[action/video] Twelfth Slice
[Today, Blackbeard can be found in the library. No, this isn't a sign of the coming apocalypse - he's mostly just skimming through the books that he has, not really stopping to read them. He's got a large stack of books about pirates, and every now and then, he shouts out loud statements, mocking the ones that he reads about.]
They think that's a ( Read more... )
They think that's a ( Read more... )
Pirates have been around since the time boats were used to send food/goods from one place to another; vikings, are one very distinctive type of pirate, the pirate that you're referring to did not come until much later.
There are many distinct ages of piracy, however; mid 17th Century to the early 18th were considered “the dawn of the golden age of piracy".
Some well known pirates are; Bartholomew "Black Bart" Roberts, George Booth, Edward “Blackbeard” Teach; though Edward Thatch was a very common name he would go under as to preserve his identity, William "Captain" Kidd, Francois L'ollonais, Bartholomew Sharp, Samuel "Black Sam", Bellamy, Anne Bonney -- though she never commanded her own ship, she is still a great pirate of importance, noted as one of the few female pirates of her age; were produced during the Golden Age. Some other ones would be Sir Francis Drake, Eustace the Monk, Peter Love, Sir John Hawkins, thought they came before that age.
The pirate ships that these, and many more captains would have, would carry more people on them than met the eye, making it easy for them to over power the port they were visiting, making it easy to rape, murder and collect their “loot” and possible slaves for them to sell on the “black market” and gain more currency and all around leave more survivors to tell the tales that would boost their reputation and make them more feared.
That was how they weighed themselves, fear, the more fear they could spread; the easier it was to have other to stand down without a fight; much like the Jolly Roger; though several pirate captains used the widely accepted skull and crossbones version, there were others, an hourglass. But the most common was a plain black flag despite what the media of my time would say. The idea was that if they saw the flag that it would show their strength and prowess and those who knew the description of the ship would simply surrender without a fight and allow themselves to be killed. No one is exactly sure how well this method of forced submission worked, but I'm very sure that it had a very high success rate; due to the nature of pirates.
They also carried a selection of flags; usually having a false "color" up. They would usually have these colors flying when there was as stronger force was in firing range to avoid problems. An example of this is when Bartholomew Roberts went and docked in Newfoundland with black flags rising. All 22 docked vessels were abandoned in a surge of panic. There was also the case of the red flag or "bloody flag" rising, if there was a ship that resisted to submit, the red flag would be raised and the ship would be taken without mercy. It was said that if you were fighting under the Black Flag, you'd be granted a quarter, but the red flag meant you would not be granted as such.
Though, peculiarly there were pirates who did not kill anyone unless there were no other choices, the best example of this would be Edward England; though he would be marooned for a life he spared and forced to beg for food until he died.
On that note, there were the various versions of the "Pirates Code", that most were forced to sign, though if they had not they would be more likely to have a more fair trial and possibly even be acquitted from the brand of "pirate."
Most of the men of that time, especially pirates, were not well read, they could barely write, let alone speak eloquently; as literacy was something that the higher class were only privileged to. It made it easy for most other pirates (those who knew how to read and write) to take advantage of the ones who could not. Stealing their loot, as they did not know how to count their "plunder". It was a very vicious cycle of killing, hoarding and cheating others out of their "well earned loot".
I hope I have made some things clear for you, I only touched the surface, but I'm sure you can see more in the books you are reading.
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[HE IS REALLY REALLY IMPRESSED.]
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[She's hrming.] That's interesting.
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Some of the names are similar, though it's Jewelry Bonney, not Anne, Bartholomew Kuma... well you get the idea.
You're studied in pirate lore then?
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You had me in your corner until just then.
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