Piracy, Hijacking, and Kidnapping Modern pirates typically commit robbery by boarding ships through force, stealing vessels, or holding cargo and crews for ransom.
A pirate is a robber who travels by water. Though most pirates targeted ships, some also launched attacks on coastal towns. We often think of pirates as swashbuckling and daring or evil and brutish, but in actual fact most of them were ordinary people who had been forced to turn to criminal activity to make ends meet.
The most common form of punishment for a captured pirate towards the end of the Golden Age was to be hanged, usually immediately after the trial. These executions took place in public and often in a location where passing mariners would see the act.
What happened to the Captives? If any prisoners were left alive, the captives would be put to work on the pirate ship. In particular, pirates would keep carpenters, map readers or surgeons captive because they could use these type of prisoners on their ship. Any extra crew would be sold as slaves.
What Did Pirates Steal? We know that pirates liked to steal gold and silver. In the past, pirates also stole food, candles, soap, spices, cocoa, cotton, wood and cannons. Edward Teach was the most famous pirate ever.
Sailors and pirates tended to be very superstitious - that is, they had a fear of the unknown and used it to explain misfortune (bad things that happened). Living and working on a ship in the middle of the seven seas was a very dangerous job.
In modern sea piracy, small, fast boats are often used to approach and board larger, slower-moving ships to steal cargo or take the ship and crew hostage. “In the past, pirates stole gold, silver, gemstones, and rum barrels. Nowadays, they are taking over merchant ships and looting onboard containers.
For many sailors on the open sea, merchant ships were a floating dictatorship. With the blessing of the vessel's owner, the captain treated crewmen as he saw fit, often harshly. Sailors were beaten, overworked, underpaid, and sometimes starved. Morale was low.
In exchange for the release of crew members, a ransom was demanded by the pirates. After multi-million-dollar ransom payments were received, kidnapping for ransom became more attractive and more foreigners were kidnapped. The more money pirates received, the more difficult it became to halt the hijackings.
Quick Reference. The place on the bank of the River Thames, near Wapping in London, where, traditionally, men convicted of piracy were executed. Originally the method of execution was to peg them down at low water below the high water mark on the river bank, so that the rising tide would drown them slowly.
1 – Blackbeard
Easily the most famous buccaneer on the list and possibly the most terrifying pirate of all time, Blackbeard had a reputation of horrific magnitude in his day. In fact, it wasn't just the size of his reputation that was scary, but the content too!
Like the Caribbean of old, the waters near Somalia used to be the most heavily pirated in the world.
Pirate crews would often slaughter everyone on a ship who resisted them, partially out of necessity, but also because they wanted to convey their merciless reputation to other ships. This would serve as a warning to other potential targets, letting them know that resistance would be futile.
Captain Kidd can be said to be the most unfortunate pirate ever to sail the high seas! For it was his bad luck to sail as a privateer/pirate just when the rules changed and the privateer/pirate became an outlaw.
Bathing or washing was pretty much a no-go on a pirate ship as water could not be wasted; those who fancied a shower would have to stand outside in the rain and risk pneumonia! Visiting the bathroom, however, was a much more feasible exercise, thankfully.
Piracy threatens maritime security and the legitimate uses of the seas for peaceful purposes and the freedom of navigation (freedom of the seas, Mare Liberum). All ships and countries are free to trade and navigate the oceans, a right which is threatened by piracy.
Rogers commissioned Hornigold to hunt down any and all recusant pirates, including some ex-comrades such as his former lieutenant, Teach (Blackbeard).
Most pirates were men. In fact, it was traditionally believed to be bad luck to have a woman on board a pirate vessel. We do know of a few women who were also pirates. Like the men, some turned to piracy for the money, some for the adventure, and some to escape terrible situations.
matey (or mate)
Play Board Games
While pirates didn't have our modern board game options, they had dice, coins, cards, chips, and a lot of imagination. As a result, pirates made up and modified a wide array of various board games to amuse themselves, playing with all kinds of complex rules and interesting ideas.
Sleeping Quarters
Some of them slept on hammocks. Others slept on the floor. It was easier for them to sleep on hammocks because they swayed and rocked with the ship's movements. They also didn't have to worry about falling off beds during storms or high tides.
Piracy is punished quite severely under U.S.C. 81. Most overt acts of piracy come with a mandatory minimum of life imprisonment, while most others carry a maximum of 10 years in prison—not to mention hefty fines in many cases.
In the U.S., the crime of maritime piracy falls under 18 U.S.C. § 1651, which states, “Whoever, on the high seas, commits the crime of piracy as defined by the law of nations, and is afterwards brought into or found in the United States, shall be imprisoned for life.”
The Gulf of Guinea, the Singapore Strait and South America are among the hotspots of maritime piracy. “The situation remains critical at the Callao anchorage in Peru. There were five reported incidents there in the first quarter of 2023, the same number as in previous years,” it said.