EMPIRE OF BLUE WATER

1

"I Offer a New World"

In the winter of 1654, a newly commissioned frigate named the Fagons was dispatched from the ancient city of Portsmouth on a secret mission. Its journey was short; it sailed around the southeast corner of England into the quiet harbor of Deal. There at the dock waited the ship's only cargo: a forty-four-year-old Anglican rector named Thomas Gage.

It was rare in the Royal Navy of the time that a warship would be sent to pick up a single man, and a mere country pastor at that. But Gage was a unique figure in English life: A long-dreamt-of empire was about to be launched in part because of a book he'd written fifteen years before; the nation was preparing to send thousands of men to attack its archnemesis inspired by things that Thomas Gage, and he alone, claimed to have seen across the ocean. This mysterious man--no portrait survives to this day--was, as befits his role in this story, surrounded in life by controversy and black dread. He had ready access to the most powerful man in the country, Oliver Cromwell; indeed, the Fagons had been hastened around the corner of England "by order of the Protector" himself, and the Venetian ambassador wrote in a letter that Gage "had many secret conferences" with Cromwell in the months leading up to the ship's arrival. Before and after the mystery man arrived, England's leader had been found studying maps of far-off places, and a globe of the world had appeared, without explanation, on his desk. All because of the humble rector.

Gage's past was crowded with ghosts; men had perished with his name on their lips. The pastor came from a line of Englishmen who some considered saboteurs and infidels, while others swore they were the souls of Christian fortitude. Whether heroes or villains, the family had long since disowned Thomas; one sibling said he strove to erase every last memory of the man from his mind, while another wrote to a friend about "our graceless brother," whose actions "our whole family doth blush to behold." Thomas's father had cut off his inheritance years before, warned him never to return to England, even called him a lethal enemy, and Gage claimed that his older brother, a military hero, had made good on his father's threat and actually tried to have him murdered. All this resulted from Thomas Gage's years of religious intrigue: On his word, three men had recently been hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn prison, a procedure whose savagery is not suggested by the surgical description of it. The Fagons' crew would not have welcomed Gage aboard the ship regardless of his past; priests on a ship were a bad omen, as it was believed that the great storm maker Satan sent tempests across the oceans to drown them. The black-suited pastor, the man who hanged his own friends, as the sole passenger? It couldn't be good luck.

As for the pastor, one can only imagine his thoughts as the frigate appeared on the horizon, sunlight sparkling off the surface of its twenty-two new brass guns. His writing life was behind him, and he wouldn't live to record his thoughts on this, the most momentous voyage of his life. But surely he was flooded with memories; the ship was to take him back across the ocean to a place of his youth, a place that had disappointed him terribly and was yet now giving him a second chance at glory. As always when trying to dip into Gage's inner life, one must consider his appetite for power; the black sheep of an illustrious family, he hungered to make his name, and this would be his last shot. In the book that had launched this voyage, he'd written...

 

"Talty's vigorous history of seventeenth-century pirates of the Caribbean will sate even fickle Jack Sparrow fans. . . . A pleasure to read from bow to stern."

 

"A swashbuckling adventure . . . [the] characters leap to life."

 

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"Fresh insight into pirates' dens of old . . . Well-researched nonfiction that reads like a novel."

 

"Swashbuckling history at its bloody, blood-soaked best, and a mirror to our own times."

 

"Morgan proves an irresistible hero. A thrilling and fascinating adventure."

 

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"Stephan Talty's new book serves up swashbuckling history at its briny, blood-soaked best, with enough violence and passion to keep the pages flying by. But it's not only blood and swash: Empire of Blue Water is also a mirror to our own times, showing that attempting globalization against a backdrop of the clash of civilizations is nothing new,and that religious violence is often a thinly veiled cover for greed and personal ambition. Talty's portrait of the legendary privateer Henry Morgan is a marvelous study in contradictions--a man of astounding heroism, brilliance, compassion, and charm, who was also capable of the greatest betrayal."

 

"A wickedly entertaining tale of pirates and the Caribbean seas they once ruled like kings. Epic sea battles, daring adventures, rich history, great villains and heroes alike--it's a treasure."

 

"In a riveting history that reads like the best novels, Stephan Talty stylishly extricates the pirates of the Caribbean from the imprecise caricature that so often consumes them. Layer by fascinating layer, Talty peels away the eye patch and theshiver-me-timbers brogue to reveal the raucous, complex and authentic buccaneers
of the "Brethren of the Coast." . . . Storytelling and history to be savored."

 

"Engrossing . . . a swashbuckling tale of how the history of the Americas was shaped by a small group of daring brigands."

 

Empire of Blue Water by Stephan Talty
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