Did you know:
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 | Each pirate was allowed to vote on where the ship was to go or if
a colonial ship should be attacked.
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| Each pirate received an
equal share of the booty, with a double share going to the captain, the
pilot, the carpenter, the cook, and a share set aside for the maintenance
of the ship. Most pirates were paid four times as much as they had ever
received as merchant or naval men. However, if no plunder was captured, no
one would be paid.
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| Each pirate signed an agreement—called
"articles"—before they "joined"
(many were forced to become pirates when the buccaneers captured their
ships). This paper detailed how much they would be paid, behavior expected
(no gambling, no fighting except on land, no stealing) and punishments for
breaking rules.
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| For breaking the rules spelled out in the articles,
a pirate would be marooned with a flagon of water and a pistol, to
survive or die. Because most of the Caribbean islands are mere spits
of sand, most of the men died.
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| Articles of clothing were acquired from plundering
ships. Pirates often wore some very odd costumes because of this. But
no pirate would be caught wearing "slops" – the striped
shirt worn by British sailors.
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Pirate ships had unusually large crews
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| There were up to eighty pirates per ship. In contrast, most
English ships had only thirty men. Work was evenly distributed among the
pirate crew, and so jobs got done faster with less strain than on traditional
colonial ships. Many considered a berth on a pirate ship easy pay for little
work.
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| In many cases, pirates wouldn’t have to fire a shot. The
mere approach of a pirate ship would cause most colonial captains to
surrender. Then the captured captain would try to make some sort of
deal that would result in the least amount of death and injuries. This
often worked — but not always! There were many
pirates–Blackbeard for one–who engaged in ruthless, bloody
brigandage for the sheer sport of it.
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Pirates had the New World’s first insurance
compensation plan
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The captain of a pirate ship wasn’t the ship’s
master
Blackbeard
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| The captain (like
Blackbeard or Henry Morgan) was, in fact, a battle leader for boarding
ships and leading land raids. The ship’s pilot, the person who actually
steered the ship, was the real captain. He received a share of booty equal
to the captain.
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| If the pirate crew felt the captain was not
succeeding (getting the men enough plunder), they would vote him out
and elect a new captain from among their number.
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| The captain’s cabin was open for anyone to use — a sort of
"den" if you will.
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There was a fine line between a
"privateer" and a "pirate"
Henry Morgan
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| Colonial governments
active in the Caribbean (Spain, England, France, Portugal) commissioned
naval captains to attack ships of opposing flags. A privateer was
allowed to keep a large share of anything they captured from the foreign
ship.
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| Henry Morgan was
originally commissioned as a privateer to attack French ships. He
got in trouble when he started attacking any ship, including his own
country’s. At that point, he became a pirate. |
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The typical pirate diet gave rise to the term "Buccaneer"
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| The word "buccaneer" comes from boucan,
meat prepared in a manner similar to modern barbeque. Pirates were in the habit of going onto Hispaniola and other islands, killing semi-wild cattle and boars and cooking the meat over an open flame. They often used the meat to barter with ships seeking provisions.
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| The Portuguese are credited with placing breeding pairs of
pigs on hundreds of Caribbean islands. They did this in case they were
stranded, they’d have something to eat. Of course, pigs let to breed
and do whatever they want with no natural predator will shortly take
over the ecology and ruin the feeding grounds for native species. |
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Pirates had as dismal a record with Africans as did
other Europeans in the Caribbean.
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| Since most slave ships were quite large and
well-staffed, most pirate ships avoided them. But when they did
attack, the pirates removed the Africans and then sold them in the
nearest port.
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| There are tales of individual slaves becoming
pirates. There is some evidence that there was a ship comprised of
escaped slaves and Africans.
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The Jolly Roger, or skull and crossed bones we
identify as "the" pirate flag was, in fact, one of many flags
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| Each pirate captain
created a flag unique to his command. For a nice display of pirate
flags, go to:
www.cosmosmith.com/jolly_roger.html
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| A skull and crossed swords flag belonged to Calico Jack
Rackam, with whom Mary Read and Ann Bonny sailed.
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| When pirates wished to
show their deadly intent, they flew long blood-red pennants
from the
yardarms of their mainmast. This signal was called, "No
Quarter."
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| Pieces of eight were actually Spanish silver eight
"reales" coins. The gold coins were called
"escudos." These had the Spanish coat of arms
on one side and two columns depicting the Pillars of Hercules (symbolizing
the Straits of Gibraltar) on the other. It is thought that the
twin pillars became such a recognized symbol for money that the
modern dollar sign evolved from it.
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| The doubloon was a gold eight escudo coin--the
highest value coin in the Spanish system. It had the a bust of
the King of Spain's on one side and the Spanish coat of arms on
the other. A handful of doubloons would have been a real
treasure to any pirate. |
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Bibliography
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For further information, see these websites:
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tinpan.fortunecity.com/lennon/897
www.Noquartergiven.net
For an on-going discussion of pirates of history,
Canadian piratical activities and modern applications of piracy,
see Cindy Vallar's Pirates
and Privateers page on Suite101.com.
The Pirate's
Realm is a terrific source of information and fun things for kids! http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Garden/5213
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/1500/piracy.html
http://pirateshold.buccaneersoft.com
http://www.buccaneer.net
http://blindkat.fateback.com/pirates/pirates.html
Henry
Morgan
Read bout the search for Henry Morgan's (and others') gold in Panama Blackbeard
http://www.ocracoke-nc.com/blackbeard
North
Carolina Maritime Museum
Colonial
Williamsburg abstract
And just for fun, check out the Talk
Like A Pirate Day website
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My top two recommendations are:
Cordingly, David. Under the Black Flag: The Romance and the Reality of
Life Among the Pirates. New York: Random House, 1995.
Cordingly, David, ed. Pirates: Terror on the High Seas from the
Caribbean to the South China Sea. Atlanta: Turner Publishing, Inc., 1996.
See the Pirate Books &
Pirate Films pages for a more comprehensive list of materials currently
available.
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| Or see a
show! |
The Pirate Queen
is a Broadway musical about Grace O'Malley, coming in Fall 2006 |
