What It Was Like to Be a Pirate During the Golden Age  Immersive History for Sleep - video Dailymotion

AAQQ

Drift back to the early 1700s and step aboard a pirate ship during the Golden Age of Piracy. In this immersive sleep story, you’ll experience the creak of wooden decks, the crash of distant waves, and the freedom of life at sea. Discover what it was truly like to live by the pirate code — from long nights under starlit skies to the thrill of open waters and hidden coves.  Let the sounds of the ocean and the calm narration carry you into peaceful rest, as you sail through history’s most legendary era of adventure and rebellion.  Perfect for relaxation, sleep, and lovers of maritime tales. 🌊🏴‍☠️  #PirateSleepStory #HistoryForSleep #GoldenAgeOfPiracy #SleepStory #RelaxingHistory #BedtimeStoryForAdults #CalmNarration #OceanSounds #PirateLife #MeditativeHistory #HistoricalSleepStory #ASMRStorytime #RelaxAndSleep #MaritimeDreams #PeacefulSleep

Transcript

00:00:00Hello and welcome to History at Night. The word pirate usually brings to mind a very specific

00:00:05image, doesn't it? A daring hero with a parrot on his shoulder, a treasure map in his pocket

00:00:10and a sword in his hand. We imagine a life of thrilling adventure, complete freedom and

00:00:17chess full of gold coins buried on a deserted island. But the real life of a pirate during

00:00:22their famous golden age, in the early 1700s, was usually not romantic at all. It was a

00:00:28life chosen out of desperation to escape the terrible, almost slave-like conditions on

00:00:33merchant ships or in the King's Navy. It was a world of extreme boredom, sickness and

00:00:38hard work, only interrupted by moments of intense danger. So tonight, we will leave the legends

00:00:44behind and see what it was really like. We will step aboard one of these crowded wooden

00:00:49ships and explore the surprising democratic rules that they lived by. We'll learn about

00:00:54the simple food they ate, the fears they faced and why so many ordinary men chose a short,

00:01:00risky life under the black flag, instead of a long unhappy one serving a king.

00:01:05But before we dive in, please take a moment to like the video and subscribe. It's a simple

00:01:10and wonderful way to support the channel and it means a great deal to me. I'm also always

00:01:15curious to know where in the world and at what time you're joining me tonight, so I'd really

00:01:20love to hear from you in the comments. And now settle in, let the noise of the modern

00:01:24world fade away and let us travel back to a time of tarred rope, black powder and open

00:01:30sea.

00:01:31Our story doesn't begin with a pirate, it begins with an ordinary person. Let's imagine

00:01:37that you are this person. You are not a hero, not a villain. You are simply a sailor, somewhere

00:01:42in your early twenties, and your entire world is this small, damp, wooden ship, creaking

00:01:48its way across the vast and empty Atlantic Ocean. It is two hours before dawn and you

00:01:54are already exhausted. You were woken an hour ago, not by a gentle shake, but by the sharp

00:02:00bark of the boatswain. The senior sailor in charge of the deck crew, your hands are raw,

00:02:05blistered and heeled and blistered again, from hauling on the course, salt-stiffened ropes

00:02:10that control the massive sails above. The air is cold and heavy with salt spray that

00:02:15never seems to dry, chilling you to the bone. Every muscle in your back and shoulders aches

00:02:19from the relentless work of the previous day, and the day before that, and every day for

00:02:24the past six months since you left port in Bristol. This is your life on a merchant vessel

00:02:29in the year 1716. It is not a life of adventure, it is a life of unending, back-breaking labour.

00:02:36You and the few dozen other men on board are a tiny human island in an endless ocean and

00:02:42your work never stops. You are constantly adjusting the rigging, climbing high into the

00:02:47masts on swaying ropes to furl or unfurl sails, with nothing but a hundred feet of empty air

00:02:53and churning sea below you. You work the pumps to expel the foul, stagnant bilge water that

00:02:59constantly seeps into the hull. You scrub the decks, you mend the sails, you tar the

00:03:03ropes. You do this day in and day out, in blistering sun and freezing rain. For this

00:03:09ceaseless labour, you are paid a pittance, and even that payment is not guaranteed. As

00:03:14a sailor on a merchant ship, you are not paid your wages until the voyage is completely over.

00:03:19If the ship sinks, you get nothing. If you die of disease or accident halfway through the

00:03:23journey, your family back home gets nothing. And if you make it all the way back to port,

00:03:28the captain, a man with absolute authority, can easily cheat you. A captain can invent

00:03:34fines for supposed infractions, a misplaced tool, a moment of perceived laziness, and

00:03:39deduct them from your hard-earned wages. You have seen it happen on every voyage. Men who

00:03:44worked for a year straight, only to end up with a few shillings in their pocket. Just enough

00:03:49to get drunk for a night before signing on to another ship, to do it all over again. The

00:03:54food is worse than the pay. Your daily ration is a biscuit, called hardtack, which is little

00:04:00more than flour, water and salt, baked into a cracker as hard as a piece of wood. It has

00:04:05to be soaked in water or beer just to be chewed, and it is almost always infested with weevils,

00:04:11small black beetles that lived in the barrels of flour. The meat is salted beef or pork stored

00:04:16for months in barrels, so saturated with salt that it has to be scraped and soaked for hours

00:04:21before it can be choked down. The water is the worst of all, stored in wooden casks where it

00:04:27quickly becomes stagnant, green and slimy. This diet of salt and starch, with no fresh fruit or

00:04:33vegetables, leads inevitably to scurvy. You have seen men suffer from it. You have seen their gums bleed,

00:04:40their teeth fall out, their old wounds reopen, their minds grow confused, all from the lack of

00:04:46simple nourishment. And looming over all this hardship is the constant threat of discipline.

00:04:51The captain of a merchant ship is a king in his floating kingdom. His word is law, and his primary

00:04:57tool of enforcement is the whip. The cat-o'-nine-tails, a whip with multiple knotted lashes, can turn a man's

00:05:04back into a ruin of bleeding flesh for the smallest offence. Arguing with an officer, being too slow

00:05:09to climb the rigging, or even just being disliked by the captain, is enough to warrant a flogging.

00:05:14There is no trial, no appeal, just the sharp whistle of the lash and the brutal searing pain.

00:05:21You know you are lucky, in a way. You chose this life. Many sailors in the King's Royal Navy did not.

00:05:27They were pressed into service, kidnapped from the streets of a port town or taken from another ship

00:05:33at sea and forced to serve. In the Navy the discipline is even harsher, the work just as

00:05:39hard. And you have the constant added terror of being killed in a naval battle, your world

00:05:44exploding in a shower of cannonballs and wooden splinters. So this is your world. A world of

00:05:50constant work, terrible food, stolen wages, and arbitrary, brutal punishment. Your future

00:05:58holds nothing more than an endless cycle of these miserable voyages until the sea or sickness

00:06:05finally claims you. Piracy to you is not a romantic notion. It is a whisper. A rumour. A story told by

00:06:13other sailors in hushed tones. It's a dangerous path, yes, but it is a different one. One grey morning,

00:06:19as you are squinting at the horizon. You see it. A strange sail. A fast-moving ship, closing on your

00:06:27vessel with an unnerving speed. It flies no colours you recognise. As it draws closer, the men around you

00:06:33begin to murmur. Their faces pale with fear. They know what this might be. But for you, buried beneath

00:06:39the fear, a different feeling begins to stir. A small, dangerous spark of something else entirely.

00:06:46The ship grows larger, slicing through the waves, with a purpose your own vessel lacks.

00:06:51It's a sloop. A smaller, faster, and more nimble ship than your bulky merchantman. You notice it's

00:06:58crowded with men, far more than would be needed for a simple trading voyage. The captain of your ship,

00:07:03his shouting orders, his voice tight with fear. The men around you move with a panicked energy.

00:07:09Then the moment of truth arrives. A puff of white smoke blossoms from the side of the approaching

00:07:14sloop. A second later you hear the deep boom of a cannon, and a cannonball skips across the water

00:07:19just in front of your ship's bow. This is a warning shot. A clear and universal signal on the high seas that

00:07:26means stop your vessel, or the next shot will not be a warning. Your captain is no fool. He knows his

00:07:32ship is slower, his crew is smaller, and his few small cannons are no match for the firepower of a

00:07:37dedicated pirate vessel. To fight would be suicide. His cargo is insured by wealthy men in London.

00:07:44His life is not. He gives the order to strike the colours, to lower your ship's flag in a sign of

00:07:50surrender. The tension on deck turns from panic to a kind of grim, fearful resignation.

