Will’s Colonial Reseach Paper

The battles pirates had on sea were brutal and dangerous. There was plenty of blood and murder. Pirates needed their ships and the rest of their crew to fight, win, and most importantly, survive. Pirates would take care of their ships in many different ways. Every ship had to be rigged before each They needed to set up the sails for the ship to move, and that wasn’t easy to do. There was always a ton of setup and preparation for the sails. Sails were not the only rigging on the ship. Rigging also involved ropes. Shipboard rope would look like tangled seaweed to the common landsman. “Each rope was named according to it’s function-stays, shrouds, halyards, lifts and braces, for example. The rigging must support or pull considerable topside weight.” (Keith Wilbur, Pirates and Patriots of the Revolution.) This shows that pirates would know how to work the rigging of the ship by using their knowledge of the seas. We have ships today that have the same rigging as some of the older pirate ships.

Armant’s Research Paper

Piracy slowed down progress of early colonies all around Colonial America. They would plunder seaside towns that were just starting off. They would steal the settlers’ money and burn their plantations, which would damage the local economy, sometimes so much that it could halt the progress of the town temporarily or permanently. They would also kill lots of the civilians and the army, which would decrease the population of

the town, especially if it was still small. It not only was bad for the towns, but also the people inside of them. Piracy was a constant fear to all coastal towns in Colonial America. After they attacked, there would often be a huge loss of morale. Many people ran out of money and couldn’t afford food, some lost their plantation and had many hungry enslaved Africans without work. Lots of family members were killed and left their family in a loss of spirit, which made many lose their incentive to work or to even live. Piracy was terrible for towns, but even worse for badly armed ships.

Introduction to research paper:

Julien:

Imagine that each day your life was at risk. Your priority is to kill and steal, but you wouldn’t always end up with a rich normal family. Piracy wasn’t a job. It was something horrible that many people were wanted be part of. A colonial pirate’s life was quick and rough. Many pirates didn’t last in a battle or war that they took part in. However the other high classed pirates were carefully guarded to safety. In Colonial America, pirates and privateers were people in different groups who affected the economy in the two different ways. Privateers brought all their resources and gold to the government and pirates seized many expensive ships.

Luke:

Imagine living a life of a rebel where if the authorities (English, French, Spanish, etc) found you, you would have your head on the chopping block the next day. The life of a pirate was hard and scary but was very rewarding if you were successful. Pirates were all over the east coast of America in the colonial era for a reason. Piracy was a great but risky way of becoming wealthy if you were poor. Pirates were fierce rebels who were thirsty for gold and riches. They were powerful enemies for the big countries in America, sometimes pirates were so powerful they were like a whole other country that the colonies had to defend and fight against. They affected the colonies and government in a bad way by terrorizing shipping from Europe to America so colonies couldn’t be built, attacking the colonies and ships of countries who were in early America, and stealing the money and treasure of the colonies.