A person has a hole the size of a god in his soul, and everyone fills it as best he can.

Well, what is a sea pirate without a ship? After all, he was for him both a home and a warehouse for trophies. And, of course, a means of transportation. Moreover, the movement is swift, since often the pirates had not so much to pursue interesting ships for profit, but to escape the chase.

What is a pirate ship?

What main characteristics should a pirate ship have so that both its captain and crew could count on, if not a successful robbery, then at least salvation from justice?

Firstly, any ship that the pirates used as the main combat unit had to be extremely fast. This made it possible to suddenly attack the enemy ship, maneuver in order to prevent serious damage from artillery fire, and after the completion of the “event”, quickly leave to a distance inaccessible to the enemy.

Secondly, the pirate ship was equipped with serious weapons. Not a single boarding was complete without a preliminary exchange of cannon shots. Therefore, pirate luck directly depended on the quality, quantity and rate of fire of artillery. One has only to imagine a small, light and fast ship, bristling with a variety of cannons and vents, from which a team of real thugs looked predatorily at their prey. And it immediately becomes clear that few merchant ships had a chance to repulse the furious rebuff of the sea robbers.

In order for a ship to become a truly pirate ship, it often had to be rebuilt after being captured. If this was impossible or too expensive, the pirates simply sank the robbed ship, sunk it or sold it, after which they immediately rushed in search of a new victim. It should be noted that in marine terminology, a ship means at least three masts, as well as full equipment with a set of sailing weapons. But such ships were quite rare among sea robbers.

Converting a captured ship into a pirate one is a whole science. It was necessary to remove unnecessary interdeck bulkheads, cut the forecastle and lower the level of the quarterdeck to create an open combat platform. In addition, it was necessary to equip the sides with additional holes for artillery, and to strengthen the bearing elements of the ship's hull to compensate for the increased loads.

Small ship: the perfect ship for a pirate

As a rule, pirates sailed on the same ship throughout their "career". However, there is a lot of evidence that after a successful attack, the sea robbers easily changed their home to a more powerful and faster ship that could be converted to pirate needs. For example, famous pirate Bartholomew Roberts changed his ship as many as six times, giving the new combat unit the same name - "Royal Fortune".

Most of the gentlemen of fortune preferred small and fast boats, in particular sloops, brigantines or schooners. The first approached the role of a pirate ship almost perfectly. In addition to speed, the sloop had another significant advantage in battle - a small draft. This allowed the pirates to successfully "work" in shallow water, where large warships did not dare to stick their noses. In addition, a small ship is much easier to repair and clean its skin. But individual pirate crews were still looking for more capacious and large ships.

Sloop(warship sailing, class) in the British Royal Navy XVIII - mid-nineteenth c - a ship without a rank, with a rating of "24-gun" or lower, and therefore does not require a commander with the rank of captain (captain). The definition was not universal. By tradition, it did not include established types of small ships, such as a tender or a schooner.

Brig- two-masted ship; the armament is the same as that of the fore - and the main masts of the frigate.

Schooner- a vessel with oblique armament: there is a three-masted schooner, and sometimes there are also direct sails on the foremast (topsails, bramsails and bom-bramsels) or a two-masted one - moreover, on the foremast it also sometimes wears straight sails (marseilles and bramsails) .

Schooner brig- 2-masted sailing vessel, with a foremast, like a brig, and a mainmast, like a schooner.

Brigantine(Italian brigantino - schooner-brig, brigantina - mizzen) - a light and high-speed vessel with the so-called mixed sailing weapons - straight sails on the front mast (fore mast) and oblique on the back (main mast). Initially, the brigantines were equipped with oars.

MOST FAMOUS PIRATE VESSELS

"QUEEN ANNE'S REVENGE"

Queen Anne's Revenge- the only real-life sailing ship from the Pirates of the Caribbean film series, the flagship of a pirate Edward Teach(Edward Teach or Edward Thatch) nicknamed Blackbeard(Blackbeard).

The sailing ship was built in 1710 in Great Britain, when in 1713 it was bought by the Spanish fleet, the ship wore proud name "Concord"(La Concorde) and was a three-masted ship with dimensions
presumably thirty-six by eight meters, displacement of three hundred tons, armed with twenty-six guns. Neither exact information about the appearance and structure of the sailboat, nor illustrations of it were found. The only image of a sailboat is in the monograph by J. Budrio. After the Spaniards, the French bought the ship. And for several years, Concorde was involved in the transport of slaves in the Caribbean. In 1717, the sailboat was captured by pirates led by Blackbeard.

Edward Drummont(Edward Drummond), that was actually the name of Ticha, was an Englishman, presumably born in the 80s of the seventeenth century. During the war between England and France, the so-called "Queen Anne's War", he was a privateer and robbed French and Spanish ships in the Caribbean, together with Benjamin Hornigold. He got his nickname not by chance, since he really was the owner of a luxurious black beard, into which he wove black ribbons. He did everything to match the image of the most terrible pirate of the Caribbean. This song was written about him "Fifteen Men for a Dead Man's Chest"- that was the name of a small island in the Caribbean, where Edward Teach landed 15 people from his team for an organized riot, leaving them only rum and sabers, in the hope that they, having drunk, would go crazy and cut each other.

The Concorde team surrendered to Blackbeard virtually without a fight. Two small sloops captured an almost three-ton ship. So great was the fame of Blackbeard among the sailors of the Caribbean. Remarkably, the pirates did not kill the crew of the sailboat, but simply landed everyone on the nearest island, leaving them one of their sloops.

Edward Teach renamed "Concord" in "Queen Anne's Revenge" and made it his flagship. The ship was partially rebuilt and her armament increased to forty guns. The number of pirate crew of the ship was up to 150 people.

In two years, Blackbeard robbed about forty ships, and now he led a whole flotilla of pirate ships.

