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Corsair Pirate Ship:
With its square-rigged foremast and fore-and-aft sails
on its main mast, the brigantine was fast, easy to
maneuver and had twice the cargo space of a sloop. No
wonder it became the favorite vessel of pirates of the
Caribbean. A typical brigantine carried as many as 100
pirates and mounted enough cannon to intimidate any
possible target.
Privateers:
Piracy in the Caribbean came out of the interplay of
larger international trends and the use of privateers
was especially popular. The cost of maintaining a fleet
to defend the colonies was beyond national governments
of the 16th and 17th centuries. Private vessels would be
commissioned into a 'navy', paid with a substantial
share of whatever they could capture from enemy ships
and settlements, the rest going to the crown. These
ships would operate independently or as a fleet and if
successful the rewards could be great —this substantial
profit made privateering something of a regular line of
business; wealthy businessmen or nobles would be quite
willing to finance this legitimized piracy in return for
a share. The sale of captured goods was a boost to
colonial economies as well.
Buccaneers:
Specific to the Caribbean were pirates termed
buccaneers which arrived in the 1630s. The original
buccaneers were escapees from the colonies; forced to
survive with little support, they had to be skilled at
boat construction, sailing, and hunting. These skills
transferred well into being a pirate. They operated with
the partial support of the non-Spanish colonies and
until the 1700s their activities were legal, or
partially legal and there were irregular amnesties from
all nations.
Traditionally buccaneers had a number of
peculiarities. Their crews operated as a democracy: the
captain was elected by the crew and they could vote to
replace him. The captain had to be a leader and a
fighter—in combat he was expected to be fighting with
his men, not directing operations from a distance.
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