Jack Goldstein - 101 Amazing Facts about Pirates

Title Page

101 AMAZING FACTS ABOUT PIRATES

Jack Goldstein

Publisher Information

Published in 2014 by

Andrews UK Limited

www.andrewsuk.com

The right of Jack Goldstein to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998

Copyright 2014 Jack Goldstein

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Any person who does so may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

All facts contained within this book have been researched from reputable sources. If any information is found to be false, please contact the publishers, who will be happy to make corrections for future editions.

Introduction

Arrr matey! Are you loaded to the gunwalls? Do you know what Blackbeards ship was called? Which pirate ate a mans heart? Who makes the list of the top ten pirates of all time? All these facts and more can be found in this excellent quick-read guide to pirates. Whether youre Henry Morgan himself, or just some unlucky Jonah, this book containing over one hundred facts is sure to float your boat. Land ahoy!

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General Facts

1. A pirate is defined as an individual who commits crimes whilst at sea. Any crime would theoretically count, however most pirates would practise robbery or violence.
2. Although pirates have operated throughout history and still do so today, what we now call the golden age of piracy took place between the early 17 th and the mid 18 th century.
3. During this period, there was a fine line between piracy and the legitimate sacking of enemy ships. The famous British sailor Sir Francis Drake was more fearsome and ruthless than many pirates, however he was allowed to do pretty much what he wanted as he sailed under the Queens protection!
4. Although there is a certain romance for the golden age, pirates faced huge amounts of risk every day. You may be surprised to know that even the most successful pirates generally had careers lasting just a few years.
5. Today we tend to associate the golden age of piracy with those who operated in the Caribbean, however both the Indian Ocean and the West coast of Africa were also popular pirate waters.
6. Sadly, there is no reliable evidence that any pirate captain ever owned a parrot.
7. Also, rather disappointingly, no-one is ever known to have been forced to walk the plank in real life - although pirates did sometimes just throw men overboard!
8. Throughout the golden age of piracy, grog was a tipple much-loved by pirates. To make grog you would dilute rum with water or weak beer, and add sugar, lime juice of cinnamon to give the drink extra flavour. Tasty!
9. As well as helping to get pirates drunk, grog did in fact also have a medicinal purpose. The lime juice often used in it contained vitamin C, which helped prevent scurvy, a horrible disease that caused teeth to fall out.
10. Some people like to depict pirates as rum-guzzling, filthy men hell bent on satisfying their carnal lust whenever they were on dry land... Although it is certain that some fitted this description, there were also a large number of gentlemen pirates who dressed exceptionally well and displayed excellent manners in all circumstances.

Famous Pirates

1. William Kidd (1645-1701) - coming from a surprisingly wealthy background to begin with, Kidd set out on a pirate-hunting missions in 1696. However, it wasnt long after setting out that he tuned pirate himself!
2. Edward Teach (1680-1718) - better known as Blackbeard, perhaps the most famous pirate of all time.
3. Bartholomew Roberts (1682-1722) - known as Black Bart he captured the most number of vessels during the Golden Age of Piracy.
4. Henry Every (1659-1696) - operated under a number of aliases, including Henry Bridgeman, although was known as Long Ben to his crew. One of the few pirate captains who successfully retired with his loot, he was also the perpetrator of the most profitable pirate raid in history.
5. Anne Bonny (1702-?) - daughter of a wealthy businessman, she chose a life on the seas after becoming the mistress of Calico Jack Rackham.
6. Sir Henry Morgan - an admiral of the English Royal Navy; one of the most successful privateers in history and inspiration for the character featured on bottles of Captain Morgans rum.
7. Cheung Po Tsai (1783-1822) - Chinese pirate who built his following up to 600 ships and 50,000 men until he surrendered to the Chinese government, being then given the rank of navy colonel in the imperial navy and helping his government fight other pirates.
8. Sir Francis Drake - English privateer, but knows as a pirate to the Spanish who called him El Draque . King Phillip II of Spain offered a reward of 20,000 ducats for his life - about $7 million in todays money!
9. Francois lOlonnais (1635-1668) - In his earliest years at sea, Francois lOlonnais was almost killed by Spanish pirates. He decided to spend the rest of his life seeking out Spanish vessels in revenge. He captured one and executed every single man but one, who he sent back to Spain with the message I shall never henceforward give quarter to any Spaniard whatsoever. He became incredibly successful, eventually running a fleet of eight pirate ships. However, late on in his career he was ambushed by a Spanish force much larger than his at the time. Having survived the battle, but with few men left, he needed to escape and not run the risk of another encounter with Spanish Vessels. He therefore sliced open one prisoners chest, pulled out his heart and began to eat it. He then shouted at the other prisoners I will serve you all alike, if you show me not another way. The craziness worked, and they told him of a route on which he could safely return to safer waters!
10. Hayreddin Barbarossa (1478-1546) - known as Redbeard, he pledged his allegiance to the Ottoman Sultan, who equipped him with ships and weapons which allowed him to defeat the combined forces of Genoa, Spain, Venice, The Vatican, Portugal and Malta during the Battle of Preveza.

William Kidd

Pirate Ships

1. Although we often use the term galleon to describe a pirate ship, many were in fact galleys - the main difference being that galleys used banks of oars rather than sails. This meant that they could be rowed in any direction - including against the wind. Although this required a great deal of manpower, it did give them a huge advantage in certain conditions.
2. Each pirate ship had its own code of conduct. One of the worst things you could do was steal from your fellow crew - in fact it was quite common that this offence carried the death penalty!
3. There were a number of different types of pirate ship, from smaller ones such as Square-Riggers , Sloops and Schooners to medium sized Brigantines all the way through to huge Frigates which carried up to 200 men!
4. Most attacks from pirate ships were in fact from boats in the smaller classes - and three per cent were amazingly carried out from small and basic rowing boats!