Sean O'Riordan: West Cork pirates' lucrative Atlantic operation

National Monuments Service's Underwater Archaeology Unit recording two cannon on the Dunworley Bay wreck site; the wreck dates to the first half of the 1600s and may have been associated with the infamous 1631 raid on Baltimore by the Ottoman Turkish pirates. Pic: C. Kelleher, National Monuments Service

A new book offers a fascinating insight into the activities, lives, and influence of an alliance of pirates based along the south-west coast, says Sean O'Riordan

Pirates based in West Cork made millions from plundering shipping and they almost destroyed trade between Europe and the Americas — but were beloved by locals as they gave them three times the going price for supplies.