Charlotte Montague is a freelance writer who specializes in history. Her father was a naval officer, and as a child, she travelled the world with her family. After gaining an M.A. degree in History from Sussex University, she began writing on a variety of subjects including ethnic cultures, travel, and music. Since then, she has continued to write on costumes, on flags, on knots, on body adornment, on sea shanties, and many other topics. More recently, she developed an interest in the history of crime at sea, not only in Europe but further afield. Her current research has taken her to many parts of the globe, including Africa and the Far East, particularly the islands of the South Pacific. She travels for most of the year, but returns frequently to her home, a remote eighteenth-century cottage close to a famous smuggler's cove on the Cornish coast.