What would you do?

[JohnnyTarr]

Ok I know that most of us would like to be pirates. What I am asking if you went back to the GAoP today ,what do you think you would end up doing?

[Captain Jim]

Seaman or ship's captain, honestly if possible, pyrate if not. If I couldn't go to sea, then for me it's the frontier.

[Misson]

Probably be a writer or a craftsman. (Probably be dead without insulin.) I'm too honest to be a proper pirate.

[Red-Handed Jill]

As a woman, I'd probably have to disguise myself to do what I wanted, since I've always tended to take the road not taken. I'd probably be a carpenter or other kind of craftsperson or more likely, someone who fixes things. Would probably be the one in back doing the fixing while my business partner handled the front office.

[Ransom]

Scribe or book illustrator. Could set up a booth in the market square and charge to write letters for people who are illiterate. Maybe sell books, pamphlets, or plays as well. Nothing seditious, of course!

[BriarRose Kildare]

I would probably be a lady of quality. However, I can see myself writing and creating stories from the old myths, ledgends and folklore. I would assume a male pen name so that I would be able to be more easily published.

(I love to write....it is in me blood, heart and soul)

[Misson]

Actually, from my understanding of the period, the men would all probably be in a trade similar, if not identical, to their fathers and the women would be wives of the men. (Independent women are a very recent phenomena, statistical outliers (exceptions that we hear so much about) notwithstanding. Although Jill probably has a good point on that front; strong-minded women likely had a lot of say - even if it was confined more to the background for sake of appearance. I have read short biographies of several women from around this period who basically ran the household and even the business for their less competent husbands. ) I understand that many societies in that period were almost caste like, including Great Britain. So if your father was a tradesman, you were a tradesman. If he was a sailor, you were likely a sailor.

[JohnnyTarr]

Actually, from my understanding of the period, the men would all probably be in a trade similar, if not identical, to their fathers and the women would be wives of the men. (Independent women are a very recent phenomena, statistical outliers (exceptions that we hear so much about) notwithstanding. Although Jill probably has a good point on that front; strong-minded women likely had a lot of say - even if it was confined more to the background for sake of appearance. I have read short biographies of several women from around this period who basically ran the household and even the business for their less competent husbands. ) I understand that many societies in that period were almost caste like, including Great Britain. So if your father was a tradesman, you were a tradesman. If he was a sailor, you were likely a sailor.

That is exactly how it would be. The main reason was lack of schooling. What your father did would be the only schooling that most would recive. Now for me I would like to try for a ships carpenter. I think that I could make that.

[Misson]

That's an interesting point about the schooling. Now that you mention it, most of the women who ran things in the background that I have read about were privately educated - an unusual occurrence during this period.

[Silkie McDonough]

Most likely an indentured servant (slave), a widow, uneducated.

Perhaps a courtesan/actress if I were able to aspire to that ...position

Preferably like Jill has described. maybe a sutler, probably a tailor.

UNLESS ! ...I were a man ...I have been told that in my previous lives I was a man ...so ...I would likely be a carpenter my great great grandfather was, or a cooper like another great grandfather.

Now, if I am dreaming ...I am a woman of noble birth and noble deeds, a philanthropist helping the people who are less fortunate...

...

...all the while looking DANG good!

[BriarRose Kildare]

Aye Mission and Johnny Tarr you are both correct.

To add to my last post, yes I would be a lady of quality, perhaps upper middle class or lower upper class. I would be married as well to a man of the same rank. He would probably own several ships and perhaps even be a Captain or Admiral. I think too it would all depend upon the circumstances as to his background.

[Ransom]

I guess I was trying to be realistic, as opposed to wishful.

However, if I go by my own, researched ancestry, I would be a lady someone or other, but most of my long-ago relatives bailed out of England during the reformation and ended up in the New World around the early to mid 1600's, founding the town of Heartford, Connecut. So, maybe in that case, I'd be a governor's daughter? Probably married off to some boring land owner.

I think I'll stick with scribe/illustrator.

[Red-Handed Jill]

My ancestry is all over the place. Do I go with my Irish ancestry? Then I'd most likely be a fisherman's wife. Go with my Scottish ancestry and I'd be a member of the nobility (probably well-educated and pining to be an engineer.) Go with my French-Canadian ancestry and I'd be a wealthy landowner (and probably still pining to be an engineer.) Go with the Indonesian ancestry and I would probably be a head-hunter (I'm sure that's what my ancestors were...) Go with the North African ancestry and... dunno. Probably an engineer!

[Dorian Lasseter]

Hmmmm....

Good chance I'd be a sailor...

But, an ancestor at the time, well 1750, was a wagon maker, I assume his father was a wagon maker as per the other statements above.

There are many possibilities... from land owner and Irish noble to petty thief...

What would I want to do?

Sailor still at the top of the list.

Merchant sailor not a fisherman.

Or some form of military man.

