Final Exam Essays
Why did men (and a few women turn to freebooting in the early 1700s? What larger political and economic factors were involved? What factors might affect an individual's decision?
-At this time piracy was somewhat of a lucrative trade, and if you were lucky it was democratic. -Could become famous. -Deeply rooted in maritime communities and many mariners, fishermen, or landsmen turned to slavery. -Food was usually more plentiful, the pay considerably higher, and the work shifts generally shorter than in the Royal Navy.
What was life like for people engaged in sailing or who were otherwise part of maritime communities? What challenges faced all people in maritime communities? What opportunities did sailing and commerce (legal and illegal) offer to seafarers and their families?
-Men relied heavily on women. In Pirate havens, women often owned and operated the pubs, brothels, and other businesses that the men happened upon whenever they weren't aboard their ship. -Wives of mariners often organized wage protests on behalf of absent husbands. -Some engaged in inshore fishing or controlled the marketing and retail of fish brought in by their husbands. -Low wages forced many men to piracy as a supplemental wage. -Disease and accident were commonplace, rations were meager, and discipline was brutal. -They had to deal with impressment by the Royal Navy
Discuss the ways in which buccaneering compared to the earlier practice of privateering. In what ways were buccaneering and privateering similar? Different? What historical processes produced the shift from privateering to buccaneering?
IDs -Privateers were in the employ of a nation at war. They received Letters of Marque from a nation to carry out attacks on enemy ships, ports, and interests. They had the official sanction and protection of the sponsoring nation and had to share a portion of the plunder. Privateering was relevant throughout the centuries in times of war but it began in 1585. -Buccaneers were a specific group of privateers and pirates who were active in the late 1600s. The word comes from the French boucan, which was smoked meat made by hunters on Hispaniola out of the wild pigs and cattle there. These men set up a business of selling their smoked meat to passing ships but soon realized that there was more money to be made in piracy. They became greatly in demand for French and English privateer ships, then fighting the Spanish. Similarities -Many buccaneers became privateers in times of war. -Privateers sometimes went beyond their commissions, attacking vessels that didn't belong to the targeted country. -At other times, outlaw pirates would operate with the tacit encouragement of a government but without the written legal authorization given to privateers. Shift -The rise of buccaneering coincided with the fall of the Spanish empire as a global superpower. Land in the Caribbean became open to other countries and the pirates could rest and sell stolen goods in friendly ports like Jamaica and Tortuga.
