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Pirates: History, Clothing, Weapons And Maps
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Published: November 21, 2006
It can be difficult to discern between fact and fiction when it comes to the pirates who truly terrorized history's savage seas.
Fictionalized accounts expand on folklore traditions. Actual individuals are dehumanized and converted into eye patch wearing legends, leaving behind questions about who these people really were and what they actually accomplished.
For example, contemporary books and movies depict treasure maps as the most common compass responsible for directing a pirate's course. Today, most historians believe the notion of buried treasure was invented by popular fiction. An authentic treasure map has never been discovered, though notorious pirates Blackbeard and Black Bart both have legends attributing stashes of buried treasure to their famous fleets.
Though history's pirates did not utilize banks and likely would not carry their fortunes around with them, historians believe pirates immediately spent their stolen money. It is even plausible that a pirate would burry some of it in a booby-trapped location near his lair. However, it is unlikely he would map out the location unless he knew his death was imminent and he wanted to give his partner a share of his earnings.
Similarly, Hollywood is fond of having its pirates force their captives to walk the plank. There are few instances where pirates, notably Black Bart, would have prisoners walk the plank, however, most were fond of the time-honored heave-to, where prisoners would be tossed overboard by the pirate ship's crew members.
Despite their rough, roguish lifestyle and disregard for governmental support, pirates often would sign articles detailing codes of conduct on the pirate ship. If convicted of breaching this document, which outlined acceptable behavior without ambiguity, the crew often was pitiless in their punishment.
Marooning a man was one of the cruelest forms of pirate punishment. A marooned man typically was left on a small island with a pistol, a bottle of powder, a handful of shot and a bottle of rum. Basically, if a man was marooned, his crew was telling him to kill himself.
Marooning was a form of punishment set aside for rapists, thieves and bad captains. He was often left on a sand bar, rather than an island, and would be up to his neck in seawater by high tide. If, by some chance, he happened to be rescued, he would be clapped in irons, sailed to the nearest port and hanged.
Real pirates, just like fictional pirates, would fly variations of the trademark Jolly Roger skull and crossbones flag from their pirate ship. They drank alcohol, particularly rum, because it masked the taste of water which had inevitably gone bad after long months at sea. Most notably, however, they carried a myriad of emblematic weapons for which they are remembered today.
The cutlass was called the sword of the sea. This weapon had a short, thick, curved blade responsible for executing many different tasks, such as cutting through heavy marlin lines, breaking down oak doors and running through a foe. Since the cutlass blade was significantly shorter than a sword, it could be wielded in fights aboard the tight quarters of pirate ships. Other weapons include daggers, axes and gully knives.
Sources:
Pirates of the Caribbean. Sept. 2006. 20 Nov. 2006.
The History Channel. 2006. 20 Nov. 2006
Pirates: Fact and Fiction. 2006. 20 Nov. 2006.
Fictionalized accounts expand on folklore traditions. Actual individuals are dehumanized and converted into eye patch wearing legends, leaving behind questions about who these people really were and what they actually accomplished.
For example, contemporary books and movies depict treasure maps as the most common compass responsible for directing a pirate's course. Today, most historians believe the notion of buried treasure was invented by popular fiction. An authentic treasure map has never been discovered, though notorious pirates Blackbeard and Black Bart both have legends attributing stashes of buried treasure to their famous fleets.
Though history's pirates did not utilize banks and likely would not carry their fortunes around with them, historians believe pirates immediately spent their stolen money. It is even plausible that a pirate would burry some of it in a booby-trapped location near his lair. However, it is unlikely he would map out the location unless he knew his death was imminent and he wanted to give his partner a share of his earnings.
Similarly, Hollywood is fond of having its pirates force their captives to walk the plank. There are few instances where pirates, notably Black Bart, would have prisoners walk the plank, however, most were fond of the time-honored heave-to, where prisoners would be tossed overboard by the pirate ship's crew members.
Despite their rough, roguish lifestyle and disregard for governmental support, pirates often would sign articles detailing codes of conduct on the pirate ship. If convicted of breaching this document, which outlined acceptable behavior without ambiguity, the crew often was pitiless in their punishment.
Marooning a man was one of the cruelest forms of pirate punishment. A marooned man typically was left on a small island with a pistol, a bottle of powder, a handful of shot and a bottle of rum. Basically, if a man was marooned, his crew was telling him to kill himself.
Marooning was a form of punishment set aside for rapists, thieves and bad captains. He was often left on a sand bar, rather than an island, and would be up to his neck in seawater by high tide. If, by some chance, he happened to be rescued, he would be clapped in irons, sailed to the nearest port and hanged.
Real pirates, just like fictional pirates, would fly variations of the trademark Jolly Roger skull and crossbones flag from their pirate ship. They drank alcohol, particularly rum, because it masked the taste of water which had inevitably gone bad after long months at sea. Most notably, however, they carried a myriad of emblematic weapons for which they are remembered today.
The cutlass was called the sword of the sea. This weapon had a short, thick, curved blade responsible for executing many different tasks, such as cutting through heavy marlin lines, breaking down oak doors and running through a foe. Since the cutlass blade was significantly shorter than a sword, it could be wielded in fights aboard the tight quarters of pirate ships. Other weapons include daggers, axes and gully knives.
Sources:
Pirates of the Caribbean. Sept. 2006. 20 Nov. 2006.
The History Channel. 2006. 20 Nov. 2006
Pirates: Fact and Fiction. 2006. 20 Nov. 2006.
