PIRATE HISTORY
By Glynn Burrows

For me, the word always conjures up a middle-aged, rough-looking man with a beard, wearing a tricorn hat and smoking a broken clay pipe. He is wearing a 3/4 length coat, waistcoat and breeches with a flint-lock pistol tucked in his belt. He speaks with a very rough voice and often says: “Oh-arrrrr!”

My pirate is obviously based on the films I saw and books I read in the 1960’s, because today, most people will see Captain Jack Sparrow as the pirate in their head. Much more handsome and very well spoken!

Most pirate stories we see portrayed these days show beautiful blue seas, lots of well-kept ships, with white sails and lots of sailors getting drunk and enjoying their time with buxom wenches whilst on shore and having great times doing Tarzan swings on ropes and partaking in top-class swordsmanship, seizing chests full of gold coins and jewels from unsuspecting, dithering, overweight English statesmen on board ships sailing across the oceans.

The true stories of pirates are less picturesque and more brutal I’m afraid.

Although piracy has been going on since men first sailed the seas, the era we look at as the classic time of piracy was in the period from the 1650’s to the 1750’s and a lot of it was centred around the Caribbean and along parts of the East coast of the Americas.

When we look at what was happening in the world at that time, we can see why.

Spain and France were taking over vast swathes of land in central America and they were taking much of their plunder back across the Atlantic. The ships were laden down with these rich pickings and, as such, were sitting ducks to gangs which had faster ships and more fighting men than these treasure carriers, that were really only designed as cargo vessels.

It didn’t take long for the gangs of pirates to develop from stealing gold and jewels, to stealing goods being transported along other trade routes. Yes, gold and diamonds were valuable, but so was silk and calico and the so called “triangular trade” soon became the pirates’ target.

Ships from Europe took manufactured goods and weapons to North Africa and exchanged those commodities for slaves. They then took the slaves to the Caribbean and returned to Europe with sugar, cocoa, tobacco and rum. Some traders added another leg to the route, taking goods to North America, before returning to Europe with other cargo.

This trade was obviously easy pickings for the organised gangs and there was always a good market for all of the stolen goods too.

By the middle of the C19th, ships were converting to steam, so pirates stood very little chance against the size and speed of these monsters, but there were still the odd case of piracy going on in areas where sailing ships were still being used.

We have all heard of the famous “Pieces of Eight” and these were coins which were minted in Mexico or Seville and used for standard trade currency in the American colonies. It was a trifle confusing though, as many of these colonies were still using pounds, shillings, and pence for bookkeeping, while Spanish, German, French, and Portuguese money were all standard mediums of exchange.

At this time, British law prohibited the export of British silver coinage and, until exchange rates were standardised in the late 18th century, each colony legislated its own exchange rates, so, while in England, one piece of eight was worth 4s 3d, it was worth 8s in New York, 7s 6d in Pennsylvania and 6s 8d in Virginia.

(A bit about the old money in the UK. The pound was divided into twenty shillings and a shilling was twelve pence. A crown was five shillings, so half a crown was two shillings and sixpence. Yes, those of us who grew up before decimalisation were brilliant mathematicians, as we had to work that all out in our heads when we went shopping.)

Punishment

The laws brought in to deal with piracy meant that pirates could be tried anywhere, even at sea and with this development, there were 600 executions, which showed that the powers that be were acting decisively.

There were several Acts of Parliament relating to piracy from the late C17th and, in 1717, even a pardon which was offered to pirates who surrendered to British authorities. In 1670 the Royal Navy only had two ships to combat piracy, by 1718, they had about 124 and by 1815 that had increased to 214, so we can see that there was a concerted effort to stop these criminal gangs.

Generally speaking, if a pirate was caught, the story didn’t end happily for him. Justice was meted out in a brutal way and many pirates ended their lives entertaining the public at their hanging. It was quite an afternoon out for the crowds of people who came out to watch them, much as you would at a sporting event today.

In the cases of more infamous prisoners, often the captains, their punishments extended beyond death. Their bodies were hung in a gibbet (made specially by a local blacksmith) and left to swing, usually on a cross-roads or other very public place, until the flesh rotted off them, or it was eaten by crows, a process that could take years and would act as a deterrent to others thinking that piracy, or any other life of crime sounded like a good option for a career.

There were a few women who took to the seas as pirates too, but they were few and far between, mainly because women were generally not allowed on ships, unless they were passengers.

So next time you watch a film or read a book about pirates, spare a thought for the real men and women behind those stories.

For more maritime history, check out our Fall/Winter 2022 issue of Way Back When Magazine, which digs into ships, bridges, and murder at sea.

As the founder of Norfolk Tours, Glynn Burrows creates immersive, custom journeys through the heart of England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. He also specializes in helping his clients trace their English ancestry and to visit historic familial sites. Learn more at https://www.englishconnection.uk/.

Explore more episodes of Big Blend Radio’s “English Connection” Podcast and check out the digital English Connection Magazine.