The most famous of all the tricks of Tich was the blockade of the entrance to the harbor. Charleston(South Carolina) in May 1718. And already in June of the same year, the Queen Anne's Revenge ran aground and then sank in Topsel Bay off the coast of North Carolina (the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe current Beaufort Bay). According to some sources, Blackbeard was shipwrecked while trying to hide from his pursuers, according to another version (more likely), the ship was sunk on purpose, since the pirate no longer needed this sailboat, widely known among sailors. Edward Teach himself was killed on November 22, 1718 by the English lieutenant Robert Maynard, who was specially hired for this by Virginia Governor Alexander Spotswood.

Since then, legends have been added about the adventures of Blackbeard and his famous sailing ship, its prototype is in the works of Daniel Defoe and Robert Stevenson. But the pirate and the ship are best known for the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

It so happened that after more than two centuries, exactly on the day of Tich's death, on November 22, 1996, divers of the Intersol group in Beaufort Bay (North Carolina) found an anchor leg sticking out of the silt.

After the examination, it became known that the anchor belonged to the legendary sailing ship Queen Anne's Revenge. The search continued, and the collection of the North Carolina Maritime Museum was replenished with many exhibits from the famous sailing ship. These are several cannons, weapons, a ship's bell (dated 1709), a large number of cannonballs, and navigational instruments. In the spring of 2012, work began on lifting the ship's hull.

"ADVENTURE"

Galley Adventure Galley) - the ship of one of the most famous pirates in the history of navigation William Kidd.
Captain Kidd can rightly be called one of the most legendary personalities among pirates of all time.
But few people know that most of what they say about Kidd is fiction. He is often portrayed as a very successful and extremely cruel pirate. William Kidd is credited with torture and humiliation of sailors, countless captured and robbed ships, countless treasures buried no one knows where. By the way, some adventurers are looking for the treasure of Captain Kidd to this day.

In fact, William Kidd became world famous only because of a combination of circumstances that made him a bargaining chip in the political games of the British authorities.

Scot William Kidd was born around 1645 in Greenock. Almost nothing is known about the childhood and youth of the future captain. William's father was a Calvinist pastor who gave his son a good all-round education. Kidd probably began his maritime career at a fairly young age.
In 1688 he was one of the survivors of a shipwreck off the coast of Haiti. In 1689 he became the captain of the privateer ship "Blessed William" ("Blessed William"), captured from the French. In 1690, the crew of the Blessed William, led by Robert Culliford, hijacked a sailboat from their own captain and went to piracy, while Kidd got the new ship Antigua at his disposal and settled in New York for several years, where he married and led a completely law-abiding life.

In 1695, William Kidd made a deal with the Earl of Bellomont (Governor General of New England) and Robert Livingston, a New York businessman, as a result of which Kidd received a letter of marque, allowing him to rob French ships, as well as attack any pirate ships.
To implement this venture, the Adventure Galley ship was purchased, with a displacement of approximately 300 tons, with 46 oars and 34 guns. Nothing more is known about this ship - neither how it looked, nor where and when it was built.

In 1696 Captain Kidd, His Majesty's newly minted privateer, left England. Having recruited a team in New York, Kidd headed for the shores of India through the Cape of Good Hope.

From the very first days, William Kidd was unlucky: French ships did not come across in the path of the Adventure Galley. There were only British, Dutch and Indian ships, which the pirate Kidd, with all his desire, had no right to rob.

As time went on, the crew of the Galley Adventure began to grumble: the sailors wanted booty and they insisted more and more on open piracy. But Captain Kidd was adamant. As a result, in 1697 a riot broke out at the Galley Adventure. One of the dissatisfied was the scorer William Moore, who was killed in a skirmish with the captain. The situation heated up more and more. And in November 1697, near Madagascar, the Adventure Galley attacked the Dutch ship Ruparel. Kidd justified this attack by saying that French documents and a French flag were found on the ship.
In January 1698, a rich Indian ship, the Quedah Merchant, was robbed, which also, despite its Indian affiliation, had a French passport. In November of the same year, the story of the Galley Adventure sailing ship ended - Captain Kidd burned the ship near the island of Sainte-Marie. The captain himself with the team moved to the captured "Kvedakh merchant", renamed by him the "Adventure Prize" ("Adventure Prize"). The Indian authorities were extremely dissatisfied with the capture of the Kvedah Merchant. The East India Company was threatened with all kinds of trouble from the Indian side. And Captain Kidd was accused of piracy. But instead of hiding, William Kidd went straight into the hands of the British authorities - he was sincerely sure of his innocence, because both hijacked ships had French passports. Kidd gave all the papers proving his innocence into the hands of Bellomont, hoping for the support of the lord.

In 1700, a trial was held over Kidd, where these documents did not appear. And the captain of the Galley Adventure was accused of piracy and murder. On May 23, 1701, William Kidd was executed by hanging. The execution was successful only on the second attempt, the first time the rope broke. Kidd's body was caged and suspended over the Thames as a warning to all pirates, and the captain himself was declared the greatest villain and robber. His name is overgrown with rumors and legends, including about the treasures that the pirate managed to bury on unknown shores.
The story of William Kidd formed the basis of the works of Edgar Allan Poe (The Gold Bug), Robert Stevenson (Treasure Island), Washington Irving (The Devil and Tom Walker and The Pirate Kidd). In 1945, the feature film Captain Kidd was released.

The very first literary work about Kidd - "Captain Kidd's Farewell to the Seas"(Eng. Captain Kidd's Farewel to the Seas) - was written on the day of his hanging.

