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Oh To Be A Pirate - Part 2

© Cindy Vallar

Most men who chose to go to sea did so at a young age. Life at sea required stamina and dexterity that older men no longer possessed. Seamen hauled on wet ropes during the day and at night. Aloft, they handled heavy sails in calm or stormy weather. They manned pumps for hours on end. Their damp and dark quarters smelled of bilgewater, tar, and unwashed bodies as well as the assorted livestock that provided them with fresh meat. They spent weeks, months, and sometimes years at sea far from home. They weathered storms, attempted to steer clear of unchartered shoals, and worried about having sufficient food and water until they made their next port.

Some who crewed naval vessels did so against their wishes. A common practice, especially in Britain, was to fill crews short-handed from chronic desertion or insufficient skilled seamen by pressing landsmen into service. While in port, these men were shackled to prevent their escape. Seamen, whether pressed or not, found life aboard ships of the Royal Navy deplorable. Wages were low. Corruption impacted the quantity and quality of food served them. Mistakes or infractions were countered with violent discipline. Poor ventilation and cramped quarters insured that epidemics swept through the crew, killing many.

If such was the life endured by seamen, why did they risk their lives further by turning pirate? Until 1856 when most countries signed the Declaration of Paris, governments supplemented their navies by issuing letters of marque. With these documents captains and their crews "legally" plundered enemy shipping. The profits realized by such ventures encouraged others to become privateers. The problem was that when the war ended, those same governments had no use for the privateers who often found themselves unemployed. Piracy offered them a choice between starvation, beggaring, or thievery and possible riches beyond their wildest dreams, which outweighed the threat of execution if caught and a short life-expectancy rate.

Another aspect to the financial rewards was that pirates owned a share of the spoils they captured. Privateers turned over their booty to the governments that licensed them. Although they received a share after the goods were sold, that money was either a long time in coming or a paltry amount when compared to the risk taken. Treasure - Latin American gold, Bolivian silver, and Asian silks, spices, and gold - lured many to turn pirate.

Some saw piracy as a means of escaping the grueling work and terrible conditions that seamen endured. In addition to the filth, cramped quarters, and insufficient or spoiled food and fresh water, dampness permeated their lives. Each new port exposed them to new diseases that often swept through the crew because they ate, slept, and worked in close quarters. Disease - including scurvy, dysentery, tuberculosis, typhus, and smallpox - killed half of all seamen.

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