In his hit novel “The Buccaneers of America”, Alexander Exquemelin tells the story of what life at sea was like for seventeenth-century sailors in the Caribbean. The novel is considered a first-hand account of the tales as it is written by Exquemelin himself, but in order for us to understand the significance of that we must first try to grasp who Alexander Exquemelin was and if we should be considering this novel a historical document or not.
A buccaneer is considered to be a privateer or sailor who sailed the Caribbean seas from the late sixteenth century into the seventeenth century for trading and smuggling purposes. Exquemelin himself was considered to be a buccaneer. It is because of this that many of the buccaneers mentioned in this novel like Captain Morgan are considered generous people. Buccaneers were considered to be living a life different from pirates and privateers as they had a different hierarchy on the ship where people were seen as more equal than what was to be found on a privateering haul.
Throughout the novel, Exquemelin shares the stories of buccaneers he meets during his time at sea. A small excerpt is written at the beginning of the novel by Jack Beeching introducing who Exquemelin could have been, but that is all that is written about himself in the novel. This novel is considered to be a compilation of Exquemelin’s journal entries that he strung together after his time at sea to compose the three-part novel. It is because of this that the book is considered to be as accurate as it is because all of the stories were written soon after they were shared and all the facts and information were clear in Exquemelin’s mind. The novel was also published in 1678 giving it a sense of time and place for what was happening then. Having been published in Amsterdam, it was targeting European readers who may not know much of the Spanish and American seas which is why it is written in an informative yet dramatic way to not only educate the readers but also entertain them.
All in all, this is a book of adventure and passion. Through his writing, it can be seen that Alexander Exquemelin had an immense passion for what he did and wanted to share that through the art of writing. His immediate and direct connection and exposure to the world of living at sea gives him the knowledge and expertise of knowing the ins and outs of buccaneering and thus readers should consider this one of the best first-hand historical accounts of what buccaneering in the seventeenth century looked like.
We can take away the stories of how certain buccaneers came to be and some of the journeys they went on. We can learn how boats were run among buccaneers together compared to privateers and other socially structured ships sailing the seas at that time. And we can also learn of the battles that took place around the Spanish and American seas, how they came about, and their outcomes.
Bibliography
Exquemelin, Alexander O. The Buccaneers of America. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2000.
ISBN-13: 9780486409665