An oyster pirate is a person who poaches oysters. It was a term that became popular on both the West Coast of the United States and the East Coast of the United States during the 19th century.

John Griffith Chaney, better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to become an international celebrity and earn a large fortune from writing. He was also an innovator in the genre that would later become known as science fiction.