Pirates of the World: Differentiating Purpose from Plunder
Pirates are defined in many ways; mostly by geographical location and time period. The most well-known time for pirates was known as “The Golden Age of Piracy,” which was from 1570 to about 1730; this was an era full of widespread robbery on the high seas (Lunsford par. 3).What modern day society doesn’t think about is the different types of pirates throughout the ages. “Vikings” refers to the northern pirates between the years 800 and 1000.“Buccaneers” refers to the outlaws of the Caribbean during the 15-1600s (Stewart 4). “Eastern Asia pirates” refer to pirates in the regions of China and Japan during the 17-1800s. Although there are many similarities between Northern Vikings, Caribbean pirates, and Eastern pirates, these pirates are distinguished through home origin, nautical ships, and popular pirates of each area of the sea. In the waters of Northern Europe, warriors from icy lands roam, looking for adventure and mischief. Ferocious raiders called Vikings came from regions like Scandinavia, Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Sweden (Lock 10). From the Norse Language, the word Viking is derived; it is to mean a pirate who is hidden in some type of water, waiting to pounce on unsuspecting vessels (Meltzer and Waldman 12). These robbers weren’t like any other pirates, they weren’t just murders and thieves; they were colonists. They not only stole treasure, but land as well. Because of this, Vikings were deeply hated by the Europeans they invaded. Vikings colonized most of what is now referred to as Britain, Germany, France, Spain, Ireland, Iceland, Scotland, Greenland, Canada, and most parts of Eastern Europe (Meltzer and Waldman 13). Vikings mostly believed in necromancy and magic, while the places they attacked believed in Christianity. When stealing goods from these lands, they mostly attacked places of worship like churches or holy temples (Meltzer and Waldman 15). Vikings did this not because of their religious differences, but because they usually had little or no protection of the treasures inside (Meltzer and Waldman 15). Unlike Vikings, pirates from the Caribbean were known as buccaneers. Buccaneers operated mostly in the 17th century along the Caribbean coast. During this time, Spanish ships were the most preyed on by British, French, or Dutch buccaneers (Stewart 8). Spanish ships were the most preyed on because they were the ones who mostly colonized places like Mexico and South America. Caribbean pirates did attack ships from other places than Spain, but Spanish ships were the most prevalent and had the most ‘booty’ as they would call it, during that time (Stewart 8). When pirates weren’t attacking ships they were usually in Tortuga and Jamaica, they were strongholds for pirates who hoped to become rich off of stolen treasure (Stewart 8). The Caribbean in the 1600s became a great place to live for many outlaws, escaped slaves, and adventurers. Attacking trade ships and ports, they formed a group known as buccaneers (Lock 20). These buccaneers became the most famous pirates out of all time periods. Eastern Pirates come from China and Japan; however, they don’t have an exact, well-known name like ‘Vikings’ or ‘Buccaneers’. Instead, as a whole, they were just known as Eastern Asia Pirates or Southeast Asia Pirates. Although these pirates came from the same region of the world, their combat was a little different in each area. Chinese pirates used long and heavy swords, while Japanese pirates fought with two smaller swords, one in each hand (Lock 43). Dangerous voyagers like these should be avoided, the waters of the Pacific were the most hazardous during the 1800s and in some places, they still are. Pirates still roam the ocean today in this region of the world. Ships of all these pirates,Vikings, Buccaneers, and Eastern Pirates, are different, especially when analyzing their Viking vessels. Firstly, Vikings were skillful ship-craftsmen, making long narrow boats called longships (Lock 11). Built perfect for their purposes, Viking ships were remarkable. A ship uncovered in a cave was found to be the perfect specimen for an example of a Viking ship. Built of oak, 71 feet long, 17 feet wide, and 7 feet deep, with 15 pair of oars, each 12 feet long (Meltzer and Waldman 13). On the head of the longship, called the prow, was usually a dragonhead to strike fear into their victims hearts (Meltzer and Waldman 13). Sails on this ships were large and square (Meltzer and Waldman 13). Unlike this one, most Viking ships were twice as