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Pf r.cttes written by Rupert Motthews illustroted by Sue Hendro ond Poul Linnet

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consultont: Bob Rees

Contents page

Whot ore pirotes? Pirqte ships Life on boord Pirote weopons Fernole pirotes Pirqte treosure Pirqte lows Life qshore A pirqte's fote Fornous pirotes Fontqstic fqcts Amqzing pirote owords Glossory Index

6 8 10 L2 L4 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 31

A cotologue record for this book is ovoiloble from the British Librory Published by Lodyblrd Books Ltd BO Strond London WC2R ORL A Penguin ComPonY

2468l09z53l O

LADYBIRD

ond

the

LADYBIRD BOOKS LTD MMVIII

d"ui." of o Lodybird ore irodemorks of Lodybird Books

Produced by Colcium for Lodybird Books

All rights reserved. No port of this publicotion moy be reproduced' ony meons' stored ii o retrievol system, or tronsmitled in ony form or by electronic, mechonicol, photocopying, recording or otherwise' without the prior consent of the copyright owner' ISBN-l

3:9781 84646 923 Printed in Chino

7

Ltd

Ltd

Some words qppeff in bold in this book. Turn to the glossory to leorn qbout them.

Whot dre pirdtes? The word pirote meons 'ottocker'. Pirotes were men, ond Sometimes women, who coptured merchcrnt ships. They stole o ship's treqsure ond goods, plus sometimes the ship os well.

Some merchant

ships didn't just coruy gold. They were decorqted

with it, too!

Some lorge merchqnt ships corried o lot of

gold qnd treqsure. Pirotes who coptured these ships could become very rich,

very quickly.

Pirates fought fiercely. They could olso be very cruel to coptured soilors.

Pirdte ships

Pirqte copto.ins flew frightening flogs on their

Pirote ships come in mony shopes ond srzes. Some were big, with over twenty ctrnnons ond 200 men. Others were smoll, with just o few guns ond o smoll crew. Smoll ships were colled sloops or cutters.

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ships. These were used to scqre the crews of merchont ships, so they

would surrender without o fight. Pirete flags were

cqlled Jolly rogers'. Henry Avery's flog

Lorge pirote ships ottocked big merchont ships corrying

mony goods. Thot meont more treosure for the pirotes!

Stede Bonnet's flog

Blockbeqrd's

flog

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sloop

lorge pirote ship

Ioops or cutters were smqll enough , hide

8

inlet

-

in inlets, but they could only

It,ock smoll merchqnt boots.

I

Pirqtes sqng shcrnties to keep time with eqch other os they worked.

Pirqtes used cD(es to help them climb up o ship's

Pirdte wedPonS Pirotes usuolly tried to boord o merchont shiP, rother thon dctmoge it in bqttle. TheY fought the crew with swords cqlled cutlcrsses ond doggers.

wooden sides.

In bqttle, pirote shiPs fired cqnnonbcrlls of merchqnt shiPs' The botls ripped through soils qnd rigging. The domoge to its scrils stopped the shiP from soiling owoy.

Spiked pieces of metol shoped like o storfish were thrown onto the deck of q merchont ship. They were

colled crow's feet ond coused

terrible injuries if someone trod on them.

Femole pirdtes Most women only went to seo to be with their soilor husbqnds. However, cr few of these women joined pirote crews ond become pirotes. The most fqmous femole pirotes were

Anne Bonny ond Mory Reod fought with o crew run by

heod scorf

Anne Bonny qnd Mory Reqd.

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Women were not

usuolly qllowed on pirote ships. They dressed in men's

to dissuise f themselves. clothes

woist sqsh

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Alf,

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L4

shoel

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Anne Bo

MoryReqd

Mory ond Anne were eventuolly cought by the British norr5r. Mory died in prison, but Anne wcrs loter releqsed.

stocking

Jqck Rqckhqm

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Pirdte tredsure Pirotes stole oll sorts of things, but gold ond treosure were most vqluoble. Pirotes qlso stole goods such os socks of rice ond sugor, bqrrels of molqsses or dried fish ond even cloth. Pirotes sold the goods when they sailed into port.

Pirotes stole ony coins they could find. Doubloons were coins mqde from heovy gold. Pieces of eight were smoller coins mode from silver.

Pirotes often wore foncy,

brightly coloured clothes. They bought them with the money they stole.

Only q few pirotes buried their treqsure. Most spent it.

Pirdte lows Articles were rules thot pirotes ogreed to before they could join o crew. The rules explqined how treqsure would be divided up qnd how pirotes should behove. Pirotes were punished if they broke the rules especiolly if they stole from crnother pirote.

Treqsure wqs divided piles qt the end : i !':- into :.. ' of q trip. Often, o blindfolded pirote chose who got eqch pile.

One punishment wos colled

'wolking the plonk'. Pirotes were mqde to jump into the oceon - then the ship scriled owqy!

Sometimes pirotes were left on lcrr-owoy islonds on their own. This 1runishment wos colled morooning.

19

Life clShore

Seoweed qnd

bcrrnccles grew on the bottom of pirote ships. They were

Pirotes soiled into ports to find food ond wotey, ond to repoir their ships. They olso sold their treosure in ports. Pirotes hod to be coreful oshore. If they were cctught, they could be orrested ond put on

scroped off the ship while it wos qshore. Modogoscor is on

islond off the coost of Africo. Between 1680 ond L7L0, it becqme o pirqte

triql.

islond. Pirotes set up home there with their fqmilies. Pirqtes hod fun in ports. They spent the money they rnode of seo on wild porties, food ond drink!

Some pirotes

gombled

rll of their money when I

hey come qshore.

