title: The Pirates Own Book: Authentic Narratives Of The Most Celebrated Sea Robbers
author: Charles Ellms
description: Charles Ellms originally published this book in 1837 for the Marine Research Society of Salem, Massachusetts. This book has long been considered a hard-to-find rarity of Piratology. The death of Black Beard as well as the piratical exploits of Jean Lafitte, Robert (William) Kidd, Edward Low, Thomas White, Anne Bonny, Mary Read, and scores of other Pirates. David W. Whitehead is the founder of CryptoQuest, an organization dedicated to the study of all things "hidden" (Fortean phenomena, the paranormal, lost civilizations, cryptozoology, etc.) He has personally led expeditions into Florida swamps and Islands to search for buried treasure and archaeological mysteries. He majored in Archaeology, studied Cryptozoology and is one of the world's first Cryptoarchaeologists. He has investigated the hidden secrets of the swamps and rivers of Florida, the jungles of Central America, deserts and tunnels of Peru and the crypts and castles of Europe.
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  Spawn of the Penitentiary
  
  
  Volume 1: From Devil’s Island to the City of Lights
  
  
  
  
  
  by
  
  
  Goron & Émile Gautier
  
  
  
  
  
  translated, annotated and introduced by
  
  
  Brian Stableford
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  A Black Coat Press Book
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Introduction
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Fleur de Bagne by Goron and Émile Gautier, here translated as Spawn of the
  Penitentiary, was originally published as a feuilleton serial in the Parisian
  newspaper Le Journal in 1901. It was reprinted the following year in book form
  by Ernest Flammarion as Fleur de Bagne, roman contemporain, in three volumes,
  each of which was given an individual title: De Cayenne à la Place Vendôme
  (translated as Vol. 1: From Devil’s Island to the City of Lights), Pirates
  cosmopolites (Vol. 2: Cosmopolitan Pirates) and Detectives et bandits
  scientifiques (Vol. 3: Scientific Detectives and Bandits). That version was
  reprinted in 1904, but the novel then dropped out of sight until Black Coat
  Press’ French