00:07:57The pirate sloop skillfully manoeuvres alongside, and with a crash of grappling hooks and rope,

00:08:02the two ships are bound together. And then, they are aboard. They spill over the railing,

00:08:08not as a disorganised mob, but as a confident, organised team. You see now that they are sailors,

00:08:13just like you. Their faces are weathered by the same sun and sea. Their hands bear the same calluses

00:08:18from the ropes. But there is a difference. They move with an air of freedom and confidence you

00:08:24have never seen on a merchant ship. They are well armed, each man carrying a pistol,

00:08:29tucked into his belt and a sword at his side. They quickly disarm your ship's officers and gather

00:08:34your crew on the main deck. You stand there, heart pounding, expecting the worst. But there is no

00:08:41immediate violence. Instead, a man steps forward who is clearly in charge, though he isn't the

00:08:46captain. This is the quartermaster. On a pirate ship, he was the second in command,

00:08:51the man who represented the crew's interests, handled discipline, and was responsible for

00:08:56dividing any plunder. He was often more powerful than the captain in day-to-day life. His voice is

00:09:02calm and direct. He tells your crew that they have no interest in harming any ordinary sailor. They are

00:09:08here for the cargo, and for anyone who wishes to join their company. He lays out the offer,

00:09:13you can stay with your captain, continue your voyage, and face the same life of misery and

00:09:18poverty you have always known. Or you can leave it all behind. You can join them. You can become

00:09:24one of them, a free man, entitled to an equal share of every prize they take. You look at the faces of

00:09:30your crewmates. For most, fear wins out. They have families, homes, and a deep abiding fear of the

00:09:36hangman's noose. But you see a few others, men like you, with little to lose, and no future to look

00:09:42forward to. And you can see the same spark in their eyes that you feel in your own chest.

00:09:47The choice, you realise, is truly yours. The pirates don't want to force you. They have escaped

00:09:53tyranny themselves. They have no interest in commanding a crew of unwilling captives. They want

00:09:58volunteers, brothers who will willingly fight alongside them. So you weigh your life in that

00:10:04moment. On one side, a guaranteed future of back-breaking work, spoiled food, and the sting

00:10:10of the whip. All for wages you might never see. On the other, the promise of plunder, of freedom,

00:10:17of respect. It is the choice between a long, slow misery, and a life that will likely be short,

00:10:23but at least will be your own. You and two other sailors step forward. The quartermaster grins.

00:10:29He gestures for you to cross over to the pirate ship. As you climb over the railing, leaving your

00:10:34old vessel and your old life behind, one of the pirates hands you a tin mug filled with a cloudy

00:10:40alcoholic liquid. It is grog, a simple drink of watered-down rum, sometimes mixed with lime or sugar.

00:10:47It is the lifeblood of sailors everywhere, but this mug tastes different. It tastes of freedom.

00:10:53Your old ship, now poorer by a few crewmen and a hold full of cargo, detaches and slowly sails away.

00:11:00You stand on the deck of a pirate vessel, surrounded by the so-called enemies of all mankind. You are

00:11:07now one of them. The initial relief begins to fade, replaced by a new pressing reality. You have joined

00:11:13their society, but you do not yet know its laws. You stand on the deck of your new ship, the taste of

00:11:20grog still on your lips. The initial wave of adrenaline and relief has passed, replaced by a

00:11:25quiet uncertainty. You have escaped the tyranny of your old captain, but what have you joined?

00:11:32How can a ship full of men who have rejected all authority possibly function without tearing itself

00:11:37apart? The answer comes a short while later. The quartermaster, the man who invited you aboard,

00:11:43gathers you and the other new recruits. He unrolls a sheet of parchment, its edges worn

00:11:48from use. This, he explains, is the foundation of their society. These are the ship's articles

00:11:54of agreement, more famously known as the pirate code. You learn immediately that this is not

00:12:00a set of rules imposed from above. On this ship there is no absolute king. Before any voyage,

00:12:05the entire crew gathers together. They debate, they argue and they vote on every single rule

00:12:11written on this page. Every man from the captain down to you, the newest recruit, has an equal say.

00:12:19The captain is elected and can be removed from command by a majority vote if the crew is not

00:12:23satisfied with his leadership. You have just joined not merely a ship's crew, but a floating democratic

00:12:29republic. It's a concept so radical, so contrary to the world you know, that it takes a moment to

00:12:35fully grasp. The quartermaster begins to read some of the key articles aloud, ensuring you understand

00:12:41the contract you are about to sign. First and most important, every man has an equal vote in the

00:12:47affairs of the moment. This means any major decision, whether to attack a ship, where to sail next,

00:12:53or what punishments to hand out, is decided by the crew as a whole. Second, no prey, no pay.

00:13:00You will receive no wages. Your payment is a fair share of whatever is plundered.

00:13:05The articles specify exactly how the loot will be divided. The captain might receive two full

00:13:11shares, the quartermaster perhaps one and a half. Skilled men like the ship's surgeon or carpenter

00:13:16might also get a slightly larger portion. But you, as a regular sailor, are entitled to one full share.

00:13:24No deductions, no tricks. You will get exactly what you are owed, every single time.

00:13:30Third, there are rules of conduct. Any quarrel between two men must be settled on shore,

00:13:36with pistols or swords, to prevent disruptive fighting on the crowded ship. There are to be

00:13:41no women allowed on board, another rule designed to prevent jealousy and conflict among the crew.

00:13:46And every man is expected to keep his pistols and sword clean and ready for action at all times.

00:13:52Fourth, lights out at eight o'clock.

00:13:54You learn this isn't a strict bedtime. It's a critical fire safety rule.

00:13:59After 8pm, there are to be no open flames from candles or lamps for gambling or drinking.

00:14:06On a wooden ship filled with barrels of gunpowder and tarred ropes, a single careless flame could

00:14:11doom everyone. And then comes the most surprising article of all, a system of compensation for

00:14:17injuries sustained in battle. This is their version of insurance. A man who loses his right

00:14:23arm in a fight might be awarded 600 pieces of eight, the common Spanish silver dollar that

00:14:28was the main currency of the seas. The loss of a leg might be worth 500 pieces of eight,

00:14:34an eye, 100.

00:14:36This money was paid out from the ship's treasury before the rest of the plunder was divided.

00:14:41It was a promise that your brothers would take care of you, a level of care and respect

00:14:45unimaginable on the merchant ship you just left.

00:14:48After reading the articles, the quartermaster lays the parchment on the lid of a barrel.

00:14:54He looks at you and the other new men.

00:14:56This is the final step. To join the brotherhood, you must sign.

00:15:00You take the offered quill, dip it in ink and make your mark on the document.

00:15:05By doing this, you are entering into a sacred contract.

00:15:08You are agreeing to live by these rules, to fight for your brothers and to accept the severe

00:15:12punishments for breaking your oath.

00:15:14You have now formally sworn your allegiance. You are a full member of the crew, with a right to a

00:15:20vote and a right to a share of any prize. You are part of a society of outlaws, governed by its own

00:15:26surprisingly fair and orderly laws. But a society is more than just its rules, it is also the physical

00:15:33space it occupies. With the formalities over, you take your first proper look around, seeing the ship

00:15:39not as a captive anymore, but as a resident. This is your home now, the very same sloop that ran down

00:15:45your old vessel with such ease. You realise now why it was chosen. It's not a massive warship,

00:15:52but it's lean and fast, a captured merchant vessel that has been transformed from a simple workhorse

00:15:57into a predator of the sea lanes.

00:16:00Your new crew has already made modifications. You see more cannons on deck than a merchant ship

00:16:06would ever carry. They're black iron muzzles staring out from newly cut gunports. The decks

00:16:11have been cleared of any unnecessary clutter to make more room for fighting. This vessel has been

00:16:17hardened. You walk the main deck, taking in the controlled chaos. There are thick coils of rope

00:16:23neatly tied down. There are pyramids of iron cannonballs secured with netting. You see spare spars,

00:16:28the long wooden poles used to hold the sails, lashed to the sides of the ship, ready to replace any that

00:16:34might be broken in a storm or a battle. You close your eyes for a moment to simply listen. You hear

00:16:40the constant deep groan of the ship's timbers, like an old man's sigh. You hear the rhythmic lapping of

00:16:46the waves against the hull, a sound that will be with you day and night. Above you hear the sharp snap

00:16:51of the canvas sails as they catch the wind, and the high lonely cry of a seabird. It is a symphony of

00:16:57wood, wind and water. The smells are just as strong. The clean, sharp scent of the salt spray

00:17:03mixed with the pungent, almost medicinal smell of the tar used to waterproof the ship's wood and

00:17:08ropes. But the real heart of the ship, you soon discover, is below deck. As you climb down the

00:17:14ladder into the gloom, a thick, warm and heavy air envelops you. This is the tween deck, the main

00:17:20living quarters. There are no private cabins here, no walls, no doors. This single, low-ceilinged space

00:17:27is where you and 80 other men will sleep. You see rows upon rows of hammocks, lengths of canvas slung

00:17:34from the overhead beams. They are hung so close together that you can easily reach out and touch

00:17:39the man next to you. You learn that hammocks were a brilliant innovation, pirates and sailors adopted

00:17:44from the native peoples of the Americas. Unlike a fixed bunk or a simple mattress on the floor,

00:17:50a hammock sways with the constant rolling motion of the ship, cradling you and preventing you from

00:17:54being thrown to the wet floor during rough seas. The air down here is a complex mixture of smells.

