Captain Johnson was for some years thought to be Robinson Crusoe author Daniel Defoe. His exact identity is still unkown.

David Cordingly is the author of the bestselling Under the Black Flag, Life Among the Pirates, Seafaring Women, The Billy Ruffian, and Cochrane: The Real Master and Commander. He was Keeper of Pictures and Head of Exhibitions at the National Maritime Museum for twelve years, where he organized such exhibitions as “Captain James Cook, Navigator,” “The Mutiny on the Bounty,” and “Pirates: Fact and Fiction.” He lives by the sea in Brighton, England.