Pirates terror of the high seas

I. Introduction

A. Argggggghhhhhhhhh!!!!!!! Ahoy me mates and welcome to the world of pirates.

B. through the next few minutes I will be informing ye about pirates and their rage on the high seas.

C. We will be talking about pirates, their ships, weapons, and a few famous ones at that.

D. I myself have been interested in pirates since I was a wee lad.

A. Ships

1. Galleon

a. “The Spanish Galleon was the great prize ship for pirates.”

(History of Pirates)

1. Spanish armada used these ships to export gold from the

Americas.

b. Weight of cannons was concentrated to center part of the ship.

1. Used for stability.

c. Meant to cross the Atlantic in large convoys.

2. Sloop

a. “The ancestors of the modern yacht.” (History of Pirates)

b. Favored among pirates because of its agility.

2. Pirates relied on bluff and surprise.

c. Pirates of the Caribbean used these ships.

1. Best sloops were built in Bermuda and Jamaica.

3. Men-O-War

a. Ship Of the Line

1. “Main battle ship of a Navy”

2. Largest of Men-O-War.

3. Carried between 32 to 144 guns.

b. Frigate

1. “Was the midsized Man-O-War”

2. Had three masts but was conciderable smaller than the

Ship Of the Line.

3. Had one gun deck, but kept other cannons on the spare

deck.

c. Corvette

1. “sometimes called a ‘sloop of war’”

2. had her guns arranged on a single deck.

3. had the ability to maneuver easily.

4. Now we must cover the terror they unleashed with their weapons.

B. Weapons

1. Cutlass

a. “A rough heavy broad blade” (History of Pirates 107)

b. Shortness of the blade was an advantage when fighting aboard

a ship.

c. Was a great hacking weapon due to its curved blade and

heaviness.

d. Was often used as a tool as well.

2. Blunderbuss/pistols

a. “more like a hand-held cannon then a rifle”

(History of Pirates 113)

b. Ranged in length from about 14 to 30 inches.

c. When used in close range it could kill about seven people.

d. “Pirates prized pistols above all other weapons”

(History of Pirates 115)

e. Pirates used to carry several pistols hanging on a sash into battle.

f. they were usually loaded from the barrel of the gun with

prepared shoot powder and bullets.

3. Cannons

a. ranged in different sizes by being called pounders.

b. could range from 2 to 32 pounders on board a ship

c. swivel guns were mounted on the poop deck to stop boarders.

d. the main cannons were mounted on rolling carts and strapped