Mercer summarized the story to date and we reviewed last night's reading, the characters and the events in "Treasure Island" once the ship sails from England. We then focused on The Golden Age of Piracy in history. It reached its peak in the early 1700s. One of the first successful pirates in the New World was Henry Avery. In 1694, he started a mutiny (Mercer now knows this vocabulary word) on the ship where he worked. He helped establish New Providence Island in the Caribbean as a hang out for pirates. Between 1635-1722, many well known pirates sailed the high seas: Henry Morgan, Blackbeard, Charles Vane, Anne Bonny, Calico Jack and Black Bart. These pirates gained their wealth from trade between Europe, the New World, and the Indian Ocean World. Many of them even knew each other; Anne Bonny and Calico Jack were likely romantically involved, and Charles Vane and Blackbeard were close friends. Today, pirate Henry Avery's New Providence is the most populous island in The Bahamas and the capital city of Nassau. During the Golden Age of Pirates, New Providence was a home base for pirates. By 1713, there were over 1000 pirates in Nassau and they outnumbered the law-abiding inhabitants. At that time, even the governor of New Providence, Thomas Barrow, was a pirate!