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  • Pirate Hunters

  • Treasure, Obsession, and the Search for a Legendary Pirate Ship
  • Written by: Robert Kurson
  • Narrated by: Ray Porter
  • Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (53 ratings)

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Pirate Hunters

Written by: Robert Kurson
Narrated by: Ray Porter
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Publisher's Summary

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY CHICAGO TRIBUNE

A thrilling adventure of danger and deep-sea diving, historic mystery and suspense, by the author of Shadow Divers

Finding and identifying a pirate ship is the hardest thing to do under the sea. But two men—John Chatterton and John Mattera—are willing to risk everything to find the Golden Fleece, the ship of the infamous pirate Joseph Bannister. At large during the Golden Age of Piracy in the seventeenth century, Bannister should have been immortalized in the lore of the sea—his exploits more notorious than Blackbeard’s, more daring than Kidd’s. But his story, and his ship, have been lost to time. If Chatterton and Mattera succeed, they will make history—it will be just the second time ever that a pirate ship has been discovered and positively identified.

Soon, however, they realize that cutting-edge technology and a willingness to lose everything aren’t enough to track down Bannister’s ship. They must travel the globe in search of historic documents and accounts of the great pirate’s exploits, face down dangerous rivals, battle the tides of nations and governments and experts. But it’s only when they learn to think and act like pirates—like Bannister—that they become able to go where no pirate hunters have gone before.

Fast-paced and filled with suspense, fascinating characters, history, and adventure, Pirate Hunters is an unpausable story that goes deep to discover truths and souls long believed lost.

©2015 Robert Kurson (P)2015 Random House Audio
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History
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What the critics say

"A great thriller full of tough guys and long odds...and: It's all true." (Lee Child)
" Pirate Hunters is a fantastic book, an utterly engrossing and satisfying read. It tells the story of the hunt for the rare wreck of a pirate ship, which had been captained by one of the most remarkable pirates in history. This is a real-life Treasure Island, complete with swashbuckling, half-crazy treasure hunters and vivid Caribbean settings - a story for the ages." (Douglas Preston)
" Pirate Hunters is a gripping account of two courageous divers' quest to uncover the shipwrecked vessel of Joseph Bannister, one of history's most infamous pirates. Robert Kurson will keep you on the edge of your seat in this high-stakes journey around the globe that ultimately teaches these explorers about much more than an old ship." (Sen. John McCain)

What listeners say about Pirate Hunters

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic!

Kurson is masterful at telling a story within a story :) Nailed it once again!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great title , can’t wait to go out exploring some more

Really like the layout and story telling, great climactic points rolling into twists in the endeavours

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Kept Listening

Robert Kurson is a great storyteller. Some historical books can sound like a textbook when going into the old information. This was told like how a friend would tell you a story. It was a great listen.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Another classic by Kurson

What’s not to love about this book? It’s got salty old divers, mob stories, pirate stories, discovery, hard times all in an 8 hour story. Stop reading this and listen to it now.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Fantastic adventure

Great story & even better because it’s true. Many of us recreational divers can only dream of such an adventure even if we don’t have the will,determination, abilities or willing to tolerate the risk. So instead, we can live it vicariously through these brilliant men. The narrator is awesome & has the exceptional ability to “tell the story by painting an audible picture for us & keeping us on the edge of our seat.” I listened to the last few chapters with my five gear on. Lol Well done!!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Bias over subject matter.

in spite of my bias, the characters are inspiring in that they are so driven in their endeavor. I got a real sense of the world of diving and gained perspective on dive clubs.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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amazing book

This book was a true delight. I love pirates ☠ as a child and this was such a good storey full of cool facts.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Seems exaggerated

It's decent, but I feel that the author really had to stretch out the source material to make it into a book.
I was just interested in the story about the search for the pirate ship, but so many detours are taken. I got tired of hearing about how manly and cool and smart Joseph Bannister was. I feel there was excessive detail about the personal stories of each individual on the search team. And did I mention how cool and clever Joseph Bannister was? He faced down two frigates at once!
There's also some weird romanticisation of pirates, talking about how they all got an equal vote on the ship, how the captain was only paid 2-3x what a typical crewman made, and how pirates were more enlightened than everyone else, because they had freed slaves serving on their crews, over a hundred years before slavery was made illegal in America. Or something like that.
Did I mention how super daring and cool Joseph Bannister is? And how he fought two frigates and won? and how we need to think like him if we want to find his ship? Because the book retreads this like, a dozen times.
I just feel like the author is blowing this whole thing out of proportion. Is finding a pirate ship REALLY such a big deal? The author insists upon it so many times, that I'm not so sure anymore. Actually, most of the search results for "Golden Fleece" just point back to stuff that these guys have written. The Golden Fleece doesn't even have its own wikipedia page. Not that that's a particularly good benchmark for measuring importance. Ah, whatever. I have no idea what I'm talking about.
I did find several parts of the book enjoyable, but ultimately it wasn't my cup of tea.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Good but too much NY mafia

I was looking forward to the trials and tribulations of searching for pirate ships, however, the filler stories sometimes seemed unnecessary. In particular, the extended story about the mafia life in New York was a bit much. You can skip that and be quite Awestruck by what it takes to find these vessels.

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