Pirate Diary DED
| (Effect)
“Smuggling seems hardly a crime to me. It just means avoiding the customs taxes that ships pay to unload their cargo. Abe says, “Each the king’s men who search the ship ignore contraband as long as we give’em a share!”…”Why should we Americans pay taxes to an English king who cares nothing about us and gives us no say in the way our affairs are run?” So we avoid ports in England and Jamaica where we must pay the custom fees. Instead we unload cargoes in Spanish, Dutch, and French ports in the West Indies and pay nothing.” |
(Cause)
Colonists left England for American soil because they were unable to worship freely. However, King George of England still had control over colonists’ lives through trade regulations and business affairs. King George also had money in fees for docking ships at port, as well as custom fees- which had to do with shipping goods. Therefore, the pirates chose to go to ports that were not associated with English laws-therefore avoiding people who worked for the King. |
| “Will’s tormentors then bundled him into the skiff, the smallest of our three boats—I heard the splash as it was lowered. By the time I was untied, my uncle was hardly more than a dot far astern.”
Page 19, Paragraph 7 |
I wonder how he must have felt to watch his Uncle take the punishment for something he did. For a 10 year old boy to see this…is heartbreaking.
I also wonder what “astern” means- www.dictionary.com says- “in a position behind a vessel” |
| “Our captain grudgingly agreed to give them a barrel, for we had plenty, and we shortened sail, slowing the Greyhound so that their men could come aboard.” Page 21, Paragraph 6 |
Would pirates actually allow another crew to come aboard their ship? I know from my readings that they were not as violent as the movies show, but still, would they trust another captain and crew on their ship in order to exchange goods? |
What If You Met a Pirate? DED
| “Gold earrings had a purpose: If a sailor fell overboard, (most couldn’t swim), then washed ashore, the gold ring paid the cost of burying his body with a church service and a headstone.”
Page 5 |
If a church service was important a pirate, and a headstone, does that mean most pirates were religious? I wonder what kind of religion most pirates were affiliated with. |
| “Pirates often sailed schooners or sloops, which could sail almost three times the distance the schooner sails to reach the same place!”
Page 12, Under heading: What Was So Special |
Pirates had to escape the Royal Navy’s larger ships, which could not move as quickly as their smaller boats. These large ships were called “frigates” and had to travel at larger angles to get somewhere. Page 13 |
| Were pirates only after precious jewels and gold pieces? | Page 22 and 22 Plunder-The things that pirates stole-included gold and jewelry, but really consisted of anything that they could sell. This included sugar, food, spices, and cloth. These were items that the colonists would buy from them, tax free. |
