Doctor Who Discovers Early Man by Fred Newman

From the Barbary Corsairs, the most notorious were Arouj and Kheireddin Barbarossa. However, as the Doctor points out, many of the men involved were privateers or corsairs and therefore had an official license to engage in piratical behaviour. The TARDIS lands in almost the same spot but in the 16th century at a time when Arabs had conquered most of the surrounding countries as part of a brutal war with the Christians. He is quickly fascinated and, seeing as he is not too busy, decides to go and investigate first-hand. The Doctor admits surprise at seeing pirates flourishing so early in humanity's history and asks the TARDIS for more information. It prints out a sheet revealing that Caesar's family paid the ransom, upon which Caesar enacted his brutal revenge upon the pirates and won the ransom back.

With the ships having sailed out of sight, the Doctor asks the TARDIS' computer how the story ended. Throughout the ransacking, one young man remains calm - a young Julius Caesar, although he is quickly captured by the pirates and held for ransom. He eventually finds a telescope in a TARDIS locker and uses it to spot two sailing ships from the time of the Roman Empire, determining that he is watching a pirate invasion in progress. He quickly realises he must be on Earth and on the Mediterranean Sea, which turns out to be correct. Reaching the door, he discovers he has landed on the sea waves.

The Doctor's TARDIS lands with a lurch in a new location and the Fourth Doctor wonders where he could be. Who Discovers Pirates' is one of a series of illustrated stories in which the Doctor meets the famous - and infamous - of history and finds himself an eye-witness to great events. Who Discovers Pirates' the Doctor traces their unlawful history from Roman times to the China seas of not more than a hundred years ago, finding out about such infamous characters as Captain Kidd and Blackbeard as the Tardis takes him through the centuries. The clash of cutlasses, the roar of cannon and the shouts of pirates as they swarm over the hapless ships that have become their prey… Everyone knows about pirates, but what were these buccaneers really like? In 'Dr.

Doctor Who Discovers Early Man by Fred Newman