Pirates, Privateers, Buccaneers, Marooner, Freebooter, Filibuster, Rogue, and "zee rovers".

Of the above terms, which brings up immediate imagery? Pirate is the most commonly used word of today to describe those who in the present commit and the past committed sea and overland commerce crimes. This "page" posts information on the variety of pretexts, methods and locations of practicing sea crime and brutality in North America of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

In those times some terms such as pirate, freebooter, rogue, were general while others, buccaneer, privateer, and marooner had more specific meaning which may or may not have later become generalized. Although there are formal distinctions between pirates and privateers, it should be noted that the classification of these criminals originates from their specified type of target, or for the region in which they fought.

Pirates

Consciences or patriotic ties did not bother pirates. They were out to attack and plunder everyone and anyone in the name of making their own profit. The usual order was: attack a ship, board it, plunder it, take prisoners, and recruit new pirates.

Recruiting was getting men of the captured ship to change sides and join the pirates. This was made official when the man agreed to sign the rules of conduct each pirate ship drew up and each pirate signed. The objective was often not to kill, brutalize or torture so much as take what they wanted from a captured ship and be gone. Often they would allow the captain and most of the crew to go on their way without undue brutalization.

They filled their free time, which was abundant, with rum drinking, singing and games. Some pirates were satisfied with one or a few good catches of booty with which to retire on land. Others became famous or infamous for record numbers of ships taken. Of course there were the pirates in the business for killing and torture as well as making a fortune. Certain captains would not only leave a trail of raided ships behind but also a trail of blood either selecting for specific revenge against injustices or in acts of pure sadism. Ships were usually all of one nationality. A ship was considered diverse if it had 85 English, 10 colonists and 5 among Caribbean and Black men.

Privateers

There was not often a big difference between pirates and privateers. The main difference or distinction between the two was that privateers possessed a piece of paper from a government and was called a letter of marque. Sometimes they were required to fly the Union Jack or the flag of the commissioning country in a corner of their flag and at other times they were not. Of course since the whole business bordered outside the law, some ships would fly a Union Jack illegally. Governments would commission privateers to attack merchant ships of the country they felt wronged by.

In general the rouges were out to gain in booty and plunder sailing their privately owned vessel, attacking whomever they wished, not always sticking to the merchant boats of the nation they were supposed to. Any government, colonial, royal or both could give out this letter of marque but not everyone recognized it as a legal profession. King James I, of "occasional twists of refinement" not only recognized his own privateers but referred to their profession as "committing of a splendid furtum (magnificent theft)".

Wartime Employment

In times of war, pirates could find jobs under this semi-legal blanket and make out well. Between wars the same men in need of employment, took to the illegal side because the money was so good. Throughout the seventeenth century this pattern of legal and illegal employment opportunities repeated quite a few times as England and France fought Spain then later England fought France. Just before King William's War, in 1688, England made a call saying it would pardon pirates. The following year England hired privateers for King William's War--known to them as the War of the League of Augsburg.

After the English and French fought again in Queen Anne's War (1702-1713), the privateer force that had been again built up was out of business. This was still during the Golden Age of Piracy, said to end by 1720. Pirates rallied to set up base on the Bahaman island of New Providence where operations branched out up the North American coast. As Peter Rankin says of the former privateers put out of business: "Poverty drove them to crime and experience drove them to piracy".

Pay

In the case of British privateers, the crown would get

ten percent of the booty, the Colonial government, a share of the remaining and the privateers would split up the rest. Some North American Colonials looking for a way to make profit would even invest, outfit or buy shares in privateer ventures because they turned out so successfully.

Marooners

This is another term generally used to describe pirates. Maroon comes from the Caribbean where the Spanish word "cimarrón"- to describe anything wild or untamed was used for runaway slaves and later for lost people in general. The practice of marooning was a punishment, used by pirates, in which a seaman was left on a desert island to die. The Caribbean is ideal for this because by high tide its many small sand islands disappear and eventually the marooned pirate would die.

Buccaneers

After the Americas were "discovered" and taken over, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Spain was the principal holder of all South, North, Central America and the West Indies. The areas actually occupied by Spaniards were the Caribbean, South America and Panama, collectively known as the Spanish Main. Pirates from other countries would prey on ships returning to Spain across the Atlantic Ocean full of new world treasure. After 1588, when England defeated the Spanish Armada, Spain suffered a reduction in sea power and areas such as North America's east coast and the Caribbean could now be settled by French and English people willing to venture into the unknown. Spaniards had settled in the Caribbean briefly, long enough to kill many of the inhabitants, but then moved further west in search of gold. Despite Spanish efforts to keep them out some Frenchmen settled in Hispanola (Haiti) in seeking religious or political refuge from France.

How they became buccaneers:

From the previous Spanish settlers Haiti was inhabited by cattle and pigs living on their own. The French settlers made do and dried and salted the meat in long strips over racks of sticks used by hunters called "boucans." Seamen would then

come by and trade for the meat, which was a pleasant change from their usual, everyday salt pork. Thus these Haitians became known as the "boucaniers," "bucaniers," or "buccaneers."

Sailors who deserted from stopping ships began to add to the population on Haiti so that in order to thin out the population some left for Tortuga (Ile de la Tortue) an island a little northwest of Haiti. Filibusters, were men who

hopped on passing ships and left either of these islands by the same method as new residents joined the buccaneers. Spain then raided Haiti in an attempt to keep its territory. As a consequence, Tortuga became the buccaneer headquarters. The life of crime did not start with a sail Was it crime or was it patriotism? Residents of Tortuga's "Pirate Republic" took to raiding Spanish ships. With canoes like the one below, paddling oars, they would lie in wait to jump in and plunder or capture Spanish ships. Tortuga gained a defense fleet of

captured Spanish ships and gained defense arms of Spanish guns. The buccaneers also made a profit on this pirating and could give up the meat business. Tortuga's trade with the Dutch and French was then conducted with gold. In 1640 Tortuga was taken over by the French who did not in any way control the buccaneer's selective pirating of Spanish ships.