00:18:00It smells of unwashed bodies, of stale rum, of damp wool and something else. A foul, sour smell coming

00:18:08from below. This, you are told, is the bilge. The bilge is the very bottom of the ship's hull, a dark,

00:18:15inaccessible space where all the foul water collects. Seawater that leaks through the planks, spilled food

00:18:22and drink and all other forms of waste gather down there, sloshing back and forth into a putrid soup.

00:18:28Its stomach-turning smell is a constant presence, a scent that permeates the very wood of the ship.

00:18:34It is the defining smell of your new home. You realise that on this vessel, there is no such

00:18:39thing as privacy. You will eat, work and sleep within arm's reach of 80 to 100 other men.

00:18:47You now understand why the ship's articles had such strict rules against fighting on board.

00:18:51In such a crowded and intimate space, small disagreements could easily boil over into dangerous

00:18:57violence if not properly managed. You find an empty space between two cannons and are shown how to

00:19:03sling your own hammock. As you lie back in the gently swaying canvas, you listen to the symphony

00:19:09of the ship's sounds. The creaking wood, the snoring men, the distant waves. You are surrounded by this

00:19:15new family. You know the rules, you know the layout of your new home. But what do you actually do all day?

00:19:22You wake to the gentle rocking of your hammock. It's dark but you can hear the sounds of men stirring

00:19:27around you. Your first full day as a pirate is about to begin. The question that formed in your

00:19:33mind as you fell asleep, what do you actually do all day, is about to be answered. You quickly learn

00:19:38that a pirate's life is not one of lazy leisure, waiting for a prize to appear. A pirate ship is a

00:19:45complex machine and it demands constant attention. Your day and your entire existence at sea is governed

00:19:52by the watch system. The crew is divided into two halves or watches. Your half is on duty for a four

00:19:59hour shift, then off duty for the next four hours, in a relentless cycle that repeats all day and all

00:20:04night. There is no weekend, no day off. There is only the watch. During your time on watch, the work is

00:20:10familiar, yet different. The most important task is, of course, sailing the ship. You and your watchmates

00:20:16are constantly trimming the sails, pulling on ropes to adjust their angle, to catch the wind in the most

00:20:22efficient way possible. It's a delicate art, a constant conversation between the crew, the sails and

00:20:28the wind. But most of the work is maintenance. Endless, repetitive, but vital maintenance. You spend

00:20:35hours sitting on the deck with a mallet and a chisel, performing a task called corking. This means

00:20:41hammering sticky, tarred rope fibres called oakum into the seams between the wooden planks of the deck

00:20:47and hull. It's a slow, tedious job, but it's what keeps the ship from taking on water and sinking.

00:20:54Other days you are sent aloft with a bucket of tar to coat the rigging, protecting the thick ropes from

00:20:59being destroyed by the relentless sun and salt spray. You scrub the decks, not just to keep them clean,

00:21:05but to scour away the slippery green algae that grows in the damp sea air. You check the cannons,

00:21:11making sure they are secure, that the mechanisms are clean, and that the gunpowder stores nearby are kept

00:21:16perfectly dry. Sometimes you are assigned lookout duty. You climb the rigging, high up to the crow's nest,

00:21:24a small wooden platform at the top of the main mast. From here you are the eyes of the ship. The view is

00:21:29immense, a 360 degree panorama of nothing but the endless shifting blue of the ocean. Your job is to stare

00:21:37into that emptiness for hours, searching for the one thing that matters, another sail. It is a lonely,

00:21:43hypnotising task. When your four-hour watch is finally over, you are relieved by the other half

00:21:49of the crew. But your time off watch is not truly for leisure. This is when you eat your rations.

00:21:56This is when you must find time to sleep, to gather your strength for the next shift. And this is when you

00:22:01perform your own personal maintenance, sharpening your knife, mending a tear in your shirt, or washing

00:22:08your clothes in a bucket of seawater. After four hours of hard physical labour, the desire for sleep

00:22:15is often overwhelming. The tasks themselves are nearly identical to the work you did on the merchant

00:22:20ship. And yet everything is different. There is no boatswain screaming insults at you. There is no

00:22:26officer threatening you with the whip for a minor mistake. The men work together with a quiet efficiency.

00:22:31They know the ship is their own. A well-maintained vessel is a faster vessel, more likely to catch a

00:22:37prize. A clean cannon is a weapon that will fire true when it's needed. You are not working out of

00:22:42fear, you are working for a shared purpose. You are a shareholder in this enterprise, and the work you do

00:22:48directly contributes to your own potential fortune. The mood is lighter, the conversations are freer.

00:22:55You are treated as an equal, a brother. The days begin to bleed into one another, marked only by the

00:23:01changing of the watch and the position of the sun. The rhythm of work-eat-sleep-work becomes your

00:23:06entire world. You realise that the great enemy on these long voyages between prizes is not the Royal

00:23:12Navy, nor is it the storm. It is the vast, soul-crushing boredom of the open sea. As you fall into this

00:23:19routine, you begin to observe the men around you more closely. You see how this society truly functions.

00:23:25You see that the captain is respected, and his orders are followed in battle.

00:23:29But in the day-to-day life of the ship, it is the quartermaster that the men listen to.

00:23:35It is the quartermaster who settles disputes, who distributes the rations, who seems to hold the

00:23:40true balance of power. As the weeks pass, you begin to truly understand the answer to the question

00:23:45that has been forming in your mind. How does a ship full of outlaws govern itself? You see now that

00:23:52it is not one man who leads, but two, in a delicate and ingenious balance of power, specifically designed

00:23:58to prevent the kind of tyranny, you escaped. First there is the captain. You notice that he is treated

00:24:04with a certain respect. He is the expert sailor, the master navigator, the man who can read the waves

00:24:11and the stars. His primary job is to guide the ship and to command it in battle. He is, in essence,

00:24:18the ship's war chief. When a potential prize is spotted on the horizon, a change comes over the

00:24:23ship. The democratic, almost casual atmosphere instantly sharpens. In that moment, the captain's

00:24:29authority becomes absolute. His orders are obeyed instantly, and without question, by every man on

00:24:35board. He decides the angle of attack, when to fire the cannons and when to board. During a chase or a

00:24:41battle, he is the undisputed king of the vessel. This is a practical matter. In the chaos of combat,

00:24:47there is no time for a debate or a vote. The crew puts their trust in his skill to win the prize and

00:24:53keep them all alive. But here is the crucial difference. As soon as the battle is over, his

00:24:58absolute power vanishes. He steps back and once again becomes a man among equals. He is still the

00:25:05captain, but he cannot order a man flogged for a minor insult. He cannot change the destination of

00:25:10the ship on a whim. He cannot even claim the largest portion of the captain's cabin for himself

00:25:15without the crew's agreement. He was elected to his position, and if he proves to be a coward in battle

00:25:21or consistently fails to find prizes, the crew can hold a vote at any time and depose him, electing a

00:25:27new captain in his place. The true power in the day-to-day life of the ship, you learn, belongs to

00:25:33the quartermaster. He is the peace chief. While the captain is the crew's leader, the quartermaster is

00:25:38the crew's advocate. He is the voice of the men, elected to protect their interests and ensure

00:25:44fairness. His responsibilities are vast. He is in charge of the ship's stores, distributing the daily

00:25:49rations of food and water, to ensure every man gets his equal share. He is the ship's judge and jury.

00:25:57If you have a dispute with another sailor, you do not take it to the captain. You take it to the

00:26:02quartermaster. He listens to both sides and makes a ruling, and his decision is respected. He also

00:26:08administers all punishments that the crew has voted on according to the articles. So if a man is to be

00:26:13flogged, it is the quartermaster, not the captain, who gives the order. Removing that power of personal

00:26:19vengeance from the captain's hands. When a prize is taken, the quartermaster leads the boarding party.

00:26:25He is the one who decides what plunder is to be taken from the captured vessel, and he is the

00:26:29keeper of all that plunder until it can be brought to a safe port and divided. He ensures that every

00:26:36coin, every bolt of cloth, every barrel of wine is accounted for, and shared out exactly as the

00:26:42articles prescribe. You now see the genius of this system. It is a separation of powers, born from the

00:26:49bitter experience of men who had been oppressed. They gave one man, the captain, the power to lead them

00:26:54in war. But they gave another man, the quartermaster, the power to protect them from that same leader in

00:27:00times of peace. It was a system of checks and balances that ensured no single man could ever hold

00:27:05absolute power over the crew again. It was a government for the people, by the people,

00:27:10on a floating wooden republic of outlaws. You see this system in action every day, as the

00:27:15quartermaster moves through the ship, settling a card game dispute here, distributing the daily

00:27:21ration of grog there. The system works because it is built on fairness, everyone gets their share.

