With a lifelong passion for history, Robert Jacob has been heavily involved in living history interpretation and reenacting for over 40 years and more recently was a guest on the History Channel. Those groups covered a wide range of time periods which include numerous French and Indian War and Revolutionary War reenactment groups, Western Gun Fighter groups, regularly attending Mountain Man Rendezvous and Renaissance Fairs.  During the past 12 years he has focused on the golden age of piracy with a main emphasis on the events of Blackbeard.  

Originally from Pittsburgh, PA, Robert graduated from Duquesne University with a Batchelor’s Degree in education in 1978.  He taught in the West Point public school district, West Point, VA for five years while completing his Master’s Degree from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1983.

In 1982, Robert entered the United States Marine Corps reserve and augmented to active duty in 1983.  During his service, he became a military occupational specialty instructor and earned the designation of Master Training Specialist.  Later in his career, he became the Commanding Officer of the Marine Detachment at the same school where he had earlier instructed.  He achieved the rank of Chief Warrant Officer 5 and retired after 31 years of service in 2013.

While researching information on the golden age of piracy, Robert soon realized that most of the publications on the subject were contradictory and even incorrect.  This spurred him on to write his current publication, A Pirate’s Life in the Golden Age of Piracy.