Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean: How a Generation of Swashbuckling Jews Carved Out an Empire in the New World in Their Quest for Treasure, Religious Freedom and Revenge

A history of Sephardic Jews in the New World, involving intrigue, horror, defeat, survival, and victory over the Spanish Inquisition.

At the end of the fifteenth century, the Spanish Inquisition forced many Jews to flee the country. The most adventurous among them took to the high seas as freewheeling outlaws. In ships bearing names such as the Prophet Samuel, Queen Esther, and Shield of Abraham, they attacked and plundered the Spanish fleet while forming alliances with other European powers to ensure the safety of Jews living in hiding.

Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean is the entertaining saga of a hidden chapter in Jewish history and of the cruelty, terror, and greed that flourished during the Age of Discovery. Readers will meet such daring figures as “the Great Jewish Pirate” Sinan, Barbarossa’s second-in-command; the pirate rabbi Samuel Palache, who founded Holland’s Jewish community; Abraham Cohen Henriques, an arms dealer who used his cunning and economic muscle to find safe havens for other Jews; and his pirate brother Moses, who is credited with the capture of the Spanish silver fleet in 1628—the largest heist in pirate history.

Filled with high-sea adventures—including encounters with Captain Morgan and other legendary pirates—and detailed portraits of cities stacked high with plunder, such as Port Royal, Jamaica, Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean captures a gritty and glorious era of history from an unusual and eye-opening perspective.

Praise for Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean

“[Kritzler] covers an impressive interdisciplinary range-combining politics, economics and religion-that should satisfy fans of religious history and swashbuckling true stories.” —Publishers Weekly

“Kritzler captures the spirit of that violent, lawless epoch and combines it with an interesting ethnic perspective.” —Booklist

“Kritzler’s intellectual odyssey . . . shares various sagas of individual Jews who took to the sea as pirates, or masterminded the pirate operations from land. . . . The material is so rich that the book is never boring.” —San Francisco Chronicle

“Surprising adventures on the high seas with some rogues of the Diaspora.” —Kirkus Reviews