English move in to the Caribbean, Bigger Buccaneer Business:

Buccaneer to the English became a word synonymous with pirate, or pirate in Caribbean waters. This is probably because in 1665 they took Jamaica, a Spanish island and in addition to the British Navy, available buccaneers of the area assisted in defending against the Spaniards. In May 1667, Spain and England signed a treaty not to interfere with the trade of the other country. However the treaty did not specifically mention the Americas or the Caribbean. Spain took this as free ground (or water) to harass Jamaica while England gave the Governor of Jamaica no means to defend the island.

Freebooters, Henry Morgan

Jamaica's government could not pay the buccaneers but it allowed them to attack Spanish ships. In this case the Buccaneers were neither Privateer nor were they just pirates, they were freebooters. Jamaica received free naval service and the buccaneers got free reign to go after booty. In fact the Jamaican government took a share of the booty when the buccaneer Henry Morgan

landed the job of rallying forces and attacking Spanish ships and settlements. Jamaica gave Henry Morgan in 1670 a commission for protecting the island when the Spanish attacked.

"Treaty of America"

Finally, in 1674, England and France signed a new treaty, the "Treaty of America" in which Spain said it was okay for England to colonize America. No more was Jamaica was attacked by the Spanish but pirating and privateering continued in the Caribbean as French and Danish islands hired buccaneers as privateers and other buccaneers became pirates in general. At this time in order to protect its treasure galleons, Spain began to convoy them with men of war. Ironically this meant that English ships became the easier and more usual victims of pirates.

The English Colonies in North America:

Early Colonies, Prior to the Golden Age Prior to the Golden Age of Piracy (1690-1720), a few New Englanders had made fortunes in pirating Spanish ships. In particular it was the Pirates who profited from North American colonies. As towns were settled along the coast, and England made laws to restrict colonial trade to England itself, new settlers welcomed and relied on pirate goods. As they became more and more established, the colonies would become less friendly.

Chesapeake Bay:

The Chesapeake Bay had more troubles with pirates than the other colonies. The region had no urban centers for pirates to cavort in with their gold plunder. It was instead a region hit by the pirates for booty. The

Chesapeake was also an easy hit because there were few defenses and the ones commissioned by the Governor in the 1680's proved ineffectual. Further to the south, North Carolina became a base from which pirates would dart to the Chesapeake to capture ships and then dart home to avoid consequences in Virginia.

Pirate Friendly Colonies:

In fact the governor of North Carolina, Seth Sothel, had no problem with the pirates keeping a base in his colony because they brought in commerce with their booty. In 1684 England made a royal proclamation for the colonies to stop

dealing with pirates because it had become too open of a supposedly illegal operation in so many colonies. Pirates had gained good standing in the colonies. Retired, they could obtain government positions as occurred in

Pennsylvania. They became friends of governors by bribing them. In addition to North Carolina the northern colonies with a commerce based on shipping: New Jersey, Delaware, Boston, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York were all not

without taint. Pirates were welcomed, trade was conducted and their ships re- outfitted. The English proclamation to stop dealing with pirates may at most have resulted in lenient laws like the Massachusetts one in which captured pirates could pay their out of jail or be sold as indentured servants to Virginia.

The Golden Age of Piracy - 1690-1720:

Some of the most famous names in piracy came out of this period in which Pirates had a complete free for all with the world. In the Caribbean, pirates had gotten so out of hand so that all countries began to use convoys. North America became a target for pirates with the Caribbean or North American ports as home bases. The main base was the island of New Providence in the Caribbean.

Colonial North America in the Golden Age:

By 1700, North American cities although they had welcomed pirates for trade, were themselves getting ravaged. Pirate history in North America in the Golden Age consists of a long string of famous pirates and famous pirate chase stories. Many of them end with the pirate ship sailing into a North American or Caribbean port where gallows were waiting. Two wars between France and England occurred in this period. King William's War (1689-1697) and Queen Anne's war (1702-1713) which was fought in the Americas by the English, their hired privateers and the colonists. England put many pirates in "legal" business by commissioning them as privateers for these wars. Massachusetts also built up naval defenses for itself because French privateers were attacking the Massachusetts and Rhode Island coast.

Pirate Control Efforts did not work too well at first. New York's governor Bellmont decided to take measures in 1695 by hiring and outfitting Captain

William Kidd as a privateer to hopefully get the world rid of "The Red Sea Pirates." Kidd was given a brand new ship, the Adventure, weapons and men. When out on the ocean Kidd and crew decided to turn pirate instead. Back in England and the Colonies, hearsay of Kidd's deeds made him famous but also put a price on his head. In 1702, Kidd was hung in Boston.

Alexander Spotswood became the Governor of Virginia in 1711 and brought with him defense ships and plans to fortify the entrance to the Chesapeake bay. He found it difficult to get cooperation from other members of the colony or from England to which he wrote repeatedly asking for battleship protection and arms. In Spring 1717 the pirate Black Bellamy entered the bay briefly, Spotswood got word, and relayed warnings to New York and Boston that the pirates were coming their way. Spotswood finally got two warships from England that

summer -the HMS Pearl and HMS Lyme, This was the kind of protection he had been asking for. Spotswood the next year endeavored to do away with Blackbeard, (Edward Teach). This renown pirate had been in business since Queen Anne's war. Spostwood secretly sent two boats down to the Carolinas on a secret mission to get rid of the menace. Blackbeard's death marked the closing of the Golden Age of piracy.