Ever wonder what a Pirate is? Where and when did they come from? Do they really smell as bad as they look in the movies? Have any of them ever seen a dentist? It's a fascinating history and obviously one that has been romanticized through the years. The word pirate comes from the Latin word Pirata. The general definition is one who robs, pillages and plunders from a ship, large bodies of water and along the shore. They are generally not employed by a country or group.
Recorded Pirate history goes all the way back to 1300 BC and details the deeds of the Sea People. They terrorized the Mediterranean and Aegean seas. It is assumed that though not documented, piracy went back as long as sea commerce existed. It has taken place all over the world and still continues in this age. Because this blog focuses on the Caribbean, I'll give a bit more detail on the history there.
In 1523, Jean Fleury seized two Spanish treasure ships carrying Aztecc treasures from Mexico to Spain and piracy was off and running. The great or classic era of piracy in the Caribbean extends from around 1560 up until the mid 1720s. Many from Spain came to the Caribbean after the end of the War of the Spanish Succession. They stayed in the Caribbean and became pirates shortly after that. Others, arrived in the mid-to-late 17th century and made attempts at earning a living by farming and hunting. It didn't work out well so piracy it was. Most of these pirates were English, Dutch, and French. They all kind of slipped in while the European nations were brawling over the islands in the Caribbean.
Some of the best-known pirate bases were New Providence, Bahamas from 1715 to 1725, Tortuga, established in the 1640s and Port Royal, Jamaica after 1655. Those names may sound a bit familiar for Pirate's movie lovers. Among the most famous Caribbean pirates are Edward Teach or Blackbeard, Calico Jack Rackham, Henry Morgan, and Bartholomew Roberts. (Think The Code...as set forth by Morgan and Bartholomew.) Most were hunted down by the Royal Navy and killed or captured. By the 1830s, Caribbean piracy was for the most part, history.
Now for the semi OK, redeeming qualities of classic pirates (they are after all, thieves). In raids, they rarely killed anyone. Merchant ships learned that if they surrendered, the pirates would board, take the supplies they needed and leave. There were, of course, exceptions. Pirates generally operated by democracy with leadership elected from among the crew. The rules of the Pirate's Code or Codex were applied and followed. They also had families to support and pirate communities existed all over the Caribbean.
The treasure that they sought the most was the common, everyday items used such as food, clothing, tools, and maybe even the ships. Of course if riches were around, duh, they took those too. Buried treasure? Not really because they needed the items they took. You can see, Disney did their homework and many of the movie scenes are historically correct. Makes me believe Jack Sparrow could have existed in some form. Piracy was freedom for many.
In the popular modern imagination, pirates of the classical period were rebellious, clever teams who operated outside the restricting bureaucracy of modern life. Pirates were also depicted as always raising their Jolly Roger flag when preparing to hijack a vessel. The Jolly Roger is the traditional name for the skull and crossbone flags of European and American pirates and a symbol for piracy recognized by many.
Whew! Hopefully that little history lesson was enlightening and entertaining. Maybe it even inspired a little (safe!) rebelliousness and adventure in your soul. Later Mates! P.S. In all my research, I never could find an answer to the bathing/dentist thing so, plug your noses, we're going in.
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