The hunt for treasure
The most precious prizes were chests of gold, silver and jewels. Coins were especially popular because pirate crews could share them out easily.
Emeralds and pearls were the most common gems from America, however, pirates did not only seize precious cargoes like these. They also wanted things they could use, such as food, barrels of wine and brandy, sails, anchors and other spare equipment for their ships. Things as simple as flour and medicine were treasured steals. Often pirates were just trying to find the necessities of life.
Pirates didn’t actually say ‘ARRRRRRRR’
Say the word pirate and naturally people go ‘ARRR’, it’s the universal pirate lingo … despite it being entirely a Hollywood invention.
In reality, pirates not only didn’t growl that, they didn’t even talk like “pirates.” Pirates came from all over the world, and — just like us today — that means all sorts of different dialects, accents, slang, and languages littered the Seven Seas.
L-R Erin Hutching, Beth Hinton-Lever, Bonnie Baddoo and Raffie Julien (Photography by Robert Day)
Eye eye Captain!
Many pirates did indeed wear eyepatches, but they didn’t do so for fashion’s sake, or to hide a terrible wound. They actually had far more mundane, practical motives, like navigating in the dark.
The human eye has difficulty adjusting to sudden darkness. In fact, if you suddenly go from the brightest of sunny days to the darkest of dark caves or ship cellars, your eyes may take up to 25 minutes to adjust. And when angry, bloodthirsty pirates are on your tail, you can’t afford even 25 seconds for your vision to warm up, let alone 25 minutes.
A smart pirate would wear a patch over one eye, so it was constantly adjusted to darkness. If Soggybottom Jack found himself in pitch black and needed good vision fast, all he’d need to do is switch the patch to the other eye. That way, one eye’s immediately ready to fight in the dark.
‘Who’s a pretty boy then?’
Although not every captain came equipped with a squawking bird on his shoulder, a good chunk of them did. The typical pirate treasure hunt was long, incredibly dull and boring. So lots of pirates embraced the idea of a pet to keep them company during the long stretches of just sailing. The issue was finding the right pet. It couldn’t be too large — a big animal around a crowded vessel simply wouldn’t do. It also needed to be good around the water, and it needed minimal food, because the pirates much preferred eating the food themselves. Plus, pirates were exotic and wanted cool, exotic pets too.
Parrots provided the perfect pets. They didn’t eat a lot, you could easily store what they did eat, you could talk to them, and when you got sick of them (or simply needed the money), they fetched a pretty penny on the black market.
Famous female pirates
Two of the most famous female pirates were Anne Bonny and Mary Read. Born in the late 17th Century, both were forced to dress up as males by their families during childhood. They became friends when sailing together on Calico Jack Rackam’s boat.
Read and Bonny only sailed with Calico Jack for a few months, but during that time they won a fearsome reputation. The pair played a leading role in a spree of raids against small fishing boats and trading sloops in the summer of 1720.
The Community Company of Treasure Island (Photography by Robert Day)