Introduction to Final Research Paper

From about the 1650’s to about the 1720’s many people were joining pirate crews. This caused the number of pirates on sea to increase and the Golden Age of Piracy to occur. But what was the reason behind this? Did people just one day decide they were going to become pirates or was there an underlying cause for all of it?

With further research came some answer; many people around this time were jobless and there was an overcrowding in England. This was because of the interregnum period which means “between kings.” King Charles I was executed which left the people without a king, which was what all the common people wanted for themselves. They did not want to live as a monarchy anymore, so they were trying to put together a new constitution. After 11 years, Charles II took his place back in the kingdom, but that was not the end of their worries in England.

Right after Charles II took back England, the bubonic plague struck. This caused many people to become ill and die. England then began to shut down their business, so many of the English lost their jobs on land. Piracy had existed prior to this and many people knew that pirates made good money and they were “hiring” all the time. Many of the men who had families to provide for, decided they would do just that; become pirates.

Another reason why many people were becoming pirates during this time was because black men and women were forced to be slaves and they did not want to continue living that way. A lot of the black men would escape from the slave owners and find their way into pirate ship because they knew they would not be found there. Black men were treated better on the pirate ship then they were being treated on land, so this caused them to prefer committing crimes and breaking laws than living on plantations owned by other men.

The final reason why many of these men and women took on piracy was because many of them had fathers who owned pirate ships throughout these years. Their fathers lived their lives as pirates, and they wanted to carry the “family business” on and continue to run the ships. These people thought that piracy was their birthright and that it was a job they had to take on. An example of a pirate who was born into piracy and inherited a ship from her father was Grace O’Malley who was a very known female pirate.

These are three reason that will be furthered researched, although I am sure there was other reasons as well. Piracy continued for all those years and continues to happen now. I still wonder… will piracy every become a big thing again and will the pirates be fiercer now?

Blackbeard

Throughout history Blackbeard has been a very well know pirate. For many people he is the first person that comes to mind when talking about pirates in general.

Blackbeard’s was also known as Edward Teach and he was described as a bloodthirsty, greedy, black bearded pirate. Many of the other pirates were scared of the man because he had such a fearsome appearance. He was also known to use unnecessary violence but was a very calculated man.

La Concorde was the ship that Blackbeard captured, in which he renamed Queen Anne’s Revenge. He equipped the ship with about 40 cannons, many guns and lots of ammunition and of course, a crew with about 300 men. As an archeologist, I have discovered about 30 of those cannons but only 24 have been recovered.

The first cannon was discovered in November of 1996 and since then more artifacts have been discovered and we continue to study them and recover them to this day. Queen Anne’s Revenge is located in North Carolina and we have been able to dive and see how big the ship actually is. Being able to discover all the different artifacts that have been there for more than 300 years has allowed us to open up the lab for educational tours. This give the opportunity for all those students interested in the Golden Age of Piracy to see firsthand all the different artifacts that pirates traveled on board with.

The Queen Anne’s Revenge project has helped me put a realistic view on pirates and the things they used as weapons and how dangerous it must have been traveling with them and being attacked by them. Blackbeard was a calculated man and you can tell he was ready to attack any vessel that got in his way.

Sources :

https://www.qaronline.org/

Pirates Code

As we all know, we live in a world where rules must be followed, even if they are something we do not agree on. We have laws that we have to abide by, and although we might consider pirates to be lawless individuals, they had laws they had to live by as well if they did not want to face death. 

In the 1700's, Bartholomew Roberts, also known as Black Bart, set out the Pirate Code. This code consisted of "laws" that each and every pirate had to abide by and honor. This helped keep order on the ships and allowed every pirate a set of rights, as well as restrictions for them. If these codes were not honored, the pirates were put to death or abandoned on an island, which was known as marooning.

These codes were not in any way harsh towards the pirates but served in a positive way towards them that guaranteed them their share of the booty. The Pirate Codes states, “The captain and the quartermaster shall each receive two shares of a prize, the master gunner and boatswain, one and one half shares, all other officers one and one quarter, and private gentlemen of fortune one share each.” This was necessary to make sure the pirates were not being sold short by the Captain.

Although pirates lived off stealing from other people, they were not allowed to steal from each other. According to Pirate Documents, “they contented themselves with slitting the ears and nose of him that was guilty.” This helped keep the men from being tempted to steal or betray each other on board the ships.

While partaking in attacks and the sacking of cities, some pirates tended to get hurt while doing so. This meant that some pirates lost their limbs or were crippled; this is where the Pirate Code, again was beneficial to them. Hurt crew members were offered, “800 pieces of eight of the common stock,” which was like, what we know today as a disability check or settlement check.

