8 Facts about the life of pirates that are nothing more than myths invented by Hollywood

Hundreds of books and dozens of movies have been produced about the romance and adventure of pirates’ lives. So much so that for most of us these days, the image of a privateer is that of an evil captain with a parrot on his shoulder who buries treasures on lost islands. Not to mention its faithful grumpy sailors, among whom there is always one who walks on a wooden leg or constantly adjusts his eye patch. However, most of the “facts” we know about these ancient malefactors of the seas are certainly fiction.

we, from awesome.club, we have re-watched many of the movies and series about pirates, and we are ready to unravel 8 myths about the life and behavior of these ancient robbers of the seas. Check out!

In the film world, there may even be a legend that a woman on the ship caused problems, but, judging by the real stories of privateers, the opponents of the pirate captains were the ones who were in trouble. For example, Jeanne de Belleville, widow of the nobleman Olivier de Clisson, sold all her belongings and went to sea under black sails to avenge the death of her husband.

Sayda el Hora is another famous pirate. She had a cooperation agreement with the former Ottoman privateer and admiral Barbarossa and controlled the Mediterranean Sea in the early 16th century🇧🇷 A successful attack on Gibraltar further strengthened her reputation as one of the most formidable pirates of the day. By the way, at the same time that she was dedicated to piracy, Sayda was also the ruler of the city of Tetouan, in present-day Morocco. Above, you can see a painting of the famous pirate on the right.

Of course, pirate activity is associated with the sea. However, corsairs often operated on land as well, sometimes even capturing coastal cities and fortresses🇧🇷 The admiral and former pirate Barbarossa became famous for this, so much so that he became ruler of Algiers, and later invaded several cities in Italy and Spain.

Legendary privateer Henry Morgan was a true master of land-based expeditions. During his foray into Panama, he traversed the jungle and sacked Panama City. A few years later, Morgan became the lieutenant governor of Jamaica.

Paradoxically, the pirates had a well-developed democratic system and all key positions were elected; unlike the crews of military or civilian ships, in which the captain was appointed. As noted at the time, absolute authority ultimately meant that sailors and officers were underpaid, underfed and overworked.

Thus, the pirates decided on absolutely everything through general voting: where to sail, who to steal, what to do with the prisoners. So, on the whole, the captain’s voice weighed no more than that of the common privateer.🇧🇷 The division of the spoils was also fair, taking into account the contribution and competence of each pirate. And all this, by the way, was clearly written in a special rule code.

Surely, everyone has heard that pirates were notorious and ruthless bandits. But in reality, it was not so. Due to low wages and poor working conditions, many civilian and even military sailors ended up joining piracy. In fact, on privateer ships they found the same kind of work, but with much more favorable conditions.

Generally, pirates treated their victims quite humane for their time🇧🇷 Their objective was to loot the goods, reprisals were rare and were only intended to scare and create a reputation. Historian David Moore wrote of Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard: “There is no documentary evidence that proves he was cruel. With the exception of his last battle, but in that case he fought primarily in his own defense.”

The first who came up with the idea that the prisoner was sent to walk the plank on a pirate ship was the writer Daniel Defoe in his book A General History of Pirates. After that, this interpretation was adopted by other authors and thus replicated in society. In fact, there is no evidence that the privateers forced their prisoners to do this.

A hook instead of a hand and a wooden leg are perhaps one of the first associations we make with pirates. These “prostheses” did indeed exist. In those days, sailors often wound up seriously injuring themselves, but few managed to remain fully functional afterward. Pirates who injured their legs often received compensation and were retired🇧🇷 On the other hand, having a hook instead of a hand was less disruptive to activities and the privateer could still continue to devote himself to piracy.

On the other hand, the use of eye patches was not related to injuries. The accessory was used so that the closed eye could get used to the low light, in case they had to invade a dark compartment on a ship.

According to this popular myth, pirates buried treasure on uninhabited islands or other secret places all the time. If that were so, the world should be full of forgotten treasures. But this, of course, is far from the truth. There are only a few notable examples of this practice in history. One of them is William Kidd’s treasure, which was quickly found by the authorities. And the captain — arrested. Another case is the looting of Francis Drake, who hid his booty immediately after stealing it, returning later to retrieve it.

Furthermore, pirate trophies are not always they were gold and jewelry🇧🇷 Most of the time, they were content with looting of groceries, weapons, or food products that could be resold.

During the golden age of piracy, exotic animals and birds became fashionable in Europe. Parrots were easy to transport and, at the time, were worth a good deal. So it stands to reason that pirates were dedicated to their transport. However, it is not really known about any captain or sailor who crossed the seas with one of these birds on his shoulders.

On the other hand, it is known that cats were bred on ships. They were not fussy animals and were still good at hunting mice and rats. Furthermore, according to the sailors’ belief, the cats brought luck on board.

What strikes you most about the pirate way of life? What is your favorite movie or series on this topic? Tell us in the comments section.