Chinese people's understanding of pirates mostly comes from film and television works. For example, Captain Jack in Pirates of the Caribbean, rides the wind and waves in the sea, experiences breathtaking adventures, and finds the treasures of a rich and enemy country.
But what does a real pirate look like? What kind of life do they lead? What is the unknown history?
Pirate stills
Pirate is actually a very old profession. The record about pirates first appeared in the " Homer Epic " written by ancient Greek poets. With the rise of maritime trade, pirates robbing property also appeared.
They were active in the current Mediterranean area until they were wiped out by the army sent by the Roman Empire . This is the beginning of the pirate story. And when it comes to pirates, you can't forget Vikings, but Vikings are not a national concept, but the general term for Vikings who have lived in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and other places and engaged in looting property. . They have traveled all over Europe, and many European royal families have Viking blood.
At that time, the living environment of the Vikings was very bad, especially in the winter when food was scarce. They will set up a cauldron and keep the fire unextinguished, and put whatever they can find into the pot to cook,
such as walrus, seagull, and other animals, relying on this pot to simmer through the cold . They usually live in groups in the form of a family, practice polygamy and eldest-child inheritance, and allow private slaves.
does not hide the pursuit of wealth and contempt for poverty. If you want to marry the girl you like, you must have a high social status and be prepared for expensive gifts. For the happiness of the second half of their lives, many young people who have nothing left have to go to a foreign country to find a way out. Although most people die from abroad, there are always lucky ones who can reap wealth and honor.
Vikings
In many film and television works, Vikings always look like barbarians with horns and helmets. They would take the long Viking boat made of oak trees to burn, kill and loot in a foreign country.
But in fact, they have never worn helmets with horns. The Vikings are more willing to rob the monastery than looting guarded villages. A monk who has no power to bind a chicken will not cause himself casualties, and the monastery is much richer than the average village. Moreover, monks are still good slaves. They are educated and can read and write. Even the records of Vikings looting the monastery are recorded by these monks. But this does not mean that the Vikings have no words. They have 24-letter Rune script,
, and believe that the script was invented by the father Odin . They believed that these words were supernatural, so they would engrave the words on whale bones to treat diseases, but the inconvenience of writing and the lack of good words carriers made these words only used to record events. The Vikings were not rough barbarians, but were very hygienic and full of poetic temperament. Every Saturday, the Vikings will do "beauty" for themselves. They will water the hot stones and make a natural sauna for themselves. I also use animal fat as a natural hair spray to make a beautiful hairstyle.
Vikings in film and television works
The names of Vikings are also very interesting. They are all nicknames plus first names. Boys follow their father's surname, and girls follow their mother's surname. Nicknames are similar to nicknames and are influenced by their behavior or appearance, such as the clumsy Esgot or the red beard Eric. Vikings also like to write poetry to record their accomplishments or to compete with others in poetry.
In today’s English vocabulary,20% are created by Vikings, such as husband, welcome, cake, sorry, etc.
When the Viking family has a dispute, they will hold a Viking meeting to negotiate a settlement. But if a family member is killed, it will become a family feud. The two sides may fight each other for decades, until the lord intervenes and exchanges pensions based on the casualties of the two sides, so as to end the conflict between the two sides. They also have some savage traditional customs. For example, if the leader of the tribe died in battle, they would hold ship burials and use slaves for living sacrifices.
From the 8th century to the 11th century AD, Vikings have been rampant in Europe for more than 200 years. However, as the Vikings migrated to various places and converted to Catholicism religiously, the Viking pirates gradually faded out of history and ushered in the golden age of pirates.
Schematic diagram of ship burial
At the end of the 15th century, the era of great seafaring came. The opening of the new route has brought opportunities to people. Countless people set sail with golden dreams to the far east and unknown new world. Wherever there are ships, there will be pirates, and the Pirates of the Caribbean were born with ocean trade. These well-known unable to leave us with a deep image. They will wear blindfolds and gold earrings, hooked hands or wooden legs, and a handsome three-cornered hat. Some people would think that this is the artistic processing of film and television, but the equipment on the pirates is practical.
Pirates are not all "one-eyed". Wearing blindfolds is more of a work requirement.
Because they have to work in dark cabins and on decks with strong sunlight, covering one eye can quickly adapt to the effects of light changes when they shuttle back and forth.
As for the wooden legs and the hooked hands, it is because the pirates always fight with others and lack medical conditions after being injured.In order to prevent the wound from festering and infection, the pirate doctor will save your life by amputation.
The lost limbs always need to be replaced by something. Wood is an easily available and convenient material. Simple binding can restore the pirate's ability to walk. The iron hook is also because the fish hook is easy to obtain and replace, and it can also restore some of the functions of the hand. Instead of using knives and forks for eating, or when carrying heavy objects, you can hold things steadily, facing the violently shaking sea, and also help stabilize your body from being swept away by wind and waves. The gold earrings they wear are to ensure that you won't be corpses in the wilderness. When you die in battle, your fellow pirates will take off your earrings as a reward for burying you.
Wooden Legs
The daily diet is more difficult than fighting. Prolonged sea wandering will spoil food. Without vitamins from vegetables and fruits, many pirates suffer from scurvy. The pirates who died of scurvy far exceeded the casualties of the battle. Although the preservation of staple food and meat is relatively long,
has to be shared with mice and maggots. Pirates often eat meat covered with maggots or biscuits covered with weevil . The pirates will also find ways to improve the food. They catch the big sea turtle to eat, and eat directly so that the sea turtle is on the verge of extinction. Of course, it is also a good choice to grab merchant ships directly.
