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John Rackham was one of the least succesful pirates from the so-called Golden Age. In spite of his unimpressive track record, he is one of the most remembered, and appears in some beloved games and movies, like Assassin's Creed, and of course, Black Sails. I don't think we should only remember the pirates who had "succesful" careers, whatever that means anyway. John Rackham is important to remember, because he was an abject failure. It gives us an insight into what it was like, for most pirates, especially during this time period.

Modern sources:
Dictionary of Pyrate Biography - Baylus C. Brooks
Piracy: The Complete History - Angus Konstam
The Golden Age of Piracy - Benerson Little
https://csphistorical.com/2016/05/08/...
https://www.housebeautiful.com/design...
https://benersonlittle.com/2021/06/18...

Period sources:
The Tryals of Captain John Rackham and Other Pirates - National Library of Jamaica
A General History of the Pyrates(vol 1) - Captain Charles Johnson
A General History of the Pyrates(vol 2) - Captain Charles Johnson
A Proclamation - Woodes Rogers(accessed via: https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G-BUmpvlII...)
The Natural, Moral, and Political History of Jamaica - James Knight
https://jillianmolenaar.home.blog/201... (newspaper mentions of John Rackham etc)

Music credits:
   / @ambientpirates  
Kevin MacLeod

Timestamps:
0:00 The worst pirate ever?
1:50 The fake backstory
6:17 Volume 1
8:42 Volume 2
11:41 Ann and John?
12:49 The true story
21:51 His career summarized
22:29 Outfit and flag
25:03 Rackham in media
28:15 Outro

#pirates #biography #calico #rackham