Pirates & Privateers: Notes

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Name: Will Martin

Stranded on a Desert Island

Source:

Eyewitness Books. Pirates . Eyewitness Books.

Quote:

Marooned alone on an island, a disgraced pirate watched helplessly as his hip sailed away. A desert island was a prison without walls. The sea prevented escape and the chances of being rescued were slim. Although marooned pirates were left with a few essential provisions, starvation faced those who could not hunt and fish. This cruel punishment was meted out to pirates who stole from their comrades or deserted their ship in battle. When leaky pirate ships ran aground, survivors of the wreck, faced the same lonely fate.

Paraphrase:

  • If they did something bad they would be stranded
  • The pirates were left with some essential needs 
  • there was no escape from the desert island
  • there was a very low chance that you would be rescued
  • if there was a ship wreck you would be stuck no matter what 
  • there was no salution for starvation
  • the sea was like a wall that you could not escape from

My Ideas:

It was very unfortunate for a pirate to be marooned. They were given very little supplies. They pirate code stated that a marooned pirate would be left with “one bottle of powder, one bottle of water, one small arm, and shot.” But the unlucky man had no way of cooking or keeping warm. Some more common ways pirates would et marooned would be if they stole another vessel. If the ship was unworthy of sea travel then they would usually wind up shipwrecking themselves.The same fate would happen to a drunk crew who neglected navigation. One of the supplies a pirate would get would be a powder horn. The gunpowder in the powder horn would soon run out and they would have nothing to hunt with. Pirates were sometimes marooned for crimes they comited on the ship. If they stole or injured another crew member they would be marooned. A water flask was given to the marooned pirate. It would only last a few days. After that the pirate would have to find his own water. Most of the islands had animals and a pistol was useful for defense against wild beasts, but a musket was much better for hunting. Pirates would also get kind of crazy after a while because there would be no one to talk to. They would be too busy making a shelter or finding food or water. If they were to hunt using a pistol they would only have one shot so it would be kind of useless. I wonder if pirates ever thought of using the gunpowder to start a fire?

History:

Created: 11/08/2016 08:54 PM

 

Name: Armant L’Heureux

Year: 2016

Title of Notecard: Corsairs, Buccaneers and Privateers

Source: “Piracy.” American History Online.
A feature of life at sea from ancient times to the present, piracy is the unlawful seizure and plundering of ships for personal gain. Pirates were the individuals responsible for such attacks. Although the dividing line was not always clear, pirates may be distinguished from buccaneers, because the latter did not normally prey on ships of their own country of origin. There is a clearer dividing line between pirates and privateers, with the latter being licensed by the state to take prizes in time of war. Like buccaneers, corsairs and others involved in illegal attacks at sea, pirates had the greatest freedom of action in the days before the formation of national navies. Without regular national patrols, every ocean of the world was subject to frequent acts of piracy. Pirates normally operated from fast, well-armed vessels and captured their victim by boarding the ship and overpowering the crew. In more recent times, pirates have boarded a ship disguised as passengers and have seized control of it at sea. In the 16th and 17th centuries, major concentrations of pirates were to be found on the Spanish Main—particularly the Caribbean, off Japan and in the Mediterranean. The normal punishment for piracy—if the felon could be caught—was death by hanging.
  • Buccaneers didn’t attack their own country but pirates did
  • Privateers gave partial spoils to the state they worked for, they were mostly used during war
  • Pirates were around before national navies
  • Piracy was very common before navies were assembled
  • Pirates had fast but armed ships
  • Pirates would disable a ship, then they would board them and capture their crew
  • Sometimes, they would board ships dressed as passengers, then capture the ship
  • Main areas for pirating were the Spanish Main, especially the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean and the area off Japan

I’m guessing that privateers wouldn’t attack their own country, and were used in wars because they were probably hired to fight for their navy. I’m guessing that they would have to pay some of their loot in exchange for guaranteed safety from their country. Since pirates were around before national navies, anyone travelling by ship would probably have a hard time safely passing through a body of water if their ship wasn’t heavily armed, as some pirates had ships like frigates, which would be terrifying for many merchants. In the event that a ship was under siege by a pirate, the pirate would try to disable the ship before boarding so that it wouldn’t be able to move. Occasionally pirates would dress up as crew members and one night, capture it without anyone suspecting that they weren’t who they said they were. If the pirates were caught, they would be guilty until proven innocent, and then would be hung, but just when they were about to pass out, they would cut them open and show them their organs, then cut them into quarters, either that or they would hang them by the seaside in order to scare other pirates (they did that to Edward Teach, Blackbeard). I wonder why buccaneers refused to attack their own nation, and why they were primarily in the Caribbean? What did barbary pirates or corsairs do, and what other kinds of pirates were there?

 

 

Name: Julien G
Year: 2015

Title of Notecard: The Captain and the Crew
Source: (Kallen, Staurt. Life among the Pirates. San Diego: Lucent)

“Except for the few rich men looking for adventure, pirates generally came from the lowest social classes. They were, as one official put it, “desperate rogues who could have little hope in life on shore.”

“In fact, most pirate ships would not take married men. The dangerous life of sea robber was no place for a man longing for his wife and children. On the other hand, a few pirates were married to several women at once, each of whom lived in a different port.”

“Captain was elected by the crew and served at their pleasure. His command was only fighting, chasing, and being chased. The captain was more of a figurehead than an authority figure, but was usually considered one of the wisest men aboard ship.

Paraphrase: 

  • Pirates were usually poor, except for some
  • They were desperate for money
  • Most ships banned married men
  • They said that a whole family on a ship would not fit
  • Some pirates had wives or were married
  • The crew voted for one captain
  • They usually only fought and chased
  • The captain was usually the smartest man on a ship

My Ideas: If only some pirates were rich and some were poor, how did the rich ones have lots of money? Were their families rich? Did their jobs before being a pirate pay lots of money? I can infer that is was probably from their family because it said very few pirates were rich so probably not many families had a lot of money. If pirates were always desperate for money, what would they do with it when they got some? Did they split it among themselves? Did someone steal it and leave the crew? Did pirates care about having families, because it’s either there a pirate with no family or there not a pirate with a family? I can infer that lots of pirates wanted a family so they probably collected all the gold they got and left the crew to start a family of their own. What would happen if there was a family on a ship? Would the children cause trouble? Could they die in a little battle? If piracy was banned from have families how did some pirates have wives? I can infer it was only the Captain or the higher ranked people on a ship with a wive because they made the decision. Maybe “not having a wife or a family” was a Code of Conduct. So if it was a Code of Conduct it meant that no one could have a wife if they were part of a pirate crew. Since part of the crew had to vote for one man to be the captain, was it possible to vote for yourself? Did some people not even want to be a captain? I can infer that only some wanted themselves to be the captain because they knew they were the best for the job and maybe, one of the smartest.

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