Debunking Pirate Stereotypes: A Historical Perspective

918 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essay on modern piracy

When picturing a pirate you conjure up images of the swashbuckling, peg legged, and eye patched outlaws of the sea with parrots on their shoulders yelling “arrrrr” while drinking rum. The truth is a little different. The history of pirates or privateers began as a private person or a ship authorized by the government to stop other ships and take possession of their property and to turn the crew over to his country. At times privateers became pirates after they saw all of the riches that had been acquired by the other pirates they encountered at sea. Pirates have occupied the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans and the seven seas for thousands of years. Piracy had been in existence for centuries but the “Golden Age” of piracy occurred …show more content…

Edward Teach or Blackbeard as he is famously known is the notorious pirate who was famous for both his viciousness and his generosity to his crew. Captain William Kidd and Sir Francis Drake were privateers that worked for Queen Elizabeth of England. Captain William Kidd started out as a privateer, hired by European royals to attack foreign ships. Sir Francis Drake earned a reputation for his privateering, or piracy, against Spanish ships and possessions. Yet he gained recognition as Queen Elizabeth I sponsored Drake’s voyage to circumnavigate the earth. Jean Lafitte was an infamous pirate sailing the Gulf of Mexico. In the early 1800’s, Jean and his brother established what they called “The Kingdom of Barataria” along coastal Louisiana. The “Kingdom” was actually an illegal slave smuggling business conducted by the brothers that fronted as a blacksmith outfit.. Sir Henry Morgan was a buccaneer responsible for plundering and destroying Panama. Captain Morgan has remained prominent in popular culture as he is memorialized on the labels of bottles of Captain Morgan’s Spiced Rum. There were notable female pirates as well. Anne Bonny practiced piracy on the Caribbean Sea. Mary Read was another famous female pirate. She disguised herself as a man in 1721 to join the crew of pirate ‘Calico Jack.’ Calico Jack captained the ship that both Anne Bonny and Mary Read were members of. He is also famed …show more content…

Some pirates were former fishermen; fishing and boating were how they survived. If this dried up they had to turn to piracy in order to survive. After the Treaty of Utrecht which put thousands of sailors out of work, the Spaniards destroyed the livelihood of the men who worked in the logwood industry, leaving them to starve or join one of the pirate crews that sailed the Caribbean. Then of course it is the appeal of the all mighty dollar. The thought of actually achieving a fortune that could never be achieved by work alone is extremely appealing. After years of backbreaking labor with little pay a pirate’s life with a chance of a treasure is the way to

Show More
Related

  • The Seven-Years War

    2366 Words  | 5 Pages

    The word "privateer" conjures a romantic image in the minds of most Americans. Tales of battle and bounty pervade the folklore of privateering, which has become a cherished, if often overlooked part of our shared heritage. Legends were forged during the battle for American independence, and these men were understandably glorified as part of the formation of our national identity. The fact of the matter is that the vast majority of these men were common opportunists, if noteworthy naval warriors. The profit motive was the driving force behind almost all of their expeditions, and a successful privateer could easily become quite wealthy. In times of peace, these men would be common pirates, pariahs of the maritime community. Commissioned in times of war, they were respected entrepreneurs, serving their purses and their country, if only incidentally the latter. However vulgar their motivation, the system of privateering arose because it provided a valuable service to thecountry, and indeed the American Revolution might not have been won without their involvement. Many scholars agree that all war begins for economic reasons, and the privateers of the war for independence contributed by attacking the commercial livelihood of Great Britain's merchants.

    Read More

  • Blackbeard's Life, The Golden Age of Piracy, and Its Effect on Piracy Today

    2033 Words  | 5 Pages

    5. Rediker, Marcus. 2004. Villains of all nations: Atlantic pirates in the golden age. London [u.a.]: Verso.

    Read More

  • On Stranger Tides

    1115 Words  | 3 Pages

    At the start of the film, pirate Hector Barbossa is shown as a new privateer for the English. It is revealed that Captain Barbossa is not sailing the seas for the King, but instead for his own personal desires. Elements such as mermaids, the “Fountain of Youth”, and everlasting life are not realistic and are clearly added to the film for entertainment value. However, this film could be helpful in sparking an interest in the general public on the subject of pirates. The film includes actual pirates, like Edward Teach, that may spark an interest in a viewer enough to look into the character.