"GOLDEN DOE"

"Golden Hind"- a small galleon of the famous English pirate Francis Drake, the second ship in the history of navigation - after Fernand Magellan's "Victoria" karakki, - who made trip around the world.
The sailboat left the stocks English city Aldeburgh and was called "Pelican" ("Pelican", English). As a type of vessel, the Pelican was a galleon, which came in the 16th century to replace the karakkas and caravels. The galleons had a more slender hull than the carracks, without a massive aft superstructure. Like all galleons of that time, the Pelican had three masts: mainsail, foresail and mizzen. The main and fore masts carried two tiers of direct sails, the mizzen mast was armed with an oblique "Latin" sail, and under the bowsprit there was a direct sail - blind.

Drawings during the construction of ships at that time were not yet known, so the data on the size of the Pelican differ: the length of the galleon varies in different sources from 20 to 40 meters, width - from 5.8 to 6.7 meters, displacement 100-150 tons. There is also no exact data regarding the armament of the sailboat; presumably, the Pelican was armed with 18-22 guns. The hull of the ship was decorated with yellow and red diamonds and the image of a pelican. After the ship was renamed the Golden Doe, instead of a pelican, an image of a fallow deer appeared on the hull, and a completely golden figure of a fallow deer was installed under the bowsprit.
In December 1577, the most famous voyage of the Golden Doe (then still the Pelican) began. Royal privateer, favorite of Queen Elizabeth I, Captain Francis Drake, nicknamed the Iron Pirate, led a squadron of five from the port of Plymouth British ships. These were the ships "Christopher", "Sea Gold", "Elizabeth", "Swan" and "Pelican". The squadron headed for the coast South America in order to rob as many Spanish ships as possible.

In August-September 1578, the ships of the Drake squadron passed through the Strait of Magellan (South America), but in pacific ocean the ships got into a severe storm, in which they lost sight of each other. The Pelican was alone. He was carried far to the south, thanks to which Francis Drake made an important geographical discovery: Tierra del Fuego turned out to be not the top of an unknown southern continent, but just an archipelago. The strait discovered by the captain of the Pelican was later named Drake Passage.

Loneliness did not stop Drake from plundering Spanish ships and harbors along the West Coast of South America, which he successfully did. The Spaniards had to equip an entire squadron to chase the elusive pirate. The hunt for Drake has begun. But after a long chase, which lasted more than one day, the Pelican again managed to escape. Inspired by luck, the captain decided to rename the ship the Golden Doe for its excellent navigational qualities. Another reason for the renaming of the vessel could be that a deer was depicted on the coat of arms of Drake's patron Lord Hutton. This was the first time that a ship's name was changed during the voyage. "Golden Doe" left the coast of South America across the Pacific Ocean past the island of Java and the Cape of Good Hope. And in September 1580 she returned to her native England, thus making the second round-the-world trip in world history. Drake's circumnavigation turned out to be much more prosperous than the Magellanic expedition, most of whose sailors, and the famous captain himself, died during the trip. Francis Drake returned home not only safe and sound, but also brought back 4700% of the profits from his trip, received as a result of three years of robbery and robbery. Most of the profits ended up in the British treasury, and Francis Drake was personally knighted by Queen Elizabeth I.

After this voyage, the Golden Doe galleon became a universal object of admiration for the British. It was put into eternal parking on the Thames, where it stood for almost a hundred years until 1662, becoming one of the main attractions of London.
In the 20th century, two replicas of the legendary sailboat were created: in 1963 and 1973. They are not similar to each other, since there were no drawings of the Golden Doe, and the ship was restored according to scattered descriptions. The 1973 replica circled the world, repeating Drake's, and has stood on the south bank of the Thames since 1996 and serves as a floating museum. The second copy of the Golden Hind is located in the town of Brixham in Devonshire.

"ROYAL LUCK"

Bartholomew became one of the most successful pirates in history, capturing 456 ships and over £50 million worth of booty in his short, four-year career as a pirate. He was almost elusive, historians are inclined to believe that Roberts was much brighter than such pirates as Blackbeard a or Ann Bonnie.

Roberts began his sea voyages as an assistant captain on a slave ship. He got on a pirate ship at the age of 37, as 3rd mate aboard the Princess of London, commanded by pirate captain Howel Davis, near Annabamo, which is on the Gold Coast of West Africa (the coast of modern Ghana). He was forcibly added to the team as a navigator.

After 6 weeks of sailing under the command of Davis, Bartholomew was chosen as the captain of the ship. "Pirate"(Rover). This happened after Davis was killed in an attack on Prince Island (present-day Principia, 200 km west of Equatorial Guinea). This was an unexpected decision, despite the fact that he was with the team for only a month and a half, but no one was better than him in the skill of a navigator, and, moreover, Roberts, as historians note, was a sincere and stubborn person.

His first act as captain was to convince the crew to return to Prince Island to avenge the death of Captain Davis. Roberts and his team attacked the island at night, killed many people and looted a lot of valuables. Thus began the career of the most successful pirate in history. Then Black Bart went to sea and captured several merchant ships.

Not satisfied with the booty off the coast of Africa, in early 1720, Roberts went to the Caribbean. By the time he arrived at the Devil's Islands, all merchant ships preferred to take refuge under the protection of the cannons of the coastal forts, since Roberts' piratical fame had long reached these places. Deciding to seek his fortune in other waters, Roberts traveled north, where he profitably sold goods captured off the coast of Guinea. Off the coast of Canada, he robbed 21 ships loaded with valuable furs.

The summer of 1720 was also very successful - Roberts captured many ships, including 22 ships in Treffisi Bay. This capture was peaceful, because, as soon as they saw a ship with a raised pirate flag, the crews of merchant ships fled in horror to the shore. Roberts had only 60 people at this point. A magnificent French brig was waiting in Roberts' bay, which the captain made his flagship, renaming it "Royal Pirate". Encouraged by an easy victory, Roberts made an unsuccessful attempt to cross the Atlantic, but not reaching the coast of Africa due to the lack of a favorable wind, he returned to the Caribbean Sea.

