Pirate ship

“ The pirate ship was called the Friend of the Sea, but she was the enemy of all who sailed upon it. She was heavily armed and manned, her crew comprising a ruffianly assortment of every nation of south-western Europe, and, judging by the gold ornaments that every man wore, their cruise had been highly successful for these rogues.
They were busily engaged in transferring the cargo of the Little Gannet to their own vessel. Much of this consisted of valuable stores that the Algerine had on board when we took her, and the satisfaction of the lawless freebooters was unbounded. ”

“ He swore this terrible oath: "Hook or me this time." Now he crawled forward like a snake, and again erect, he darted across a space on which the moonlight played, one finger on his lip and his dagger at the ready. He was frightfully happy. Chapter 14 THE PIRATE SHIP One green light squinting over Kidd's Creek, which is near the mouth of the pirate river, marked where the brig, the JOLLY ROGER, lay, low in the water; a rakish-looking [speedy-looking] craft foul to the hull, every beam in her detestable, like ground strewn with mangled feathers. ”

“ When they came on deck they anxiously peered out into the darkness, and had the satisfaction of seeing the pirate-ship, with all sails set, bearing away in the far distance. Their delight was, however, somewhat checked when they found that the vessel had six feet of water in her; but at length work at the pumps told, and the vessel was kept afloat. Yet they were still in a helpless condition, for the pirates had sawn away the masts and cut the rigging. Fortunately, however, they fell in with a vessel next day: their troubles were over, and they were brought in safety to England. ”

“ We arrived on the 25th of July last, in company with the Greenwich, at Johanna, an island not far from Madagascar. Putting in there to refresh our men, we found fourteen pirates who came in their canoes from the Mayotta, where the pirate ship to which they belonged, viz. the Indian Queen, two hundred and fifty tons, twenty-eight guns, and ninety men, commanded by Captain Oliver de la Bouche, bound from the Guinea coast to the East Indies, had been bulged and lost. They said they left the captain and forty of their men building a new vessel, to proceed on their wicked designs. ”

“ While the pirates were ransacking below, their vessel ran alongside, and our decks were soon crowded with a cut-throat set of fellows, who speedily joined their comrades in the work of plunder, and in transporting everything they considered of value to their own ship. It is extraordinary with what rapidity bales and packages were handed out of one vessel into the other. The rascals must have been well accustomed to the work. Everything was done with the greatest regularity; their young leader directing all their movements. ”

“ The happenings of the next hour remain in my mind only as a confused jumble of shouts, clashing swords, and hand to hand combat. The pirate crew were a determined and bloodthirsty lot, not content to merely take over our monetary possessions. They outnumbered us and overpowered us, deliberately destroying and ravaging everything upon which they could lay their hands.
They seemed at last content with what damage they had wrought. The burly pirate captain ordered us to [62] abandon our ship, which he and his men then set afire. ”

“ We cannot but feel sorry for the long-suffering North Sea fishermen, who, in addition to having to ride out bad weather in clumsy leaky craft, and having to work very hard for their living, were liable at any time to see a pirate ship approaching them over the top of the waves. You remember the famous Dogger Bank incident a few years ago when one night the North Sea trawlers found themselves being shelled by the Russian Baltic fleet. ”

“ Eh, even without the weapons, they heap bad medicine. Let them go down to the bottom of the sea, with ship. It serve them right to drown.
Captain Shafto
No, Chief, the pirates can repair the damage they've done in your village. And we can return everything they've taken from you.
Captain Shafto
All right, you pirates! Jump overboard! Head for the nearest canoe, all of you! We're gonna take you back to the Solar Indian mainland.
Mary
Captain Shafto, you can't go aboard the ship. It's sinking! You'll lose your life if you try to stay with it. Oh, please, stay here where you're safe! ”