00:27:27But as you receive your daily portion of salted beef and hardtack, a new thought comes to mind.

00:27:31What, exactly, is that share? The question of what you eat and drink is one of the most

00:27:39fundamental parts of your new life. You quickly learn that the standard rations on a pirate ship

00:27:44are at first disappointingly similar to the grim menu of the merchant vessel you so gladly left behind.

00:27:51The foundation of your diet is still the hardtack, the rock-hard flour and water biscuit,

00:27:57likely dotted with the black specks of weevils. The main source of protein is still salted meat,

00:28:04either beef or pork, that has been cured in barrels of brine for so long that it is tough,

00:28:09chewy and overwhelmingly salty. This is supplemented by sacks of dried peas, beans or oatmeal.

00:28:17It is a diet of preservation, designed to last for months in the damp hold of a ship, not for pleasure.

00:28:22Your drink is also much the same. Water stored in casks quickly goes foul, so alcohol is essential.

00:28:30The daily ration of grog, the mix of rum and water, is a treasured ritual, a moment of warmth

00:28:36and cheer in a long day. It makes the stale water more palatable and provides a brief escape from the

00:28:42monotony of life at sea. But here is where you discover the pirate's advantage. Unlike a merchant ship,

00:28:48you must sail from port A to port B on a strict schedule. A pirate vessel is master of its own time.

00:28:55Your captain is not in a hurry to deliver cargo. This gives you the freedom to supplement your diet

00:29:01in ways a merchant sailor could only dream of. If the ship is running low on supplies, you might

00:29:06stop at a small, uninhabited island. The crew will go ashore in long boats, armed not for battle,

00:29:12but for hunting. You spend the day tracking wild pigs or goats through the jungle. A welcome relief

00:29:18from the confines of the ship. The animals are brought back and the crew builds a fire on the

00:29:23beach, roasting the fresh meat over a wooden grill called a boucan. The taste of fresh, unsalted meat

00:29:30is a luxury so profound it feels like a feast for a king. At sea you fish. Men will trail lines from

00:29:36the stern of the ship, hoping to catch tuna or other large fish to be shared among the crew. But the

00:29:42most prized catch of all is the giant sea turtle. Turtles were plentiful in the Caribbean, easy to

00:29:49catch while they slept on the surface of the water, and they were an ideal source of food. A single large

00:29:55turtle could feed the entire crew, and remarkably they could be kept alive on their backs on the deck

00:30:01for weeks. This is the pirates way, living off the sea and the land, taking what they could find.

00:30:08But the greatest feasts, the moments of true indulgence, came after a successful capture. When

00:30:13you board a captured merchant ship, the first prize is not always the captain's strong box. It is often

00:30:19his pantry. While your diet is one of bland survival, a merchant captain dines in style. Your crew descends

00:30:26upon his private stores with joyous cries. You might find barrels of fine French wine or Spanish brandy,

00:30:32sacks of soft white flour for baking bread, and precious casks of sugar. You might find spices that

00:30:37are worth a fortune. Cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Best of all, you might find live chickens, clucking

00:30:44in wooden coops, or even a pig or a cow. Brought along for the captain's table. That night, your ship

00:30:51becomes a floating banquet hall. The cook, who is usually just another sailor with a bit of skill over a

00:30:55fire, becomes the most important man on board. The smell of roasting meat fills the air. You eat

00:31:01freshly baked bread instead of weevil-filled biscuits. You drink stolen wine from tin mugs,

00:31:07singing sea shanties with your brothers. For a few hours you live better than any king.

00:31:12This is the reward. This is the merry life you signed up for. You are full, for the first time in what

00:31:19feels like years. The ship is well stocked, and the threat of scurvy has been pushed away by fresh food.

00:31:25But this bounty cannot protect you from everything. A slip of a knife while working the rigging,

00:31:30a splintered bone from a fall, or a sudden raging fever are constant dangers.

00:31:36The question of what happens when you are seriously hurt or fall ill is a heavy one. In the world you

00:31:41left behind, a sick sailor was often seen as a useless burden. Here, among pirates, you learn that

00:31:47the approach is different. Born from a mix of brutal necessity and surprising compassion. Most pirate ships

00:31:54did not have a professionally trained doctor. A surgeon was a highly valued prize, and if one

00:31:59was captured on a merchant or naval vessel, he was considered one of an attack's most valuable assets.

00:32:05The pirate crew would do everything they could to persuade him to join them, offering him a full

00:32:10share of the plunder and promising him good treatment. A skilled surgeon was one of the very

00:32:15few men a pirate crew might actually force into service, as his knowledge was a matter of life and

00:32:20death for everyone. But if no doctor could be found, the role of ship's surgeon fell to whichever crewman

00:32:26had the most relevant skills. In many cases this was the ship's carpenter. This might seem strange,

00:32:32but the logic was grimly practical. The most common major surgery at sea was amputation,

00:32:38and no one on board was better with a saw. The carpenter knew his tools, he knew how to make a clean

00:32:43swift cut and he was not squeamish about it. On other ships the role might fall to the cook,

00:32:48for he was the man most skilled with knives. The ship's medical kit was usually a captured

00:32:53surgeon's chest, itself a form of treasure. Inside you would find the tools of the trade,

00:32:59saws for bone, sharp knives for flesh, probes for exploring wounds, and forceps for pulling

00:33:05out musket balls. The medicines were a mix of the effective and the dangerous. The chest would contain

00:33:11laudanum, which is an opiate, a powerful painkiller made from opium that could dull the senses during

00:33:17surgery. It might also contain mercury, which was a common but toxic treatment for venereal diseases,

00:33:24and a variety of dried herbs and powders for treating fevers and infections. After a battle,

00:33:30the main deck could be transformed into a makeshift operating theatre. Wounded men would be laid out,

00:33:35and the surgeon would get to work. His methods were direct and brutal. A deep cut from a sword would be

00:33:41stitched shut with a simple needle and thread. To stop bleeding, and prevent infection in a world

00:33:46without antibiotics, the surgeon would perform a cauterisation, sealing the wound by applying

00:33:51a red hot piece of iron or a dollop of hot tar directly to the flesh. The smell of burning skin

00:33:57and the screams of the patient were a common aftermath to any fight. For a limb shattered by

00:34:02a cannonball or a musket shot, there was usually only one option – amputation. To remove the

00:34:08ruined arm or leg was the only way to prevent gangrene – a deadly infection that was always

00:34:13fatal. You would be given a large dose of rum or laudanum to numb the pain, and a leather strap to

00:34:19bite down on to keep from biting through your own tongue. Your crewmates would hold you down, and the

00:34:24carpenter surgeon would work as quickly as he could. The survival rate for such procedures was low,

00:34:29but it was better than the certain death of infection. Common sicknesses like fevers and

00:34:35dysentery could sweep through the crowded, unsanitary ship with terrifying speed. And scurvy,

00:34:42the disease caused by a lack of vitamin C, was a constant threat on long voyages without fresh fruit.

00:34:48While pirates were generally better fed than other sailors, they were not immune. But here once again,

00:34:53the pirate code offered a unique form of protection. As you learned when you signed the articles,

00:34:58there was a system of compensation. Your crewmates would care for you as best they could.

00:35:03But if you lost an arm, a leg, or an eye in service to the ship, you were financially compensated

00:35:09for your loss. You were a brother, and you would not be abandoned.

00:35:14This rudimentary system of medicine and insurance was a lifeline.

00:35:18But the best way to avoid the surgeon's knife was to avoid trouble in the first place.

00:35:22This meant moving efficiently across the sea, finding prizes quickly, and knowing the route

00:35:27to a safe port. To do that, your ship needed more than just strong backs and sharp swords.

00:35:33It needed a keen mind and an understanding of the heavens.

00:35:37You now understand how the ship is governed, how it is maintained, and how its crew is cared for.

00:35:43But all of this would be for nothing if the ship could not find its way.

00:35:46In the seemingly endless expanse of the ocean, with no roads and no landmarks,

00:35:52the art of navigation was perhaps the most vital skill on board. Getting it wrong meant

00:35:57more than just missing a prize. It meant starvation, thirst, and being lost at sea forever.

00:36:03The responsibility for this crucial task fell to the captain, and if the crew was lucky, a sailing

00:36:09master. The sailing master was a highly skilled officer whose entire job was to know the ship's

00:36:14position and plot its course. On your ship, the captain himself handles this duty.

00:36:21He is the navigator, and the lives of the entire crew rest on his calculations.

00:36:27His tools are a mixture of the simple and the ingenious. His most prized possessions are his

00:36:32nautical charts. These are not treasure maps marked with an X. They are precious documents,

00:36:39hand-drawn on parchment, often stolen from the captains of captured ships.

