Have you ever been on a boat and thought to yourself, where did pirates come from? Are they just good adventure tales?
I spend a lot of time in transport over the ocean. So I think about the in depth things between fancy and truth.
They were also called Buccaneers or Privateers. I found out they were often hired by the government in exchange for sales of the goods commandeered. They did not have good longevity. Some of the oldest were only in their 30’s.
They often would travel the Caribbean sea. Hence the fiction of the pirates of the Caribbean. Pirates came from all over the world, China, Europe, The Middle East, South America, Asia, Africa and other areas of known ocean travels.
The oldest written about pirate was Captain William Kidd. He was born in 1645 and died May 1701. He also was the oldest to still be in the pirate life at the age of 54 he might have lived longer if he was not tried and found guilty. He was put to death by hanging May 23 1701.
Anne Bonny was a woman in a time when women had no rights in a man’s world. Funny she came to be because of an affair her father had. She took on a harsh life that brought her into the world of piracy.
There were many speculations about pirates. Some had a history of crimes and hardship. Others moved to be governors. The days of raiding ships transitioned into the mafia.
Some of the fleets were as large as the military and just as powerful. Ching Shih owned over 80,000 men and 1800 ships; she died in 1844 at the age of 69, as we covered that was very old for a pirate. She retired from pirate life many years before her death and moved her family to Macau and started a new business.
Some pirates had rules of honor. Ching Shih had rules like releasing ugly women captives and letting the pretty ones be married in by her crew only if they could be financially well kept by their partner, and that partnership had to be faithful. There were crimes of honor, that if broken were punished by death. Not all pirates held respect and honor.
It amazes me to think pirates must have had children on ships. Guess you would grow up in a life of a crew. Now you know some of the pirate tales held some truth, many things were just made up and some famous pirates were written about in children’s books
Ahoy, I wish you a fair wind ever and always!
This is where it starts 