Reddit reviews Under the Black Flag: The Romance and the Reality of Life Among the Pirates

Other posters have touched on the heart of it, but here is a little elaboration if you want to know more:

The only recorded instance of pirates burying treasure anywhere is when Captain William Kidd buried a portion of his ship's cargo on Long Island before meeting with Richard Coote, Earl of Bellomont and Governor of New York. It bears mentioning that he didn't bury this treasure specifically to dig it up later, but because he was facing charges of murder and piracy and his goods were likely to be seized.

He buried the treasure to use as a bargaining chip with Bellomont, hoping it would give him leverage and help him avoid going to trial (Bellomont was one of his benefactors and had even financed a previous voyage). This tactic failed completely, and Kidd's treasure was simply dug up. There are rumors that portions of it remain buried, but this is almost certainly nonsense.

I'd also like to point out that Kidd, in terms of what we usually refer to as 'pirates', hardly qualifies at all. He was well known and respected among the colonial nobility, went to sea with the funds and blessings of many high-ranking people, and happened to end up on the wrong end of a political scandal and with his hand in the cookie jar, so to speak. His trial was rushed, and he may have even had a legitimate letter of marque, making him a privateer, not a pirate.

Robert Louis Stevenson used Kidd (or rather, the fictionalized Kidd-as-pirate that had persisted to the late 19th century) as a prototype for Long John Silver, and embellished the part about burying his treasure. Treasure Island is really the root of so many of the pirate icons we know and love (peg legs, parrots, buried treasure, etc.).

If you're interested in learning more, I recommend you take a look at Captain Kidd and the War Against the Pirates, The Pirate Hunter, and Under the Black Flag.

Edit: It's actually Gardiner's Island, as one of the above posters mentioned, which is near Long Island, but is separate.

i think cordingly is the top scholar in the area, and his book under the black flag is a great read.

Which reminds me, I keep meaning to buy this book.

Well, we do know that Anne Bonney wasn't hanged. At least, no record shows she was, and there are records showing she was pardoned (along with Mary Read) for being being pregnant.

Mary ended up dying from infections while imprisoned. And Anne disappears from the records. It's presumed she was whisked away by her father (a lawyer/merchant) back to Ireland or the American Colonies.

I am happy we have a trailer with more of her in; she is an impressive historical figure considering the time's bias against women (though she was from a somewhat well to do stock). And she supports the notion that pirates were writing their own codes against ruling monarchies of the time.

Interestingly enough, both Anne and Mary had major reasons in their development from even a young age to start dressing like men and functioning as them. Anne was a bastard daughter and her father raised her in secret as a young boy training to be a lawyer. Mary was raised poorly, and could get work passing as a sailor (male only at the time).

This cross-dressing is not unheard of. Lafayette was so eager to fight in the American Revolution he dressed and acted as a woman to cross the Atlantic in order to fight (something French soldiers from France were not permitted to do).

Somethings to consider for our modern age biases.

Most of my knowledge on this is from "Under the Black Flag" which I have been reading in excitement for this game.

You might be interested in reading Under the Black Flag: The Romance and Reality of Life Among the Pirates. I haven't gotten very far into it myself, but I've enjoyed the bit that I have read.

I think it was this NPR review that originally introduced me to the book.

If you are interested in true pirate history, Under the Black Flag is a splendid book.

A lot of those stories sound bland because they were written by British Naval officers who tended to keep things short and to the point. A case in point being captain Bartholomew Roberts (if I remember it's been a while since I read about this) he was the most prolific pirate of all times in terms of ships captured, the reason for this being that he was known to be a harsh captain and ran his ship like a military vessel. The British finally caught up to him off the west coast in Africa and were finally able to take him down. What the reports fail to make a mention of was that they caught them in the middle of an intense storm with waterspouts apparently and that the only reason they were able to take him down was because most of his crew was still drunk from the night before since they raided a town. The actual history from the golden age of piracy is full of stories like this. Just gotta find the books that go into them a bit more.

This is the book a read years ago that has a ton of the stories you are looking for!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/081297722X/ref=pd_aw_fbt_14_img_3/147-4147247-5238661?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=NE5GTF1HX6Z2548HD1D4

Defoe

Woodard

Woodard

I'm guessing that these are the books they're using for history reference mainly.

Edit: Cordingly -Also a good resource book.

They've got it for cheap on Amazon if you don't mind second-hand buying, hardcover too!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Under-Black-Flag-Romance-Reality/dp/081297722X

>This one wasn't specifically answered except in that the Captain was generally elected. Were the other positions on a pirate ship analogous to other sailing ships?

Essentially, yes.

>So a quartermaster was picked because of his reputation and honesty. Were they deposed like pirate captains if they abused that power?

All positions were elected.

>Any specific resources for me to go to?

http://www.amazon.com/The-Invisible-Hook-Economics-Pirates/dp/0691150095/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346266258&sr=8-1&keywords=the+invisible+hook

http://www.amazon.com/Under-Black-Flag-Romance-Reality/dp/081297722X/ref=pd_sim_b_15

http://www.amazon.com/Villains-All-Nations-Atlantic-Pirates/dp/0807050253/ref=pd_sim_b_10

>So abducted crew that were pressed due to their skills weren't required to fight.

Not necessarily. Every pirate crew was different.