    Read More

  • Edward Teach aka Blackbeard the Pirate

    1341 Words  | 3 Pages

    Blackbeard began his pirating career sometime after 1713, as an ordinary crewmember aboard a Jamaican sloop commanded by the pirate Benjamin Hornigold. In 1716, Hornigold supplied Teach with a small crew, and a small captured vessel to command. By 1717 Hornigold and Teach were sailing in alliance, and together were feared throughout the seas. In November 1717, Hornigold and Teach were able to capture a 26 gun French vessel called the Concorde (recent research has shown that the vessel had originally been built in Great Britain). Blackbeard’s pirate partner, Hornigold, decided to take advantage of a recent offer of general amnesty from the British Crown- and retire in comfort. Teach rejected t...

    Read More

  • U.S. Anti-Piracy Actions in the Caribbean

    1102 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...rates to succeed in the open waters alone. Pirates also lost their justification when the Spanish accepted the independence of their former colonies in South and Central America so piracy all but vanished when the governors in Cuba and Puerto Rico stopped providing support. The Navy’s relentless fighting contributed to a great decrease in piracy within ten years which not only led to greater United States prosperity but that of all nations with commerce paths through that region.

    Read More

  • The Legend of Blackbeard

    1093 Words  | 3 Pages

    Blackbeard was a pirate during his adult years, but when he was younger he worked on a British ship as a privateer; whose mission was to take over or attack enemy ships (“Blackbeard: Pirate Terror at Sea”). His Father, whose name is unknown, was believed to also be a senior privateer on a Jamaican ship (“Blackbeard: Pirate Terror at Sea”). Later he joined a group of fierce Caribbean pirates (“Blackbeard: Pirate Terror at Sea”). The group of about two hundred fifty men became his crew after they stole a ship to be their own (“Blackbeard: Pirate Terror at Sea”). His ship that is most commonly known was called Queen Anne’s Revenge (“Blackbeard: Pirate Terror at Sea”). They captured this ship in 1716 and sailed it for two years (“Pirate Shipwrecks”). For the two years they ...

    Read More

  • Bartholomew Roberts

    1616 Words  | 4 Pages

    But when we take into account the historical reality of pirates’ ships, we can see that this is not really the case. There were ships that were used to transport slaves from Africa. These ships would be captured by pirates and the crew would either be set free, forced into piracy, or killed. Either way I believe that African Americans were considered equal on pirate ships. Pennell says “concepts such as nationality, race, ethnicity, and creed were not as static, immutable, and/or insurmountable in the early modern period as they would become later. On the eighteenth-century maritime frontier, merit at least occasionally became a more important marker.” Race at the time wasn’t an issue. Pennell continues and says “Blacks are accordingly found as leaders of predominantly white crews.” African Americans were able to carry firearms and were frequently active combatants. In this respect, piracy was ahead of the times as far as tolerance. As long as a person was able-bodied and could perform the grueling tasks required by the seafaring life, the color of their skin was not an

    Read More

  • The Hunt For Blackbeard Sparknotes

    781 Words  | 2 Pages

    Edward Teach, Stede Bonnet, and Benjamin Hornigold. Edward teach got the nickname Blackbeard because he wanted a name that put fear in the hearts of people he met. It was a terrifying name mainly because of the way he looked and dressed himself. He was tall and broad-shouldered and had a thick beard that nearly covered his entire face. He used his hair and beard for wiping his hands while eating or fighting and thus it became matted. Before any battle, Blackbeard would dress all in black, and strap several pistols to his chest. He puts slow burning fuses in his hair and beard which hid him in a lasting greasy fog. Blackbeard was way more intelligent than the average pirate. He knew the significance of image in his line of work and tried to avoid fighting if he could, and so he given a very scary reputation. Benjamin Hornigold at that time was one of the most feared pirates and the founder of the Flying Gang’s Bahamian pirate republic. He took Blackbeard under his wings and saw him as a brother. Stede Bonnet was a wealthy man from the Barbados who decided he would rather be a pirate. He paid for a ship to be built and named it the Revenge. Bonnet was a terrible captain. He didn’t know anything about a ship or how to be a

    Read More

  • Modern Piracy and Their Hotspots

    2451 Words  | 5 Pages

    Modern piracy has touched nearly every corner of the globe and has increased with globalization. The tentacles of piracy now extend from South America to the South China Sea. The greatest numbers of piracy incidents occur along maritime commercial trade routes. Since China dominates the world’s container shipping industry, the South China Sea has become a hotspot for piracy (Kraska 2011). The prominence of cargo activity increases opportunity for pirates and indisputably triggered the sixty- nine incidents of piracy that were reported in 2009 in the South China Sea (Kraska 2011).

