A Pirate’s Life

The history was more than eye patches and parrots

Photo by Sergey Semin on Unsplash

Pirates are often characterized as glamorous figures in Hollywood movies. In reality, unless they were privateers, they lived on the fringes of society and their lives were often cut short.

One famous trope about pirates is that they had buried treasure. In reality, this was very unlikely. First of all, while not a Democracy, a pirate ship was more egalitarian than, say, a Royal Navy vessel, which had a rigid hierarchy. A pirate captain that tried to bury treasure, vs. distributing it among his crew, would likely die an unpleasant death.

Here are some more facts about pirates.

When Piracy was Legitimate

During the reign of Elizabeth I of England, there was a period in which the Crown gave out Letters of Marque to “legitimate” pirates — or privateers. This was thanks to England’s rivalry with Spain.

By 1585, the two nations were on the verge of war.

The Spanish Armada was impressive. The English Navy — not so much.

The Queen was frugal. Instead of building a royal fleet, she utilized men’s greed. By legalizing piracy against Spanish fleets, she not only reduced the size of her enemy’s navy, she also brought treasure home to England. The…