The National Archives
Written treasure
As pirates buried their captured gold and jewels, their legal cousins - privateers and navies – left a written treasure almost as well hidden.
Thousands of letters sent across the seas were swept into their captors’ hauls, brought into court, and forgotten. If delivered, the letters would likely not have survived. Written by people of all ranks - wives and husbands, parents and children, partners in business - they speak of hope and death, news and gossip.
These letters come to us from an expanding world of slavery and sugar, European colonisation and trade, peace and war: the precursor to our world.
Price: FREE