In September 1720, Roberts attacked a port in the West Indies on the island of St. Kitts, captured and plundered one of the anchored ships, and set fire to two others. And in October 1720, Roberts captured and plundered 16 French, English and Dutch ships. In January 1721, he boarded a 32-gun Dutch ship carrying slaves and deceived the people of Martinique. The conflict with Martinique had "personal roots" for Black Bart. The governor of Martinique, having decided to join the fight against piracy (and, perhaps, in search of profit), went out with a ship in search of Bart Roberts. Bart considered this a personal insult, took the fight and captured the frigate and hanged the governor. Under the flag of Holland, he sailed past the ports and gave signals to the French to visit the island of St. Lucy, where smugglers sold slaves. As a result, the pirates captured and set fire to 14 French ships that went to sea.

In the West Indies, he captured almost a hundred ships, and also made a number of successful raids on coastal cities. In order to instill even greater fear in the enemy, Bartholomew personally hung the governor of one of the captured cities on a yardarm.

In the spring of 1721, Black Bart reached the coast of Africa. Off the coast of Sierra Leone, the pirate spent several months trading slaves and capturing merchant ships. In August, he managed to capture the Liberian city of Onslow, where the headquarters of the Royal African Company was located. Roberts headed southeast to Nigeria and Gabon before returning to the Ivory Coast, capturing at least six ships along the way. On January 11, 1722, Roberts reached Ouida (Ouida in present-day Benin) and boarded 11 ships carrying slaves.

He made attacks on the coasts of Brazil, Africa and Newfoundland during his pirating career. His prey has always been so great that the team never doubted his leadership abilities.

"REVENGE"

Stede Bonnet (1688-1718)- an English pirate, sometimes called "pirate gentleman" mainly due to its origin. His first fairly complete biography is contained in Daniel Defoe's A General History of Piracy (published under the pseudonym "Charles Johnson").

Origin Bonnet- nobleman, received a good education. Before he took up robbery, he served as a major in the colonial militia on the island of Barbados.

The reasons that forced him to engage in piracy are not entirely clear. Quite popular in the 18th century was gossip about a slight insanity as a result of an unsuccessful marriage to Mary Ellamby, which allegedly prompted the former officer to go into pirates. Another version was the scandalous nature of his wife, which he could not stand and decided to engage in piracy.
Equipping with his own savings a sloop with ten guns and seventy crewmen on board, which he called "Revenge" (revenge, revenge), the major sailed from the island of Barbados.

Bonnet and his crew managed to capture and plunder several ships near Virginia, New York and North Carolina.

An important turn in the fate of Bonnet was his meeting with the famous Edward Teach, nicknamed "Blackbeard". The major's detachment joined the Tich pirates, and he himself, according to Defoe, transferred command of his ship to one of his assistants Blackbeard and served for some time on his ship.

When Blackbeard's ship was wrecked near Topsell Island, the major decided to abide by the terms of the royal decree for clemency; he again took command of his sloop and arrived at Bathtown in North Carolina, where he announced his readiness to do the will of the king, for which he was pardoned.

When war broke out between the confederates of the Triple Alliance and Spain, Bonnet set out to obtain permission from the commander-in-chief to attack the Spaniards. To this end, he left North Carolina and headed for the island of St. Thomas. When he again ended up on Topsel Island, he found that Teach and his squad had already sailed away from here on a small ship and took away all the money, weapons and other things with them, and also landed seventeen delinquent people from their crew here. Bonnet took the poor fellow on board.

From the crew of the sloop that he met on the way, the major learned that Captain Teach with eighteen or twenty people was on the island of Ocracoke. Wanting to take revenge on Tich for a number of insults inflicted on him, Bonnet decided to first sail to the captain's place of refuge, but missed him; after unsuccessfully cruising for four days in the Ocracoke region, he headed for Virginia.

Under the new name of Thomas (he took a pseudonym due to the fact that under his real name he received a pardon), the major again engaged in piracy, capturing and robbing oncoming ships.

Due to repeated reports of ships being hijacked by a certain pirate, the South Carolina Council sent Colonel William Rhett with two sloops to the pirate's location to attack his ships. After a bloody battle, Colonel Rhett arrived in Charleston on October 3, 1718 with prisoners on board. Bonnet was taken into custody.

After some time, Bonnet escaped from prison with one of his accomplices. The governor sent several armed barges to search for the fugitives, and also issued a proclamation promising a reward of £700 to anyone who could catch him. Bonnet was found on Swillivants Island, surrendered, and was escorted the next day to Charleston, where, by order of the Governor, he was placed in custody pending his trial.

On October 28, 1718, the process was opened. Steed Bonnet and thirty other pirates appeared before the court; almost all of them were declared guilty and sentenced to death. The judge's speech is quoted in its entirety in Daniel Defoe's General History of Piracy.

Ship, flag and appearance - only these three things could put a pirate above the rest of the world. A fast ship, a flag with a bad reputation, and an intimidating appearance - these are often enough to make the enemy surrender without a fight. When success depends on how much fear you can instill in the victim, these three things were of no small importance, and they also served as evidence of the pirate's luck.

Pirates didn't build their own ships. Pirate ship was supposed to be fast, maneuverable and well-armed. When capturing a ship, they first of all looked at its seaworthiness. Daniel Defoe said that a pirate ship is first of all “a pair of light heels that will come in handy when you need to grab something quickly or get away even faster if you get grabbed”. On captured merchant ships, the hold bulkheads, deck superstructures and one of the masts were often removed, the poop was made lower, and additional cannon ports were cut into the sides.

As a rule, pirate ships outperformed ordinary ships in speed, which was very important both in order to catch up with the victim and in order to get away from the chase. For example, when Charles Vane hunted a ship in the Bahamas in 1718, he easily evaded sea patrols, "making two feet on their one".

Most pirate captains haven't changed ships throughout their careers.(which was often very short - we can even talk about months, not years; even Blackbeard's reign of terror lasted only a few years). However, there were those who changed ships like gloves - Bartholomew Roberts had about six of them. As for the captured ships, they were usually sold or simply burned.

