Ticketed

Essential Information

Type Talks and tours
Location
Date and Times Originally hosted on Thursday 10 July 2025
Prices Free for Members

Member exclusive. Not a member? Join now

Pirate Commonwealths: Empires, Politics and Piracy in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

In popular imagination - in films, books, and video games - pirates are outsiders, living beyond the law. They have their own language, their own codes, and their own dress sense.

Contemporary observers in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and some historians since, have even described them as forming their own republic or 'commonwealth', congregating in notorious havens from the Caribbean to Madagascar. Yet that idea of a 'pirate commonwealth' has its own fascinating history, one which reveals much about the very close relationship between piracy and imperial politics. 

In this talk Dr Richard Blakemore, author of Enemies of All: The Rise and Fall of the Pirates, returns to the National Maritime Museum to explore why this idea came into being in the so-called 'golden age' of piracy, how it has changed over time, and what it can tell us about pirates and their impact on the world.

Couldn't make it for the lecture? Watch the event online below:

What’s On

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Every other month | 11am-11.45am, 12.15pm-1pm, 1.30pm-2.15pm, 2.45pm-3.30pm
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National Maritime Museum
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A Flamsteed Astronomy Society lecture with Professor Mike Edmunds
Monday 20 October 2025 | Doors at 6.30pm, event starts at 7.15pm
Flamsteed Members: FREE | Guests of Flamsteed Members: £15 | Royal Museums Greenwich Members: £12
National Maritime Museum
Talks and tours | Member events

Members' Lecture: The Battle of Trafalgar at the Queen’s House

Celebrate Trafalgar Day with us and hear from art curator Katherine Gazzard on the history and symbolism of this awe-inspiring naval scene
Tuesday 21 October 2025 | 6.45pm
Free Entry
Queen's House
Family fun | Member events

Members' Family Storytelling: Polly Plum, Brave Adventurer

Join author Jonathan Sellars as we delve into the story of Polly Plum, Brave Adventurer
Tuesday 28 October 2025 l 10.30am-11.00am, 11.15am-11.45am
Free Entry
National Maritime Museum