The 18th-century portrait of the Bard has been taken down ... who patronised the early slave trade through pirates such Sir John Hawkins. Her portrait also no longer hangs in Downing Street.

They depict scenes from a 1729 ballad opera, “Polly,” by the English poet and dramatist John Gay, a slapstick comedy of pirates ... the freedom fighter of 18th-century Jamaica, a self ...

Did you know that in the 17th and 18th centuries ... The special also traced the history of pirates through the age of privateering and the 20th century rumrunners of the Prohibition era.

A portrait by one of the 18th century's best artists is expected to fetch up to £25,000 at auction. The artwork was created in 1766 by Sir Joshua Reynolds and is of a woman called Letitia Sparrow.

In the deep waters between Morocco and Spain, wreck-divers discovered a pirate ship that may have sailed the seas during the 18th century. The ship was heavily armed with cannons, guns ...

But what was life really like for an early 18th-century pirate? The answer: pretty grim. It was a world of staggering violence and poverty, constant danger, and almost inevitable death.

It’s a long way from “Pirates of the Caribbean” to the Palace of Versailles. But that’s the journey of Johnny Depp, who goes from playing an 18th-century pirate scoundrel to an 18th ...