Yet naval triumphs, though they allayed the problem, could not solve it. The peace treaties they extracted did not hold. Charles II established a base at Tangier, but had to evacuate it, and was powerless to prevent his consuls from being killed or kept hostage. The eventual solution was a form of institutionalised ransom, which left the corsairs free to assail the ships of other nations, though the system broke down during the American War of Independence and the Napoleonic conflicts. By the 19th century the British navy could more easily enforce its will, but it was only in the 20th, with the takeover of Barbary states by France, Spain and Italy, that the corsair tradition succumbed.
Tinniswood’s artful blend of narrative and analysis brings the pirates’ society to life. He does equal service to the victims and captives and to the ‘stench of brimstone and sweat and fear’ as passengers awaited attack. Beneath the vivid surface of his book there lie, sometimes obscured by the vividness, the careful investigation and astute judgement of one of the most incisive of our popular historians.
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