[Capt. Bo of the WTF co.]

Blacksmith/metalworker would be my first choice. Hunter/boucaneer second.

Highwayman if things didn't turn out for the profit of it all.

Bo

[Abrams]

My father is a carpenter, so probably I'd be that...

I could also picture being a normal seaman (clearly), a merchant, or just a commoner working odd jobs and whatnot.

[Captain Jim]

Actually, from my understanding of the period, the men would all probably be in a trade similar, if not identical, to their fathers and the women would be wives of the men..... So if your father was a tradesman, you were a tradesman. If he was a sailor, you were likely a sailor.

I'm going to, respectfully of course, disagree on part of this. "Running away to sea" was the best way to change one's position in life, especially for those sons not born first. Women, too, disguised as men, also took advantage of this avenue to a lesser degree of course. Not having the data at my fingertips I would still venture that the majority of the sailors of the era were the sons of tinkers, tailors, farmers and shopkeepers.

The lesser sons of nobles also took this route, but as junior officers and midshipmen.

[roytheodd]

I'd be a plowman. My actual last name is derived from the name of an agricultural town.

[Misson]

Actually, from my understanding of the period, the men would all probably be in a trade similar, if not identical, to their fathers and the women would be wives of the men..... So if your father was a tradesman, you were a tradesman. If he was a sailor, you were likely a sailor.

I'm going to, respectfully of course, disagree on part of this. "Running away to sea" was the best way to change one's position in life, especially for those sons not born first.

Yes, I have heard this as well. Still, do you think this was the norm or the exception? In other words, would the majority of people have wanted to do this? My guess is not. Just throwing numbers about willy-nilly, I'd say 10% or less of the young male population would go this route. But I could well be wrong and you do bring up a good point.

I wonder what percentage of men who did go to sea wound up turning pirate? I conjecture that this also would be small, although I have also wondered what percentage of pirates were successful enough that we know little about them? When I used to talk with Tony Malesic, who researched pirates extensively, I learned that most of our knowledge of people specifically involved piracy from the GAoP comes from legend, the few histories that were written down that cite names and court records. If a pirate were successfully picking off small merchant ships, we might not know about them.

Women, too, disguised as men, also took advantage of this avenue to a lesser degree of course.

I suspect this sort of behavior has been overstated to appeal to the increase in female independence in our country. (Where's that quote I was bandying about in another thread....)

"Each age tries to form its own conception of the past. Each age writes the history of the past anew with reference to the conditions uppermost in its own time." -Frederick Jackson Turner

In regard to women, I would guess that the percentage of the female population who would step far enough outside of the norm would drop to less than 1. Did it happen? Evidence agrees that it did. But was it typical behavior? No. My guess is that the number of women who did this would be less than 100. Maybe 200. Of course, here we have an event that would rarely be recorded, so I could be way off and we'd never know it. Still, more of the behavior we engage in comes from social custom than we realize.

(I'm probably be overly analytic on a thread that wasn't intended to be. This ain't Twill, so feel free to ignore me and post what you think you'd like to have done. My picky pirate knowledge muscles have gotten flabby and I thought I'd exercise them after Red-Handed Jill's post excited that buried store of era info I have gathered. )

[JohnnyTarr]

Actually, from my understanding of the period, the men would all probably be in a trade similar, if not identical, to their fathers and the women would be wives of the men..... So if your father was a tradesman, you were a tradesman. If he was a sailor, you were likely a sailor.

I'm going to, respectfully of course, disagree on part of this. "Running away to sea" was the best way to change one's position in life, especially for those sons not born first. Women, too, disguised as men, also took advantage of this avenue to a lesser degree of course. Not having the data at my fingertips I would still venture that the majority of the sailors of the era were the sons of tinkers, tailors, farmers and shopkeepers.

The lesser sons of nobles also took this route, but as junior officers and midshipmen.

But at what age would this be done. I doubt that many of us would be welcomed on a ship without extensive knowledge of how to handle one. I say this because I believe that most of us are over the age of 21 with no sailing knowledge.

[Misson]

However, there were "entry level" jobs on ships, just like any trade. Certain skilled trades like surgeons (barbers), carpenters and tailors would be desirable on a ship. Plus, keep in mind that a lot of the people who would do this were probably in their adolescence or teens. We as 21+ year olds would have been already well ensconced in our (most likely) life-long career. The idea of not "finding" your career until you are in your 20s or 30s is a very recent social phenomena. Just as the idea of multiple careers and jobs is a very recent social phenomena. (I just read that the average "young person" today will have 12-15 jobs and 4-7 careers in their lifetime. I've heard even higher estimates as well. Pretty amazing, isn't it?)

[Capt. Bo of the WTF co.]

Don't forget being "pressed" into service! Often as not, men were taken against their will, and sometimes without their knowledge (unconcious) aboard ships and they would learn very quickly the workings of a seamans trade or end up as fish poop!

Bo