big, so they could carry horses (Meltzer and Waldman 13). Northmen carried these horses with them to go more inland quickly to look for treasure, trade, or settlements (Meltzer and Waldman 13). Oarsmen’s job at sea was to row the boat, but on land they served their fellow pirates and fought (Meltzer and Waldman 13). Vikings didn’t have any specific flag they drew, Europeans knew it was them by their longboat. The defensive walls Vikings built to protect their longboats marked the first foundation of Dublin, along with other cities in Ireland such as Waterford, Wexford, and Limerick (Meltzer and Waldman 15). Dublin became the capital of Ireland based largely on it's important slave trade business (Meltzer and Waldman 15). The Vikings built a marketplace known as the intercontinental Scandinavian slave trade (Meltzer and Waldman 15). Now, amber and furs were also sold here but most of stock on sale were slaves captured by the Vikings from raids (Meltzer and Waldman 15). All of this came to be by ramparts built by the Vikings to protect their longboats. A good example of a Caribbean pirate ship, is Blackbeard’s flagship, Queen Anne’s Revenge. The type of vessel the ship was, was a frigate (Stewart 17). The length of the vessel was about 90 feet and the width was about 25 feet (Stewart 17). The weight of the this frigate was around 660,000 lbs. It had 3 masts and up to 250 pirates on board as well as 40 cannons (Stewart 17). Each pirate in the Caribbean during this time had their own unique flag. Life aboard these pirate ships isn’t all that it's cracked up to be, men believed it to be freer, but ways it was just as hard or harder than any other ship (Meltzer and Waldman 34). It was always dark below deck with only light coming from candles (Meltzer and Waldman 34). Odors of bodies, bilgewater, and rotting meat stunk up the ship (Meltzer and Waldman 34). When the weather was rough, water would pour into the hatchways, over 200 men could be cramped into small quarters (Meltzer and Waldman 34). The scent of that many unwashed bodies may have been sickening. Traditional, flat-bottomed cargo vessels is what the Chinese pirates captured, they were called junks. 100-feet long and 20 feet wide, with three-masted and weighed 600 tons was the biggest of these types of vessels (Meltzer and Waldman 54). Their sails were made of bamboo matting held together with bamboo rods and they could carry 400 men and 30 cannons (Meltzer and Waldman 54). Chinese pirates used powerful oars that helped maneuver them in tight corners or light winds; while the crew slept on the open deck or in the hold, the captain and his family lived at the stern (Meltzer and Waldman 54). Although, some pirate junks were smaller than the specs listed, only being able to hold 10-15 guns and less people (Lock 42). Sending ransom notes to demand money was a common thing of 19th century Chinese pirates. This was a proposition for the ones they were attacking, demanding money in return for not attacking towns and ships (Lock 43). Small or big, pirate junks were feared so much that other ships would end up just giving them their treasure so that their naval fleets would not be attacked. One of the most feared pirates of the time of Vikings was Ivarr the Boneless, he had a reputation during his time for being a brutal murderer, contrary to what his name implies. The Scandinavian saga tradition is where most of the information that exists about Ivarr inn beinlausi - Ivarr the Boneless - comes from. Ragnar's saga - the story about the plunders of Ivarr’s father, who is the Danish king, Ragnarr Lothbrok or 'Leather or Hairy Breeches', a famous Viking hero who led the attack on Paris in AD 845 - is where most of the information about Ivarr comes from (Baker par. 1). Sagas like this tend to mix fact with folklore, but the existence of Ivarr is evident (Baker par. 2). Ivarr’s name, “Boneless” according to his father Ragnarr, was a curse set upon him by his sorceress mother (Baker par. 4). Although this explanation isn’t very plausible, so instead researchers believe this nickname was referring to a part in the saga which says ‘neither love nor lust played any part in his (Ivarr’s) life’, meaning he was unable to obtain an erection, Ivarr did in fact died childless (Baker par. 7). Ivarr and his noble family, never had any specific flag they drew, and if they did, it will be left a mystery. Researches have never found any specific symbol associated to Ivarr or his father Ragnarr. Ivarr’s most significant raid was when he executed King Edmund in the village of Hoxne. It was