Pirate

Pirate

by: ToddMassey
Total views: 22 | Word Count: 467

Pirate is now the frequently established expression throughout the world for an individual that perpetrates an assortment of wrongs on the ocean. A various points in history they were given specialized names helping to identify them either by region or nationality.

Privateers would have been pirates legally commissioned by a country or government giving them permission to wage war against another country or government. The French and English pirates that were living in the Caribbean about the time of the seventeenth century went by the name, buccaneer. Of course the name buccaneer is a very anglicized version of the French word, boucanier.

A stretch of land and water called the Barbary Coast was home to the privateers or Islamic pirates called Barbary corsairs. The French and other non-Islamic nations considered the corsairs pirates, instead of privateers. But they focused their efforts on Christian and non-Islamic prey.

In the rich waters of the Mediterranean area where vigorous sea trading was taking place, pirating came to develop and be very effective. The nations and kingdoms warring amongst themselves would set pirates against their foes. To collect taxes from the locals the city-states of Greece gave pirates the job as tax collector because the pirates were so feared.

France, Spain and England fought back and forth with each other many times through the years with pirates and privateers playing huge roles in the outcomes of battles and wars. Pirates could often prove so successful as to bring an entire navy to its knees or to steal government treasure or disrupt trade so badly as to bankrupt a country.

When trade would become too disrupted by pirates some governments would join together in a concentrated effort to purge the pirates from trade routes.

Buccaneers would run to the sea and a life of piracy in an attempt to break away from their cruel handling from former countries. This led to pirates creating what is known to be the first true individual democracy where every person on the boat had a vote in all activities. To enforce their own code the pirates dealt out harsh penalties to those that would violate shipboard laws.

Pirates around this time in the early to mid 1600's also established rules to take care of their own by compensation if they were injured or lost a body part. Typically a body part on the right side was worth more than on the left side.

Piracy could be a hard life, dangerous and deadly but it was often preferable to the navy of the day. You could potentially get better pay, better food be treated better and have a say in decisions.

It would not be unusual for a pirate who had spent months at sea, to collect his share of the treasure and then blow it all in a night or two of excessive pleasure.

About the Author

Pirates live bigger than life in our imaginations due to popular media. Another great Pirate book has come out that combines pirates and magic like no body else has before.