Blog Post for Week of October 28

This week, I enjoyed our talks about pirates. I found how people became pirates to be interesting, especially the fact that some volunteered after their ship was raided. This got me wondering what happened to the rest of the crew after a ship was attacked. After a little digging, I found a few interesting points. First, apparently the fate of the crew depended partly on the nature of the pirates that attacked them, but especially on whether or not there was an actual fight. If the crew of the merchant vessel gave in without a fight and let the pirates take what they wanted, the pirates would typically just leave and let the ship keep on sailing. If there was any sort of fight, however, things changed. Obviously some of the crew would most likely die in the fight, but the ones that survived didn't have the best options. Some opted to join the pirates, but those that didn't were either killed on the spot, killed later, or sold into slavery. This makes me wonder whether those that "volunteered" to join the pirates were actually volunteering. It seems they were picking the only option that allowed them to continue living a life somewhat similar to merchant sailor life. Despite the fact that some pirates on ships were forced into the life of piracy, apparently pirate crew morale was typically higher than on merchant ships. After a little more research, I found it usually came down to how much say the sailors had. On merchant ships, the captain was in charge of everything, no matter what, and the crew had little to no say. But as we mentioned in class, pirate crews formed a council and were able to voice opinions. Being able to say what they think and actively work on changes caused pirates to usually be happier than merchant sailors. This is kind of a long post but there are lots of super interesting things about pirate life that I've never known and found really fascinating.
Sources used for info:
https://www.ethicalsystems.org/what-pirates-have-to-teach-us-about-leadership/ https://www.pirateshipvallarta.com/blog/fun-facts/what-happened-to-pirates-prisoners

Comments

  1. Ben KaczmarOctober 29, 2021 at 9:46 AM

    I never knew that pirates ended up uniting with their enemies when the merchants lost! It does make sense that the losing party would follow along with enemy pirates to keep their own lives. I don't know a lot about pirates, but my impression had always been that they would fight to kill and destroy the enemy. The fact that pirates actually acquired merchants to help has changed my perspective. Glad to learn something new from your post, Joe!

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  2. Professor StarkNovember 2, 2021 at 7:59 AM

    Thank you, Joe, for the post. I like your discussion of pirates and how you focused on why some people became pirates. You're right about resistance to attack as a deciding factor in the fate of the losing ship's crew. Also, a good point about merchant ships being less egalitarian than pirate ships. This is what makes piracy so intriguing is the utopian vision that many pirates had at this time.

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