Trials, Executions, and Hanging in Chains

• The pirates were not allowed attorneys and so had to represent themselves
• Often faced great odds in the form of a large and practiced prosecution team
• From 1716 to 1726 more than 400 were hanged for piracy
• Sometimes the bodies were hung in chains after being hanged to warn others and show the consequences of pirating
• Clergy busily attempted to help the condemned to repent before execution

The Romance of Piracy

• Piracy is a regular occurrence today on the coast of Brazil, in the Carribean, on the west coast of Africa and especially in the Far East (Malacca Strait)

Hunting Down the Pirates

• Robert Maynard of the HMS Pearl was assigned to kill Captain Teach (aka Blackbeard)
• He took crew from the HMS Lyme and Pearl in smaller sloops because Pamlico Sound, where Blackbeard was holed up, was too shallow for the larger ships
• Naval forces attacked Blackbeard, during the battle he boarded one of the Navy sloops thinking most of the crew was dead, however the crew was hiding below deck
• During the ensuing battle on board the sloop Blackbeard’s head was struck off
• Maynard hung the head from the bowsprit of his sloop
• Pirate activity peaked around 1720 with about 2,000 known pirates; by 1726 there were no more than 200
• The pirate problem was addressed with legislation, by pardoning them, increasing naval patrols, reward for their capture, and with trial and execution
• The biggest change came with a 1700 law that allowed trials to be held outside of England
• Captain Ogle in the HMS Swallow defeated Bartholomew Roberts in Cape Lopez in 1722
  • He drew out Ranger, Robert’s consort, allowed it to catch up and took it prize
  • Returned to Cape Lopez where Roberts was killed in battle and his ship, the Royal Fortune, taken
• The Royal Navy also gave out Letters of Marque for the taking of pirates to assist the cause

Captain Kidd and Buried Treasure

• Born William Kidd, he sailed as a privateer sometimes assisting the Royal Navy
• He had a violent temper which caused to often dislike him
• In 1695, he formed a venture with some members of British Parliament and other influential men including the King to take the ships of pirates and capture their treasure
• Captain Kidd sailed on the Adventure Galley to the Indian Ocean where he struggled to find prizes
• Desperate, he eventually turned pirate and the government turned against him
• He decided to return to New York to convince a member of the venture to gain him a pardon, the Governor of the area agreed to meet but then arrested him
• Kidd was returned to England to stand trial, he was found guilty and hanged in 1701
• Only 10,000 pounds sterling of a rumored 400,000 pounds were recovered from Kidd which lead to a rumor that he had buried his treasure, this is the main reason for legends of buried treasures

Sloops, Schooners, and Pirate Films

• Pirate ships were taken as prizes or in mutinies, obviously they could not purchase a ship
• After there capture, ships would be altered for use
• Pirate ships needed to be: fast, seaworthy, and well-armed
• Most were actually two-masted sloops
• To be called a “ship” a boat actually had to have 3 or more masts, those with less masts were called sloops, brigs, schooners, etc.
• Schooners also became popular as pirate ships in later years
• The first half of the 20th century saw several pirate films produced with Errol Flynn and Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. starring in the most popular
• These films romanticized the pirate and took great liberties in their storytelling

Pirate Islands and Other Haunts

• Port Royal in Jamaica prospered as a pirate town with pirated treasure, the governors even welcomed them as protection from the French and Spanish
• After Henry Morgan returned from his arrest in England, pirates were no longer welcome and the town became better known for hanging pirates
• Madagascar was also a haven for pirates but faded by the early 1700s
• Woodes Rogers appointment as Governor of the Bahamas in 1718 marked the end of Nassau and the Bahamas as a pirate headquarters

Torture, Violence, and Marooning

• Violence was sometimes used casually but often to discover the location of valuables, to spread fear and as revenge
• There is only one known record of a person being made to walk the plank, it occurred in the early 1800s
• Various forms of torture were used by pirates to punish or coerce victims into revealing the location of their valuables
• Marooning was also used , both to those whose ships were taken and for pirates who had violated ship rules
• Daniel Defoe was likely inpsired by Alexander Selkirk when writing Robinson Crusoe, Selkirk was marooned on Juan Fernandez Island from 1704 to 1709 before being discovered by a passing ship