One of the Pirate Codes listed in Pirate Documents is, “Every man has a vote in the affairs of the moment.” This meant that the pirates could help make decision, whereas they were not ruled by the captain and had no say in what went on in the ship. They had a democracy form of “government” within them.

Pirate Codes served in favor of all crew members including the Captain and the crew. I believe this allowed their travels together to go smooth sailing and allowed “justice to be served” among themselves rather than acting on emotions and causing unnecessary chaos.

Sources Consulted:

Pirate Documents, “Bartholomew Roberts’ Shipboard Articles 1721.”

https://www.piratedocuments.com/bartholomew-roberts-articles-1721/

The Pirate Code (Provided by Dr. Harris on D2L)

Ching Shih the Pirate Queen

I have never feared more for my life then I did on this particular day. On a Wednesday afternoon, I was walking home from the market when some men took me and my sister. They took us aboard a ship in which they communicated with, what sounded like Chinese. I could hear a woman's voice talking to them; it sounded like she was in command.

My sister and I were separated as they dragged us to separate parts of the ship, and I could hear the men arguing and laughing among each other. I thought I knew how this was going to play out, but I was absolutely wrong. 

Rumor was, that when women were kidnapped by pirates, they became slaves and were raped by all the men on board. But this was going differently than expected. An Asian woman approached me and with one look I knew she was not going to let anything happen to me. She seemed strict with all the men on board and the men seemed quite scared of their captain. 

As time went by, I witnessed many men being whipped and some were even beheaded if they disobeyed the captain’s orders. I hated to be in the position I was in, but I tried to not lose hope of returning home one day with my beloved family along with my sister.

I began to lose track of the days but weird enough I began to feel inspired by the captain of the fleet, Ching Shih. I thought about how woman back home could never be in the position in which they could rule over men, yet Ching Shih was. She seemed so powerful and listened to, which made me want to feel the same way. 

I took it upon myself that if I ever made it back home, I would one day be powerful and listened to. Even though I did not aspire to be a pirate I did want to help empower woman one day. I unfortunately never made it back home, but I hope that in the future woman can have more roles in society like men do today.

Henry Morgan

Henry Morgan was a known legendary Welsh Privateer. He raided many cities in his time and successfully captured Panama. Morgan was an owner of plantations and was a married man as well.  According to David Cordingly, "Henry Morgan was no ordinary buccaneer. He had received a knighthood and been appointed Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica by King Charles the second" (43). Morgan's methods of attack are explained in many ways as well as the stories told about his many exploits because of the different points of views of writers in which some state facts while others state fiction. 

In Buccaneers and Pirates, it is said that Henry Morgan came from parents who were farmers and he disliked farming so much, that he ran away to become a sailor. And since he had no money, he had to work in plantations for three years. On the other hand, Under the Black Flag explains the events that led up to his legendary raids in more detail. Cordingly explains that very little is known about Henry Morgan parents, but he had two uncles who were soldiers in which he wanted to follow in their footsteps and became a soldier too. Henry Morgan then joined the expeditionary force with General Venables and Admiral Penn in aim of capturing Hispaniola, which was not successful. He then spent the next few years part taking in other raids, one of which he had the responsibility of being the captain of the one of the ships. This is where he established his leadership role and his journey began.

The sacking of Porto Bello was one of the most famous exploits led by Captain Morgan. Buccaneers and Pirates states, “Porto Bello was one of the strongest towns possessed by the Spaniards” (Stockton 145). Stockton also mentions that Captain Morgan "was helped" by the religious people, which were the monks and nuns of Porto Bello. Henry Morgan and his men used these people as human shields by using them to put up their ladders that would help them climb over the wall of Porto Bello and lead them inside the town. Because of the men defending their town of Porto Bello, they were told to shoot their own people if it meant keeping the privateers and pirates out. Once they were over the wall Henry Morgan asked for a ransom from the Governor of Panama to not burn the town down, so after sending a messenger back and forth the Governor paid the ransom and Henry Morgan and his men abandoned the place.

Under the Black Flag puts the event differently and is based off facts. "Morgan had learned that the forts which defended the town from the sea were poorly manned" (Cordingly 45). Although this was true, there was times when the towns ships were at their ports and the towns had significant defenses. Also mentioned is the fact that Morgan’s men did use ladders to climb the walls but did not use the people as human shields in this manner. But Morgan then made the decision to drag the Mayor, women, old men, and some friars and nuns to precede the buccaneers as human shields in this manner. 