Pirates will happily share the food they grabbed, fill the table with food, hold a carnival, and eat whatever they want, just like today's cafeteria.
Pirates are always accompanied by alcohol, not because pirates are all alcoholics. But fresh water will deteriorate and mold, and the taste will become foul and unpleasant, making it difficult to swallow. The sailors had to mix the wine with water to cover up the taste.
The drinking pirate in film and television works
In addition to the misunderstanding of the image, pirates are also considered to be very bloodthirsty.Desperadoes who love killing.
But the real situation is that pirates were just a profession at the time, and most pirates were even naval sailors.
At that time, European countries were vying for maritime hegemony, and the expansion of the navy became a top priority. However, the harsh maritime environment and meager wages do not allow people to join the navy voluntarily. In order to find sailors to board the ship, the navy generally resorts to kidnapping. Catch the drunk people aboard in the tavern and squeeze the sailors with severe methods. There was a writer in the great nautical era who wrote: "The British navy that can conquer good warfare is a hell on earth that believes in violence and enslaves hard labor with punishment and abuse." This leads to a very high mortality rate for navy sailors,
so compared to being a navy sailor. Becoming a pirate is the right choice. Because compared to beating and scolding subordinate naval officers, pirates are very democratic.
Spanish Navy
Pirates have some customary rules, such as no fighting or gambling on board, lights must be turned off to sleep at eight o'clock, women cannot be raped, and children and women cannot be brought on board.
All decisions must be democratically voted, and they will choose the captain by voting. In order to prevent the crew from snatching the spoils, the pirates will distribute the spoils according to their merits, and if someone violates it, he will be punished. For example, it is common to walk on the deck in film and television, but it will not be used as a captive, but aimed at pirates who make mistakes. Or exile you to a deserted island, leaving you with a bottle of rum and a gun, leaving you to fend for yourself. Of course, there are some general criminal laws that tie you to a rope and throw you into the sea, and pull the rope from the other side to get you around the bottom of the ship. The barnacle on the bottom of the ship will be scratched by you. The pirates call this criminal law. "Haidilao".
during the robbery,Pirates will not always fly the pirate flag .
Instead, they fly national flags and disguise themselves as merchant ships, slowly approaching other ships to looting. There are also pirates who play their whimsical ideas and wear women's clothing to pretend that they have just been robbed by pirates, deceiving other ships proactively approaching the pirate ship. The goal of the pirates was not gold and silver jewelry from the beginning, because gold and jewelry are difficult to deal with. The treasures they really want are the trade route maps of merchant ships, as well as the trade goods on board, such as sugar, tea, spices and so on. Because merchant ships will continue to conduct ocean-going trade, the pirates only need to guard the trade routes and have everything they need to eat and use. It's so pleasant to make money by drinking and singing.
The vast majority of pirates will only plunder property and ships, and will not directly kill the captives. Because the pirates know that if it's just to rob merchants and take hostages. The Navy will not stubbornly stubbornly thank them, but will take the initiative to contact them to discuss hostage issues and ensure that both parties can benefit from it. However, if there is a life case, the owners of merchant ships are mostly rich or expensive, and they will use high bounties to reward the killers in order to retaliate and warn the pirates. The navy is naturally willing to trouble them, to please the rich and powerful, and there are rewards, so why not do it. Even the pirates are willing to help these wealthy people by offering your head in exchange for a bounty.
Hostage-taking pirates
There is another important reason why pirates do not kill prisoners, and that is because they are legal organizations recognized by the state. For maritime hegemony, European countries have recruited pirates to expand their maritime power. The country will issue privateer permits to pirates. Having a privateer permit not only legally robs ships, but also the pirates transformed into a national navy. And when captured, they can still enjoy the treatment of prisoners of war.
But the government also has restrictions on these pirates, such as not allowing the looting of neutral countries and domestic ships, and at the same time, surrendering 10% to 20% of the looted property. Merchants will also invest in privateers to get dividends, after all, who doesn't want a profitable thing.
But not all pirates follow the rules, and there are real desperadoes.
They just want to get more wealth. For this purpose, they can do whatever they can. Blackbeard Edward Titch is such a person. He has a thick beard and will ignite the cigarette tied to the end of the beard when fighting, making his opponent think he is a smoking monster.
He always carries 12 muskets on his body. In order to get more treasures, he will shoot his crew for various reasons, so that he can get an extra share when he divides the property. He would also kill prisoners and rob any ships unscrupulously. At the peak, he had a fleet of four sailing ships. But his actions angered the British navy and eventually led to his death under siege. His head was also cut off and hung on the mast to warn other reckless pirates that he was rumored to have buried a valuable treasure. Countless people were searching, but nothing was found. Before he died, he declared that only the devil and himself knew where it was.
Image of Edward Titch Blackbeard
With the advent of the industrial age in the 18th century, the good days of the pirates have come to an end, the colonies have been divided up, and the navies of various countries have also gained great power. , Pirates became a factor affecting the stability of the colony. So countries began to work together to encircle and suppress the pirates, and left the stage of history.
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