Pirates

Some pirate crews had a code of conduct. All pirates on board would have to obey it. This is an example of pirate law from Charles Johnson’s 18^th century book on pirates.

• Every man has a vote in affairs of the moment; has equal title to the fresh provisions or strong liquors.
• No person to game at cards or dice for money.
• The lights and candles to be put out at eight o’clock at night.
• To keep their piece [musket], pistols, and cutlass clean and fit for service.
• No boy or woman to be allowed amongst them.
• To desert the ship in battle was punished with death or marooning.

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Early sailors had limited navigation skills. Pirates mainly found other ships by waiting on known trade routes.

To know where they are, sailors use latitude (north and south distance), and longitude (east and west). They could estimate their latitude from the position of the sun in the sky, but longitude was more difficult.

The magnetised needle of a compass always points north so pirates used it to work out their location. Pirates would work out their longitude by seeing which direction was north and then guessing how far they had travelled east or west.

Pirates made compasses at sea by stroking a needle against a naturally magnetic rock called a lodestone.

Having a compass helped, but the most useful of all was a sea chart. Spanish ships had charted much of the “New World” coast early in the 16^th century. With a chart it was easy to plunder the wealth of new coastline areas. Pirates called books of charts “waggoners.”

Telescopes were also very useful. Even if pirates could not see land, they could still judge their direction and distance by looking at the clouds and sea birds.

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Pirates used many weapons to defeat the crews of ships they boarded. For hand-to-hand combat, pirates used the cutthroat cutlass. Its short, broad blade was easier to use on a ship than a sword. Daggers were also small and easily concealed in clothing.

Pirates also used three kinds of guns. First was the musketoon. It was fired from the shoulder, but its short barrel (front part) meant it often missed its target. Its short length meant it was good for using on crowded ship decks, but targets had to be nearby to get hit.

The Flintlock pistol was the pirates’ favourite gun. Reloading the gun took up too much time, so after one shot, pirates often used it as a club instead.

The Marksman’s Musket was the third kind of gun pirates used. Muskets had long barrels, so a marksman (excellent shooter) could hit the helmsman of a ship from far away.

Pirates also had cannons aboard their ships. These were guns that fired large iron balls and took two to five minutes to load. Cannons rarely sank ships, but did create a deadly shower of wooden splinters from hitting the ship’s hull. Chain-shot (two balls chained together) were used to take down a ship’s masts and sails.

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Francis L’Ollonais: The cruellest of the cruel pirates. The French buccaneer tortured his captives and cut them into little pieces.

Rock Braziliano: He was named after his long exile in Brazil. He was called “brutish” and “foolish”, and a drunkard. He once spit-roasted two Spanish farmers alive because they would not give him their pigs.

Batholomew Portugues: Once escaped from a prison ship by using wine jars for floats.

Sir Henry Morgan: The most famous of the buccaneers. He carried out merciless raids on Spanish colonies. In 1668 he forced the men of El Puerto del Principe in Cuba to surrender by threatening their children and wives. They were imprisoned in churches and starved while their village was pillaged. Despite his cruelty he was awarded an English knighthood and governorship of Jamaica.

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Famous in pirate legend, The Spanish Main was the Spanish Empire’s territory in the “New World” of North and South America.

Discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492, The New World contained vast amounts of treasure belonging to the Aztec and Inca empires in what is now Mexico and Peru.

Throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, large amounts of gold and silver were shipped back to Spain.
This new-found treasure drew pirates and privateers. In their desire for wealth, privateers would often attack ships of any nation, instead of only enemy ships. To avoid raids, treasure ships would travel in convoys of up to 100 galleons.

From the gold and silver of the New World, the Spanish minted doubloons and pieces of eight. This became the currency of pirates.

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In 1603 James I withdrew permission for privateers to raid enemy ships.

Piracy in the Caribbean was instead carried out by buccaneers from the island of Hispaniola. The buccaneers originally made a living from trading meat, fat and hides from pigs and cattle to passing ships. They had a wild reputation, and dressed in uncured animal hides.

They got their name from the “boucan” smokehouses they used to cure their meat. So they were called buccaneers.

They turned to piracy after they were attacked by the Spanish, who killed the animals from which they made their living. They formed the “Brotherhood of the Coast” to defend themselves. They began by attacking small Spanish ships before going after larger vessels.

Convicts, outlaws, and escaped slaves increased their numbers. The buccaneers obeyed no laws but their own, and exacted ruthless and cruel punishment on captives.

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