"Peel it. Feel it.": The Piracy Golden Age

Friday 10 January 2014

The Piracy Golden Age

credits: piratical2.
pbworks.com

In 17th century to early 18th century, the golden age of piracy began in the discovery of the New World and wide wealth. The ship sailed out of sight and law, looking for gold and money, and probably well known because of the treasure stuff. During the age pf piracy, many things happened such as the privateers Francis Drake willing to join the exploration under the complete authorization and knowledge of Queen Elizabeth I. The word 'buccaner' was founded by European sailors who caught wild pigs at Haiti and Tortuga in the Carribean and preserved the meat by smoking it on the rack. Many pirates were given pardons, joining military aid, and knighted such as the privateer Henry Morgan- he was not only pardoned, he also knighted by Charles II, become the acting governor of Jamaica, vice admiral and a justice of peace.

Five (5) Successful Pirates

Edward Blackbeard
Credits:
latinamerican
history.com

To be a successful pirates, one must be charismatic, ruthless, opportunistic and clever. They must have a good ship, best crews and great exploration. The most successful pirates in the golden age were;

5. Edward 'Blackbeard' Teach: The leader of Queen Anne's Revenge, the massive flagship. He would stick the smoking wicks inside his beard and long hair, giving him the look of angry demon. He died in a battle on 1718.

4. George Lowther: Lowther terrorized Atlantic for 2 years. He was a low level officer before he went pirate during his trip to Africa to resupply the company of British soldiers. The ability to take down many ships feared a lot of sailors until his ship spotted by the heavy armed merchant ship and he lost his luck as a pirate.

3. Edward Low: He was a petty thief from England and went pirate after stealing a boat. He captured the large and larger ship when he joined the large pirate organization led by George Lowther. Surprisingly, he went solo and his name feared by many ships because he would raise a false flag then attack the ship until it surrender. However, no one clear about his last life.

2. Bartholomew 'Black Bart' Roberts: Roberts was never want to be a pirate. He was captured by a pirate, Howell Davis in 1719 and Roberts was forced to join the pirate's crew. When Davis was killed, Roberts became the captain after the election and his new career was born. He was full of trick whenever he took down the rich ship and no one knew what had happened. He died in battle on 1722.

1. Henry Avery: Avery is not ruthless like Edward Low, tricky like Bartholomew, or clever like Blackbeard by scaring people. He stole only 2 ships. However, those 2 ships were owned by the Grand Moghul's treasure ship, it was loaded with golds, jewels and thousand pounds of loot. He went rich, splitting the good and prepared the retirement set. Then they paid off the governor, went separated and the rumours said that Avery became a king of pirates at Madagascar. No one knows his last life but he sure feel happy with his retirement.

The Pirate's Femme Fatale

Anne Bonny
Credits: Wikipedia

There were so many female pirates during the early age, Viking age, Medieval age and 16th-17th-18th century age but no one was well known as Anne Bonny and Mary Read. Some female pirates were succeeded and some of it went bad. But some of female pirates emerged in a unique way such as;

1. Jeanne Louis Del Belleville: She was known as 'the Lioness of Brittany.' She went pirate to avenge the execution of her husband. The unique thing was, she only attacked French vessels.

2. Sayyida Al Hurra: She was the Moroccan female pirates, probably the only female pirate in Muslim world. She controlled western Mediterranean Sea and Barbaros, and ruled Tetouan. Her husband was a ruler at Tetouan before he died. She later married King of Morocco but she refused to leave Tetouan.

3. Ching Shih: She was a Chinese prostitute before she married a Chinese leader pirate. After her husband's death, she became a commander and control the fleet. She commanded 1500 ships and 80000 sailors, gained power at South China Sea and none of navy ships were able to defeat her. When British, Chinese and Portuguese hard to take her down, she offered a peace in 1810. Then, she able to retire, remarry and living a life.

4. Anne Bonny: She was an Irish female pirates, her mother was a servant. Her early life was hard because her father's new establishment as an attorney did not went very well, her mother died after they moved to North America and she faced a bad temper which makes her stabbed a servant girl with a table knife. Then, she married the poor sailor, James Bonny, disowned by her father to possessed the family estate and then became the pirate's mistress, Jack Rackham. Later, she became a good friend of Mary Read, the other female pirate and the fought together side by side. Her pirate life was ended when she was captured by a King's ship but she begged for mercy, together with Read because they both pregnant. However, no one knows what happened to Bonny because there was no historical record of her release or execution while Read died because of high fever in prison. Some said that her father helps her or resumed her piracy life under a new identity.

5. Jacquotte Delahaye: She was a French female pirate. Her father was killed, her mother was died after childbirth and her brother suffered a mild retardation. She is described as a great beauty and taking care her brother, before she went pirate because she wants to escape by her pursuers. She fake her own death, disguised as man for several years and she was known as 'back from the dead red' because her striking red hair.

The Pirate's Flag

Jolly Roger is the most famous pirate flag. But there were different versions of skulls and bones that feared by many people such as;

Walter Kennedy

Bart Roberts