Many plays and books such as Peter Pan, Treasure Island, and many others have used pirates as characters for many years. Many of us grew up watching pirates on television, but most of the time in pursuit of entertainment the truth is lost. Although pirates did dress in the fancy clothes that they looted from different ships; they did not always have the elaborate outfits worn by pirates in the movies. One piece of truth about pirates though is that they armed themselves to the teeth with weapons.

The book also explains how some women survived life on the seas. Some women such as Mary Read and Anne Bonny had no trouble disguising themselves on pirate ships. These women had to deal with severe hardships, and they had to make sure their identity was concealed at all times. These two women were familiar with this life though because they had been raised as boys all their life. When they were caught they were also treated like men, and many times women pirates were also sentenced to death. Anne Bonny and Mary Read escaped the death penalty because they were both pregnant.

Although stories have fantasized versions of pirates who were courageous heroes, in real life they were cruel people who would use any means necessary to get what they wanted. Most pirates used barbaric forms of torture to get information they wanted. The book tells about the many different cruel punishments that pirates used to inflict fear into the hearts of their prey. Pirates...