2L

o

A pirdte's f ate Some pirotes were lucky. They mode o lot of money ond retired to enjoy it.

Sometimes, pirotes were brqnded os o

punishment. This meqnt being burned with o hot iron shope, to mork them for life.

Others were not so fortunote. Some died in bottle or were killed by other pirotes. If cought, pirotes were punished horribly.

pillory

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Coptured pirotes were usuolly honged. Sometimes their bodies were put in ct metql frqme 0s o

worning to other pirotes. This wos known os being hung in irons. Pirotes were often meosured to fit their frome before they were honged.

22

metol frorne

il Pillories were wooden boords thot held people by their wrists ond necks. Pirotes were choined to them so people could throw things of them, or coll them nornes.

23

Edwqrd Low wqs such o cruel coptoin thot his own crew set him crdrift in o rowing boot with no food ond woter!

Ching Shih wos the wife of q Chinese pirote coptain. When he died, she took control of his crew qnd becqme o.n even greoter coptoin thqn her husbond. Ching Shih ruled 1,800 ships qnd their crews, ond stole treosure from everywhere olong the coost of Chino. ;i;

Fontostic facts

If they didn't like their coptoin, pirote

Sometimes pirote ships flew o red

crews could vote

for q new one.

flog. The flog told

other ships thqt the Eqch pirote

pirotes would fight to the deqth qnd kill

coptoin designed his own flog.

everyone on boord. Christopher Moody's flog

Pirqtes were not qllowed to steql from eqch other. If they did, their eors ond nose were cut off 0s q punishment.

A pirote crew could use their coptoin's cobin whenever they wqnted.

Blqckbeqrd's fovourite drink wqs rum mixed with gunpowder!

Pirqte ccptoins poid their crew for ony injuries received in bottle. A finger or tln eye could be worth 100 silver pieces. Some pirotes moy hove been poid 600 silver pieces for on injured leg or orm.

O

Coptured pirotes were not olwoys honged. Some were pordoned. Thqt meqnt their king forgcve them.

o

Coptoin Kidd mode qbout two million pounds crs q pirote. He wos one of the richest pirotes.

a

shipurecked or morooned pirotes often found very little food on desert islcrnds. Rqther thqn storve, they sometimes ote their belongings, or eoch other!

Am o'zi n9

pirdte dwdrds

In 1695 pirote coptoin Henry Avery stole qll the treqsure on boqrd the Gang -I- Sawai . It wqs worth qbout I40 million pounds in todoy's money!

The Royal Fortune wos the most powerful pirqte ship. It wqs o worship ond hod 52 guns.

* In

sh@ffir@st c@m@@m Just one hour ofter John Eoton become o pirote, he wos coptured by the no\y. He wos honged for being port of q pirote crew.

17L8 Blockbeord qnd his

pirote friend Chqrles Vqne threw o porty for their crews. It lqsted for over q week!

Edword Englond's crew thought he wcrs too kind. They socked him ond left him on o desert islond!

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Johnny Bleord become q. pirote when he wqs just 13 yeors old!

Closso ry

Index

adrift - when someone is put in o boot ond left of

merchant shiF -

q ship

thot

conies goods.

A orticles

prison for breoking the lqw.

molasses - q type of thick, dork syrup.

seo.

orrested - to be held in

tr

18

Avery Henry

9,28

barnocles - smqll onimols

ncvy - soilors ond ships

B

that con glue themselves to

thot work for the king or

Blockbeqrd 9,24,26,28

rocks qnd ships.

government of o country.

ccnnon -

o big gun

thqt

port - o town next to

fires metql bqlls.

o horbour.

cdnnonboll -

retire - when

q metol bolt

fired from o cqnnon.

Bonny,

someone

stops working.

cutlosS-oheorysword with q short blode. desert island - on islond thqt no one lives on. gomble - to bet money,

strong rhythm ond is used to help people work.

or possessions.

shipwrecked - when

goods

-

onything thqt con

rigging - ropes thot hold up mosts.

Shanty -

o ship

is destroyed ond the crew ore forced to qbondon it.

clothes ond furniture.

tricrl - when o court heors

gunpowder - o powder thqt mokes explosions

how tr person hqs broken the low ond decides how they will

when it is lit.

be punished.

inlet - where the seo reoches further inlond thon

wcrrship

30

Zg g

Anne

Moody,

19,27 G-7,8-9, 12-13, 30

Christopher

26

ltt novy, the

L5,29

L4-L5 P

c

ccrnnons connonbolls clothes cutlqsses

pirote

ships

8-9, 10-11,

8, 12,80 LZ, B0

10, 14, 16

L2,2L,29

ports

punishment

L2, g0

16, 20, g0

1b, 18-19,

22-23,26-27

o song thot hos o

be bought, such qs food

the rest of the coqst.

Bleord, Johnny Bonnet, Stede

mcrooning merchont ships

- o ship built

bottles of seq.

D

desert

islqnds

R

27, 28, B0

Rqckhqm, Jock Reod,

Mary

E

Eoton, John Englond, Edword

Zg

28

F

flogs food

g, 26-27 11, lG, 20,25,27

s shonties Shih, Ching shipwrecks

11, 30 25

27, 30

T

treosure

6, 8, I6-L7, Lg,

G

to fight

15

L4-I5

gombling gold guns gunpowder L Low,

Edword

20,29 ZL, B0

Tew,

Thomqs

g

G-7, I6-L7

8,29 2G,90

w worships weevils

29,30 11

25

31

M@d @b@ut"..

Pf rcttes From ships qnd scurvy

to crews qnd cutlqsses,

this book is pdcked with fqscinqting fqcts lor qll children who dre mqd obout pirotes.

Titles in th is series:

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