. Ward was infamous in Europe - regarded as a Judas to his country - and his conversion to Islam towards the end of his life was the ultimate scandal.
