The Pirate King

The Strange Adventures of Henry Avery and the Birth of the Golden Age of Piracy

By: Sean Kingsley, Rex Cowan

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Paperback | 5 March 2025

At a Glance

Paperback
288 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
20.96 x 13.97 x 2.29

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The incredible story of the “Robin Hood of the Seas,” who absconded with millions during the Golden Age of Piracy and who harbored an even greater secret.

Henry Avery of Devon pillaged a fortune from a Mughal ship off the coast of India and then vanished into thin air—and into legend. More ballads, plays, biographies and books were written about Avery’s adventures than any other pirate. His contemporaries crowned him "the pirate king" for pulling off the richest heist in pirate history and escaping with his head intact (unlike Blackbeard and his infamous Flying Gang). Avery was now the most wanted criminal on earth. To the authorities, Avery was the enemy of all mankind. To the people he was a hero. Rumors swirled about his disappearance. The only certainty is that Henry Avery became a ghost.

What happened to the notorious Avery has been pirate history’s most baffling cold case for centuries. Now, in a remote archive, a coded letter written by "Avery the Pirate" himself, years after he disappeared, reveals a stunning truth. He was a pirate that came in from the cold . . .

In The Pirate King, Sean Kingsley and Rex Cowan brilliantly tie Avery to the shadowy lives of two other icons of the early 18th century, including Daniel Defoe, the world-famous novelist and—as few people know—a deep-cover spy with more than a hundred pseudonyms, and Archbishop Thomas Tenison, a Protestant with a hatred of Catholic France.

Sean Kingsley and Rex Cowan's The Pirate King brilliantly reveals the untold epic story of Henry Avery in all it's colorful glory—his exploits, his survival, his secret double life, and how he inspired the golden age of piracy.

Industry Reviews

"Cowan and Kingsley’s account of pirate history, woven within a broader narrative of religious tensions, international trade and Anglo-Scottish relations during the Stuart era, is a worthy tale to tell. Avery’s story sizzles with drama, and to consider his possible interaction with Defoe is tantalizing. Proof, once again, that our understanding of the past is written in the sand, and for those who dive deep enough, there are treasures lurking, and sparkling jewels waiting to be uncovered."

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