Lives of the Pirates

If you think pirates are just colorful, swashbuckling fantasy characters--like Melinda Long's Captain Braid Beard or Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow--think again! The real pirates of history were certainly swashbuckling, but also much more. Some were true criminals, some were simply misunderstood, and all contributed to the image of pirates that remains fascinating to us to this day. What was the real story behind Blackbeard, Sir Francis Drake, Madame Cheng, and other men and women of the high seas?