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Time Travels

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Susan Morrison explores the rich and sometimes murky depths of Scotland's past.

Time Travels: The Pirates of Craignish

The Pirates of Craignish

BBC Radio Scotland - Time Travels, The Pirates of Craignish

Susan Morrison goes on the trail of the Black Flag pirates, who cast up in Argyll.

Susan Morrison goes on the trail of the Black Flag pirates, who cast up in Argyll laden with booty, and finds out if they were able to escape.

You've heard of the Pirates of the Caribbean but these are the Pirates of Loch Craignish. 

They were a desperate band of cut-throats who'd ravaged the Atlantic from one side to the other under the skull and crossbones, till they made their big hit on a Portuguese galleon stuffed with gold. Rich beyond their wildest dreams, they wanted to sneak back home and retire in luxury but that's where it all went horribly wrong. 

Their ship hits a storm and whirlpool and they end up in Loch Craignish. Now they must escape from Argyll without the sheriff-depute's posses catching them, but they threw all their weapons overboard in the storm. Can they make it? Or will they swing for their crimes on Leith Sands? Maritime historians Dr Eric Graham and David Wilson and Professor Allan MacInnes take us on an epic journey of piracy and general badness from Africa to Argyll via the Caribbean and the coast of Brazil. In our Time Travels summer special, Susan Morrison investigates the pirates of Loch Craignish.

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