Sail of the century
The Pirate History Podcast review
Rating – 
Everyone knows that there is something inherently cool about pirates. Well, the ones from the golden age of sail anyway. Every generation has its famous fictional buccaneers, from Treasure Island, to The Goonies, to my kids generation with the animated adventures of that scallywag Jake over in Neverland (plus the excellent music by Sharky and Bones).
It’s really no surprise then, that there is a history podcast dedicated solely to this fascinating (and often misunderstood) era. So let us travel back in time, to an age of exploitation, oppression, expansion and opportunism. This is the Pirate History Podcast.
So what’s it about?
I’ve pretty much covered this part in the opening preamble, but I’ll elaborate (or this will be a very short review indeed). Basically, this podcast is a chronological history of piracy, something that dates a lot further back than you may think.
The very first episode covers the discovery of the Americas, the subjugation of the indigenous people and the formation of the first colonies. Now, there weren’t any pirates back then, but this era is covered because it is precisely why the conditions were right for the next few centuries of intrigue and conflict.
Eventually, there are some very well known names, ones that have become synonymous with pieces of 8 and swashbuckling. Originally though, there were other famous names. Ones that you would know not as pirates, but as legendary naval heroes. That is the first interesting point raised. In the Elizabethan age, piracy was condemned as it would be later. There was quite a crossover between legitimate naval activity, and more dubious practices.
Is it any good?
The research is as deep as Davey Jones’ locker. This is no cursory recounting of Edward Teach or Calico Jack Rackham. I have heard some podcasts where they literally read Wikipedia pages word for word. This is not one of those.
Matt Albers, the host of the show, is very entertaining to listen to. He has the perfect balance of knowledge and humour that really brings this show to life. His voice really reminds me of Anthony Botelho, who narrates the previously reviewed Wrong Station podcast.
He has a number of great sources at his disposal, and he has, on occasion, offered his contradictory thoughts on some. His main source (at this point anyway) has been a book called The Buccaneers Of America, a book that he has edited. No wonder he has such a knowledge of it!
I can’t really find fault with this show at all. There are times when I lose concentration and have to rewind, but that is entirely my fault. 8 hour podcast binges and a heavy workload don’t always mix.
Final thoughts
As I write this, there are 347 episodes. And while they are relatively short (compared to other shows), that’s still a lot of listening for me to do. I’m currently on episode 22. I fully intend to make my way through the whole lot, it’s too good a show to skip through.
I’m not really one for history podcasts if I’m honest. However, this series has really piqued my interest, and I think I’ll be looking into a lot more shows like this in future. I can only hope they are as good as this one, it’s a real treasure!2 (not sorry).
You can get The Pirate History Podcast here:
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