Into Action Under the Pirate Flag

• When pirates took a ship they did not only want treasure but also supplies for keeping their own ship sailing since they could rarely find safe harbor and a merchant willing to sell them goods
• For the most part they took their time plundering a ship
• Most attacks were undisguised and involved only one pirate ship, though some like Bartholomew Roberts and Blackbeard used 3 or 4 ships
• Sometimes they would fly flags of different nations as disguise
• Occasionally pirates would use open boats such as canoes for attacking
• Black and red flags were identified with pirates before the Jolly Roger became traditional (black flag with skull and crossbones)
• “Jolly Roger” might have come from the name Old Roger which was used as a name for the Devil
• Pirates would also force men with specialized skills, such as carpenters and coopers, into joining their crew

Storms, Shipwrecks, and Life at Sea

• It is surprising shipwrecks weren’t more common because although most ships’ master could figure latitude, longitude could be calculated with any accuracy until the 1760s
• Before that time the common way of obtaining longitude was by measuring the distance sailed each day and the compass course, this is called “dead reckoning”
• It was common to use a local pilot in unfamiliar shallows and also to make charts for future voyages
• Most pirates would head south during winter and north in the summer, some would alternate between the Americas and Africa
• Pirate life was more relaxed than that on a merchant ship because the pirates had less drive and larger crews
• Which allowed pirates to spend much of their time drinking and gambling (many pirates would use drunkenness as a defense of their actions when brought to trial)
• Even before the French Revolution, pirates practiced democracy on board by voting on the captain, where they would sail, who they would attack and by writing up articles (or laws)
• It is uncertain to what degree homosexuality was practiced by pirates, there exists some cases of men charged with sodomy and captains using younger boys for sex, but it was likely as common as in the general population

Women Pirates and Pirates’ Women

• John Rackam (Calico Jack) sailed with two female pirates who dressed as men: Mary Read and Anne Bonny
• Anne Bonny left her husband for Jack with whom she had a child
• In the early 1700s, Rackam’s crew was captured and tried for piracy, Rackam was hung and Anne and Mary were sentenced to death but the sentence was commuted when they both revealed they were pregnant, however Mary died in prison of an illness
• Other women successfully disguised themselves as mean and joined the Royal Navy or other ship crews
• Other famous female pirates include the Irishwoman Grace O’Malley and Chinese pirate leader Mrs. Chang

Sir Henry Morgan

• Henry Morgan died in 1688 wealthy and knighted
• Had been made Lt. Governor of Jamaica
• Arrested after the sacking of Panam and sent to London where he was treated with respect and visited with members of Parliament and Royalty
• Left school early to become a soldier
• Participated in the taking of Jamaica
• Became the Admiral of the Brethren of the Coast (the association of privateers and pirates, also known as the buccaneers) at the age of 32
• In 1668 he led the capture of Portobello, a Spanish treasure port, taking one fort by using residents as human shields
• Ransomed the city to the President of Panama for gold and silver, hauling away a total of about 250,000 pesos.
• Assembled ships and men to take Cartagena, but this plan was abandoned when the HMS Oxford was accidentally blown up by drunken crew members
• He then moved on to Maracaibo where he discovered three Spanish warships blocking the harbor lagoon, in response Morgan loaded a merchant ship with gunpowder and exploded it by the warships causing a fire which wrecked one, caused another to run aground the third to be taken by his crew
• England called a cease in hostilities but Spain declared war in the West Indies, this led Morgan to gather a large force to attack Panama
• With this force he sailed upriver as close as possible and marched the remainder of the way to the city of Panama where he routed a ragtag army, however the defenders had been instructed to light gunpowder barrels and burnable buildings which resulted in most of the city being burned to the ground, Morgan also discovered that the treasure within the city had been removed during the fighting
• After the sacking of Panama the buccaneers disbanded going their separate ways
• In 1672 Morgan was arrested to appease the Spanish government