A pirate ship needs constant care, it is especially important to clean the bottom of shells and algae in time so that they do not slow down the progress of the ship. This procedure was done every three months. Usually the pirates swam to some safe place, put their cannons at the entrance to the bay to repel a possible attack, and knelt the ship - that is, with the help of pulleys they pulled it to the shallows and cleaned the bottom. Cranking was also used in cases where it was necessary to repair the underwater part of the hull. The biggest threat to the ship was the mollusk and shipworm (woodworm), which bit into the wood and could make moves up to 6 feet (2 meters) long in it. These worms were capable of completely destroying a ship's hull.

Vessel dimensions

The size of the pirate ship was quite important. big ship it is easier to deal with storms, and besides, it can carry more cannons. However, large ships are less manoeuvrable and more difficult to roll. In movies, pirates are usually shown on large ships such as galleons because they look very impressive, but in fact, pirates preferred small ships, most often sloops.; they were fast and easy to care for. In addition, due to the smaller draft, they could swim in shallow waters or hide among sandbars where a larger ship could not pass.

They were so large that they could participate in everyday naval duties for everything, however, in battle for one gun, four, or even six, people were required. A ship with twelve guns on board needed seventy men just to fire, and you also had to bring the cannonballs and gunpowder.

Sloops
At the beginning of the 18th century, a sloop meant various ships built in the Caribbean. Sloops were usually small single-masted ships carrying disproportionately powerful sailing weapons. This made them fast and maneuverable, which, combined with their shallow draft, made them the perfect pirate ship. Usually the sloops were equipped with a slanting main sail and a jib on the bow. Sloops could also be called two- and three-masted ships with similar sailing weapons.

Bartholomew Roberts on the West African coast. Behind him is a fleet of slave ships he captured. There are also the Royal Fortune and the Great Rinder, Roberts' ships. Images of two flags are clearly visible.

Schooners
During the 18th century, schooners became an increasingly common type of ship. Usually schooners are defined as two-masted ships with slanting sails on both masts. The narrow hull and large sail area made them fast, the usual speed of a schooner with a fair wind exceeded 11 knots. The draft of the schooner was also small, which allowed them to swim freely among the shallows and close to the shore. With a displacement of up to 100 tons, the pirate schooner carried 8 guns and a crew of about 75 people. The disadvantage of the schooner was the insufficient cruising range. It was often necessary to call at ports to replenish supplies of water and food. However, with sufficient knowledge and skill, the pirates took everything they needed from the sea.

brigandines
Another type of ship often found off the American coast was the brigandine. A brigandine is a two-masted ship, on the foremast it carries direct sails, and on the mainmast it carries an oblique lower sail and direct topsails. Such sailing equipment allows the brigandine to effectively go both jibe and badewind. The length of the brigandine is about 24 m, the displacement is about 150 tons, the crew is 100 people, and the armament is 12 guns.

A variant of the brigandine was the brig, but this type of ship was quite rare in American waters. The brig carried straight sails on both masts, although slanting sails were sometimes placed between the masts. Sometimes a slanting gaff sail was placed on the main mast. In this form, the ship was called shnyavay. Royal Navy used shnyavs as patrol ships in Caribbean waters.

Three-masted ships (direct sailing)
Three-masted ships with direct sailing weapons could be considered ships in the full sense of the word. Although three-masted ships were slower than pirate schooners and sloops, they still had a number of undeniable advantages. First of all, they were distinguished by better seaworthiness, carried heavier weapons and could accommodate a large crew. Many pirates, including Bartholomew Robert and Charles Vane, favored three-masted ships.

Three-masted merchant ships were actively used in that period. Queen's N Revenge by Edward Teach was a converted slave ship, adapted to carry 40 guns. Usually a merchant ship with a displacement of 300 tons carried more than 16 guns. Three-masted warships were divided into several ranks. A ship of the 6th rank carried from 12 to 24 guns. A ship of the 5th rank already carried up to 40 guns. This weaponry was usually more than enough to defeat any pirate in an artillery fight. The only exceptions were Roberts' Royal Fortune and Teach's Queen En Revenge, as well as several other pirate ships that carried comparable weapons.

Small pirate ships

As we have already said, most pirates started their careers with small ships. The smallest vessels in the waters of the New World at that time were pinnaces, longboats, flat-bottomed vessels. Many of them have been known in the Caribbean since the 16th century. The term pinas has two different meanings. Firstly, a pinnace is usually understood as a semi-barge - an open single-masted vessel with a displacement of not more than 60 tons. Secondly, larger deck vessels with a displacement of 40-80 tons were also called pinas. Later, pinas reached a displacement of 200 tons, turning into three-masted ships capable of carrying artillery. AT different countries the same term could have different meanings, moreover, the meanings of the terms changed over time.

Initially, pinas were called rowboats, which also had one mast with a latin or gaff sail. Usually the longboat had a length of no more than 10 m and was used for auxiliary purposes on large merchant ships and warships. Although maritime historians are still arguing on this topic, it seems that the term sloop most likely meant the same pinnace, but with a direct sailing rig. The Spaniards called the pinnaces "long launches", the Spanish launch carried direct sailing weapons. The Dutch used the word pinge, which meant any small merchant ship with a displacement of up to 80 tons, encountered in the Caribbean during the 17th century. At the end of the XVII century. pirates actively used all these small vessels in their criminal trade.