    Read More

  • Under The Black Flag Summary

    1063 Words  | 3 Pages

    Cordingly’s book Under the Black Flag: The Romance and Reality of Life Among the Pirates tells the story of many different pirates of different time periods by the facts. The book uses evidence from first hand sources to combat the image of pirates produced by fictional books, plays, and films. Cordingly explains where the fictional ideas may have come from using the evidence from the past. The stories are retold while still keeping the interest of the audience without having to stray from the factual

    Read More

  • Essay On Pirates During The Renaissance

    768 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Renaissance was a time of great change in Europe beginning in the late middle ages. Philosophies and culture shifted, and so did rebellion. Many feared the seas, for thieves and murderous gangs filled it. Privateers or crews who received funding from royalty or other authorities to fight enemies were corrupt, but they were not the main cause for worry.(Paine) Pirates were the ones who were feared by many and adored by few. Pirates traveled the seas in search of fortune. They would often murder, kidnap and use any other violence necessary to get what their greedy hearts desired.(Paine)(Aldrete) Only the most desperate and greedy would dare to join the bands of rebels because it took specific traits to be a pirate.(Aldrete) To be a successful pirate during the Renaissance, one needed fighting skills, perseverance, and the demeanor to carry out difficult and cruel tasks.

    Read More

  • Parallelism's Role In Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

    1115 Words  | 3 Pages

    pirate as he is portrayed in the beginning of the text nor is he the

    Read More

  • The Golden Age of Piracy

    2368 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Golden Age of Piracy began around 1650, and ended around 1730. Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence at sea, but can include acts committed on land, in the air, or in other major bodies of water or on a shore. It does not normally include crimes committed against persons traveling on the same vessel as the criminal. The term has been used throughout history to refer to raids across land borders by non-state agents. A pirate is one who commits robberies at sea, usually without being allotted to do so by any particular nation. The usual crime for piracy can include being hung, or publically executed. Some of the most famous pirates who were killed either because of piracy, or because of natural causes, are Barbarossa, Stede Bonnet, Anne Bonney, Sir Francis Drake, Captain Greaves, William Kidd, Jean Laffite, Sir Henry Morgan, Mary Read, and Giovanni da Verrazano.

    Read More

  • Pirates Of The Caribbean Analysis

    1073 Words  | 3 Pages

    The pirate code as it is called in the movie could be considered an analogy to U.S. Constitution for being rules that it’s citizens follow that make up the very being of what makes an American an American or what makes a pirate, a pirate. Becoming a pirate was basically the original American Dream, the idea of coming to America to free oneself and be given a chance to make a name for themselves as well, this is the same for pirates leaving British control and being able to live freely and claim fame for themselves. This is shown in the movie when they go to Tortuga and the town is in anarchy, yet everyone is happy to be free and even though it doesn’t look like it the town is still thriving. Pirates are just men who are looking for a better life beyond what they are living now without the constraints that the government put on them while they were citizens. Americans are the same way and that was how the United States came to be formed because the US didn’t not accept the control that Britain had, so they fought back to free themselves and develop a new country. The diversity of America could also be seen in the Captain Jack Sparrow’s crew, which included African-Americans, women, midgets, and a parrot. This also goes for any of the pirate crew presented in the movie, while the British soldiers are all Caucasian and almost all the citizens

    Read More

  • Piracy and Maritime Terrorism in the Horn of Africa

    2798 Words  | 6 Pages

    “Piracy and Armed Robbery Against Ships,” The International Maritime Organization, Accessed March 26th, 2014. http://www.imo.org/OurWork/Security/PiracyArmedRobbery/Pages/Default.aspx

    Read More

More about Debunking Pirate Stereotypes: A Historical Perspective

Open Document