2. Edward Teach Blackbeard: Edward Blackbeard Teach was by far
the most famous pirate of his generation, if not the most
successful. He was famous for putting lit bomb fuses in his hat,
which gave off smoke and made him look like a demon in battle. He
terrorized Atlantic cargo shipping from 1717 to 1718 before he was
killed in a battle with pirate hunters in November of 1718.
Captain-William-Kidd: The infamous William Kidd originally started
out as a pirate hunter from England. He sailed from England in 1696
with orders to attack pirates and the French wherever him and his
crew could find them. He soon gave into pressure from his crew to
commit acts of piracy. He eventually returned to England to clear
his name but instead he was jailed and eventually hanged
3. Famous Pirates (cont.)
4. Pirates go High-Tech: Don't think that pirates aren't using
21st century equipment, because, they are. GPS systems, satellite
phones, night-vision goggles, and many other items are essential
for the course now for pirates. They often check different blogs
online to locate shipping routes and map out how they will hijack a
ship. Financing Pirates Isnt Very Expensive: Generally, three to
five people will join together to finance a voyage and they will
take anywhere from 30-75% of the final ransom. For these people,
this is a great deal as the cost of putting together an expedition,
including vessels, may be only $30,000. Smaller attacks can be just
around a few hundred dollars. The money is then given either to
Somalia, or other countries such as Djbouti, Kenya and the United
Arab Emirates. Pirates Are Involved in the Community: It may
surprise you to find out that Somali pirates often receive help
from people on land, particularly local communities. "The district
gets a percentage of every ransom from ships that have been
released and is used mainly for construction of public
infrastructure, including their hospital and public schools. There
is even a Somali Pirate Stock Exchange to allow investors to
contribute weapons or other material and receive a share of the
ransom in return. Piracy has long been romanticized in the United
States, from Peter Pan to Halloween costumes. Off the coast of West
Africa though, pirates continue to roam the high seas, but they are
nothing like what you'd expect.
5. Buried Treasure: Most people who study piracy usually argue
that maps to buried treasure are a work of fiction. They also
believe that pirate would not have buried treasure on deserted
islands. There are two legit reasons for not believing in buried
treasure. The first reason is that there has never been an actual
or accurate treasure map found and the second reason is that
pirates would usually spend all of their money as soon as they hit
port and would return to pirating in order to raise more money.
Probably the most famous treasure map is the map of Captain Flint,
even though he is from a fictional story. Almost every famous
pirate captain has a legend about a treasure map to his secret
stash of loot. Blackbeard and Black Bart both have several legends
about buried treasure Black Spot: The Black Spot is just a creation
of Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island. The Black
Spot is a summons given to a pirate as a warning of impending
action. Typically it would be a notice to the captain that he was
about to be "deposed" or replaced as captain. Two pirates receive
the Black Spot in Treasure Island. The first is Billy Bones, the
self declared sea captain, and Long John Silver, who is the second
pirate to get the Black Spot. At the time of receiving the Spot, he
was the Captain of the mutineers. He served as the Hispaniolas Sea
Cook and Captain Flint's Quartermaster. The Black Spot is pure
fiction created by Stevenson. It is a terrific bit of pirate lore
these days but probably did not exist during the Golden Age of
Piracy. Real pirate captains tended to be deposed by being shot in
their sleep, thrown overboard, or marooned. In some case a pirate
captain would be deposed by election, but there are more cases of
violent revolts documented than smooth transitions of power.
Brethren of the Coast: Was there an organized pirate government?
The obvious answer to this question is "no". This is especially
true because of a pirate government in Pirates of the Caribbean: At
World's End. Despite the legends in books and movies, no real
pirate government existed. However, several sources, including many
sections of libraries, claim that organized pirate settlements had
been formed in Madagascar, Tortuga and the Bahamas. People also lay
claim to large pirate settlements. These settlements were not
actually pirate governments but they were ungoverned territories
where pirates could live without fear of civil authority.
6. The clothes that pirates would wear would usually help them
complete various tasks. Pirates would not only use eyepatches to
cover up an eye injury but they also used them to adjust to
brightness and darkness. Some pirates would constantly be moving
between the upper and lower decks so when they were on the main
deck they would have the eyepatch on one eye, but when they went to
a lower deck they would switch the eyepatch so it was on the other
eye so their other eye had already adjusted to darkness. They would
usually be wearing a bandana or some sort of head-covering to soak
up sweat because of the heat and humidity they would experience at
sea. They would also wear baggy clothing such as baggy shirts and
pants to keep different kinds of insects from biting them all the
time. Some pirates would wear earrings because they thought it was
good luck, they also thought it could improve eyesight or help to
avoid seasickness.
7. The Grenadoe: One of the earliest stages of the modern
grenade, it was a cast-iron, hollow ball roughly the size of a
softball or grapefruit. There would be a hole drilled into it so it
could be filled with gunpowder, grape shot, other painful shrapnel,
and a fuse. The Cutlass: The cutlass was most often used during the
times Treasure Island took place which was the 17th and 18th
century. It was the melee weapon of choice at that time. The
cutlass was a short, thick bladed sword with a curved, smooth, and
sharp blade. There were many uses of this weapon, such as cutting
rope and wood, but it was also used as a primary weapon in
close-quarters combat. The Musket: The flintlock musket weighed
between twelve to eighteen pounds and was about four to five feet
in length. It was mainly used as a sniper weapon in calm or no-wind
conditions. It wasnt used as a close quarter weapon because it was
more accurate for long range battles and so, for close quarters, it
was replaced with the flintlock pistol.