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Studland Bay

Isle of Purbeck, Dorset

An Elizabethan pirates' haven where stolen goods were sold on the beach.

In the 1500s Studland Bay was one of the most notorious pirate anchorages in England. Pirates sailed in openly and sold their stolen cargoes to local people, and even local officials were paid off.

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When
1500s
Where
50.6400, -1.9500
Group
Pirates

Visiting

Studland's beaches are National Trust, with a ferry from Sandbanks.

Cover of Blood and Gold by Cale Mills
Read the full story in the book

Blood and Gold

Sixteen true stories of mutiny, mercy, treasure and the gallows from the Golden Age of Piracy: Henry Every, Bartholomew “Black Bart” Roberts, Edward England, Howell Davis, Christopher Moody, Anne Bonny, Mary Read, Charles Vane, Benjamin Hornigold, Blackbeard, Stede Bonnet, Israel Hands, Calico Jack, Edward Low, Captain William Kidd and Samuel “Black Sam” Bellamy. Where the record is uncertain, the book says so.

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