00:36:43They show the outlines of coastlines, the locations of known islands,

00:36:47and warnings about dangerous currents or hidden reefs. They are frequently inaccurate,

00:36:52but they are the best guide you have. To know your direction you have the magnetic compass.

00:36:58But direction is only half the problem. You must also know your speed.

00:37:03For this the navigator uses a clever device called a chip log. It consists of a small weighted piece of

00:37:09wood, tied to a long rope with knots tied at regular intervals. The chip is thrown from the back of the

00:37:14ship, and as the vessel moves forward, the rope unspools. Using a small sand glass to measure a precise

00:37:20amount of time, the navigator counts how many knots pass through his fingers. This tells him the ship's

00:37:26speed in knots, a unit of measurement still used by sailors today. With these tools, the navigator can

00:37:32determine your latitude, your position north or south of the equator. Using an instrument like a

00:37:37quadrant or an astrolabe, he can measure the angle of the sun at high noon, or the height of the north

00:37:43star at night. This angle changes depending on how far north or south you are, allowing him to calculate

00:37:50your latitude with reasonable accuracy. But there was one great unsolved mystery of the seas during

00:37:56your time. Longitude. Your position east or west. There was no reliable instrument. No simple trick.

00:38:03To know how far east or west you had travelled. This was the single biggest navigational challenge

00:38:08of the age. To overcome this, sailors relied on a method called dead reckoning. It was more of an art

00:38:14than a science. You start from a known position for example, the island of Jamaica. You know you are

00:38:20sailing east thanks to the compass. You know you are travelling at 5 knots thanks to the chip log.

00:38:25After 24 hours you can calculate, or reckon, your new position on the chart. You are in theory 120

00:38:34nautical miles east of Jamaica. But this was an educated guess. A strong unseen ocean current could

00:38:40be pushing you sideways. A storm could force you off course. A small error in measuring your speed

00:38:47could grow larger and larger, over days and weeks, until your calculated position on the chart and

00:38:52your true position in the world were miles apart. The navigator's job was a constant careful process

00:38:58of calculation, observation and intuition. A truly great navigator also read the natural world.

00:39:04The colour of the water could hint at its depth. The types of birds circling the ship

00:39:09could indicate that land was near. The patterns of the clouds and the direction of the ocean swells

00:39:14could whisper secrets about distant weather systems. It was a science of reading clues that

00:39:19the ocean provided. You now understand the immense skill it takes to guide your floating home.

00:39:25Day after day you watch the horizon, a line that never changes. The navigator's art is what gives you

00:39:32all hope that this emptiness will eventually end. As you scan the sea, you are no longer just looking

00:39:38for a ship. You are looking for a target. The cry from the crow's nest has electrified the ship.

00:39:46Sail ho! The captain using his spyglass confirms the target. A heavily loaded merchant vessel,

00:39:52sitting low in the water. It is the prize you have all been waiting for. Your ship,

00:39:56being faster and more agile, begins the chase. As you close the distance over the next hour,

00:40:02you see that your ship is flying the English flag, the Union Jack. This, you learn, is the first step

00:40:08in the hunt. Deception. It's a common trick. A pirate ship might fly the colours of any nation,

00:40:14or no flag at all, to appear as a friendly vessel. The goal is always the same. To get as close as possible,

00:40:22without causing alarm, closing off the target's avenue of escape. The merchant ship's crew sees

00:40:27you but they have no reason to panic yet. To them you are just another English ship on the open sea.

00:40:33Then the time for pretense is over. You are close enough now. The merchant ship is within range of

00:40:39your cannons and they can no longer outrun you. On your captain's command, the false flag comes down.

00:40:45For a moment your mast is bare. The men on the other ship must be watching, their stomachs tightening

00:40:51with dread, wondering who you are. And then a new flag is brought on deck. It is bundled and ready.

00:40:57It is attached to the rope and hoisted up the mast for all to see. It is the flag that has come to be

00:41:02known as the Jolly Roger. This flag is the most powerful weapon in the pirate arsenal, more powerful

00:41:09than any cannon. It is a tool of psychological warfare and its message is brutally clear. You learn

00:41:15that the term Jolly Roger doesn't refer to just one design, but to any flag used by pirates to declare

00:41:22their identity. The most common flag is a simple stark black one. In the language of the sea, black is

00:41:29the colour of death. It is the direct opposite of the white flag of surrender. Navies would sometimes

00:41:35use a black flag to signal that they would give no quarter, meaning they would take no prisoners.

00:41:40By flying the black flag, your ship is making a promise of violence. It is announcing to your

00:41:46target. We are not bound by the laws of any nation. We are a society of our own and we live by our own

00:41:52rules. Even more terrifying is the red flag. A red flag is a signal of pure rage. It means that the

00:41:59pirates will give absolutely no mercy and that they intend to kill everyone on board. It is a declaration of

00:42:06total, merciless war. And then there are the symbols. The skull and crossbones is the most famous,

00:42:13and its meaning was instantly understood by any sailor. The skull is death. The crossbones,

00:42:19the same. But there were many variations, each a unique brand for a particular pirate captain.

00:42:25You might see a skeleton holding an hourglass. A message that your time is running out. You might

00:42:30see a bleeding heart being pierced by a spear. A promise of a slow and painful end. The famous

00:42:37pirate Calico Jack Rackham used a skull above two cross swords. Blackbeard used a skeleton figure,

00:42:44toasting the devil with one hand and spearing a bleeding heart with the other. The entire purpose

00:42:49of this flag, you realise, is to make a real fight unnecessary. Piracy was a business. A bloody battle

00:42:55meant damaged ships, wasted ammunition and a dead or wounded crew, which would reduce the number of

00:43:01men to share the work and the prize. The ideal pirate attack was one in which no one got hurt.

00:43:07The Jolly Roger was the tool to achieve that. It was an advertisement.

00:43:13The more fearsome a captain's reputation and the more terrifying his flag, the more likely a merchant

00:43:19crew was to surrender without a fight. The flag said,

00:43:22We are what you fear most. We have left your world and its laws behind. We do not fear death,

00:43:28so you should certainly fear us. Surrender your cargo now, and we may let you live to see another

00:43:33day. But if you resist, we will send you all to the bottom of the sea. You watch as the black flag,

00:43:39your flag, rises to the top of the mast and unfurls in the wind. Across the water you can almost feel

00:43:45the wave of terror that must be washing over the merchant ship's deck. They now have a terrible choice

00:43:51to make. Surrender and hope for mercy. Or fight and face the violence that your flag has promised.

00:43:59The captain of the merchant ship has chosen to fight. A puff of smoke from his vessel is

00:44:03followed by the sound of a small cannon firing in defiance. His shot is inaccurate, falling

00:44:08harmlessly into the sea. Your captain now gives the order to engage. This is the moment where his

00:44:14authority is absolute and the entire ship becomes a finely tuned weapon under his command. The helmsman,

00:44:22the sailor steering your ship, expertly maneuvers your vessel. The goal is not a chaotic head-on

00:44:29crash. It is a precise naval tactic known as crossing the T. This means positioning your ship so its side

00:44:35faces the front, or even better, the back, the stern, of the enemy ship. The advantage is immense. It allows

00:44:43you to fire all the cannons on one side of your ship, a devastating attack called a broadside, at the

00:44:49enemy's narrowest point, while they can only fire a few, if any, cannons back at you. On your deck,

00:44:55the scene is one of controlled chaos. The quartermaster shouts orders and the gun crews work with a practiced

00:45:01speed. They are not just loading simple cannonballs. For the first volley, they often use special

00:45:07ammunition designed not to sink the ship, but to cripple it. They might load chain shot, two smaller

00:45:13cannonballs linked by a metal chain. When fired, the chain spins through the air and acts like a giant scythe,

00:45:20tearing through the enemy's sails and rigging, rendering the ship impossible to steer. Or they might use

00:45:25grape shot, a canvas bag filled with dozens of small metal balls. When fired, it turns the cannon

00:45:31into a massive shotgun, designed to sweep the enemy deck clear of sailors. Your captain waits

00:45:37for the perfect moment. When the swell of the sea lifts your side of the ship, he gives the command.

00:45:43Fire! The world explodes in noise. The roar of a dozen cannons firing at once is a physical force,

00:45:50a deafening thunder that vibrates through the wood of the deck and into your bones. A thick, acrid

00:45:55cloud of black gunpowder smoke instantly blankets the ship, filling your nose and mouth with the smell

00:46:00of sulphur. For a moment you are blind and deaf, caught in a man-made storm. As the smoke clears,

00:46:06you see the devastating effect of your broadside. The merchant ship's main mast is cracked, its sails

00:46:12are in tatters, and there is chaos and confusion on its deck. They are crippled. Now you move in for

00:46:19the final phase. Your helmsman brings your ship right alongside the stricken vessel. Men stand ready

00:46:25with grappling hooks. Large, heavy iron hooks attached to thick ropes. They hurl them across

00:46:30the gap, and the hooks bite deep into the wood of the other ship's railing. With a great heave,

00:46:35your crew pulls on the ropes, and the two ships grind together with a sickening crunch of timber.

