My Interest Surrounding Pirates and Navigational Tools

One of my biggest questions involving pirates has always been "well, how did they know where they were going?" It seems like a mundane question given the other exciting areas of piracy such as the stories of legendary buccaneers/pirates such as Sir Henry Morgan and Blackbeard. But it is still a valid question because -- well, how did they manage to intercept the ships they planned on boarding? How did they manage to not get lost at sea? What did they contribute to modern navigation? Did they invent any tools of navigation or expound upon their current inventions? Or did they simply use the same navigational tools as all other sailors? 

It seems to be a question that is often left unanswered. And for that reason, I made it the topic of my research paper.

The difficult part was actually finding the sources for this information. Often, most websites tend to cater more towards pirate history rather than elaborating on some of the more distinct nuances such as navigational tools.

These are the following sources used:

http://www.fahrenheit-212.com/essential-innovation-lessons-pirates-gangs-smugglers/

http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/Mi-Oc/Navigation-at-Sea-History-of.html

http://www.cccoe.net/lifeatsea/student/navtools.htm

http://www.sea-thieves.com/education_pages/seathieves_edu_navigation.htm

My Encounter With A Female Pirate

The year is 1732. I recently boarded a ship of pirates off the coast of tortuga as a powder monkey. I look around and everyone looks exactly as I expect. Scruffy, hardened, unhygienic men that enjoy killing more than an old woman enjoys knitting. There's this one..pirate, however that I'm unsure of. The fellow behaves like a man, but his feminine features strike some odd questions in my mind. He fights like a man. He walks like a man. He even talks like a man and duels like a bloody lunatic; however, I'm become suspicious of "him". There are rumors he may not even be a "he" at all.

In spite of the rumors, I think most of the crewmen here know better than to question her. If it's a "her", by damned she makes a great "him". I think the other crewmen here share the same sentiment. It doesn't much matter what the fellow has going on her pantaloons as long as he remains as fierce as he's made himself out to be.

Saw her get in a duel with one of the crewmembers aboard this very ship. It was a dispute over who drank the last of her precious whiskey. It was a big fellow she was fighting. I'd say about 6 feet and a quarter, easily. Strong as well. I didn't expect her to hold her ground, but she did that and more. That man is no longer among the living, instead he's in Davy Jones locker. She may not be a "him", but I'll be damned if she's not one of the terrifying pirates I've ever met in my life. She may not be a true man, but she's a man in my book. A damned scary one.

Torture In The Golden Age of Piracy

Torture In The Golden Age of Piracy

Generally, torture is frowned upon regardless of context or time period. In some special cases, some groups may receive some leniency when dealing with the idea of torture if it is deemed for a good cause (see: terrorist interrogations).

In essence, however, human rights fundamentalists agree that in most --if not all-- cases, torture is unacceptable. And pirates in the Golden Age of Piracy receive no benefit of the doubt. During Captain Henry Morgan's ransacking of Gilbratrar  in 1699, he ended up torturing a man for days in order to find out if he actually had more money than he did. They tied cords to his thumbs and big toes and tied them to stakes that were driven into the ground at a convenient distance. Buccaneers struck these cords with blunt objects until he talked. He never changed his story.

There was another form of torture used by Alexander Exquemelin that involved stringing up victims by their genitals until they spoke. Often times these torture methods leave irreversible damage -- regardless whether the victim confessed or not.

Torture should not be accepted in any form, under any circumstances. It's a savage act that has no place in a civilized society. If we truly believe ourselves to be civilized, then defending torture is a contradictory act in itself. You can go right and left at the same time. You can't go up but also down. And you also cannot consider yourself civilized if you endorse such savage acts.

Pirates such as Alexander 

Henry Morgan and the Assault on Panama

Captain Morgan was a strategist, tactician and revered leader of buccaneers during the 1600s. He was -- in a sense -- a living incarnation of the fictional character Jack Sparrow. Most depictions of pirates show ship battles on the open seas, but Captain Morgan often assaulted cities and forts from the sea, then invaded on land using canoes.

After receiving news that Spain had declared war on Jamaica, Captain Henry Morgan -- the Governor Lieutenant of Jamaica launched the single biggest pirate invasion in history on the region of Panama.

Captain Morgan assaulted panama with four squadrons of trained and battle-tested buccaneers. He approached their main point of defense through the jungle and overwhelmed the enemy with gunfire and artillery. Those that were not shot by muskets were cut down like livestock in an epic assault to take Panama. Don Juan (who was responsible for the defense of Panama and had also recently attacked Jamaican properties) made sure that if Captain Morgan was successful with his attacks that they would receive no treasure. Unfortunately for Don Juan, Captain Morgan and his buccaneers still came about with £31,000  in silver plate, gold and other liquidated assets.

Henry Morgan returned to a Jamaica much changed from the one he had left. In the Treaty of Madrid, signed in 1670, England had agreed to suppress piracy in return for Spanish recognition of its sovereignty in Jamaica. In 1672, Morgan was transported back to England to be tried for piracy, but he was received rather more as a romantic hero than as a vicious criminal. He was eventually pardoned and returned to Jamaica as Lieutenant Governor.

Why I Was Interested In Piracy

Garland Peters

 

When one thinks about pirates of the Caribbean, usually the first thing that pops into their mind is the Disney movie franchise starring Johnny Depp. Though Pirates of the Caribbean is an interesting movie franchise, it's even more interesting to learn about actual pirates and what actually went on from the 1650s to 1750s in the Caribbean.