“Pirate Hunters” by Robert Kurson – Sunken Legends

Pirate stories have fascinated mankind, especially children, probably ever since all their murderous antics and unhygienic lifestyles were forgotten.

Though there may have certainly been much less glory and cleanliness to the stories of famous pirates than we were led to believe, it doesn't change a fact that some of them have managed to achieve downright legendary things, at least from a criminal's perspective.

Arguably the best-known sea tyrant during the golden age of piracy, the seventeenth century, was Blackbeard, but there was another whose even greater notoriety was washed away under the seas of time: Joseph Bannister.

His exploits were nothing short of spectacular and apparently even more tale-inspiring than those of all his counterparts. As is the case with most pirates though, there came a point when his ship was sunk in one way or another, and needless to say not many have tried to retrieve it... at least not with the tenacity and determination of John Chatterton and John Mattera, world-famous shipwreck divers.

In Pirate Hunters, Robert Kurson chronicles the journey undertaken by the two men in an attempt to retrieve and identify Bannister's pirate ship, which would mark only the second time such a feat is accomplished. With their adventure being worthy of a book, you can guess it was far from an easy one as many obstacles presented themselves.

To begin with, there is little information in the public domain which could potentially lead to the ship's location. In addition to that, governments and bureaucratic drones seem to make a habit of standing in their way.

This leads the two divers to navigate some dangerous waters (in both senses) and go around the world in search of clues, at the same time retracing Bannister's journeys and slowly learning to think like he did.

For a pirate adventure that involves no actual pirating, Pirate Hunters is a very enthralling novel that has more faces to it than would initially appear. It all starts off as a simple quest, and yet along the way we become better and better-acquainted with the world of pirate hunters, what drives and interests them, why they do what they do, and their mindset in general.

We also learn a great deal about Bannister and his adventures, with there also being an emphasis on penetrating and understanding his psyche.

As for the actual search for the Golden Fleece itself, Chatterton and Mattera take us on a rather wild ride around the world, following a trail clues and in search of very old documents and legends, their only hope to find a single ship in all the oceans on this planet.

The hunt becomes more and more engaging as they do the improbable, getting closer and closer while creating the kind of suspense we've come to expect from the most intense thrillers out there.

All in all, if going on globetrotting adventures to find legendary pirate ships sounds like the kind of thing you'd want to do if you didn't have all the other things in your life to worry about, then rest assured you'll definitely enjoy reading this book.

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Favorite quote: "Examine everything; not all is as it seems or as people tell you."

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Robert Kurson Personal site Robert Kurson is an author of American origin who is best-known for his 2004 book Shadow Divers. Following that he published Crashing Through in 2007 and Pirate Hunters in 2015.