Today is International Talk Like A Pirate Day. Here are 10 facts about pirates:
The English word "pirate" is derived from a Greek word meaning “to attempt something” which in time became the Latin word for a brigand. The word buccaneer derives from the French boucanier ‘to cook meat over an open flame.’ The word corsair is from Medieval Latin cursārius, meaning a running, or a course.
Records of pirate activity date back to at least the 1400s, with some evidence that piracy existed well before that. The golden age of piracy, however, was from about 1650 to 1720.
Pirates commissioned by a government, especially during war, were known as privateers. Examples of privateers are Sir Francis Drake and Captain Henry Morgan, who would never plunder English ships, and were seen as heroes in England while the Spanish viewed them as pirates.
It would be easy to assume that pirate ships were anarchies. Every man for himself and all that. However, they were generally subject to strict codes of conduct and operated almost like democracies. While the captain was in charge, there would often be a system of checks and balances. Quartermasters were a counterbalance to the captain and had the power to veto his orders. According to the rules, the “treasure” would be evenly divided between the crew, making sure that pirates who were sick or injured all got an equal share.
Punishments for rule breaking were severe. However, walking the plank was rarely, if ever, one of them. Rule breakers might be marooned on an island, whipped or keel-hauled. The latter involved being tied to a rope, thrown overboard, dragged down one side of the ship, underneath it, over the keel and back up the other side. Ship bottoms were usually covered with barnacles, which often resulted in serious injuries.
Buried pirate treasure is largely a myth. Captain William Kidd was a rare exception. He did bury some loot when he was on his way to New York to turn himself in and try to clear his name. Generally the loot would be divided up amongst the crew who would more often spend it right away. In addition, loot wasn’t always money or treasure. Sometimes it was things the pirates could use: food, water, alcohol, weapons, clothing, soap, ship’s equipment and especially medicines. A doctor's chest could be worth around $470,000 in today's money. Much of the plunder was perishable goods. Precious stones weren’t as prized as you might think. They were hard to sell, and in any case, people of the time had no idea how valuable they were. There’s a case recorded where a pirate was given a large diamond worth a great deal more than the value of the handful of small Diamonds given to his crewmates. He felt cheated and had it broken up to match what they’d received. Sometimes, if the victims had a better ship than the pirates did, they’d take it.
Historians now think that a pirate’s eye patch wasn’t worn because they’d lost an Eye. It was so that one eye would always be adjusted to darkness, so they could see when they went below deck.
Most pirates were men. It wasn’t a career generally open to women. Women on a ship were viewed as bad luck and possibly a source of division among the crew who might fight and argue over a woman. However, it wasn’t unknown for women who fancied a pirate’s life to disguise themselves as men. Two famous examples were Mary Read and Anne Bonney who sailed with “Calico Jack” Rackham in 1719. When Rackham and his crew were captured, to avoid being hanged, they not only admitted they were women but claimed to be pregnant. There were probably many more female pirates whose disguises were never detected.
Pirates often flew the Jolly Roger, a black flag with a white Skull and crossbones. It was to signal their presence to potential victims and warn them that they should surrender without a fight. If a ship surrendered, the pirates would often not kill anybody at all, but if there was a fight, they didn’t take prisoners. Sometimes sailors would actually join the pirates, since a sailor’s pay was nowhere near what they’d get from sharing the plunder, and they had more rights and protections under the pirate rules.
Some more famous pirates include “Black Sam” Bellamy, known as the “Robin Hood of the Sea” and allegedly the richest pirate ever; William Kidd, a decorated sailor and a rich man who set out in 1696 on a pirate-hunting mission and turned pirate shortly thereafter; Major Stede Bonnet, a wealthy plantation owner in Barbados before he outfitted a ship and became a pirate in 1717: some say he did it to get away from a nagging wife; and of course, Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard.
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