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Pirate Ships

Page history last edited by PBworks 16 years, 1 month ago

- Pirate Ships -

No pirate would be worth his booty without a ship; indeed, if there was ever a piratical "tool of the trade", it was the various sailing vessels that have since become an iconic part of pirate lore. This page will look at the various types of pirate ships and the common features which make these vessels "piratey".

Cities at Sea, or Floating Fortresses?

Pirate vessels came in all shapes and sizes, but all shared a common emphasis on flexibility and utility. This is because pirate ships had to serve many functions: floating weapons platform, storehouse for plunder, prison for captives and/or slaves, not to mention living space for dozens of men - pirate ships often had significantly larger crews than they were designed for. To this end, the majority of pirates took time to refit and modify their ships to better serve their purposes; as Defoe describes in his General History,

"...making such alterations as might fit her for a Sea Rover, pulling down her bulkheads, and making her flush, so that she became, in all respects, as complete a ship for their purpose as any they could have found."

The pirates tore out bulkheads (interior walls and partitions) in order to have more open space belowdecks for cannons or storage. Also, "making her flush" refers to the practice of removing the forecastle deck and lowering the quarter deck (see picture below) to create a single, flat deck for mounting weaponry. Other improvements included reinforcing the timbers and sides of the ship to better withstand enemy fire, and the cutting of extra gun-ports.

Additionally, pirates would generally install extra armaments taken from the ships they took as prizes - to such as extent that some pirate ships carried nearly twice the number of cannon as naval vessels of equivalent size. Swiveling guns were also added to the rails on deck, so that pirate ships commonly became jury-rigged contraptions, bristling with weapons and full to the gunwhales with dirty, swearing pirates. It comes as no surprise that most merchant vessels would surrender at the mere sight of such a ship bearing down on them, jolly roger flying high. In fact, this intimidation was another important function of the pirate ship - the buccaneers actively fostered its fearsome image in order to avoid potentially costly battles.

Cross-section of a generic sailing vessel. Had this been a pirate ship, the forecastle and quarter deck

would likely have been lowered, and additional guns installed on the main deck.

Schooners and Cutters and Sloops, Oh My!

As mentioned above, there was very little uniformity among pirate ships in terms of size and type. Ships were acquired through capture or mutiny, and then kept and refitted, sold, burned, abandoned, or gifted to another captain. The criteria for selecting which vessels to keep varied between pirate captains, but there did seem to be a general preference for smaller ships; the ability to swiftly catch prizes or flee from pursuers was a valuable asset, and smaller ships could sail in shallower water. As Defoe puts it, the goal was for a ship with:

"a light pair of heels being of great use either to take, or to escape being taken."

While there is no universal definition or archetypical pirate ship, below are descriptions of several types of sailing vessels which were commonly converted to pirate use.

Sloops Schooners Brigantines

Sloops were small, one-masted vessels, Schooners were fast, narrow, two- Not as common as the smaller ships,

comperable to modern yachts. They masted ships. Similar to sloops in brigantines were medium sized, two-

were extremely fast and maneuverable, size and capacity, schooners were masted ships with a normal capacity

making them the most common pirate another popular choice for pirates. of 100 men and 24 guns. The Rebecca,

craft. Sloops generally carried about 75 commanded by Captain Low, is an

men and 14 guns. example of a pirate brigantine.

Cutters Warships

The cutter was a variation of the schooner While most pirates preferred speed to size, a notable few captains opted to

commonly used by government or naval live large, fitting out three-masted warships that rivalled naval vessels in

authorities to hunt pirates, and was size and firepower. Blackbeard's Queen Anne's Revenge, for example, was a

occasionally commandeered by pirates for their 300 ton former slave galley, refitted to carry over 40 guns. The Royal Fortune,

own use. captained by Bartholomew Roberts, was a captured naval frigate.

No Rest for the Wicked

While pirate ships were generally better armed than their naval equivalents, the relatively small size of most pirate vessels was no match for the frigates and huge Men-of-War of the Royal Navy. Thus, pirates normally preyed on slow, lightly-armed merchants and rarely fought naval vessels when such battles could be avoided, relying on their ships' speed and shallow draft to escape the cannons of the slow naval warships. Even in situations when the pirate and British ships were of fairly even size and firepower, the superior discipline of the Royal Navy would usually result in a pirate defeat. However, the pirate ship was still a terrifying image for any law-abiding traveler of the seas, and remains an iconic part of the piratical mythos today.