Period evidence on the nondescript pirate

[JoshuaRed]

I recently came across this telling quote while researching Blackbeard. During Blackbeard's final minutes in the fighting with the Royal Navy men on Maynard's sloop, the second Navy sloop, The Ranger, closed with Blackbeard's sloop and boarded it to clear out the remnants of his crew. It was here that one of the Ranger's crew was shot by another member of the Royal Navy,

"taking him by mistake for one of the pirates"

This was by Capt. George Gordon (in command of the Ranger during the engagement) in a letter he wrote dated Sept. 14th, 1721 to the Lords of Admiralty.

This is pretty clear evidence that pirates of the time looked no different than any other seaman, be they Royal Navy or otherwise.

[Fox]

Thanks for that Josh!

[JoshuaRed]

You're quite welcome! I've got some other interesting tidbits forthcoming.

[dasNdanger]

I wanna see the rest of yer tidbits!!!

I've always taken it for granted that the average seaman and the average pirate dressed about the same (while working - going to town may have been different)...as I've said before, they were sailors first, pirates second. However, I think some 'confusion' comes in when you go outside the confines of 'English' or European pirates, and start including pirates from around the world...so I have a question....

When and how did pirate attire change, especially in artists' illustrations?? I have a theory based on what I have read (here and elsewhere) about the evolution of pictures/illustrations over the years spanning c. 1700 to present day. Tell me what ya think - if it's possible, or not.

Up to and through the GAoP, there was a very strong English influence among pirates - both in their nationality and in their culture. True, there were pirates during this age of a variety of backgrounds, but the English and, by extension, other Europeans, lead the way. It would make sense, then, that the majority of pirates would dress like English/European sailors, with an exception made, perhaps, for black/Indian/Caribbean slaves/seamen. Now, when the GAoP collapsed, it didn't spell and end to all piracy - just for the more 'familiar' aspect of it. Piracy still flourished around the world, even in the Caribbean, but it now had a lower profile - the 'glamour' had been taken out of it, kinda like The Miss America Pagent. It still took place, just nobody noticed it as much. So fast forward a few years, perhaps to the start of the 19th century. By now surely there had been run-ins with pirates of all nationalities and backgrounds - pirates who dressed differently from their European counterparts from the past - perhaps in more 'colorful' attire, or less formal. Now, from what I see posted here, there's about a dozen or two illustrations of pirates from the GAoP, and not much else (other than written documentation that doesn't always give great detail). Could it be that artists looked to more contemporary pirates, perhaps ones from Asia or Africa, and incorporated their style of dress into illustrations of earlier pirates from the GAoP, making the excuse that 'all pirates are the same, anyway'? Isn't that what artists did with Indians from the Eastern US, portraying them in the style of dress of Western tribes because their cultures had been wiped out before accurate documentation could be made of their clothing and appearance? In other words, did artists begin blending two (or more) different piratical cultures into one standard fashion...and if so, is there any pictorial documentation of the evolution, or did it all - bucket boots, earrings, sashes, black trousers - just appear one day out of nowhere?

I know - should have made a new thread, but I had this wild train of thought going....

das

[JoshuaRed]

I have a great book called "Captured By Pirates" that is a collection of nothing but firsthand accounts of sailors, captains and passengers who were captured by pirates. Probably 2/3 of the book is accounts from the 19th century, mostly around Cuba. I'll see if I can find some good "Tidbits" from them to post!

Incidentally I feel the need to correct an error in my above post - on closer inspection it seems that Capt. Gordon was in command of the RN Guardship stationed at Jamestown. It was his Lt. Maynard and half his crew that were "loaned" to Spotswood to man the private sloops Spotswood leased specifically to hunt Blackbeard. I don't think Gordon was actually on the second sloop the day of the battle, but was writing the letter based on how his crew reported back to him. Either way, a RN sailor was shot being mistook for a pirate.

[Fox]

Either way, a RN sailor was shot being mistook for a pirate.

Which just goes to show what has been said on a number of other threads on a number of different subjects. Pirates were just seamen. They led slightly different lives perhaps, but in their dress and mannerisms they were essentially the same people as pirates as they had been maybe only weeks previously as legitimate seamen.

There was no RN uniform, and there was certainly no pirate "fashion" code. They both did the same job, they both lived in similar conditions. In many cases, one became the other. To all intents and purposes, they looked pretty much the same.

[Captain Jim-sib]

I don't think Gordon was actually on the second sloop the day of the battle

From R.E.Lee's book Blackbeard, the Pirate,p. 110. "Gordon was to remain in charge of the more powerfully armed battleships then in the James River."

As you summized, he was not at Ocracoke. Lt. Maynard commanded the sloop Pearl, and a Mr. Hyde commanded the Ranger.

[blackjohn]

Pirates were just seamen. They led slightly different lives perhaps, but in their dress and mannerisms they were essentially the same people as pirates as they had been maybe only weeks previously as legitimate seamen.

I'm going to disagree... Pirates may have looked just like seamen, but they were pirates, and there is evidence out there that suggests the attitudes of at least some of them varied radically from those of the ordinary seamen.

Since I don't have any Rediker handy, I can't provide any of his first person quotes to back me up.

