Stephen Taylor is a former journalist and author of nine books. These have ranged from land to sea, from history to biography and travel writing. “Much of my life has been spent on the move,” he says. “So has my writing. I started in Africa and went to sea through discovering a saga about castaways. I reflect now that a thread of human vulnerability has run through it all.”
Predator of the Seas – A History
of the Slaveship that Fought for Emancipation relates the harrowing double life of a single vessel: the Henriqueta was a fast-sailing Baltimore clipper used by a Brazilian slaver to make his fortune. On being captured by the Navy, she was transformed and as the Black Joke became the most famous weapon in the abolition campaign.
““Compelling, superbly researched history. Taylor is an excellent historian: a pensive researcher who has sifted the archives for clues and an animated storyteller capable of capturing the drama of the brig’s life.”
– Peter Moore, Literary Review
“The perfect subject for Taylor. Focusing on one ship and its changing crews provides a superb frame for his expert narrative, bringing to life the human tragedy of
slavery in a way that flatly statistical books rarely achieve.”
– Daniel Brooks, The Daily Telegraph
Click on the titles below to read more