“ These pirates take with them their wives and children, and stay out the whole summer. Their method is to join in fleets of 20 or 30 of these pirate vessels together, and then they form what they call a sea cordon, that is, they drop off till there is an interval of 5 or 6 miles between ship and ship, so that they cover something like a hundred miles of sea, and no merchant ship can escape them. For when any one corsair sights a vessel a signal is made by fire or smoke, and then the whole of them make for this, and seize the merchants and plunder them. ”

“ But steadily on sailed the small boat, and the moment it came alongside the big ship, the Reformed Pirate threw out grapnels and made the two vessels fast together. Then he hooked a rope-ladder to the side of the ship, and rushing up it, sprang with a yell on the deck of the vessel, waving his flashing sword around his head!
"Down, dastards! varlets! hounds!" he shouted. "Down upon your knees! Throw down your arms! SURRENDER!"
Then every man went down upon his knees, and threw down his arms and surrendered. ”

“ In the dictionary a pirate is defined as "a sea-robber, marauder, one who infringes another's copyright"; while a buccaneer is described as "a sea-robber, a pirate, especially of the Spanish-American coasts." This seems explicit, but a pirate was not a pirate from the cradle to the gallows. He usually began his life at sea as an honest mariner in the merchant service. He perhaps mutinied with other of the ship's crew, killed or otherwise disposed of the captain, seized the ship, elected a new commander, and sailed off "on the account." ”

“ CHAPTER X THE MOORISH PIRATES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN Our Navy Teaches Them a Lesson in Honor
I SUPPOSE all the readers of this book know what a pirate is. For those who may not know, I would say that a pirate is a sea-robber. They are terrible fellows, these pirates, who live by murder and plunder. In old times there were many ship-loads of them upon the seas, who captured every merchant vessel they met with and often killed all on board. ”

“ THE PIRATE-WRECKER AND THE DEATH SHIP.
One lovely evening in the autumn, a strange ship was seen at a short distance from Cape Cornwall. The little wind there was blew from the land, but she did not avail herself of it. She was evidently permitted to drift with the tide, which was flowing southward, and curving in round Whitesand Bay towards the Land’s-End. The vessel, from her peculiar rig, created no small amount of alarm amongst the fishermen, since it told them that she was manned by pirates; and a large body of men and women watched her movements from behind the rocks at Caraglose. ”

“ To capture a great treasure ship, after the Spaniards had been at so much trouble to load it, was a grand thing, according to the pirate's point of view, and although it often required reckless bravery and almost superhuman energy to accomplish the feats necessary in this dangerous vocation, these were qualities which were possessed by nearly all the sea-robbers of our coast ”

“ They are not to be trusted with ball. And all my eighteen-pounders dumb! The coward won't come alongside and give them a chance."
At the next discharge the pirate chipped the mizzen mast, and knocked a sailor into dead pieces on the forecastle. Dodd put his helm down ere the smoke cleared, and got three carronades to bear, heavily laden with grape. Several pirates fell, dead or wounded, on the crowded deck, and some holes appeared in the foresail; this one interchange was quite in favor of the ship. ”

“ Then coming into the Bay, they fell upon a ship of two hundred tons, called the Greyhound; against whom Lowther firing his guns, hoisted the piratical Colours, which Captain Edward bravely returned; but at length finding the Pirate too strong for him he yielded, and the Pirate came on Board, and not only rifling the ship, but beat and cut the men in a cruel manner. In crusing about the Bay, they took several other vessels without any resistance, particularly a Sloop of 100 Tons, which they mounted with 8 carriages and 10 swivel guns. ”

“ It is an amusing fact that if in those days two strange ships met on the high seas, and one of them, hailing the other, inquired if she were a pirate or a trader, the inquiry was neither intended nor accepted as an insult, but a correct answer would follow. It is a little difficult in these modern days of regular steamship routes and powerful liners which have little to fear beyond fog and exceptionally heavy weather, to realise that every merchant ship sailed the seas with fear and trepidation. ”

