Pirates were an ornery lot. The movies and novels have painted a picture of these freebooters as a romantic fraternity, and nearly always as wronged men following some noble cause. Nothing could be farther from the truth. In general, they were little more than the dregs and scum of the seaports of the world.
A pirate, in most cases, began life as an honest seaman. But he lived in an age when the life of a sailor was hard, and the pay was small. A dissatisfied sailor was always a good prospect as a future pirate. And it wasn't difficult to find others who dreamed of easy money. Commonly a number of these unhappy seamen would find themselves in the crew of some merchant vessel whose captain was a hard taskmaster. Upon such occasions, it was easy to turn pirate. A mutiny would be staged, and the discontented men would seize control of the ship. After a successful mutiny, the captain and the loyal members of the crew would either be murdered or perhaps set ashore and marooned on the nearest island. Sometimes these seagoing gangsters would become so bold as to steal a ship as it lay at anchor within a harbor.
The capture of his ship was sometimes the occasion which would lead an otherwise honest seaman to take up piracy. Pirates usually offered the crew of a captured vessel an opportunity to join them. The decision was not too difficult. Many a sailor, bored with the humdrum existence aboard a merchant vessel, jumped at the chance for excitement and easy money. This last reason, probably more than any other, was the most popular excuse for turning pirate.
It was not difficult to find enough men for crew; but pirates without a ship are about as useless as a saddle without a horse. This problem was usually solved by stealing what they needed. After spotting a likely looking small ship anchored in the harbor, the pirates would wait for a dark night when most of the ship's crew was ashore. Then, in small boats or even canoes, they would row silently out to their intended prize. Slipping quickly over the side they would overpower the crew members still board. Still under cover of darkness, they would sail quickly out of the harbor. The captain was quite often the only man aboard who had a private cabin. The men usually slept below deck. There was no limit on the size of a pirate crew, which often led to crowded conditions. In I cases, each man had a small space that he could his own, where he could eat and sleep. Yet, when the crew became exceptionally large, some of the men had to sleep out on the open deck, even in the midst of heavy seas and violent storms. The life a pirate was by no means a comfortable existence.
Pirates were a cantankerous pack. This, in turn, made the problem of discipline one of the most difficult on board ship. The whip was the primary instrument of punishment, but the quartermaster was the only officer who was given authority to flog a member of the crew. There were other methods by which a dispute could be settled. If two seamen should start a fight on shipboard, the quartermaster was supposed to make an attempt to persuade them to settle it peacefully. If he was unsuccessful, he would then take them ashore to the nearest land. Each was given a cutlass and a pistol, and they were instructed to settle their differences by a duel. The first of these quarrelers who drew blood, if only by a nick, was declared the winner.
More serious offenses were tried before a pirate jury. If found guilty, one might be "keel-hauled." This meant tying one rope under his arm and another to his feet. Then he would be thrown overboard and dragged beneath the hull, from one side of the ship to the other. Even if he survived this punishment, the pirate would be badly cut from the barnacles clustered on the bottom. If the jury decreed death, little time was wasted. The guilty seaman was tossed overboard immediately. Marooning was one of the more popular forms of pirate punishment. A man so doomed would be abandoned on some desert island with little or no food and water.
When on the prowl, the pirate crew would usually cruise until they sighted a lone ship, not too heavily armed. While they were at a distance, they would fly some respected flag, such as the Union Jack of England, that would not arouse the suspicions of the intended prize, so that they could creep up within cannon shot. Then up would ride the Jolly Roger. A hail would float across the water, ordering the prize to heave to. If the victim attempted to flee, a cannon would send a warning shot across the bow. If this was not too successful, the pirates would pile on sail to try to maneuver into such a position as to deliver crippling broadsides.
A barrage of cannonballs ripping through the sails and rigging and crashing through the hull would soon leave a prize helpless and drifting aimlessly. The pirate ship would be steered alongside. Grappling hooks would be flung across the interval. Mighty heaves on the ropes attached to the grappling hooks would bring the two ships side by side. They would be lashed tightly to prevent their drifting apart. Then shouting, firing pistols, and swinging cutlasses, the pirate crew would swarm across the gunwales. The fight would soon be over. The pirates always outnumbered the crews of the ships they attacked.
Pirates rarely killed their prisoners. If they did, it was generally because their captives had offered a particularly strong resistance before surrendering. In such cases, those crews which fought the most fiercely could expect the least mercy. To discourage further opposition, the pirates made sure that stories of their atrocities were spread throughout the seaports of the world. This explains why the pirates were often able to take, without too much effort, larger and better-armed vessels than their own. Remembering the tales of the cruelty of pirates, ordinary sailors were often unwilling to risk death and torture just to save a merchant's cargo.
All in all, the picture of piracy is not a pretty one. The life of the average buccaneer was a life of hardship, brutality, and danger. And that life was a short one. When they died, few people took time to mourn their passing. Seldom did a pirate die in bed of natural causes. The end usually came with a terrible suddenness, in the midst of battle, shipwreck, in a tavern brawl, of scurvy and tropical fevers, or of other diseases. Even if he was fortunate enough to escape these hazards, there was always the gibbet with its hangman's noose. All nations punished piracy by hanging. Sometimes when captured at sea, pirates were not even allowed a trial or hearing of any sort. Swift justice came at the end of a rope swung from the nearest yardarm. Even in death there was little respect paid their mortal remains. Few pirates ever received a decent burial. Bodies of the more notorious pirates were embalmed in tar, and then hung in chains at some prominent point along the water, there to sway in the wind and serve as a terrifying example to those who might be tempted to follow their career.