00:46:40They are now bound together, a bridge created for the boarding party. While this is happening,

00:46:46a few of your crewmates with steady hands have climbed high into the rigging. They are the sharpshooters.

00:46:51From their perch, they use their long rifles to fire down onto the enemy deck, targeting any officers

00:46:57who are trying to rally the crew. Then, the quartermaster gives the final order. Borders away!

00:47:03With a great cry you and a dozen other men swarm over the railings. You have a pistol in one hand

00:47:08and a sword in the other. You know your pistol is good for only one shot, after which it is often more

00:47:13useful as a club. The real work is done up close, with cold steel. The fighting is a confusing,

00:47:18desperate flurry of action. But it is usually very brief. The merchant crew is demoralised,

00:47:24outnumbered, and has little motivation to die for their captain's cargo. Faced with a wave of

00:47:30determined pirates, they quickly throw down their weapons and surrender. The fight is over in a matter

00:47:35of minutes. The captain of the merchant ship formally yields. Silence falls, broken only by the groans of

00:47:42the wounded and the crackle of small fires. The adrenaline begins to fade, replaced by the

00:47:47overwhelming smell of sweat, fear and gunpowder. The prize is yours. With the captured ship's crew

00:47:55subdued and locked away, the adrenaline of the fight gives way to a focused and surprisingly

00:48:00disciplined process. This is not the chaotic, free-for-all looting you might have imagined.

00:48:06The quartermaster is now in complete command of the prize, and the first rule of piracy is

00:48:11strictly enforced. All plunder belongs to the company as a whole. You learn that any pirate

00:48:16caught hiding even a single coin or a small piece of jewellery for himself before the general division

00:48:22would face the harshest punishments. To be caught stealing from your crewmates was the ultimate

00:48:26betrayal. The entire system of trust and fairness that held the pirate brotherhood together relied on

00:48:32every man being honest at this crucial stage. The quartermaster and a small trusted team begin a

00:48:38thorough inventory of the captured vessel. You now see what plunder truly means. It is

00:48:44rarely a chest overflowing with gold coins. The real treasure is the cargo. The hold of the

00:48:49merchant ship might be filled with massive barrels of sugar or tobacco from the Americas, precious indigo

00:48:55dye from India or fine silk textiles from the east. These goods were the bulk of the wealth,

00:49:01worth a fortune to the right buyer. But the plunder doesn't end there. The ship itself is a source of

00:49:06immense value. Its cannons, gunpowder and cannonballs are vital for your own vessel's strength. Its sails,

00:49:14coils of fresh rope, anchors and carpentry tools are all precious naval stores that are difficult to

00:49:19acquire on the open sea. Even the personal belongings of the captured crew and any wealthy passengers are

00:49:25collected. Their clothes, their wigs, their silver buckles and any money they have are all added to

00:49:31the communal pile. Nothing is overlooked. Once the inventory is complete and all valuable goods have

00:49:37been transferred to your ship, you and your crewmates sail to a pirate friendly port. This might be a

00:49:43bustling lawless haven like Nassau in the Bahamas or a quiet hidden cove where shady merchants are willing to

00:49:49trade. Here, the quartermaster and captain will negotiate the sale of the captured cargo, turning

00:49:55the barrels of sugar and bolts of cloth into hard currency. When all the goods have been sold,

00:50:01the most important ritual of pirate life begins. The entire crew is assembled on deck. The quartermaster

00:50:08stands before you all, with the total sum of the profits. The first order of business is to pay the

00:50:13ship's debts to its own crew. The compensation fund is opened. The man who lost an eye in the last

00:50:18fight is called forward and given his hundred pieces of eight. The man whose arm was crippled

00:50:23by a musket ball is given his payment. This promise, written in the articles, is always honoured first.

00:50:30It is the bedrock of your society. Once the wounded have been cared for, the remaining wealth is divided

00:50:36among the rest of the crew, according to the shares laid out in the articles. The quartermaster,

00:50:43holding a list of every man's name, calls you forward one by one. There is no secrecy, no backroom deals.

00:50:50The process is completely transparent. The captain receives his two shares. The quartermaster, his one

00:50:56and a half. And then it is your turn. You step forward and the quartermaster counts out your single,

00:51:02full share of the prize into a heavy cloth bag. You feel the weight of the silver and gold coins in your

00:51:08hand. It is more money than you have ever seen in one place. It is more than you could have hoped to

00:51:13earn in ten years of honest, back-breaking labour on a merchant ship. This is the moment that makes

00:51:19it all worthwhile. The fear, the boredom, the risk. It was all for this. This bag of coins is not just

00:51:27wealth. It is independence. It is respect. It is your reward, earned as a free man and given freely by

00:51:33your brothers. You now have your share. For the first time in your life you are a wealthy man.

00:51:39Your ship is safely anchored in a harbour teeming with activity and the long disciplined months at

00:51:44sea are finally over. Now the time for work is done and the time for the merry part of a short life

00:51:51and a merry one is about to begin. The call goes out for shore leave. You and the rest of the crew pile

00:51:57into long boats and row towards the beach. The feeling of setting foot on solid ground after months of the

00:52:02sea's constant motion is a strange and wonderful sensation. You have arrived in a place like Nassau,

00:52:09in the Bahamas, the unofficial capital of the pirate republic. You quickly see that this is not a clean,

00:52:15orderly colonial town with cobblestone streets and government buildings. It is a chaotic,

00:52:20sprawling settlement of ramshackle wooden taverns, canvas tents and hastily built huts, all crowded along a

00:52:27sandy beach. The air is thick with the smells of roasting meat, cheap rum, tobacco smoke and the

00:52:34sweat of hundreds of unwashed bodies. There are no police here, no Royal Navy patrols, no governor to

00:52:40enforce the law. This is a place of absolute freedom and absolute chaos. Your share of the plunder, which

00:52:47felt like a fortune on the ship, now feels like a fire burning a hole in your pocket. You and your

00:52:53crewmates head for the place that is the heart and soul of any pirate haven, the tavern. Inside the

00:53:00noise is deafening. The room is packed with pirates from a dozen different ships, all drinking, shouting

00:53:06and laughing. You push your way to a rough wooden bar and trade one of your silver coins for a bottle

00:53:12of rum. Not the watered down grog from the ship but the raw, powerful spirit. The drink is strong and

00:53:18burns on the way down but it is the taste of freedom and success. You see that a pirate's money is spent

00:53:24as quickly and fiercely as it is earned. In one corner of the tavern, a group of men are gambling,

00:53:30throwing dice against a barrel head. Men who are brothers at sea, who would die for one another,

00:53:35in a battle, are now intense rivals in a game of chance. You watch a man lose a month's worth of hard

00:53:41one pay, on a single roll of the dice, only to laugh, buy another drink and challenge someone to

00:53:47a new game. This is the pirate mentality you realise. Their life is a constant gamble. And so is their

00:53:54money. They live with the ever-present threat of a violent death, so the idea of saving for a future

00:54:00they will likely never see seems pointless. The philosophy is to live for this exact moment,

00:54:05with as much intensity as possible. A short life, but a merry one. You spend your silver on things

00:54:11you could only dream of at sea. You eat freshly roasted pork until you are full. You buy a new

00:54:16shirt made of soft linen to replace your ragged, salt stiffened one. You visit a merchant who caters

00:54:22to the pirate trade. And buy a fine new pistol and a bag of lead shot, investing in the tools that

00:54:27will help you earn your next fortune. For a week life is a blur of drinking, eating, gambling and spending.

00:54:35The disciplined order of the ship dissolves into a riot of individual freedom. But it cannot last.

00:54:41Sooner or later you reach into your pocket and find it empty. Your entire share, a sum that would

00:54:47have sustained a family for a year, is gone. Traded for a few fine meals, a new weapon and a pounding

00:54:54headache. Just as the last of the crew runs out of money, the call goes out from the quartermaster.

00:55:00The ship has been repaired, restocked with fresh water and supplies. It is time to go back to sea.

00:55:06You stumble back to the longboat, your head aching, your pockets light, but with a new pistol at your

00:55:11belt and the memory of a wild week on shore. The chaos of the pirate haven fades behind you, replaced

00:55:18once again by the familiar orderly world of the ship. You are struck by the stark contrast of your new life,

00:55:25a long slow pendulum swing between the extremes of disciplined work and riotous release.

00:55:32With no land in sight and no ships to chase, the days at sea can stretch into an endless,

00:55:37monotonous cycle. The work of the watch gives your hand something to do, but your mind needs a

00:55:43distraction. You learn that fighting off the immense boredom of the open ocean is as important to survival

00:55:49as maintaining the ship. This is where the culture of your new brotherhood truly reveals itself.

