Francis Drake Began as a pirate attacking towns and ships “on his own”. Many think he was secretly an English privateer. In 1577 Queen Elizabeth secretly began financing his voyages. One voyage took over 3 years and ends up with Drake being the first Englishman to circle the world.

El Draco (The Dragon) He was appointed leader of the Elizabethan Sea Dogs and eventually the leader of the English Navy. He led the English navy in victory over the powerful Spanish Armada. In Spain he was seen as a vicious criminal, in England; a hero.

Freedom!

Democracy A pirate ship ran like a democracy. Captains were chosen by popular vote. They could be voted out at any time. Even women and people of other nationalities were treated as equals if they were part of the crew.

Democracy Treasure was divided up among the crew. Normal sailors kept nothing. Instead, what they found went to their governor or whomever financed the ship. Pirates had no social classes so you could truly earn you way to a better life!

Equal Rights? Pirates often captured slave ships. Most of the time they would simply sell off the slaves without a care. Sometimes though they would take them on as members of the crew. It could be said that a pirate ship was the best opportunity for freedom for blacks in the new world.

A Pirate’s life for me?

The Myth Pirates are often seen as heroic figures, almost like Robin Hood. They are free, have fun and women love them. It seems they all strike it rich and live wonderful lives.

However……….. People turned to piracy for pure survival, for most, it was piracy or death by starvation. Very few ever became rich. Most were captured and executed. Even the most successful pirates had careers of only about two years.

And worse.. They were violent, dirty, evil terrorists. Often they would torture those they captured purely for the pleasure of it. They didn’t care who they stole from, hurt or killed and romance was the last thing on their minds. It was not a life to envy.

Blackbeard 11

1. Former british privateer. 2 1. Former british privateer. 2. early on captures the french ship Concorde, renaming it The Queen Anne’s Revenge and making it his flagship.

Rumored to have shot one of his own crew members. “If I didn’t shoot a crewman or two now and then they’d forget who I was…”

Ah, can’t wait to return to Europe with all this gold! Okrakoke, working with North caro gov, blockade of charleston for medicine, gov of virginia gets sick of him and sends out a crew to kill him Arrr! Not so fast laddys!

Head chopped off, swims around boat 3 times before sinking.