Q: What did pirates want?
A: Pirates wanted the cargo. They wanted the treasure the ship carried, and they wanted things for daily survival. They didn’t bury their booty; they used it!
They stole goods like silver and gold, but also things they needed every day, like food, clothes, soap, alcohol, rope, and even anchors. Blackbeard once demanded a medicine chest as part of his payoff to lift his blockade of the city of Charleston, South Carolina.
The fabled “Pieces of Eight” so heavily recorded in fact and fiction are Spanish eight reales. Through capture and trade, these coins became the most reliable currency in the Americas and Asia. An assayer, guaranteeing its weight in silver, marked each coin. Reales were so well recognized that the young American colonies based their “dollar” on their design and weight. Chinese traders would often stamp them with their chop or personal mark to prove the coins’ value. The Chinese used Spanish coins along with their own currency as late as the 1930s!
Q: What makes someone a Pirate?
A: A pirate attacks and robs ships at sea. There have always been pirates on the seas and they are still around today. They may steal the cargo or the whole ship, or hold the crew and passengers for ransom. A pirate’s career usually lasts only two years because of accidents, battle wounds, or capture by the authorities.
Q: Who were the Buccaneers?
A: The Buccaneers were hunters and backwoodsmen who lived in the Caribbean Islands. They supplied dried meat to the ships, but sometimes joined pirate crews.
The word “Boucan” comes from the French word “boucanier,” which was a rack used to cure meat over an open flame.
Q: Who were the Privateers?
A: Privateers or Corsairs acted just like pirates, but they had permission from their government to do so. They were not in the official “navy” but had contracts to attack enemy merchant ships. Under the contract, called a “Letter of Marque,” the privateers shared the plunder with the government.
Captain Kidd began as a privateer but later, he became a pirate and was captured and hanged. Captain Henry Morgan was a privateer who received a knighthood for his efforts and made governor of Jamaica.
Q: Why did pirates have peg legs and wear hooks for hands?
A: Sailors who fell from the rigging onto the deck died or injured severely. Amputation was among the few medical options available. Peg legs and hooks were the only replacements available at the time. Sailors who were not “able-bodied seamen” often stayed on with the crew as a cook, or in some other capacity that did not require agility.
Q: Did Pirates really wear eye patches?
A : Yes! Sailors were hurt frequently, particularly in fights. A sailor might lose an eye in a knife fight with a fellow crewman or in battle. Any person who had injuries like this would typically wear a patch, but in the disorganized life of a pirate, such injuries were probably more common.
Q: Did pirates keep parrots and monkeys as pets?
A: Although pirates were everywhere, most of them operated in the Caribbean and South America. Many of the ships they captured were carrying not only raw materials, but also exotic animals as cargo. Some adopted the animals because they could not sell them legally—or just because they liked them! Almost all ships had rats, so pirates had cats and dogs on board, too, to hunt them
Q: Where did pirates get their drinking water?
A: Pirates stored drinking water in barrels on their ships. They had to go ashore to re-fill the barrels. Sometimes this might be in a pirate-friendly port, but it was on some lonely island.
Q: Did pirates bury their treasure?
A: Because they had stolen their money, pirates could not use banks. Legend has it that they often buried their treasure, but it’s more likely that they spent it all on having fun!
Q: What is a poop deck?
A: The poop is a small, raised deck in the back of the ship. The name comes from the Latin word, “puppies”, which means an idol or doll. In ancient times, sailors would place a statue of a god on the back of the ship to watch over its welfare. Being “pooped” originally meant being in seas so rough that a wave broke over the stern of the ship.
Q: What was scurvy?
A: Scurvy is a disease you get from not having enough vitamin C in your system. Vitamin C comes in citrus fruits, like oranges and limes. It causes your teeth to fall out, black spots on your skin, and bleeding from your nose and mouth. Because they did not know the cause for scurvy, sailors who went on long voyages and only ate things like bread, meat, and cheese contracted scurvy.
Q: What is a “loose cannon?”
A: Ships depended on cannon for protection and pirates used them to attack other vessels. Cannon are very heavy and have strong recoil. If not tied down properly, cannon can break loose and roll around on the deck, killing sailors or knocking a hole in the side of the ship. A person is called a “loose cannon” if he acts out of control. The punishment for not tying your cannon down properly was death!
Q: What did pirates do for entertainment?
A: Before TV and video games, people went out of their way to learn skills that would entertain not only themselves, but also their friends. Music was important on board; almost every ship had a small band with at least a fiddler, a drummer, and a flute player. Sailors danced, played cards, rolled dice, and made crafts out of things they found lying around, like string, rope, and bone.
Q: What happened if pirates were caught?
A: Pirates led dangerous lives and could not expect to live long once they decided to “turn pirate.” Their life expectancy was around two years. Injuries, fighting, and capture by the authorities took their toll. The punishment for piracy was hanging.
Q: What were the different jobs on board?
A: It takes a lot of manpower to run a big sailing ship. The captain was in charge of everyone, but most sailors raised and lowered sails and steered the ship. There were also specialty jobs like being a gunner, a cook, or the ship’s carpenter. Ships needed repair all the time and everyone helped with that.
Resources:
http://www.ringsurf.com/ring/pirate/
