Blackbeard amusement park rides. Much of what is known about him can be sourced to Charles Johnson's "A General Historie of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates", published in Britain in 1724. A recognised authority on the pirates of his time, Johnson's descriptions of such figures as Anne Bonny and Mary Read were for years required reading for those interested in the subject. Readers were titillated by his stories and a second edition was quickly published, though author Angus Konstam suspects that Johnson's entry on Blackbeard was "coloured a little to make a more sensational story." "A General
Mary Anne Talbot shown with her claim to have been on the "Vesuvius" as a midshipman when it was captured by the French on the English Channel. The ship in question was, at the time of the alleged capture, serving in the West Indies. Mary Anne Talbot Mary Anne Talbot also known as John Taylor (2 February 1778 – 4 February 1808) was an Englishwoman who wore male dress and became a soldier and sailor during the French Revolutionary Wars. Mary Anne Talbot was born in London at 62 Lincoln's Inn Fields. Later she claimed that she was one of the sixteen illegitimate