In another meaning, "pinas" meant an independent vessel with a displacement of 40-200 tons. Pinas could carry any number of masts, in the period we are describing, three-masted pinas were most often encountered. Three-masted pinnaces could carry any rig, most often a combination of straight and latin sails. The armament of the pinas consisted of 8-20 guns. At the end of the XVII century. pirates like Henry Morgan used large pinnaces as the main ships of their pirate fleets, although the flag was kept on larger ships. The term flyboat usually meant a flat-bottomed trading vessel, usually Dutch, with the Dutch language having a special term fluyt. By the end of the 17th century, flyboats began to be understood as small vessels intended for coastal navigation. The Spaniards called such ships the word balandra. The Dutch and Spaniards actively used flat-bottomed flyboats for patrolling the coast, reconnaissance, transporting manpower, as well as small warships and raiders. The smallest ship in the Caribbean in the XVII century. was an Indian canoe. Canoes could be of various sizes. The smallest canoes could not carry even four, while the largest canoes could carry a mast, guns, and a large crew. Canoes were also actively used by pirates.

Ships sailing in the Caribbean at the end of the 16th century. From left to right: flyush, pinas and barge, sloop, ping, long barge, periag, canoe, yawl.

In the last decade of the 17th century, the terms "pinnace", "longboat" and "flyboat" fell into disuse. It cannot be said that the old types of Caribbean ships have abruptly given way to new types. Rather, ships now began to be classified by sailing armament and the number of masts, rather than by hull size and purpose.

Before continuing our story, it is necessary to identify the main types of ships of the “golden age of piracy”. A sloop was a small single-masted vessel with slanting sailing weapons and a jib. A brigantine was a two-masted vessel with straight sails on the fore mast and oblique sails below and straight sails above.

main mast. In addition, the brigantine carried a jib on a bowsprit. The brig was a variant of the brigantine with straight sails on both masts. A brigantine with slanting sails was called shnyava.

An analysis of pirate attacks between 1710 and 1730 in the waters of the New World showed that in half of the cases the pirates acted on sloops. Most of the rest of the pirate ships carried straight sails. Brigantines, brigs and shnyavs were the least common, and in some cases the pirates acted on open boats and longboats. But it should be borne in mind that these statistics can be challenged. First, pirates like Bartholomew Roberts, who captured over 200 ships, confuse the statistics. Secondly, Teach and Roberts immediately used fleets of ships in which light ships operated under the cover of a large flagship.

In any case, it is clear that the sloop was the most important type of pirate ship. Almost all pirates started their careers with this type of ship. Currently, a sloop is understood as a single-masted vessel with oblique sailing equipment. During the "golden age of piracy", the term was less defined, it was used to refer to different ships with different sailing weapons. Sloops appeared on military service in the middle of the 17th century, one of the first sloops was captured by the British at Dunkirk. With a keel length of about 12 m and a midship width of just over 3.5 m, the sloops were the smallest independent ships in the fleet. The sloops carried a minimum armament of four guns. In England, sloops were also understood as small two-masted ships with direct sailing weapons. Some sloops of war carried three masts.

Flying Dragon sloop by Edmund Condent, 1719

When an English colony was founded in the Bahamas in 1718, the pirate Edmund Condent fled from New Providence on a small sloop along with several pirates who did not agree to accept the amnesty. After the first failure, the pirates captured the first booty in the Cape Verde Islands. After that, the crew removed the old captain, and Condent took the vacant position. Soon the pirates seized several ships, including a heavily armed sloop from the Portuguese navy. Condent decided to keep the sloop, giving it the name Flying Dragon. The sloop crossed the Atlantic and reached the Brazilian coast, and then moved southeast to the Cape of Good Hope, from where it entered the Indian Ocean. Condent reached Madagascar in the summer of 1719. During the next year he sailed Indian Ocean while plundering met ships. During the attacks, Condent showed himself to be an experienced captain. On the French island of Reunion, he negotiated with the local governor, trying to get an amnesty from him. We do not know the details, but soon Condent was removed, and One-armed Billy was chosen in his place. In 1721, the sloop Fiery Dragon burned down due to an accidental fire. while at anchor in Martinique. Recently, archaeologists managed to find the remains of the ship's hull.

Here the sloop is depicted in a form typical of the "golden age of piracy". Displacement 150 tons. Length 16 m, width amidships 5.5 m, armament K) guns, crew 50-75 people.

To this day, drawings of the sloop HMS Ferret, built in 1711, have been preserved. This is a large sloop, keel length 15 m, deck length 19 m, width amidships 6.3 m, draft 2.7 m. With a displacement of 115 tons, the sloop carried 10-12 guns. In addition to cannon ports, each side had eight rowing ports, which allowed the sloop to move at oars in calm. It is not clear how many masts the ship had - one or two. Most likely, there were two masts, since it is known that five years later, sloops of war were built with two masts. But if we generally imagine what a sloop of war looked like, there are much more ambiguities with the appearance of a pirate sloop. Although not a single drawing of a trading sloop has been preserved, we can reconstruct the appearance of these ships from drawings of that time and a drawing dating back to the middle of the 18th century. from Frederick Henry Chapman's Architecture Navalis Mercatoria. We know that the sloops built in Jamaica and Bermuda were especially valued for their speed. The sloops from Jamaica were a development of the pinas, built from Virginian juniper. They were easily recognizable by their low freeboard and overturned masts. Similar sloops were built in Bermuda, Chapman presents drawings of just such a sloop.

Chapman's sloop is 18 m long (keel length 13.5 m) and amidships 5 m wide. The long bowsprit is set at an angle of 20 degrees to the horizon, the rigging of the sloop consisted of a slanting mizzen, a straight topsail and one or two jibs. The upper and lower yards of the oblique mizzen were only slightly shorter than the length of the hull. Therefore, the sloop carried a huge sailing armament for its displacement. The displacement is estimated at 95-100 tons. The armament consisted of 12 guns. The upper deck of the sloop ran continuously from bow to stern, without interruption by the quarterdeck.

Charles Galley is the sistership of the Adventure Galley, a privateer ship built for William Kidd in 1696. Both ships could be oared, for which there were ports at the bottom of the side.