00:55:56The most common and most important pastime is music. You are lucky, as your crew includes

00:56:01a fiddler. He's a man valued almost as much as the ship's carpenter. He's exempt from the

00:56:06most difficult labour, yet he receives a full share of the plunder, all for his skill with his instrument.

00:56:11In the quiet evening hours, after the day's main meal, he will sit on a coil of rope on the deck,

00:56:18and the sweet mournful sound of his fiddle will drift across the water, a lonely but beautiful

00:56:24sound in the vast emptiness. You learn there are two kinds of songs at sea. The first are sea shanties.

00:56:31These are not for entertainment, they are work songs. When a heavy sail needs to be hoisted,

00:56:36or the massive anchor needs to be raised by turning the capstan, a large wooden winch on the deck,

00:56:41a lead sailor, the shantyman, will sing out a line. The rest of the crew, including you,

00:56:47will roar back the chorus in unison, pulling or pushing with all your might on the final word.

00:56:52The powerful rhythmic beat of the shanty coordinates the labour of dozens of men

00:56:57into a single unified force, making the work lighter and faster.

00:57:01The second type of song is the Forecastle Ballad. The Forecastle, or Folksel, is the forward part of

00:57:09the upper deck, where the crew often gathers during their off-watch hours. Here, a man with a good

00:57:14voice might sing a long narrative ballad. These songs tell stories of famous naval battles,

00:57:19of daring pirates, of lost loves back home, or of humorous and tragic events at sea. They are the

00:57:25oral history and the popular music of your new world, passed from ship to ship, and they provide

00:57:31a shared sense of culture and history. Another way to pass the time is with games of chance.

00:57:37When you have no money you find other things to wager. You might bet your next chair of the plunder,

00:57:42your ration of rum for the week, or even the shirt off your back. You see men gathered in small groups

00:57:48playing card games with greasy, well-worn decks, or throwing dice that they have carved themselves from

00:57:53leftover pieces of bone. This is a common source of tension, and the ship's articles have strict rules

00:57:59about it. Cheating is a serious offence, and the quartermaster is often called upon to settle

00:58:04disputes that get out of hand. But perhaps the most important pastime is storytelling. In a world where

00:58:10most men cannot read or write, the spoken word is the primary form of entertainment and information.

00:58:17During the quiet hours of the night watch, you and your crewmates will share stories. They might be

00:58:22boasts, exaggerations of your own adventures. They might be ghost stories, tales of the flying

00:58:28Dutchman, or other phantom ships said to haunt the sea lanes. Or they might simply be news and gossip,

00:58:34pieces of information picked up in the last port about which governors are offering pardons,

00:58:39which pirate hunters are patrolling the coast, and which merchant ships are expected to be carrying

00:58:43valuable cargo. It is here in these quiet storytelling sessions that the legends of your

00:58:49time are born. Men spin yarns to entertain each other, to build their own reputations and to pass

00:58:55the long, dark hours. These pastimes, the songs, the games, the stories, are the threads that bind your

00:59:03crew together. They transform a group of rough individuals into a functioning community. As you

00:59:08listen to another sailor tell an exaggerated tale of the great pirate Henry Morgan, you begin to think

00:59:14about the other famous stories of your new profession. You hear whispers about captains making their enemies

00:59:20walk the plank, and about burying massive chests of treasure on deserted islands marked by a secret map.

00:59:27As you spend more and more time living the real life of a pirate,

00:59:31you begin to notice that the wild stories you've heard, the legends that even other sailors tell,

00:59:36don't quite match your daily reality. The truth is often simpler, more practical, and in some ways

00:59:43far more interesting than the myths. Let's look at three of the most famous legends. First there is the

00:59:49myth of buried treasure. The image of pirates burying a massive chest filled with gold and silver on a

00:59:55deserted island, then creating a secret map where X marks the spot, is perhaps the most

01:00:01powerful pirate legend of all. But in reality this almost never happened. You must remember the pirate

01:00:07philosophy. Live for today, for tomorrow you may hang. The money you earned was meant to be spent

01:00:13immediately and wildly on shore leave, not saved for a retirement you would never see. Furthermore,

01:00:20the plunder belonged to the entire crew, divided into shares. A captain who tried to secretly bury the

01:00:26company's treasure for himself would have been immediately deposed, or more likely, killed.

01:00:32It was a violation of the most sacred part of the pirate code, the fair and equal division of all

01:00:39prizes. Why bury gold in the ground when you could turn it into rum, fine clothes and good times right now?

01:00:44The entire legend of buried treasure comes almost entirely from one single, exceptional case.

01:00:51That of Captain William Kidd. Kidd was originally a privateer, a sort of legal pirate, hired by a

01:00:58government with a document called a Letter of Mark, to attack enemy ships during wartime. When he turned

01:01:04to outright piracy, he was declared an outlaw. Knowing he was being hunted, Kidd did bury some of his wealth

01:01:10before sailing to New York to try and negotiate a pardon. He was captured anyway, and the tale of

01:01:16his buried treasure ignited a frenzy that a century and a half later would inspire Robert Louis Stevenson's

01:01:23classic novel, Treasure Island. It is this book, more than any historical reality, that created the

01:01:29myth we know today. The second great myth is that of walking the plank. The image is iconic. A captive,

01:01:37hands-tied, forced to walk off a narrow board, extending from the side of the ship into the

01:01:42shark-infested waters below. This, too, is almost entirely fiction. There are virtually no reliable

01:01:48documented accounts of this practice happening during the golden age of piracy. It was an invention

01:01:54of later writers, most famously appearing in stories in the 19th century and cemented in popular culture

01:02:01by J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan. Pirates were certainly brutal when they needed to be, but they were also

01:02:07practical. If they wanted to dispose of an enemy, they had much faster and more efficient methods.

01:02:12A simple sword thrust or a pistol shot was quick and certain. Tossing someone overboard required no

01:02:18special equipment. The elaborate, time-consuming ritual of forcing someone to walk a plank was a

01:02:24theatrical invention, not a common practice. Finally, there is the image of the pirate captain,

01:02:30with a colourful parrot perched on his shoulder. Like buried treasure, this legend comes almost

01:02:36entirely from Treasure Island and its unforgettable character, Long John Silver, who had a parrot named

01:02:43Captain Flint. While it is certainly possible that a few sailors travelling through the tropics might

01:02:48have acquired exotic pets like monkeys or parrots, it was by no means a standard accessory. A noisy,

01:02:55squawking bird would be a terrible companion during a stealthy approach or a chaotic battle. The parrot

01:03:01on the shoulder is a romantic and charming image, but it is not a historical uniform. You now see the

01:03:06truth more clearly. The reality of your life is not one of treasure maps and talking birds. It is a life

01:03:12governed by democratic articles, a surprising system of compensation for the wounded, and a practical

01:03:17approach to your bloody business. But you also know, with a growing sense of unease, that this unique

01:03:23world you have joined cannot last forever. The great empires of Europe will not tolerate these

01:03:28floating republics of outlaws, indefinitely. As you sail the seas you begin to hear whispers

01:03:34in port towns, rumours of a change in the winds. Governors are offering fewer pardons and more bounties for

01:03:40the capture of pirates. New, powerful warships are being sent from England, with a single, dedicated mission.

01:03:47The rumours you have been hearing in port towns are true. A change is coming on the winds. The

01:03:52great empires of the world – England, Spain and France – are finally turning their full

01:03:57attention towards you. For years, they were too busy fighting each other to properly police the seas,

01:04:03which allowed the golden age of piracy to flourish. But now, treaties have been signed,

01:04:08and their powerful navies, no longer needed for massive fleet battles, have been given a new target.

01:04:13You. The authorities begin their campaign with a simple but effective strategy,

01:04:18offering a carrot before they use the stick. This carrot is the king's pardon. An official

01:04:23proclamation is issued from London, offering a full pardon to any pirate who surrenders to a colonial

01:04:28governor before a specific date. It is a promise that all your crimes will be forgiven, and you can

01:04:34return to society as a free man, without the shadow of the gallows following you.

01:04:39This offer creates a deep rift within the pirate brotherhood. For older pirates, tired of the

01:04:45constant risk and hardship, the pardon is a tempting exit. It's a chance to take their earnings and live

01:04:50out the rest of their days in peace. Many famous pirates, like Benjamin Hornigold, who was once a mentor

01:04:56to Blackbeard, accept the offer. But for others, it is a trick. They don't trust the government's promises,

01:05:02and they see surrendering as a betrayal of the freedom they fought so hard to win.

