In the summer of 1719, a thirty-something Welshman named John Roberts was captured by pirates off the coast of West Africa. He soon ascended to the rank of captain and, in the few years that remained before his death, acquired a reputation that provoked both loyalty and fear. Richard Sanders's biography reads at times like a George R. R. Martin novel, eff ectively capturing both the brutality and the jollity of life at sea. The prose is visceral, in the tradition of maritime tales like Treasure Island and Mutiny on the Bounty.