Dutch engraving of a tropical port, circa 1700. Pirates in the foreground. Bays of this kind in the West Indies and in the northeast of Madagascar were used by pirates to keel their ships and replenish provisions. In the foreground is a small pinas.

faience painting, late XVII in. Dutch whaling ship. Bartholomew Roberts ruined New England whaling and fishing in a raid in the summer of 1720. The whaler, capable of carrying 16 cannons, was similar to the ship captured by Roberts in August of that year.

The drawing agrees perfectly with three images of colonial American sloops made in the early 18th century. An engraving by William Burges (1717) of New York Harbor shows the sloop Fancy used as a private yacht. Like many other sloops, the Fancy had a single mast and a rig described by Chapman. Also noteworthy is the rounded aft cabin, which covers the rear part of the quarterdeck. Another engraving by William Burgis, also dated 1717, shows a sloop anchored at Boston Lighthouse. Although the sloop carries seven guns on each side, it is a merchant ship and not a warship. At the beginning of the 18th century, the threat of pirates increased so much that merchants began to put additional artillery on their ships, even evidence of that time has survived about the increased demand for small-caliber naval artillery. The third engraving depicts the port of Charleston, South Carolina. Various ships are shown in the foreground, including several sloops. All of them are single-masted, only one of them has a straight topsail. Although we do not know exactly what the pirate sloops looked like, the similarity of all three engravings to Chapman's drawings allows us to reconstruct the appearance of the sloops quite well.

With regard to brigantines, everything is a little simpler. We have several images of brigantines related to the period of interest to us. Their rigging remained unchanged for a century after the "golden age of piracy" ended. Chapman brought to us a number of drawings of the brigantine, which also allow us to learn a lot about the design of ships of this type. The term "brigantine" appeared before 1690. Even then, the brigantine had straight sails on the fore mast, and a combination of straight and oblique sails on the main mast. By the middle of the 18th century, the term "brig" appeared, which meant a two-masted ship with an oblique mainsail, in front of which there was no straight sail. The staysail was raised between the main and fore mast. At the beginning of the 18th century, the term "brig" also denoted a standard brigantine. At that time, shnyava was understood as a variant of a brigantine with additional

a vertical vertical mast installed immediately behind the main mast. Pirates used all these types of ships more out of necessity than by choice. The brigantine and its modifications did not have such powerful sailing weapons as the sloop carried. The fastest straight-rigged ships were used to transport slaves to the New World.

At the beginning of the XVIII century. appeared in the Atlantic new type ship - a schooner. The schooner was a two-masted vessel with slanting sails and sometimes an additional straight topsail on the foremast. The first mention of schooners is in the Boston Newsletter (1717). Six years later, another Boston newspaper reported on a pirate schooner under the command of John Phillips, operating in the Newfoundland area. In fact, the schooner was a New England ship captured by Phillips in the Great Newfoundland banks. Schooners could sail in American waters until 1717, although they were not popular. For the period from 1710 to 1730, only 5% of pirate attacks took place using schooners. In later times, fiction writers often began to place the heroes of their pirate novels on board schooners, since in later times schooners became widespread.

In summary, we argue that the main small ship of the pirates of the era of the "golden age of piracy" was a sloop.

The small sloop Fancy served as the yacht of Colonel Lewis Morris, commander of the New York militia, early XVII/ in. A typical example of a ship sailing off the North American coast during the "golden age of piracy".

Well-armed flute, late 17th century. 18 cannons on board the ship were supposed to help in the event of an attack by pirates. The flute's shallow draft allowed it to enter small ports in the Caribbean. The vessel could also take on board up to one and a half hundred soldiers, full flutes were often used as troop transports.

From the book Soviet tanks in battle. From T-26 to IS-2 author Baryatinsky Mikhail

Small tanks and wedges In the Soviet Union, as in other countries, on the eve of World War II, light tanks formed the basis of the tank fleet of the armed forces. Their purpose at that time was very diverse - reconnaissance, direct support of the infantry and conducting

From the book American Frigates, 1794–1826 author Ivanov S. V.

Ships Notes: DMP - length between perpendiculars - distance between stem and sternpost. This length is closest to the length of the waterline. Width refers to the maximum width. The depth of the hold is defined as the height between the bottom of the ship and the level

From the book Aircraft Carriers, Volume 2 [with illustrations] author Polmar Norman

Small fleets In the later stages of the Second World War, several French warships operated in conjunction with Allied forces in the Mediterranean, the Atlantic and the Pacific. The most famous among them was the battleship Richelieu, completed in the United States in 1943. However

From the book of Galera. Renaissance era, 1470–1590 author Ivanov S. V.

Small rowing ships Battle galleys were usually kept in reserve for participation in pitched battles. Constant fighting was carried out with the help of small rowing ships (galiots, fustas and bergantines). They were used for raids, reconnaissance, delivery of dispatches, rapid transfer

From the book Warships of Japan and Korea, 612-1639. author Ivanov S. V.

Japanese pirate ships Pirate ships of the XIV century had sufficient seaworthiness. They were often converted from trading junks, although Chinese drawings depicting wako raids show the pirates operating in small boats. The boats were used for

From the book Technique and weapons 2014 02 author

Medium and small warships: seki-bune and kobaya Medium warships or shoki-bune looked like smaller attack-bunes, but had a pointed prow. In addition, there was almost no superstructure on medium ships. The helmsman steered the ship from the open deck.

From book Mine cruisers Russia. 1886-1917 author Melnikov Rafail Mikhailovich

Landing ships of the Russian Navy. Large landing ships of the Ivan Rogov class Vladimir Shcherbakov In the memoirs of one of the Soviet officers who served as a military adviser in Angola, I read a breathtaking story, more like a script than a military story

From the book Weapons of Victory author Military science Team of authors --

Small cruisers of the Black Sea

From the book Pirate Ships, 1660-1730 author Ivanov S. V.

