01928cam a2200217 4500 100269836 TxAuBib 20110420120000.0 |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||und|u 2643 LibriVox TxAuBib French, Joseph Lewis. Great Pirate Stories [LibriVox] / French, Joseph Lewis. 20 sound files : digital, MP3 or Ogg files. This is an online free audiobook and is compatible in most MP3 and iPod players. The text for this LibriVox audiobook came from public-domain text. Piracy embodies the romance of the sea at its highest expression. It is a sad but inevitable commentary on our civilization, that, so far as the sea is concerned, it has developed from its infancy down to a century or so ago, under one phase or another of piracy. If men were savages on land they were doubly so at sea, and all the years of maritime adventure--years that added to the map of the world till there was little left to discover--could not wholly eradicate the piratical germ. It went out gradually with the settlement and ordering of the far-flung British colonies. Great Britain, foremost of sea powers, must be credited with doing more both directly and indirectly for the abolition of crime and disorder on the high seas than any other force. But the conquest was not complete till the advent of steam which chased the sea-rover into the farthest corners of his domain. It is said that he survives even today in certain spots in the Chinese waters,--but he is certainly an innocuous relic. A pirate of any sort would be as great a curiosity today if he could be caught and exhibited as a fabulous monster. (Summary from text.) In MP3 and Ogg vorbis format. Electronic audiobooks. LibriVox.org. http://librivox.org/bookfeeds-v2/great-pirate-stories-by-joseph-lewis-french.xml