On a clear day, a crew member on a merchant ship sailing across the Caribbean Sea peers out at the horizon through his telescope. He spies another ship approaching quickly. A black flag is flying high on its mast. He shivers. It can only mean one thing: pirates!
This is a familiar scene from numerous stories and legends, but there was a time when pirates were a real concern for merchants and other sailors. Rogues violently boarded ships and stole their precious cargo. Terrified victims gave up their wealth and hoped that the experience would not end in their deaths. Pirates were notorious for their viciousness.
Piracy, the crime of robbery at sea, has occurred all over the world for more than three thousand years. One of the oldest documents describing pirates is an Egyptian inscription on a clay tablet. The report dates back to Pharaoh Echnaton (1350 BC) and mentions Mediterranean pirates attacking ships off the coast of North Africa. Ancient Greek merchants who traded with ports in the Middle East also suffered at the hands of pirates. From the ninth to the eleventh century, the Vikings terrorized the coasts of Western Europe as well.
The most famous pirates, however, sailed the Mediterranean Sea during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. At that time, the Barbary pirates, who operated out of North Africa, frequently attacked ships traveling to and from Europe.
Their territory extended as far north as the English Channel and Iceland. The unfortunate victims were often sailors on merchant ships carrying gold and other valuables, such as rum, sugar, and weapons. With booty like this, a lucky pirate could earn enough from just one successful robbery to retire! Therefore, the North African coast continued to be a pirate stronghold well into the nineteenth century.
Booty, however, was not the only thing that the Barbary pirates were interested in stealing. These robbers were also known to attack naval vessels; they could take command and use these ships as their own. At the time, there were many warships on the seas because European nations, including England, France, and Spain, were often at war with one another. Losing important ships to pirates was harmful to the military, so some governments decided that it would be better to have the robbers as friends rather than foes. So, they actually began to employ them to capture enemy ships. These new kinds of pirates, called privateers, were allowed to keep a large portion of the cargo they stole without facing punishment. In fact, the most famous privateer, Sir Francis Drake, was even made second-in-command of an entire fleet in the English navy to thank him for his devotion to the Queen.
Inspired by the success of the privateers and encouraged by the lure of riches, other groups of wandering pirates began to harass the Spanish colonies in the New World. These pirates, called buccaneers, sailed in the Caribbean Sea and worked for the English government, protecting new trade routes and fighting the enemies of the English territories.
Perhaps the most notorious buccaneer was Blackbeard (1680―1718). Born Edward Teach, this Englishman earned the nickname Blackbeard because he wore a thick black beard that covered almost his entire face. During his reign in the Caribbean, he was reported to have frightened his victims by putting gunpowder and matches into his hair and lighting them during battles. In addition, he intimidated people because he was big, wore two swords at his waist, and strapped pistols and knives across his chest. The sight of Blackbeard was enough to make most sailors surrender without a fight. If they resisted, however, he would maroon the crew on a nearby island and burn their ship.
Like Blackbeard, most pirates scared their victims into retreating or surrendering. First, they spent several weeks searching for a suitable ship to attack. Then, when one was sighted by a lookout, the pirates would send up a Jolly Roger to warn their target that they were coming. The Jolly Roger, the traditional flag of the American and European pirates, was made with either red or black cloth, and a skull and crossbones was stitched on with white thread. This design originates from the symbol used to indicate the death of a sailor in a captain’s log, and the sight of it flying on the mast of an oncoming ship struck fear into the hearts of everyone on the seas.
Upon reaching the other ship, the pirates would throw over heavy rope ladders and climb on board, yelling loudly and shooting their pistols into the air. They wore strange and brightly colored costumes, and many had eye patches, peg legs, or hook hands as gruesome reminders of past battles. Only the bravest would fight them, and those captured would be forced to walk the plank. This was the pirates’ favorite form of punishment for their prisoners; they were forced to walk down a board blindfolded until they fell off the edge into the sea, where they would certainly drown.
Working on a pirate ship was a difficult life for young men and women, but it did have its advantages. Of course, it was profitable. Those who worked as buccaneers or privateers could also attain fairly high positions in the military. Furthermore, joining independent pirate ships provided an opportunity to live in a society unlike any other Western society at the time. Ships were ruled by pirate clans and operated as limited democracies. Leaders were elected, and the captain of a pirate ship was often a fierce fighter whom the crew could trust in battle. Many groups of pirates shared whatever booty they seized, distributing it among crew members according to their status.
Pirates readily accepted outcasts from traditional society, and they were also known to free slaves from slave ships and welcome them into the pirate fold. None of these benefits, however, lessened the dangers of being professional thieves.
Piracy waned following the development of the steam engine and the subsequent growth of the British and American naval forces in the late eighteenth century. The increased size of merchant vessels, improvements in communication technology, and regular patrols of most ocean highways helped reduce the number of pirates further. Eventually, governments stopped employing them; as most islands and land areas of the world came under the control of governments, they could no longer serve as pirate havens.
Nonetheless, stories of pirates and their exploits endure because they represent an enticing image of wealth and adventure. So, the colorful clothes, frightening symbols, and hair-raising tales associated with pirates have stimulated people’s imaginations for centuries. Some tales are true, and some are pure fiction. The idea of buried treasure, for example, is mostly myth, but it may have started with Captain Kidd, a pirate who actually did try to hide his gold underground. However, Long John Silver, in the book Treasure Island, and Captain Hook, in The Adventures of Peter Pan, are both frightening, but fictional, pirates. The distinctive language of pirates, including phrases like "Yoho! Ahoy!" (Hey, you!), "Arr, matey!" (Hello!), and "Avast!" (Stop!) add to people’s fascination with the lives of historical and fictional pirates alike. Pirates are the adventurous outlaws we love to hate and hate to love.