Sir Francis Drake
Pirate
Pirates only attacked ships carrying gold and silver.
Fiction: Pirates would plunder anything of value. Silk, spices, sugar, maps, and personal belongings.
Pirates had their own special language, with words like Arrg, and Shiver me timbers.
Fiction: Historian say that real pirates did not talk any different that other people of the time. The pirate talk we think of all started with the movie Treasure Island.
What would Blackbeard do to his beard before attacking?
He would tie ropes in his beard and light them on fire to make him look scarier.
Elizabeth Tudor
Not a Pirate: Queen of England.
Pirates usually did not burry their loot.
Fact: Very few pirates buried their loot. Pirates divided up what was plundered between each other and was sold or traded.
Pirates sank all the ships they attacked.
Fiction: Pirates sunk very few ships, they usually would either let them go or take them as part of their own fleet.
Why did pirates wear an eye patch?
To help their eyes adjust from the bright light of on deck to the dark inside.
Jack Rackman
Pirate: Calico Jack
Mary Read disguised herself as a man to become a pirate.
Fact
Many pirates had a wooden leg or a hook.
Fiction: If you lost a leg or hand as a pirate, you would not be of much use on a ship. Often, these men would be paid extra for the loss of their hand or leg and then sent home.
Zheng Yi Sao is considered to be the most successful pirate in history.
True: By the end of her career, it is thought that she controlled more than 2000 ships and more than 80,000 pirates working for her.
Bartholomew Roberts
Pirate: Black Bart
Pirates never left any survivors.
Fiction: Most pirate encounter were not violent. If a pirate ship was sailing with a black flag, it meant that they intended to do no harm as long as you cooperated. If a pirate ship was sailing under a red flag, it meant that no one was meant to survive.
Many pirates would get sick with a disease called "scurvy," which is caused by a lack of vitamin C due to being out to sea for long periods of time.
Fact: Pirates went to sea for long periods of time, and cooks tried to store as much food as possible to fight scurvy, but when those foods ran out, the disease would get worse.
The most famous pirate flag was known as the "Jolly Rodger" and looked like?
Black with a skull and bones.
Woods Rodger
Not a Pirate: Governor of the Bahamas and responsible for the hunting down and punishment of Pirates
The most common punishment for pirates was to have them walk the plank.
Fiction: Walking the plank was an idea born in the movies.
Today, we have no pirates.
Fiction: Pirates have always been around and will always be around as long as their are valuable goods. Pirates today look very different.
Why did pirates wear earrings?
The earrings were worth enough to pay for their own funeral.