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Pirates
Everything that you never knew, but needed to know.
The terrorists
of the high seas.?
The Definition of Piracy
According to the Shorter Oxford dictionary
piracy is robbery, kidnapping, or violence at sea or from the sea without lawful
authority. Piracy can also be the illegal copying of software, music, and other forms of
media. However, I will only be discussing piracy at sea.
The
Difference Between Pirates and Privateers
A pirate is a person who randomly attacks
random ships for personal gain. However, a privateer is a person commissioned to attack
ships by a country. England hired privateers to attack gold laden Spanish ships in an
effort to cripple the Spanish treasury. Usually privateers are given safe harbor by the
country in exchange for about 1/5 to 1/2 of the money obtained from the attack.
The
Buccaneers
"Buccaneers were French settlers in the Caribbean who used to
barbecue or 'smoke' wild boar and oxen. Boucanier literally means ' one who hunts wild
pork'. It is a term used to describe pirates and privateers who had their roots in the
Caribbean.(Pirates of the Caribbean)".
Torture
The pirates had several ways to punish
captives. One torture was to tie the victim in ropes and drag his body along the barnacles
on the bottom of the boat. Another way was to maroon people. It may seem like a mild
punishment, but it was not. Sailors were left on islands populated by dangerous or
cannibalistic natives and were given little or no food, supplies, or water. Yet another
way consisted of cutting open the captives chest and nailing one end of the chest to the
floor of the ship. The prisoner was then forced to dance until all off his guts had fallen
out. A common form of torture was flogging. The whip usually used was a particularly
vicious type called the " Cat-O-Nine Tails. It was a whip frayed at the end into nine
seperate strings.Finally, the most simple punishment was to throw the prisoner off the
ship.
  
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