Captain Henry Morgan then proceeded to ask for a ransom, like mentioned in both readings but in Under the Black Flag, Henry Morgan asks the President of Panama for a payment of 350,000 pesos for Porto Bello in which the President proceeds to pay only a part of, after three weeks of negotiations. Captain Henry Morgan left Porto Bello with his men and with 250,000 pesos in his possession.

Sources Consulted:
Cordingly, David. Under the Back Flag- The Romance and the Reality of Life Among the Pirates. Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2006.

Stockton, Frank. Buccaneers and Pirates. Dover Publications, 2007.

Pieces of Eight

Being a pirate means traveling over seas in search of treasure to plunder. Over the centuries pirates have sailed all over world accomplishing just that. There have been many seaports that have lead the pirates to find many treasures and some have lead them to find none at all. The seaports that have lead them to treasure are extremely important to these pirates because they have made these pirates rich, and have gave them the reputation they have today.

Nombre de Dios, which lies in the corner of a bay in Isthmus of panama was an important port for Francis Drake. Although, Drake wasn't a pirate, he committed many piracy acts. Before planning an attack he visited Nombre de Dios disguised as a Spanish merchant in 1571. He found that there was the Kings treasure-house along with sheltered coves where the treasure would be placed for any future expeditions. 

In 1572, he returned to Nombre de Dios with his men and attacked the harbor but was unsuccessful in finding treasure because the treasure houses were empty. Drake did not give up though. He planned a second attack, but this time it was on the mule train that transported all the goods to Nombre de Dios but again his attack was unsuccessful because his men got drunk and set off the train.

About a month later he raided the small town of Venta Cruces and met a group of French Huguentos which informed him about a mule train heading to Nombre de Dios and along side the Frenchmen, and the blacks, the Englishmen pounced on the mule train and found much treasure.These 190 mules in the mule train were carrying 300 pounds weight of silver each. This was exactly what Drake had been waiting for. 

Another important port to Drake was the port of Valparaiso in which he plundered, 8,000 Euro in gold and 1,770 jars of wine. And he didn't stop there. Drake then intercepted Cacafuego and that where Drake plundered the most treasure. This included 13 chest of royals of plate, 80 pounds of gold, and 26 tons of uncoined silver. This took his men six days to transfer onto his ship. 

Drake then returned to England to meet with Queen Elizabeth in which she knighted him and let him keep 10,000 Eros ad split 8,000 Euros among his crew. 

These ports were important to Francis Drake because they provided him with lots of treasure and made a name for him back in England. And also gave a kick start to his plundering.

Heroes or Villains?

We live life everyday knowing that one day we will eventually die. But the real question is; when you die would you want to be remembered as a hero or a villain? Personally, I would want to be remembered as a hero, and not be associated with the word villain at all. Pirates, on the other hand, probably think they are viewed as heroes but are no where near that. In Under the Black Flag, pirates are described as very prideful people, as well as being thieves and unmerciful, and these are not hero traits. The way I see it is, everything that we do in this life will not go unseen or will not go unpaid for either. And because pirates do so many awful things, they are villains and that their destinies are doomed for destruction and their careers are going to eventually end, and they will end badly.

In Buccaneers and Pirates it mentions that from a young age the author wanted to be a pirate. He wanted to be like Robin Hood, but from the sea. These positive views about pirates were because of movies and plays he had seen before. These forms of media portray pirates to be heroic figures because of their bravery and the different roles they had on their ships; which of course make children want to be a captain or a crew member of a pirate ship.

But in reality, pirates were just violent men who showed no mercy to their victims by hurting them, and eventually killing them or keeping them as slaves. Pirates robbed people of their belongings just because they could and would keep the goods that belonged to their victims. Even when on Privateers, they had a letter of marque and reprisal, which granted them permission to steal belongings, but still they would withheld goods from the King (the one granting permission), knowing it was not right.

In Pirates and Privateers by Cindy Vallar, it is said that the buccaneers were originally hunters who lived on a small island in the Caribbean, but were then run off by the Spanish which made them upset and they began having reckless behavior. They began raiding Spanish towns, and torturing people which made them view cruelty as an art form. L' Ollonais, along with Rock Braziliano, were viewed as the two worst buccaneers in history. They were thirsty for violence and tortured people without remorse. Not once did either of these men do any heroic acts or anything worthy of looking up to. Which explains why they were only successful in their careers for about seven years.

When you live a revengeful life, like both of these buccaneers did, towards the Spaniards, nothing good comes out of it. You hurt innocent people in the process of your revenge and you go down in history being viewed as a villain, which is exactly how I view these men.

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