Preface v
Introduction vii
1. Key West, Florida 1
2. Cuba 11
3. Hendrick van der Decken 29
4. How I met Anansi 39
5. Duppy Boy 48
6. Port Royal 54
7. Groundation 62
8. A King 71
9. Port-au-Prince, Haïti, and the emperors 80
10. Dead reckoning: a scientific sailor's challenge 94
11. Santo Domingo 104
12. Treasure 116
13. Bartolomé de Las Casas 129
14. The transatlantic slave trade 139
15. Powerful clergymen 153
16. Men-of-War, and the men who sailed them 169
17. Another three Dutch and three British pirates 179
18. St. Eustatius and the Golden Door 195
19. Islanders of all kinds 205
20. Essequibo, Demerara, and Berbice 221
21. The decline of the WIC, the rescue, and modern-day
slavery
231
22. More local characters 241
23.Windward Islands, Trinidad and Tobago 253
24. Leeward Antilles 263
25. Curaçao, the end of a long sea voyage 272
Epilogue 284
About the Author 289

Refreshing and educational narrative history

After a life-changing diagnosis, Dutch entrepreneur Jacob Gelt Dekker decides to take a step into the unknown. Setting sail from his home in Key West, he embarks on an odyssey around the Caribbean islands, navigating treacherous waters and nations forever shaped by the Age of Discovery and transatlantic slave trade. Soon he discovers that he is not alone on his boat. With him during the long days and nights at sea are Anansi the Spider, the West African trickster, and The Flying Dutchman, doomed to sail the oceans forever and harboring a terrible secret.

Together, this unlikely trio seeks to establish the truth about the history of the Caribbean. Along the way, they encounter famous pirates and unpick tales of untold riches, but also retrace the steps of the region's slaves, finding out how events in Europe, the fledgling American colonies, and Africa sealed their fates. Informed by personal experience and the people he meets on the islands, Jacob Gelt Dekker offers an unconventional account that is key to understanding the Caribbean and its peoples today.