>What about crew that signed up voluntarily but still had the same skills?

Everyone fought. No fight, no money.

>Do we actually know of any examples where someone like a surgeon willingly joined a pirate crew before being abducted?

Yep

>I saw that pirate captains got 1.5 shares of any prizes. How was the rest divvied up?

Each was different. google pirate code to see examples of various codes.

>also you mentioned the "workman's comp" plan for pirates--did this come out of a general fund

it came out before the shares were divided.

>How were repairs and supplies paid for on a voyage?

Lol, paid? almost everything was stolen.

>Would they follow the practice of their issuing country or something similar?

They followed the signed articles. The sponsoring nation would also get a substantial cut, and it was common to hide spoils from them.

>Was ransom a common thing or were pirate crews generally more interested in getting to the goods?

Only wealthy people and government officials were ransomed really, it probably paid into the general fund.

>Presumably there was a whole secondary market set up with merchants being willing to buy from pirates and then resell later on.

Lol, oh yeah. Read the invisible hook and this one. also read up on Port Royal, Jamaica, the "wickedest city on earth."

>What kind of literature do we have on these secondary markets?

Lots. Read through the books I recommended and it will explain a ton of it.

Under the Black Flag! Nonfiction, incredibly interesting, and a great read that's hard to put down.

Under The Black Flag (The link is to the Amazon page)

http://www.amazon.com/Sailing-Ships-War-1400-1860/dp/0831776560/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405749703&sr=8-1&keywords=sailing+ships+of+war+1400-1860

http://www.amazon.com/Harbors-High-Seas-Edition-Aubrey-Maturin/dp/0805066144/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1405749730&sr=8-2&keywords=patrick+o%27brian+reference

http://www.amazon.com/Under-Black-Flag-Romance-Reality/dp/081297722X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405749757&sr=8-1&keywords=under+the+black+flag

all three good places to start. The second one is fantastic to have open and waiting while reading the O'Brian Books

For the most part pirates couldn't take advantage of boat yards and the like. They would regularly careen ships (anchor them in shallow water and wait for the tide to go out) so they could defoul the bottoms and re coat them. While most pirate ships would have employed a carpenter for a lot of maintenance such as regular careening the carpenter would be supervising and using the work of the crew. Careening would have taken place more often on a pirate vessel since speed was soo important to them. The carpenter may have had some base pay but usually would have been paid in shares (a portion of the loot). Materials, sails, extra masts, etc would have been stolen off other ships. Since a pirate ship would normally have a lot more crew than a merchant vessel labor was in no short supply. So it probably wouldn't cost a pirate much if anything in actual $$$ but there would have been a huge investment in time/labor. I've been reading a great book on it, Under the Black Flag by David Cordingly https://www.amazon.com/Under-Black-Flag-Romance-Reality/dp/081297722X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1465908075&sr=8-1&keywords=Under+the+Black+Flag

Having said that there were shares set aside for ship maintenance. A pirate captain didn't really own his pirate ship the whole crew did, and when not in battle everything was voted on, including who the captain was, so any cost of maintenance that might have occurred would have been a distributed cost.

Well, ok seems there was a misunderstanding between the historian and me. He was simply quoting it from a secondary source.

Finally, he was not sure where we would be able to find a copy of it but in the meantime, google scholars has more reliable sources than elsewhere.

Also, I didn't have the time to read it so I'm not sure how much it covers Black Beard but one book that was highly recommended for pirates is Under the black flag by David Cordingly

Hope this helps and sorry that I couldn't provide with more info.

https://www.amazon.com/Under-Black-Flag-Romance-Reality/dp/081297722X is one of the best nonfiction book on pirates.

If you want a sword & sorcery, fantasy version of pirates, Red Seas Under Red Skies is a great read. If you want just piratey fiction, Captain Blood is one of the best pirate books. It's older, but still in print. I love that thing!

> Under the Black Flag

Its on Amazon UK.

The graphic novels

Set to Sea by drew weing

Baggywrinkles by lucy bellwood

Crogan's Vengeance by Chris Schweizer

Literature

Master and Commander by Patrick O' Brian (based on historical events)

Two years before the Mast by Henrey Dana (Embellished but trueish)

The Wreck of the Whaleship Essex by Owen Chase (True Story)

Endurance by Alfred Lansing (True Story)

The United States Navy Blue Jackets Manual by Thomas J. Cutler (useful for facts and lingo as it's made for teaching seamen the basics)

Under the Black Flag by David Cordingly (Historical info on Pirates)

Movies

Master and Commander (acurat for film)

Yellowbeard (comedy)

Cutthroat Island (Actiony)

Captains Courageous (Just a Film Classic)

Captain Blood (Buckle Swashing)

All links are to the Amazon.com Listings, but most of this should be available via resale or library for less.

Hope this helps.

I read
"Under the Black Flag" which is nonfiction but was very enjoyable.
[linky] (http://www.amazon.com/Under-Black-Flag-Romance-Reality/dp/081297722X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342402253&sr=8-1&keywords=under+the+black+flag)

Well I went looking for it online and I stumbled on the show!!! I'm sorry I had the title wrong. It's called under the Black flag. https://www.amazon.com/Under-Black-Flag-Romance-Reality/dp/081297722X

This is a solid one

https://www.amazon.com/dp/081297722X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_CodyCbYNC7SBD