Monster ship!

If there were a ship that were ever a golden target for pirates, it be an East Indiaman. She be by far the largest in the sea and best for long voyages. This titan weighed in at 700 tons! A pirate would spy this giant sea chest on the horizon and get doubloon $igns in his eyes. The maximum pirate crew was about 300 men, was probably possible only after successful runs in the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. She could carry about 54 cannons to each broadside, but this number was usually reduced to make room for more loot.

The vessels

It must be known to ye already that we pirates do most of our fightin at sea. Hollywood has portrayed our ships as huge and luxurious that had enough room for many people, a jail, cabins, and a place for all the loot. This is wrong. We used ships called "Sloops". They were usually about 30 to 60 feet long, could be manned by 20 to a maximum of about 70 men, and had about 15 cannons to each broadside. Sloops were small, but were very light and could travel extreamly fast. This was perfect because we were more of a "hit and run" type of people. These ships could easily manuver around others and sail in circles around bigger ships like Galleons. This way, pirates could hit everywere, take the loot, and then continue to the next victim.

In case any of you landlubbers decid to go on account..

Pirates have always talked a little strange in comparison to ye landlubbers. When ye live yer life in the sea and with uneducated people, thats what happens. Here me made a small list of some of the things we say.

Black Spot - a death threat among pirates made of a black spot or mark on a scrap of paper with more specific detail sometimes written on the other side
Dance the Hempen Jig - to hang (the rope ussually be made of hemp fibers)
Go on Account - pirates compare the act of becoming a pirate to going into business so we say that
Hempen Halter- The hangman's noose.
Hornswaggle - To cheat (mostly about gold)
Cackle Fruit - chicken eggs
Duffle - everything a pirate owns and also the nickname for the bag that holds it
Cockswain - Captain's attendant who would row him to and from the ship
Drivelswigger - a pirate that reads about nautical terms too much
Black Jack - large drinking cups made of leather that were made strong with tar
Bumboo - a West Indies drink made with watered rum, sugar and nutmeg
Grog - a mix of water and rum
Hogshead- a big barrel that can hold 63 to 140 gallons of rum =D
Davy Jones's Locker - the place at the ocean bottom that holds dead sailors and pirates...a reference to death.
To be in Davy's Grip: to be close to death or truly terrified
To have the Davies or the Joneseys: to be scared
To see you to Davy Jones: threatening to kill some one

The first Mate

The first mate is probably one of the most important crewmembers on the ship, and a position most pirates want. The first mate is the replacment of the Captain if he were to die, or if he were not in position to lead the crew at the moment. For instance, if ye be the Captain and ye were held in jail, yer first mate is now the Captain of the ship n crew, and he decides if they help ye or not. This happened quite oftenly, and most of the time the Captains end up dead, and the first mate is new Captain.

The Cap'n

In a crew of pirates, there was always a need of a seadog mighty and savvy enough to lead them all. This be the Captain of the ship. The Captain of the ship had to be one with a lot of witts about dirty sea faring, and he had to be ready to have the souls of all the men in the crew on his hands. He was usually the mate that knew everything about any position on the ship, and his place is leading the crew to victory in every battle. He had to be ready to tell everyone what be needed to be doing during engagement, and then during calm sailings, act as a father to the crew. Normally, the Captain was "elected" within the crew, and was usually someone who was already highly respected and whose word was always taken seriously. Once a Captain though, if the crew all feel that he is being to brutal, or is being stupid, they can begin a mutiny and maroon him.

Aye, pirates always need a wench!!

Gar, as I had already told ye all, women were never allowed onboard a ship. This be raising a question of great importance.. Did pirates ever have a woman to their side? Jeje, well of course they did! Tortuga was an island were most pirates went to for protection from the government and to have a good time. When pirates docked here, they needed to get off the ship to get gold from their pillages and go get some rum, and they usually took a few days, maybe weeks in doing this.. Did they need all that time? Jeje.. No. The pirates that survived all the battles went onto land and went straight to spending their newfound gold on rum and women. Sometimes, a pirate actually wanted to stay with a certain wench, and so two things were possible. The traitors would stay on land and become a landlubber. Others would break the rules and bring a wench aboard the ship. This was very dangerouse, women being bad luck onboard and all, so they had to dress the wench as a man, and she would have to work hard as another pirate. This broke many rules, and was risky for the wench and the mate trying to pull this. Although, if things worked out well, they would never get caught and would eventually die at sea together. =)

Answers to me mates

Someone seemed to be interested in me own flag, so me thinks me should address it.. Me flag is relativly simple. Most of the time, me likes to keep to the code, and when me see's those swine of pirates with no wits about what a pirate stands for, they are not going to be sailing for to long. jeje i hope this answerd your question mate!