Pirate

Pirate
Weapons	Cutlass, Boarding Axe, Blunderbuss, Flintlock Pistol, Grenado
Origin	Seas
Activities	Piracy
Service	1700s
Battle Status	Won vs. the Knight
Experts	Michael Triplett (Pirate Weapons Master) David Hernandez (Sword Fighting Instructor)

"The pirate motto is 'Get in, get out. Hit 'em hard, hit 'em fast, take what you want and leave.'"
-Michael Triplett, Pirate Weapons Master

The Pirate, murderous killer of the high seas;

Vs. the Knight, sword-wielding slayer of the Medieval age.

Stats

• Year: 1715
• Height: c. 5' 10"
• Weight: c. 170 lbs
• Armor: None
• Gear: 20 lbs
• Loyalty: Money
  • England/Spain/France (privateer)
• Symbol - Jolly Roger (Flag of the Pirates, a skull with two crossed cutlasses underneath)

Pirate Symbol

History

The pirate has existed in every culture near water. Privateers were independent sailors that were given special permission by governments to raid enemy ships, permitted with a Letters of Marque and Reprisal. Buccaneers are pirates who operated more on land than on sea. Many Buccaneers were originally boar hunters who resorted to piracy after overhunting from the increasing numbers of European settlers ruined their lifestyles.

After Christopher Columbus began the Spanish conquests of the Americas in 1492, other European powers quickly attempted to conquer as much land as possible. This led to multiple Empires creating colonies across the Caribbean islands; settled due to their small native populations, tropical weather perfect for farming and easy access to ocean trade routes.

The Caribbean pirates rose in the 1630s. Brethren of the Coast was a large alliance of pirates living on the Island of Tortuga. This crime den was weakened by crackdowns in the late 1600s, although The Brethren managed to survive until the early 1800s.

The most noticeable Golden Age of Piracy was during the 1710s after the War of the Spanish Succession. When the war ended, now jobless soldiers resorted to piracy off the coast of European colonies. The majority of Pirate crews lived in the Bahamas as it was not heavily patrolled or controlled by European powers compared to the rest of the Caribbean. The city of Nassau on the Bahama island of New Province became one of the largest pirate strongholds in the New World, with the retired pirate captain Henry Jennings as the defacto political leader. At least 2000 pirates had homes and bases in the Caribbean in 1717. In 1718 Woodes Rogers (under orders of King George I) announced a Kings' Pardon to allow pirates to return to their old lives without fear of arrest. This significantly decreased the pirate population as many wanted to retire anyways. Because of this pardon, eventually the pirates were stopped by a anti-piracy crackdown from European navies. Woodes would replace the Pirate Repuiblic as he became the new British governor of Nassau.

Piracy lost popularity as larger ships became faster, but piracy still existed. The early 1800s saw a resurgence of piracy in the Caribbean, primarily as an aftermath of The War of 1812. Between 1817-1825 the US navy cracked down on this piracy and after this Caribbean piracy has been virtually eliminated. However due to the War on Drugs, illegal naval activity has returned in the Caribbean: primarily on the more profitable drug trade or illegal human trafficking.

The act of using privateers (basically pirates hired as mercenaries) was banned internationally by the Paris Declaration Respecting Maritime Law on 16 April 1856.

Today, the Somali Pirates and Indonesian Pirates repopularised piracy, which is beginning to rise around the world.

Historical evidence for most individual pirates is scarce since many pirates kept their past lives secret and many pirate captains had a short reign before dying young in battle or being executed.

Many famous novels, especially Treasure Island, created inaccurate myths of piracy. Certain practices like burying treasure, owning parrots and 'walking the plank' has little to no historical accuracy. It was very common for pirate captains to lose their authority, as a crew acted democratically and would not obey a weak or unpopular captain. There has been evidence of pirates burying people at low tide as a method of execute, as the high tide will drown the person. Pirates did have black flags, but Samuel Bellamy rose the iconic skull-and-crossbones.

Blackbeard has been recorded lighting his beard on fire, sometimes tying cannon fuses to his beard, to create a smokescreen. Blackbeard even marooned half of his crew to steal their money.

Weapons:

Weapon	Pirate	629
Close Range:	Boarding Axe Cutlass	25 13
Mid Range:	Blunderbuss	352
Long Range:	Flintlock Pistol	41
Special Weapons:	Grenado	198
DW game	Dagger
DW Clothes	Pirate clothes Privateer jacket

Pirates had diffrent kinds of ammunition for their cannons (Cannon ball, Grape shot, Scatter shot, Canaster shot, Bundal shot, Chain or Knipple shot, Bar shot, Bombs).

Simulated Battle

The battle begins with a Pirate discovering a dusty treasure chest in the middle of the forest. In the distance, the Knight comes riding in on his horse. The Pirate opens the chest and begins counting the gold dubloons inside, but hears the horse coming towards him. He looks up and sees the Knight with his Morning Star in hand. Thinking that he is trying to steal his treasure, the Pirate pulls out one of his Flintlock pistols. The Knight begins swinging his Morning Star and signals his horse to charge at the Pirate. The Pirate aims his pistol and fires, but misses the Knight. He pulls out another pistol and fires a second time, but the bullet bounces off of the Knight's armor. The Knight's horse dashes at the Pirate, and the Knight swings at him with the Morning Star. The Pirate dodges, gets up, and desperately scrambles for the Grenado in his pocket. The horse turns around and begins to charge at the Pirate again. However, the Pirate manages to light the fuse on the Grenado and throws it at the Knight. The explosion knocks the Knight off his horse.