said Ivarr did this to avenge the brutal death of his father Ragnarr (Smyth 106). After the raid, the tenth-century French monk Abbo of Fleury wrote: “Hingwar [Ivarr] then arrogantly commanded his troops that they should, all of them, take the king alone, who had despised his command, and instantly bind him” (Baker par. 41). This is proof of Ivarr’s existence as well as his brutality, the monk goes on to describe the tortures Ivarr did to the King. After this murder of King Edmund and the disappearance of his brother Edwold, the East Anglian royal dynasty was discontinued forever because of Ivarr (Baker par. 45). This, in turn, was one the most significant happenings of the Anglo-Saxons. One of the most infamous and feared pirates of the Caribbean - some say, of all time - is Edward Teach, otherwise known as Blackbeard. He scoured the Caribbean and east coast of the United States for plunder from 1716 until his death in 1718 (Stewart 12). In only two years he made such a huge impact on pirate culture as we know it. In 1716 Blackbeard was an English privateer, not in favor of all the rules, he joined a group of buccaneers in the Caribbean. By 1718 he commandeered a vessel called the Concord and renamed it, The Queen Anne’s Revenge, a 40-gun warship, as well as leading eight other ships (Stewart 12). Blackbeard’s appearance was a very menacing thick black beard that twisted into pigtails with ribbons (Stewart 13). When he went into battle he would put in fuses that burned slowly under his hat so that smoke would come up around his face and make him appear like a monster (Stewart 13). A common misconception about Blackbeard was that he didn’t have to torture as much as other pirates, he made himself look so evil that the crews of other ships would surrender right away (“Life in ‘The Republic of Pirates’ par. 16). Even his flag struck fear into the hearts of other ships, the devil and the hourglass, which meant that time was running out for his victims (Lock 41). Blackbeard never had any one huge plunder, other than the battle that led him to his death. Blackbeard was eventually conquered by Lieutenant Robert Maynard of the Royal Navy off the coast of North Carolina. As Alex Stewart states in his book Pirates: “A fierce hand-to-hand combat was fought. Wielding his cutlass, Blackbeard broke Maynard's sword but was slashed across the neck by one of Maynard's men. Blackbeard fought on until, wounded 25 times, he eventually fell down dead. His reign of terror was over” (Stewart 13). Although Blackbeard carried six pistols, two swords, and a number of knives, he was unable to defeated Maynard and all of his men. China’s most significant pirate was Ching Shih, otherwise known as the Pirate Queen. She led the largest pirate fleet of all time, called the “Red Flag Fleet” (Stewart 29). Their fleet was called this because of the solid red flag they flew on each ship. Ching Shih controlled most of the South China Sea with thousands of pirates under her command during the early nineteenth century (Stewart 29). She was the widow of notorious pirate Ching Yih, who challenged not only China’s Imperial Navy but British vessels too (Meltzer and Waldman 54). Ching Yih ended up dying in a storm, so it was up to Ching Shih to defend his honor and lead his fleet (Meltzer and Waldman 54). She became a very strong and professional commander by keeping records of her operations by pretending they were not illegal by calling her thievery “the transshipment of goods” (Meltzer and Waldman 54). Although Ching Shih was a girl, she was just as brutal as any man. When invading towns she would burn the houses and massacre the community, if pirates returned with severed heads, she would give them rewards (Meltzer and Waldman 55). In the end, Ching Shih's fleet was broken up by fighting among her troops, she later surrendered herself and remainder of her fleet at Canton in 1810 (Meltzer and Waldman 55). Later, she disappeared from the public eye and was rumored to be using her business skills for smuggling (Meltzer and Waldman 55). Never to be seen again, Ching Shih is still well known as the Pirate Queen of her time. In the past, pirates were brutal, psychopathic beings, but they were all different. From the far North, to the Islands of the Caribbean, all the way to China in the East. Many differences arise with all these different pirates, where they came from, the types of ships they used, and even the famous plunderers from each region. The Golden Age of Piracy may be over, but the adventure is just beginning when reading about their history.