“ And as a further aid oars would be got out in an endeavour to accelerate the ship’s speed. For whilst the pirate relied primarily on oars, the trader relied principally on sail power. Therefore in fine settled weather, with a smooth sea, the low-lying piratical craft was at its best. It could be manœuvred quickly, it could dart in and out of little bays, it could shelter close in to the shore under the lee of a friendly reef, and it was, because of its low freeboard, not easy to discern at any great distance, unless the sea was literally smooth. ”

“ Many an honest seaman was captured with the rest of his ship's crew by a pirate, and either voluntarily joined the freebooters by signing their articles, or, being a good navigator or "sea-artist," was compelled by the pirates to lend them his services. Others, again, were in privateer ships, which carried on a legitimate warfare against the shipping of hostile countries, under a commission or letter of marque. ”

“ When Teach and his prize arrived he and four of his crew went to his Excellency and made affidavit that they found the French ship at sea without a soul on board her; and then a court was called, and the ship condemned. The governor had sixty hogsheads of sugar for his dividend, and one Mr. Knight, who was his secretary and collector for the province, twenty, and the rest was shared among the other pirates. ”

“ We are bound to leave our lives in God’s hands, and He’ll order things as He sees best. All we have to do is to fight to the last, and to try and save the ship from the pirate’s hands.”
“I hope we may succeed, sir,” said the mate, his spirits animated by the old captain’s remarks. “I, for one, will do nothing desperate, and I’ll tell the gunner and boatswain what you say.”
The pirate continued creeping up on her expected prey, firing her guns as they could be brought to bear ”

“ This ship he assaulted, but found strongly defended by them that were on board. The pirate escaping the first encounter, resolved to attack her more vigorously than before, seeing he had sustained no great damage hitherto. This resolution he boldly performed, renewing his assaults so often that after a long and dangerous fight he became master of the great vessel, having lost only ten men, and had four wounded.
Having possessed themselves of such a ship, and the wind being contrary for returning into Jamaica, the pirates resolved to steer towards the Cape of St. ”

“ But whereas we thought them all five to be Turkish ships of war, we afterwards understood, that two of them were their prizes, the one a smal ship of London, the other of the West-countrey, that came out of the Quactath laden with figges, and other Merchandise, but now subiect to the fortune of the Sea, and the captivity of Pirats. But to our businesse. Three of these ships got much upon us, and so much that ere halfe the day was spent, the Admirall who was the best sailer, fetcht up the George Bonaventure, and made booty of it. ”

“ A breeze was eagerly looked-for by all on board the Research. Should it come from the eastward, she would probably get it as soon as the pirate and retain her present advantage, but if from the northward, the enemy might creep up to her before she could move. Preparations were made for every emergency. The crew stood ready to brace the yards, from which the sails hung down against the masts, as might be required; the guns were loaded, and run out; pikes, cutlasses, muskets, and pistols were placed ready, in convenient positions to be grasped, should the pirate succeed in getting alongside. ”

“ They exchanged a broadside with her, and the smaller ship engaged so close, that they threw hand grenades into each other; but Cornelius’ business was to run, and the great ship put in stays twice to follow him, but missing, was obliged to ware, which gave the pirate a great advantage. ”

“ Having procured a vessel, perhaps little more than a fishing-boat, sometimes only an open row-boat, the embryo pirates would paddle along some coast until they came across an unsuspecting craft, one not too big for the desperadoes to attack. Hiding their arms, they would row alongside, and then suddenly, with shouts and curses, board the vessel, kill any who resisted, and start a cruise in their new ship, their number being increased by volunteers or forced men from amongst the prize's crew. ”

“ Port Royal harbor, in sight of the palm-trees and the fort with the colors flying, the buccaneers packed their gear, and dropped over the side into a boat. They were pulled ashore by some grinning black man with a scarlet scarf about his head and the brand of a hot iron on his shoulders. At the jetty end, where the Indians lounged at their tobacco and the fishermen's canoas rocked, the sunburnt pirates put ashore. Among the noisy company which always gathers on a pier they met with their companions. ”