Dr Rebecca Simon

Historian, author and piracy expert

Dr Rebecca Simon is a historian of early modern piracy. She is the author of Why We Love Pirates: The Hunt for Captain Kidd and How He Changed Piracy Forever (Mango Press, 2020)

Recent articles by Dr Rebecca Simon

An engraving of the pirate Henry Avery with his ship in a notorious raid that almost pushed England and India to war (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

Hell on high water: the rise and fall of the golden age of piracy

Female pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read holding cutlasses

Anne Bonny and Mary Read: the deadly female pirate duo

A pirate ship flying the Jolly Roger closes in on another vessel during a storm

The golden age of piracy: when pirates ruled the waves

The Jolly Roger, a black flag showing a skuyll and crossbones. (Photo by Henry Guttmann Collection/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Q&A Did all pirates fly the Jolly Roger?

A pirate uses his cutlass to force a bound and blindfolded man to walk the plank

Q&A Was walking the plank a real pirate punishment?

Pirates burying a treasure chest on a beach as their captain looks on

Q&A X marks the spot: did pirates bury their treasure?

A 17th century sketch of a peg-legged pirate walking with the aid of crutches

Q&A Did any real pirates wear eyepatches or have peg legs?