The Pirate slowly approaches the Knight, thinking that he is dead. The Knight sits up and shoots his Crossbow at the Pirate, shooting his leg. While the Pirate tries to pull the bolt out, the Knight gets up and hits him with the Morning Star again and throws him to the floor. However, the Pirate pulls out his Blunderbuss as he hits the floor and shoots the Knight in the chestplate, sending him flying back. The Pirate then grabs his treasure chest and tries to run away, once again unaware that he still hasn't killed the Knight.

The Pirate reaches the shore and sees his ship in the distance. He turns around and is annoyed to see that the Knight is still following him. "Oh, bloody hell," he groans. He runs ahead to put down his treasure, then turns around and fires his third Flintlock pistol. The bullet hits the Knight, but he shakes it off and runs towards the knight with his Broadsword in hand. The Pirate pulls out his Cutlass sword and engages in a sword fight with the Knight. The two get their swords stuck in the sand, and the Knight uses this opportunity to kick the Pirate to the ground. He pulls out his Broadsword and tries to strike the Pirate, but the Pirate manages to roll out of the way. He backs himself up towards the bottom of a cliff, while the Knight slowly trudges towards him.The Knight swings his sword, but the Pirate parries with his sword and then kicks the Knight to the floor. The Knight gets back up and clumsily swings at the Pirate, who effortlessly dodges the sword. The Pirate then throws sand at the Knight's helmet, distracting him long enough to charge at him and throw him to the floor. As the Knight tries to regain consciousness, the Pirate runs to his fourth Flintlock pistol, which fell out of his pocket earlier on, and grabs it. He returns to the knight, who is still on the floor, and opens the medieval helmet's visor. He shoves the pistol at the Knight's face and fires at point-blank range, killing him instantly. The Pirate gets up and roars in victory.

Expert's Opinion

After the battle the experts gave their opinions on why the pirate won. While they admitted that the Knight had superior training and armor unlike the Pirate, so what handed the latter's victory was the lethal and instant killing power of the Blunderbuss and grenado. While it had a tendency to jam, the Blunderbuss' shot could penetrate the Knight's armor and kill him easily, the exact reason why soldiers stopped wearing armor after the discovery of guns. The Knight was a victim of his time rather than his skill, and due to the Pirate's gunpowder weapons, literally, "brought a knife to a gun fight," in this case.

Back for Blood

The Pirate was considered for the Back for Blood Modern matchup, but was dismissed due to the primitive nature of his gunpowder weapons compared to his opponents.

In Deadliest Warrior: The Game

• Class: Berserker

  

  Pirate in the game

• Short range: Cutlass/Dagger
• Mid Range:Boarding Pike
• Long Range: Flintlock Pistol/Blunderbuss
• Special Weapon: Grenado

Finisher: The Pirate stumbles towards his fallen opponent, drinking heavily from a bottle. After emptying it, he throws the bottle aside and approaches his helpless victim, pulling out his gun and shooting them in the face point-blank. He tosses the gun aside and falls over drunkenly, passing out in a pool of his opponent's blood, talking trash.

Tips:

• The Pirate has no armor, but has good midrange weapons as well as the only firearms in the game. Use this to your advantage by keeping at a distance from your opponent.
• The Pirate has decent speed, so you can dodge easily. Instead of blocking, try to dodge or parry.
• The Grenado is very effective. It does good damage and always knocks your opponent down. However there are two drawbacks; the first being that it takes a long time to activate and if you throw it at the wrong spot it's useless, and the second being that it will most certainly hurt you as well.
• The Flintlock pistols give you an extra shot and quicker draw, but the Blunderbuss does much more damage on a direct hit but less accuracy. Choose whichever one suits your style best.
• While the pirate's melee skills are average, his projectiles can weaken his foe enough to level the playing field.
• If you managed to knock your opponent down, wait for your opponent to stand up (at least part way) and use the Blunderbuss to maximize the damage. This trick is used by Jovenshire of Smosh Games.

Trivia

• The Norse word VikingR literally means Pirate; as Vikings did commit acts of piracy frequently.
• The Pirate was the first warrior to use black powder weapons, explosives, firearms on the show. He was also the first modern warrior on the show.
• In Deadliest Warrior: The Game, if the pirate wins a round with his arm cut off, he may say "Thank God we don't have any ninjas to see this shit". This is a reference to the Pirates VS. Ninjas meme, which is possibly the most requested Deadliest Warrior fight even though The Aftermath confirmed that the producers will not make this duel to keep the debate alive.
• The early 1700s Great Age of Piracy began as a result of sailors who lost their careers in the navy after The Queen Anne's War brought peace to the American Colonies. Blackbeard, one of the most famous pirates, named his flagship 'Queen Anne's Revenge'.
• Contrary to popular belief, Blackbeard was not the most successful pirate. In the Great Age of Piracy this honor belongs to Bartholomew 'Black Bart' Roberts, who raided 470 ships. One of the greatest pirates in all history was Ching Shih, a female Qing Dynasty pirate with a fleet of 300 ships and about 40,000 crewmates. She retired in luxury and was the owner of a large gambling house later in her life.
• The actor Robert Newton is credited for creating the pirate accent and popularizing the phrase 'Arrrrg'. This is due to his depictions of Long John Silver and Black Beard in the 1950s. This accent is actually the West Country accent, unique to a region in England. In real life, most pirates had more common English accents, if they even spoke English. Many pirates spoke other European languages due to the multiple European colonies existing in the Caribbean during the early 1700s.
• