Posts

Blog Post #8

Image
I woke up to the sound of waves and yelling. I'm feeling rather ill because it feels like my body is swaying slowly. I snatched off the cover and head up the only set of visible stairs that seems like I've been transported back in time to the golden age of piracy. Once I opened up the wooden hatch in the floorboards. The bright sun and the smell of salty sea air hit my confused face. My clothes feel different all my garments have been replaced but indigo dyed silks and kinds of cotton and my shoes have disappeared. Someone throws me a thick and damp rope and I was told ''to tie down the sails''! Immediately after that, the large crew of this  Jamaican supplies ship started doing all of the proper preparations for setting sail on the unforgiving seven seas. I was more than relieved when I discovered that I was aboard a merchant's vessel commissioned by the Jamaican military and not a dangerous pirate ship filled with outlaws and criminals. Buy list

Blog post #5 & #6

Image
Sir Henry Morgan Born January 24,1635 in Llanrumney United kingdom was an individual who lived quite a full life with numerous stories and adventures to exist in history.  From small beginnings as a privateer for the Welsh then later on in his career the lieutenant Governor for one of the largest islands of Caribbean Jamaica Morgan was not a stranger to exciting experiences that will overall shape the status of his life.   Not too much is know about his birth parents but Herny often looked up to the brave men in his family who were active in the military. According to author   David, Cordingly ''Two of his uncles were distinguished soldiers'' (Chp 4)  Under the Black Flag. Both Major General Sir Thomas Morgan and Colonel Edward Morgan (who went on to become Lutenate governor of Jamacia) who lost their lives leading expeditions throughout the island country of Curacao.  These men were direct influencers on how Henry Morgan would shape his lifestyle.  While participatin

Blog post #4 ''Plundering the Treasure Ports''

Image
Its common knowledge that Pirates were fans of materialistic items. Whether its comfortable silk garments or large heavily armored warships previously owned by a corsair the if pirates wanted it they took by any means necessary with complete disregard to the laws or authority.  Money in Spain ran on the reals system. With that, the Spanish gold escudo coin was first introduced in 1537 and its worth was sixteen reals and as the years progressed on its worth only doubled making it a heavily desired currency for all people. Pirates were interested in the smaller more low-risk ''pieces of eight'' which was 1/4 of a Spanish escudo coin. It was not illegal to alter money/currencies during this time.   Because silvers and gold were valued by their weight instead of worth certain individuals would literally cut real into pieces making them worth much less. luckily this made the currency more acceptable to poor people or outlaws. This gave pirates an edge when it came to complet

Blog Post #3 - ''Heros or Villains''

Image
Sic Parvis Magna (greatness from small beginnings) Throughout the many generations ancient piracy and exploration there are were noblemen and others with malicious intentions.   When one describes such big names as  Columbas or Walter Raleigh we are mostly told about their brave explorations and daring adventures capturing unclaimed lands and acquiring various treasures. These men are peised for the heroism, but can these saints really be villains?  I would like to focus specifically on one of the most infamous English pirates Sir Francis Drake. From 1540-1596 Drake was the most popular Pirate in Tavistock UK. Drake is most well known for circumnavigating the globe and his assisted victory aginst the 1588 Spanish Armada. For some time, he was even praised for being the primary source of gold in his town and the surrounding areas. While gold is still a valuable and nice luxury majority of these items were often forcefully commandeered by Francis and his crew. Sir Francis Drake was

Blog post #2- Myth Busters

Image
Could you imagine a hook-handed man with a wooden approaching you with a parrot on his shoulder? Probably yes, because that's the image created to us by movies and TV. A lot of pirate movie fans belive that pirate and pirate culture is no longer practiced, but the reality is that these rulers of the sea sill exist in Somalian and West African waters. Works like Treasure Island and The Pirates of the Caribbean are great forms of entertainment but heavily exaggerate pirate culture simultaneously while focusing on basic pirate behavior and traditions such as fighting with swords and sailing the dangerous seas. Most pirates were distinguished by their looks. They were dressed in flashy garments stolen from rich European ships and were lovers of fine jewelry. Pirates were dapper while at the same time rather intimidating from the many scars and cutes from raising sails and dropping anchors. Others were easily distinguished by the very many menacing flags pirate crews flew. Some cr

Pirate Myths blog post #1

Image
Pirate ships were rowdy, boisterous vessels full of drunken rouges. Some of the most interesting and unusual Mythbusters that were mentioned in the reading talked about pirate treasures. But not all plunder consisted of gold and silver but instead cotton, tools, spare sails, and often tobacco. Pirate crews really did wear scarves across their heads and mostly were heavily armed with many guns and sharp cutlasses. I used to belive that pirate crews buried their treasure deep underground from location to location in order to hide their stolen goods from other crews but to my knowledge, instead, crews obtain loot, trade and barter the goods for better supplies to improve their ship. I found it interesting that common pirate punishments are much more crewel than the stereotypical ''walking the plank'' but instead were much more gruesome and included nails rough beatings dismemberment and in some cases cannibalism.