I posted a Pirate Quiz on my Facebook page earlier this week. Here's the questions and answers:
1. What pirate had a $6 Million (in modern dollars) bounty on his head?
Sir Francis Drake. Today, Drake is famous for NON-pirate activities (first Englishman to sail around the world, led the fight against the Spanish Armada), but he was a leading pirate of the era...at least to the Spanish. Drake raided Spanish cities around the Caribbean, and captured a treasure ship worth about $10M in today's money. Even today, the Spanish don't like him...he's known as "El Draco" (the dragon).
Drake actually died (of disease) while chasing Spanish treasure ships... and was buried at sea off Panama.
Drake's actions were piracy, in that England and Spain were technically at peace, most of the time. But the Treaty of Tordesillas brokered by the Pope ~60 years earlier had split the new world between Spain and Portugal based on a line of Longitude (which is why Brazilians speak Portuguese). Both sides acted as if the European treaties didn't apply to the Caribbean: The watch phrase was "No Peace Beyond the Line."
2. What’s the difference between a Pirate and a Privateer?
A Privateer is licensed to make war against enemy ships, being issued a "Letter of Marque" that allowed them to capture ships of a given country. We speak proudly of John Paul Jones in the Revolution, and the fights of "Old Ironsides" during the War of 1812, but in both conflicts, more damage was done to the British by American privateers than national warships. Fort McHenry (e.g., "star Spangled Banner" was not attacked just to try let the British invade; McHenry guarded Baltimore harbor, where many of the American privateers were based.
Privateering was basically piracy mixed with bureaucracy. It was actually considered a legitimate business; many pillars of the communities bought ships and hired crews. For the most part, the Captains and crews worked "on the lay", like whalers... no salary, just a piece of the action.
Ships taken had to condemned by a prize court before the privateer could sell them or the cargo, there were many restrictions, and the prize court and the government got a "cut" of the value. Some men got Letters of Marque from BOTH sides in a war. If discovered, though, it was considered proof of piracy.
3. “Slow Match” is a slow-burning fuse that was used to ignite the powder when firing cannons. What unique use did Captain Blackbeard have for it?
Blackbeard wove multiple strands of slow match into his beard (some accounts say he wore it under his hat, with the ends hanging down)... and lit them, prior to boarding a target ship. Smoke would pour from his beard, and terrorize the seamen. Probably smell a bit, too.
4. Name a pirate that was saved from hanging by an unborn baby.
Mary Reade and Anne Bonney were the most famous. In that era, the British would not hang a pregnant woman until she'd given birth...so after their caption, both women "Pled their bellies" (as the contemporary term went), claiming to be pregnant. Both hangings were deferred...one of the women died of disease, but there's no record of the other one being hanged.
5. What famed base for British pirates resulted from a failed invasion?
In 1655, Oliver Cromwell (Lord Protector of England after executing King Charles I) sent a fleet to the Caribbean to capture Haiti. The invasion failed. Admiral Penn and Generable Venables didn' want to go back and admit total failure. Rumor had it that a nearby Spanish island's forts hadn't be upgraded for a hundred years, so they sailed there and took it as a consolation price. Hence, Jamaica became British. Port Royal, at the entry to Kingston Harbor, because the main base for British pirates.
Oh, and the "consolation" didn't work: Penn and Venables were arrested and put in the Tower of London when they returned to England.
6. Which pirates are fictional, which were real?
a. Long Ben Avery
b. Captain J. Flint
c. Calico Jack Rackham
d. Captain Peter Blood
e. Black Bart Roberts
A bit tricky, in the list: The "Captains" are fictional. Captain Flint was the name of Long John Silver's parrot (and was the name of his former Captain, a pirate who buried his booty on "Treasure Island"). Captain Blood was the main character in the Sabatini novels and the famous Errol Flynn movie.
It's a bit strange, but few actual pirates established a name as "Captain" whatever. The exception is Captain Kidd, but that's likely because of the alliteration. The reference to Sir Henry Morgan as "Captain Morgan" probably derives more from the rum's advertising campaigns over the years.
7. What character in a Pirate tale develops PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder)?
Jim Hawkins, the hero in “Treasure Island”. The book ends, “…the worst dreams that ever I have are when I hear the surf booming about its coasts or start upright in bed with the sharp voice of Captain Flint still ringing in my ears: "Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight!"
Pretty fair description of a PTSD symptom.
8. What pirate was buried on land, but is now buried under water...without being dug up?
Sir Henry Morgan. He died in 1588, and was buried in the cemetery at the famous Pirate town of Port Royal on Jamaica. In 1592, a huge earthquake hit Port Royal...sinking most of the town, including the cemetery.
9. Who on a pirate ship “outranked” the captain…except during action?
We tend to think of pirate ships being led by hard-case captains ruling their crew with an iron fist. In reality the captains had to sleep *sometimes*, and with ships populated by men willing to murder, pillage, and illegally park at the Port Royal 7-11, it was better to "rule with the consent of the governed."
So, incredibly, in the golden age of piracy, Captains were *elected*, and subject to dismissal if the crews turned against them. Captains couldn't just rule with their swords, not with so many swords potentially against them. They had to keep their crews happy. Here's a famous set of quotes from Blackbeard's journals, showing his skills as a pirate politician:
“Rum all out—Our Company somewhat sober—A damn’d Confusion amongst us!—Rogues a plotting—great Talk of Separation—so I look’d sharp for a Prize.
“Took one, with a great deal of Liquor on Board, so kept the Company hot, damned hot, then all Things went well again.”
Inevitably, with a quasi-democratic system, checks and balances had to evolve. In the golden age of piracy, this was the Quartermaster...the other elected office onboard. The Quartermaster was essentially the tactician, he decided where the ship would go, and would tell the Captain to take it there. In the midst of a battle, or while chasing a prize, the Captain had command...but otherwise, he had to listen to the Quartermaster.
The Quartermaster was also kind of the interface between the crew and the captain. Almost a shop steward, in union terms.
10. Who had the nickname, “Die Piraten des Kaisers” (The emperor’s pirates)?
Well, they weren't *really* pirates. During the First World War, Captain Count Felix von Luckner commanded the Imperial German Navy ship "Seeadler" (Sea Eagle), a commerce-raider of the Kaiser's navy. The captain and crew cheerily called themselves, "The Kaiser's Pirates."
They took fourteen Allied ships in 1916 and 1917, capturing over 300 men with only a single enemy sailor killed. The captured men praised the civilized behavior of Von Luckner and his men.
Pretty good record, for a German commerce raider. What kind of ship was it... U-Boat? Cruiser?
Nope. Three-masted sailing ship, almost like the pirates two hundred years earlier.
Count von Luckner was a real character, a German nobleman who ran away to sea at age 13, signing aboard a Russian as an unpaid cabin boy. Lowell Thomas, the American journalist who made Lawrence of Arabia famous, wrote a biography of Luckner named, "The Sea Devil." It's available on Kindle. There have been several movies and a TV series based on his adventures.
The Allies never did catch the Seeadler. It was wrecked by a tsunami in the Pacific in 1917. Luckner was subsequently captured and put in a POW camp in New Zealand...where he stole the commandant's motor boat in a short-lived escape attempt.
Ron Wanttaja
