The North Carolina coast in the colonial period furnished a haven for pirates, for its inlets and islands enabled those overly romanticized brigands, who preyed on the extensive shipping industry of Charleston, South Carolina, to escape pursuit. Drawn from colonial records and legislation, this book gives an authentic presentation of the pirate problem as it confronted not only North Carolina but also South Carolina and to a certain extent Virginia...The author examines how the pirates arose, how they were regarded by the colonists and English authorities, how they affected life and commerce, and how they were exterminated. This presentation is enlivened with accounts of two of the more notorious pirates of the era, Edward Thatch (Blackbeard) and Major Stede Bonnet, who gave up a respectable position in the West Indies to engage in piracy.