Pirates

A pirate is a person who attacks and robs ships. Most pirates were men, but a few women also became pirates. There are many adventure stories about pirates, but piracy was actually a well-organized business . In the 19th and 20th centuries piracy was wiped out by many sea powers.

How pirates lived

People became pirates for various reasons. Sometimes honest sailors left their ships because life on them was so miserable and they couldn’t bear it. These seamen often turned to piracy in order to survive . Others were in search of riches , like gold, silver and jewellery . Some simply wanted to have adventures.

Stories and movies have created an exciting image of pirates as dangerous men with beards . In reality , however , pirates led a miserable life. They were often drunk and argued a lot. Many pirates died of injuries and illnesses. Some were shot or left at sea, others were captured and sentenced to death.

Most pirate ships had a captain who was in command during a battle . The most powerful person on board was the quartermaster, who divided the stolen goods , or loot, among the crew . He also had the duty of punishing pirates who did something wrong. Both the captain and the quartermaster were elected by the crew and they could be removed if they did not do their job well.

Most pirate crews had rules that every member had to obey . Pirates who stole other men’s things were often set ashore on a deserted island where they would die of thirst . Sometimes they were given a pistol and a bullet to kill themselves.

Because pirates were mostly interested in stolen goods they killed very few people and often let their enemies free after they had attacked and robbed them. They also attacked towns along coasts. Sometimes they took prisoners and demanded money for their freedom. The pirate flag became a well-known and feared symbol of the seas. It often showed a white skull and crossbones on a black background.

History

Piracy has occurred at all times in history. Ancient Roman and Greek ships that sailed in the Mediterranean were often in danger of being attacked . In the Middle Ages Viking pirates attacked ships and settlements in the Baltic Sea and English Channel .

The countries of northern Africa allowed and even organized pirate attacks . They gave Muslim privateers money and ships to carry out attacks on Christian ships from England, France and Spain. They had their bases in Tunis, Algiers and Morocco and from there they raided towns along the Mediterranean coast.

Piracy’s golden age was between the 1500s and the 1800s when a great number of ships crossed the Atlantic Ocean carrying valuable cargo to and from colonies in the New World. This was the time of famous pirates.

Piracy declined in the 19th and 20th centuries . On the one side merchant vessels became bigger and bigger , on the other side more and more countries started patrolling the oceans. Even though piracy is a crime in all countries modern pirates of today continue to be active, most of them in the South China Sea and Indian Ocean.

Famous pirates

Blackbeard was one of history’s cruelest pirates. He got his name for his long black beard which he wore in braids . He terrorized the coasts of Carolina and Virginia for many years until a small fleet of ships hunted him down and killed him.

The Englishmen Sir John Hawkins, Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Francis Drake were some of the most famous so-called privateers , pirates who worked for a country. They had their own ships and were paid by a government to hunt down and attack ships from other countries. In the 1500s Queen Elizabeth I gave these privateers the permission to attack other ships and help England dominate the oceans.

Buccaneers were pirates who terrorized the West Indies and the Central and South American coasts. They originally came from France, England and Holland. Some of them left their home countries because they were criminals and wanted to escape the law . They lived on small islands in the Caribbean , attacked Spanish ships and captured gold , silver and jewels that were transported home from the colonies.

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Words

actually = really
ancient = old
argue = if two or more people have different opinions about something
ashore = on land
attack = to start using guns against an enemy in a war
Baltic Sea = sea that is a part of the Atlantic Ocean , surrounded by Denmark, Sweden, Poland and the Baltic states
base = the place from which someone starts their work
battle = here: fight between two sides
bear = live with
beard = hair that grows around a man’s chin and cheeks
braid = to twist together
business =to buy and sell things
capture = to catch a person and keep them as a prisoner
cargo = the goods that are transported on a ship
Caribbean = sea between North, Central and South America
carry out =do a job
century = a hundred years
crew = the people who work on a ship
criminal = a person who has done something that is against the law
crossbone = two bones that cross each other
cruel = very bad, terrible
decline =to go down
demand = want
deserted = place where nobody lives
divide = to share or give to each person
dominate = control
duty = job
elect = to vote for
English Channel = water between England and France
escape = to get away from
even though =while
exciting = to make you feel happy or interested
feared = to be afraid
fleet = a group of ships of a country
golden age = time when something is at its best or most successful
goods =products
government = people who rule a country
honest = someone who is a good person, does not steal and or cheat
however = but
hunt down = to search for a person until you catch them
image = the opinion people have about something or someone
in command = to be the boss
injury = to be hurt
jewel = valuable stones
jewellery = small things made of gold or silver that you wear
law =the rules that a country has
Mediterranean = the area between Europe and Africa
merchant vessel = a ship that is used to trade goods, not for war
miserable = very bad , uncomfortable
obey = to do what someone tells you to do
occur = happen
originally = at first
patrol = to travel around and check to see if there is is no danger
permission = to be allowed to do something
piracy = the crime of attacking and stealing things from ships
prisoner = someone who is captured and held somewhere
privateer = pirate who had his own ship and worked for governments
punish = to make someone suffer because they have done something wrong
raid = to go to a place and steal things
reality =the truth is
remove = here: to give someone else the job
riches = expensive things, also money
rule = instruction that says how something must be done
sentence = to give someone a punishment
settlement = a group of houses in a place where not many people have lived before
skull = the bones of a person’s head
survive =to live on after a dangerous situation
thirst =if you need something to drink
valuable = very expensive and important
various = different
wipe out = to do away with

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