These people did not have a fatherland, they were united by something more: a common cause. These were brothers by blood - not by the blood that flowed in the veins of their ancestors, but by the blood of their victims and their own, shed in a troubled present for the sake of an unclear future. They could not exclaim like Kipling’s Shere Khan: “We are of the same blood - you and I!” They could not, not because it would have been untrue, but because the equality proclaimed by these tigers of the sea - in danger, in the division of prey, in battle, in revelry - completely excluded division on any other basis. Language and names are the only thing that reminded them of their childhood, that connected them with their lost homeland.

The author of the book, a writer and specialist in ancient navigation and shipbuilding, talks vividly and fascinatingly about the history of the creation of the fleet, exploration of the seas and geographical discoveries. Navigation is associated with the rapid development of shipbuilding, navigational knowledge, trade relations and military-political alliances. It is difficult to overestimate the role of sea pirates in the field of navigation and geographical discoveries. The book is modeled after an ancient tragedy. It contains almost everything that the texts of ancient authors (Egyptian, Greek and Latin) provide, including those that have not been translated into Russian. This book is the first part of a trilogy about the history of rowing and sailing ships. For anyone interested in the history of world shipbuilding and fleet.