From the book Partisan War in 1812 author Kurbanov Sayidgyusin

From the book Hard Times: The Last Operations of Soviet Intelligence author Leonov Nikolai Sergeevich

CHAPTER 2 Small Victories In the Beginning Patriotic War, during the retreat of our armies from the border, the ataman of the Don Cossacks, General of the Cavalry Platov, covered the 2nd Army (Bagration) with his Cossacks. By June 19, the 1st Army of M.B. Barclay de Tolly concentrated in Sventsyany, P.I.

From the book Submarines XII series author Ignatiev E. P.

Big and small troubles of intelligence In the 70s, the countries of the so-called "third world" occupied a large place in our political concerns. Interest in them varied in intensity and in the forms of its manifestation. During the years of the administration of N. S. Khrushchev, the USSR, which had not yet lost

From the book With a dagger and a stethoscope author Razumkov Vladimir Evgenievich

The first small submarines of the Soviet Navy On February 22, 1932, the Council of Labor and Defense (STO) of the USSR issued a decree on the construction of 30 small submarines, with the deadline for the delivery of the first six by July 1, and the rest by December 1, 1932. The boats were intended for hastily formed

From the book Armor Collection 1995 No. 03 Armored vehicles of Japan 1939-1945 author Fedoseev S.

Cleanups, large and small Cleanups on ships are a holy cause. When a person first gets on a ship and sees perfectly cleaned decks, golden coppers, clean white cases on weapons and boats, he does not think about how this is achieved. And this is achieved by endless

From the book Fleet of the Roman Empire [The role of the naval forces in maintaining the defense capability and preserving the ancient state from the time of Octavian Augustus to Kon by Starr Chester G.

Small tanks "2592" ("TK") "2592" ("TK")Japan avoided the almost general enthusiasm for turretless tankettes in the 20-30s, choosing small tanks as reconnaissance and security vehicles. The prototype of the small tank "2592" (often referred to as the "tankette 92 TK") was built by

From the author's book

§ 1. The ships of the Imperial Squadron have inherited and used throughout their existence a type of warship that cannot be found in modern fleets. It was an elongated, low fighting galley, a vessel that actually had the decisive advantage of being

Sometimes you look at the names of the miserable buckets of branded bolts called "yachts", crammed into the marina and think "what do these people even know about the names of ships ?!". Well, you yourself can go and see, at the same time you can easily distinguish those who go by sea a lot and often from those who rot in a joke so that the owner can enjoy membership in the yacht club and glue women.

I'll give you a hint: for the most part, yacht names symbolize the qualities of their captains, and their size is usually (but not always) inversely proportional to the number of miles logged. Exceptions are usually noticed immediately by the features of the equipment and - usually - by the work carried out on board. Barbecue work and sunbathing of busty beauties are carried out on the yachts of the pontorezes.

Ship names

But let's talk about names. The name of the ship is usually given on the slipway, and under this name it appears in the statements. And by and large, you can forget about it, because rarely when it turns out to be successful. The ship acquires its real name during operation, and is usually fixed for life. For example, the name stuck to one schooner "that bitch", and it fully corresponded to her extremely bastard character. Her favorite pastime was mud baths and diving - apparently she had submarines in her family, hence the mania to lie down on the ground right at the pier.

Many good ships that have plied the oceans since time immemorial did not pay attention to what was written on their sides and stern. The crew and the captain knew that it was better not to interfere with their navigation - these ships pulled their crew out of terrible storms and managed to stay afloat regardless of the number of cores that made holes in their sides. Many troughs, on the other hand, had proud and haughty names, but they floated with the same grace as a refrigerator.. And a sailor who wants to be hired on a ship, unless of course he was a fool, or not so desperate as to climb anywhere, usually tried to hear how the sailors talk about the ship.

It should be pointed out that no matter how bad the sailor is, he will never, I emphasize, will never scold his ship. He is more likely to blaspheme, and in swearing at a sailor, few will shut him up in his belt. So, the intonation with which the sailors speak about the ship says a lot about it, and if you're lucky, you can hear its real name. Here, by the way, is another point that is lost in Russian, but which is important to know: the ship / ship is feminine, and they say “she” about them. A good ship for the captain - wife, daughter, girlfriend, goddess - choose any.

And finally, the name of the ship that floats, and does not pretend to be an iPhone, is almost always short. The reason is that in those dashing times of boarding battles, there were peculiar traditions - as the king, referring to all states, said “we”, and the captain, to the question “who is coming?” - called the name of his ship, and during the battle he could yell “to me!”, Calling on everyone who can still fight to get to him and throw the enemy into the sea with joint efforts. Now imagine that your ship is called "Admiral Ivan Ivanovich Molotoboytsev." Yes, you will be killed before you utter it, not to mention the fact that this can create confusion in the presentation.

There are ships that have earned fame for their names, and then when a new ship is laid down, they are given the name of one who has already retired. If you do not remember the Argo paradox, this is one of the hopes to lure good luck with the help of a name, or endow the ship with the name of a glorious person. Few people know, but the Aurora was once a glorious ship of the Russian imperial fleet, whose batteries smashed the British on Far East(of course, tea-leavers do not like to remember this, because in that battle they Marines lost the flag, and the admiral shot himself from such a shame). And when the laying of new armored cruisers took place, one of them was named after the glorious sailing ship and - he crowned himself with even greater glory, becoming one of the symbols of the Revolution.

And while the winds will blow, beautiful ships will plow the seas, carrying glorious names through the ages like banners.

If one day you take command of a ship, treat it like a woman. Learn about its history, see how it goes on the waves, its weaknesses, its character, its secret name - and if you get along with the characters, you will understand why the Santa Clara was affectionately called the Nina, why the captains shared the fate of their ships , although they could have escaped ... Well, if you don’t get off, then it’s better to change the ship, otherwise only one of you will remain afloat by the end of the journey.