[Fox]

Disagree all you like. I meant really that in terms of dress, manner, daily habit and suchlike they were just sailors. Certainly there is some evidence pointing towards differing social consciousness - even if it does point to a very limited number of pirates. However, those exceptional ideas did not permeate ALL pirates, and certainly didn't govern the greater part of anyone's daily lives, in which they were to all intents and purposes seamen. They came from the same places, the same background, underwent the same hardships and enjoyed the same luxuries, did the same jobs and hoped for the same benefits at the ends of it.

Generally speaking of course

[Mission]

I have a great book called "Captured By Pirates" that is a collection of nothing but firsthand accounts of sailors, captains and passengers who were captured by pirates.

THAT is a fascinating book if you really want to get a feel for what it must have been like to be taken by pirates. Some of the accounts seem a tad sensationalist to me, but overall it's quite interesting. I highly recommend it.

Since I don't have any Rediker handy, I can't provide any of his first person quotes to back me up.

Be careful with Rediker, blackjohn. While I respect his writing, I've noticed that he sometimes writes from his own agenda. It tinges his writing, especially when it comes to attitude of the pirates. (Just my 2¢. Really blatant Op-Ed pieces like Raiders & Rebels by Frank Sherry and Sodomy and the Pirate Tradition by B.R. Burg belong in the historical fiction section of the library, not history. They confuse people and give fuel to those with personal agendas.)

[JoshuaRed]

I dunno, I greatly enjoy Rediker's work, in fact it's one of my most dog-eared books (Between the Devil & The Deep Blue Sea).

Sure, he does inject a lot of himself into the text, but it works because his persona and beliefs seem to gel nicely with the pirates. Pirates were just proletarian joes who were fed up and decided to take matters into their own hands before they died.

[Capt. Flint]

Thanks for the info on the book Captured.... I'll be keeping an eye out for it . It sounds interesting.....

[MadMike]

Here's a quote from Cordingly's book "Under the Black Flag"-

"Robert Drury visited one of the pirate settlements at Madagascar in 1716 and found the men living in some style on their plantations. One of these men was a Dutchman named John Pro, who spoke good English.

'He was dressed in a short coat with broad, plate buttons, and other things agreeable, but without shoes or stockings. In his sash stuck a brace of pistols, and he had one in his right hand. The other man was dressed in an English manner, with two pistols in his sash and one in his hand, like his companion' (Cordingly, 14).

Yours, &c.

Mike

[the Royaliste]

Pirates were just seamen. They led slightly different lives perhaps, but in their dress and mannerisms they were essentially the same people as pirates as they had been maybe only weeks previously as legitimate seamen.

I'm going to disagree... Pirates may have looked just like seamen, but they were pirates, and there is evidence out there that suggests the attitudes of at least some of them varied radically from those of the ordinary seamen.

Since I don't have any Rediker handy, I can't provide any of his first person quotes to back me up.

I have to jump on Foxe's stance here, mates...Seamen ARE seamen, whether you call them pirates or whatever, period. Absolutely no difference at the time; a job was a job; a means to an end, namely, subsistence.....I find no difference in the ideaology of a 'pirate' captain, a privateer, and a capt. of a frigate; large gains for effort expended in comparison to say, 'farming'.....and I've read the phrase here more than once, but...what's an 'ordinary' seaman?

[JoshuaRed]

I fall somewhere in between. I think that the vast majority of English mariners where a cohesive work force and probably looked, acted and sounded very similar, whether engaged in merchant, naval or private service. Just like today: a trucker is a trucker, and doesn't behave or dress any different whether he's hauling goods for the local junkyard or Dupont or the Government....or the Mob.

So by and large I think those sailors that made brief forays into piracy remained inclusive of the overall maritime culture. BUT - I also think that those pirates who virtually dropped off the map, making LONG deepwater voyages around the world, or most of it, probably evolved their own bizarre little cultures, and upon emerging in the civilized world probably looked and sounded quite unique. After all, they were absent from Europe for years at a time, out of touch with popular culture, while at the same time soaking up OTHER cultures almost unknown to Europeans. Their crews were also a motley gang of sailors from every port in the world.

I feel this especially applies to those pirates that made their home on Madagascar - they were quite aware of themselves as sort of selfmade outcast colonizers or warlords. Imagine the strange tales of them that visiting traders or Naval vessels would bring back to New York or London.

In short, the longer a pirate voyage lasted, and the further it went, the more "pirate culture" probably evolved on it. I don't think this would really apply to planned privateer voyages like Rogers' as their constant goal was to get home with loot, not to escape society and the law.

[Hetha]

Fascinating topic! I love discussions like these! So much detail. Ye all have certainly taken my attention away from the mundane humdrum. I always thought, as they say in a particular movie I watched,'The Animatrix,' that,

"There is fiction, in your truth, and truth in your fiction." The more truth we discover behind the monikers, the dress, the periods, and the cross-culturalization, the more clues we discover, as to why it draws us. :)

[capnwilliam]

Being a Baratarian, Foxe, I love that Cartagenan flag!

Capt. William

[Fox]

I wondered how long it would be before someone mentioned it

I'll have to use a new obscure pirate flag in my signature now...