Here are fifteen thrilling stories that have long been unabatedly popular with readers of all ages. Stories that are, in turn, dramatic, exciting, and eminently readable.

These are stories that will transport readers to a long-forgotten world inhabited by some of history’s most notorious pirates—both fictional and real-life. These are tales of hidden treasures, kidnapping, murder, intrigue and betrayal—and above all else, adventure.

Blackbeard, Long John Silver, buccaneers, and Captain Blood—long forgotten tales from such authors as Robert Louis Stevenson, Arthur Conan Dolye, and James Fenimore Cooper—the gritty adventure and skullduggery of pirates that has been a staple of adventure tales for hundreds years. Pirates! continues the tradition.

Readers will learn the pirate’s code from an actual 1700s document, that states, “If any man shall lose a Joint in times of an engagement, shall have 400 Pieces of Eight; if a limb, 800.” And “that Man that shall strike another whilst these Articles are in force, shall receive Mose’s Law [that is 40 stripes lacking one] on the Bare back.”

Readers have long turned to the sea as a backdrop for escape. Who doesn’t love a tale of pirates, and duplicity, and hidden treasures? All of these stories have endured the test of time and await a new generation of readers.