Uncovering the Truth of Pirates

Today the site of Queen Anne's Revenge is part of the National Register of Historic Places, being added nearly two decades ago in 2004. In total, hundreds of thousands of items believed to have come from the Queen Anne's Revenge have been found within the area, which is still being explored  until this day! Edward Teach (or Thatch depending on the source), or as you may know him, Blackbeard was one of the most well known and notorious pirates during the Golden Age of Piracy. He sailed in the West Indies, and along the Eastern Coast of what would become America from 1716 until his death in 1718.  Blackbeard While not a lot is known about Blackbeard's upbringing, many believe that he was born in Bristol, England around 1680. It is also widely accepted that before he took to piracy, he was part of either a merchant ship or a member of a Privateering vessel.  One of Blackbeard's most famous ships, the Queen Anne's Revenge, was originally a French slave ship...

The punishments aboard these ships could vary from ship to ship, or Capitan to Capitan.  Bartholomew's crew tended towards either marooning the crewmember or having the accused pay a fine in money or jewels. In the occasion of an inter-party thief, being left to die some harsh or even death itself.  While many people believe that pirates were completely lawless individuals who ruled the seas of the Caribbean and beyond doing anything that they please by any means necessary, however, that isn't entirely true.  Many pirates lived by the same code of conduct. These codes of conduct were followed by the pirates and acted as their laws. These rules were met with strict punishments if the rules were broken. These punishments could include anything from flogging to death. Sadly, while you might be thinking about Captians forcing a pirate to walk the plank, but unfortunately, that is not an actual form of punishment widely used by pirates during these times.  On...

As Laura comes to consciousness the gentle noise of waves crashing, the sound of seagulls and the smell of saltwater wash over her senses. She's not exactly sure where she is; when she fell asleep last night, it was in her bed, hundreds and hundreds of miles from any ocean.  She opens her eyes and the bright sun and clear blue skies greet her, confusing her even further. Slowly, her eyes adjust to the scenery around her and she realizes that not only is she no longer in her bedroom, she is also aboard some type of ship and if the attire of the men around her is anything to go by, she’s on a pirate ship. She slowly sits up, rubbing the sunspots from her eyes taking in her surroundings. The ship is bustling with movement as sails slowly raise, catching the wind as they rise to full mask. The men moving from place to place and doing tasks are all donning swords and pistols on their hips, and their wearing long water weathered clothes and scruffy faces from the journey o...

Henry Morgan's most notable accomplishment was the capture of Panama, which at the time was the capital of Spanish settlement in the new world. So in August of 1670, Morgan set sail with thirty-six ships and over two thousand men in hopes of capturing the city.  Henry Morgan  Henry Morgan was a Welsh privateer who is one of the most notorious pirates of his period. There are many different truths and myths about Morgan, born in 1635. This is due to not much of his adventures being recorded first-hand by anyone. Morgan was contracted by the English crown to be a Privateer. A Privateer is a sailor who sails the seas with permission from the government (in this case, the King) to steal from ships from another country (in this case, the Spanish). Much of what is known about Henry Morgan was recorded first hand by the surgeon and barber one of his ships named Alexandre Exquemelin. Exquemelin recorded his time spent on the high seas with Captain Morgan, and it has become...

The seafaring Pirates of the Caribbean relied on various different ports within the Spanish Main to plunder for treasure. However, because of this, these ports became heavily guarded fortress’ so that the pirates can’t plunder them. This was because many of these ports became gold deposits where trains left gold that had been mined for transport back to Europe. The most notable of these ports include the likes of Darien, Portobello (both located in the area of present day Panama) and Cartagena (located in present day Venezuela). For many of the Pirate, attacking these ports was an absolutely terrible idea, because of how well guarded they were. Of course, they still did attack these fortress’ as many would happily risk their lives to steal from the Spanish. It was not a secret in which how these ports were guarded. The shores were protected by large cannons, that were so big that a majority of ships weren’t prepared enough to match them. As well as if pirates were out of r...

Christopher Columbus   Chris Columbus is remembered by most as a hero. He is the person who "discovered" North and South America and bought Europe and the rest of the world to this newly discovered land for colonization. But is Columbus actually a hero or was he actually the villain of this story? On October 12th, 1492 Christopher Columbus changed the world by discovering the island of the Lucayan tribe, which changed the course of both the world and the people of this tribe. When Columbus discovered their home, the people of the Lucayan tribe were welcoming thinking that this man who came from the sea was actually sent from heaven, offering him shelter, food, and water. Columbus, on the other hand, took this opportunity and ran with it. He took woman and children as slaves, loading them back onto his ships for the trip back to Spain and killed anyone who protested to this. 30 years later, Columbus discovered the island of Hispaniola. Hispaniola was home to the Luc...