01:05:07The unity of the pirate havens begins to crack. Then comes the stick. When pardons are not enough,

01:05:13the empires unleash their full military might. Powerful Royal Navy warships are sent to patrol the

01:05:19sea lanes of the Caribbean and the American coast. These are not the slow, clumsy merchant vessels you are

01:05:25used to capturing. These are frigates – fast, medium-sized warships, built for speed and packed

01:05:32with cannons. They are captained by experienced naval officers and manned by disciplined marines

01:05:37who are trained for combat. Your pirate sloop, so effective against a merchantman, is no match for

01:05:43the raw power of a naval frigate. Along with the warships come determined new governors, sent with the

01:05:49specific mission to eradicate piracy. A man named Woods Rogers, a famous former privateer who understands

01:05:56your world, is appointed governor of the Bahamas. He sails directly into the heart of your republic,

01:06:02the pirate haven of Nassau, with several warships at his back. He arrives with the official king's

01:06:07pardon in one hand and the threat of overwhelming force in the other. It is a brilliant combination of

01:06:13carrot and stick. Other governors, like Alexander Spotswood of Virginia, become obsessed with the hunt,

01:06:19Spotswood dedicates his resources to capturing the infamous Blackbeard, sending naval ships and

01:06:25soldiers on daring raids, sometimes even outside his own legal jurisdiction. The most bitter pill to

01:06:31swallow is the use of pirates to hunt pirates. Some of the most effective pirate hunters are men who

01:06:37have accepted the pardon. Men like Benjamin Hornigold, who know all the secret coves, the tactics and the

01:06:43weaknesses of their former brothers, are hired by governors like Woods Rogers to lead hunting

01:06:49expeditions. The brotherhood is now not just divided, it is actively preying upon itself.

01:06:55You feel the world closing in. The options are dwindling. The freedom you fought for is slipping

01:07:00through your fingers like sand. The final act of the golden age has begun. And for every pirate still

01:07:06sailing under the black flag, the most pressing question is no longer, where is the next prize? But how

01:07:13does my story end? The golden age of piracy, for all its fire and fury, was a remarkably brief flash in

01:07:21the pan of history. For every man who joined the brotherhood, the unspoken question always loomed. How

01:07:27would it end? There was no single path. The end of a pirate's career was a story with many possible

01:07:33endings, ranging from the swift and violent, to the public and shameful, to the surprisingly quiet.

01:07:39For many the end came exactly as they lived, in a flurry of black powder, cannon smoke, and drawn

01:07:45steel. To die in battle was a constant and accepted risk of the trade. In a desperate fight against a

01:07:52naval vessel or a heavily armed merchantman, a pirate could be killed in an instant, struck by a musket

01:07:58ball, cut down in a sword fight on a crowded deck, or killed by the terrible spray of wooden splinters

01:08:03from a cannonball impact. The infamous Blackbeard, perhaps the most feared pirate of his time, met his

01:08:10end this way, killed in a bloody close-quarters battle with naval lieutenant Robert Maynard and his crew.

01:08:16For some pirates, this soldier's end may have been considered a better fate than the shame of the

01:08:21gallows, a final defiant act in a life lived on the edge. Another fate even more public and

01:08:27brutal was the gallows. For the pirate who was finally outmatched and captured by the Royal Navy,

01:08:33the path was swift and certain. He would be put in chains and transported to a major colonial port

01:08:38like Port Royal in Jamaica. There he would stand trial in a special admiralty court, a maritime court

01:08:45with no jury of his peers. For a known pirate, the trial was a formality. The sentence was death by

01:08:53hanging. The execution itself was a powerful public spectacle. A large crowd would gather to watch the

01:08:59final moments of the infamous outlaws. A grim warning to any other sailor, tempted by a life

01:09:04of piracy. To make the message last, the bodies of the most notorious captains were sometimes placed

01:09:09in iron cages called gibbets and left to hang at the entrance to the harbour. A more unique fate a pirate

01:09:15could face came not from the outside world, but from his own brothers. For crimes against the crew,

01:09:21the punishment could be exile. This was the sentence of marooning. The offender would be taken to a

01:09:26deserted island and left with only the most basic provisions. A flask of water, a knife, and sometimes

01:09:33a pistol with a single shot. With that, his former crewmates would row away, leaving him to a quiet,

01:09:39desperate battle against the elements. While survival was not impossible, for most it was a sentence of

01:09:45profound and final solitude. But for every pirate who met a dramatic end, it is likely that many more

01:09:51simply walked away. This was the path of the king's pardon. Faced with the growing threat of naval patrols,

01:09:59many crews chose to accept the official offer of amnesty. They would sail into a colonial port,

01:10:04swear an oath of allegiance to the crown, and in an instant their life of crime was forgiven. These

01:10:10thousands of now former pirates simply melted back into the world, returning to the lives they

01:10:15had known before. For this silent majority, the golden age of piracy was not a fight to the death,

01:10:21but a single, wild chapter in an otherwise ordinary life. And what of the pirates' ultimate dream? The

01:10:29quiet retirement with a fabulous fortune. This is the stuff of legend, and for good reason. It was

01:10:34almost impossible to achieve. The pirate ethos of love for today meant very few ever managed to save a

01:10:41fortune. The legends of pirates like Henry Every, who supposedly vanished with his treasure to live as

01:10:46a king in a secret paradise, are likely just stories that fuelled the dreams of other sailors. So these

01:10:52were the fates that awaited them. A swift death in battle, the public shame of the gallows, the lonely

01:10:57exile of marooning, the quiet escape of the pardon, or the nearly impossible dream of a legendary retirement.

01:11:03With the historical pirates gone from the seas, their reality began to fade. The memory of the

01:11:10brutal working conditions, the monotonous diet, and the constant fear was replaced by something

01:11:15far more romantic and enduring. The transformation from history into legend began almost immediately,

01:11:22thanks in large part to one incredibly popular book. In 1724, while some of the last pirates were

01:11:28still being hunted, a book was published in London called A General History of the Robberies and

01:11:34Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates. It was written under the name Captain Charles Johnson,

01:11:40though his true identity remains a mystery to this day. The book was an instant sensation. It was part

01:11:47history, containing surprisingly accurate details about pirate articles, ships and daily life, likely gathered

01:11:53from interviews with sailors and reports from trials. But it was also part sensationalised drama.

01:12:00Johnson was a brilliant storyteller and he took the known facts about pirates like Blackbeard,

01:12:05Calico Jack Rackham and the famous female pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read and he crafted them into

01:12:11compelling, larger-than-life characters. He solidified their legends, creating the definitive versions of

01:12:18their stories that we still draw from today. This book was the first crucial step. It organised the

01:12:24chaotic history of piracy into a collection of thrilling biographies. For over a century this was

01:12:30how the world saw pirates, as brutal but fascinating historical figures. Then, in the late 19th century,

01:12:37a second, even more influential author would take the torch. The Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson,

01:12:44looking for an adventure story to write for his stepson, drew upon the legends from Johnson's book

01:12:49and created his masterpiece, Treasure Island, published in 1883. This novel, more than any other

01:12:57work, is responsible for creating the modern myth of the pirate. Stevenson took the single rare historical

01:13:03case of Captain Kidd burying his treasure and made it the central goal of all piracy. The idea of a secret

01:13:10map where X marks the spot is a pure invention of Treasure Island. His most brilliant creation was the

01:13:15character of Long John Silver, the charismatic, one-legged ship's cook with a parrot named Captain

01:13:22Flint on his shoulder. Long John Silver became the archetype for every fictional pirate that would follow.

01:13:28He cemented the idea of the charming, friendly but treacherous pirate rogue, the talking parrot,

01:13:35the treasure map, the moral ambiguity. All of these classic tropes came from this one book.

01:13:41The final step in the transformation came in the 20th century with the rise of cinema. Hollywood took

01:13:47the romantic adventure of Treasure Island and made it visual. Actors like Errol Flynn in the 1930s and 40s

01:13:54created the image of the swashbuckler, the handsome, acrobatic hero who fights with a sword,

01:14:00swings on ropes and always wins the heart of a beautiful lady. In these films, pirates were no

01:14:07longer dangerous outlaws, they were dashing heroes. This brings us to the pirate we know today,

01:14:12a direct descendant of Long John Silver and Errol Flynn, Captain Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the

01:14:18Caribbean films. He is the complete package of the romantic myth, charming, witty and a master swordsman,

01:14:25living a life of pure freedom and adventure. And so, the transformation is complete.

01:14:33The historical reality of the desperate, often miserable sailor who chose a short, brutal life

01:14:39out of a lack of better options has been replaced by the fictional ideal of the free-spirited adventurer.

01:14:45The real pirates may have only ruled the seas for a brief and violent generation,

01:14:50but their legend, the powerful story of ultimate freedom, rebellion and a life without rules,

01:14:56has proven to be immortal. It is a story we continue to tell ourselves, perhaps because some

01:15:02small part of us still longs for a world with a blank space on the map marked with an X.

01:15:09Thank you for joining me on this long journey tonight, from the harsh realities of a sailor's life

01:15:14to the birth of a timeless legend. Our voyage through history is now at an end. I hope you'll return

01:15:21as we continue to explore the stories found in the shadows of the past. I wish you a calm and peaceful night.

What It Was Like to Be a Pirate During the Golden Age Immersive History for Sleep

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended