Benerson Little

Early life and education

Benerson "Ben" Kile Little was born on July 30, 1959 in Naval Hospital Key West (on the site of the current Naval BHC Key West) in that Florida city, to Alabamians Margaret Little (née Tillery) and Benerson Vernon Little, his father being "a Navy man."

Little grew up "variously on all three US coasts," and studied and graduated from Tulane University.

Early career

Little joined the U.S. Navy, serving eight years as an officer, 1981-1989, including the six years beginning 1983 as a Navy SEAL (BUD/S Class 121; SEAL Team 3 and SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 1). After 1989, Little worked in a strategy and tactics group for the related Naval Special Warfare Command, and in the private sector, doing intelligence collection and analysis relating to naval standard and special operations.

Published works

In the first decades of the new millennium, Little has been doing research and writing, in particular non-fiction, with a focus on naval history relating to piracy, in particularly on "sea rovers"—from early sea raiders, to privateers, letter-of-marque men, and cruisers, to commerce raiders, and pirates and pirate hunters—including during the Golden Age of Piracy in the Caribbean. Little has established himself as an expert on the history of piracy and related subjects, and has authored several books. As of January 2017, he is reported to be devoting time to writing contemporary and historical novels.

Books

The following are cataloged book-length publications of Little, as of January 2017:

Non-fiction

Fiction

Selected articles

Consulting

Little consults on maritime and naval issues, including "maritime threat and security, and especially maritime history."

He has served as the historical consultant for the Black Sails television series (Starz/Anchor Bay, 2014-), for the first three seasons at least, appearing as well on the 9 min. featurette, 'Black Sails': An Inside Look (2014) that was packaged with the Blu-ray disc of the programme's first season. About the Black Sails production, Little has said:

I've seen all the movies and TV series on pirates to date—and although my attitude is perhaps a little colored [biased], I think, frankly, that this is the absolute, most realistic pirate drama to date… [Danish: Jeg har set samtlige film og tv-serier om pirater tip dato—og selvom min holdning måske er lidt farvet, så mener jeg helt ærligt, at det her er det absolut mest realistiske pirat-drama tip dato…]

a statement about which Søren Dalager Ditlevsen of DR Kultur reported:

Morten Tinning, a Dane from the M/S Museet for Søfart [M/S Maritime Museum, of Denmark] in Helsingør, agrees. [Danish: Danske Morten Tinning fra M/S Museet for Søfart i Helsingør er enig.]

Little also served as consultant for the modern board game, Blood & Plunder from Firelock Games, "to ensure that all models, campaigns and strategies reflect the period."

Appearances

Little has appeared in two television documentaries on piracy.

Critical reception

Interest in Little's work has been both scholarly (in both academic and military circles) and popular; notably, Pirate Hunting (2010) was chosen for review by both the Naval and U.S. Army War Colleges.

Jack Gottschalk, a graduate of the Naval War College, an adjunct professor at Seton Hall University, and author of Jolly Roger with an Uzi (2000, with Brian P. Flanagan, on modern piracy), writing for the Naval War College Review with regard to Pirate Hunting, expressed the view that:

[Little] has done a superb job of recounting the violent history that surrounds pirates and raiders and the measures that have been taken to hunt and suppress them. Also, [he] has not forgotten privateers, who, depending on available opportunities, easily switched from being pirate hunters to pirates. Little opens by noting the differences between pirates… and raiders… Additionally, he provides detailed information about pirate and raider ships and about tactics and weapons…

Writing in the National Maritime Historical Society's Sea History, Louis Arthur Norton, professor emeritus at the University of Connecticut, recipient of two Gerald E. Morris Prizes for maritime historiography (2002, 2006), and author of Captains Contentious (2009, on the lives of five Continental Navy captains), describes Little's The Sea Rover’s Practice (2011) as a "scholarly, informative, thought-provoking work," and states, "Considering all the titles that have been published in the last decade on piracy, this book is an excellent resource on its true nature."

As noted, Little's work in providing historical expertise to artistic and commercial efforts on piracy has been seen as imparting high quality to the projects.

Personal life

Little married Virgina Irene Buttram (née Sullivan) on March 8, 1986 at the Chapel at the Naval Air Station North Island, on the north end of the Coronado peninsula in San Diego Bay. The couple had two daughters, born 1991 and 1994.

As of February 2016, Benerson is reported to have been remarried, to Marry Crouch.

Little is described as devoting some of his spare time to research on "historical fencing," and is a fifteen-year teaching veteran of fencing, with thirty-five years in practice and earlier study under Hungarian masters Francis Zold and Eugene Hamori; as of January 2017, he is reported to be a Professional Member of the United States Fencing Association (especially épée, modern classical foil), and is a Co-Director of and fencing Instructor at the Huntsville Fencing Club.

As of 2010, Little resided in Huntsville, Alabama.