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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.
Spoils were evenly divided into
shares; when the officers had a greater number of
shares, it was because they took greater risks or had
special skills. Often the crews would sail without
wages—"on account"—and the spoils would be built up over
a course of months before being divided. There was a
strong esprit de corps among pirates. This allowed them
to win sea battles: they typically outmanned trade
vessels by a large ratio. There was also for some time a
social insurance system, guaranteeing money or gold for
battle wounds at a worked-out scale.
In combat they were considered ferocious and were
reputed to be experts with flintlock weapons, but these
were so unreliable that they were not in widespread
military use before the 1670s.
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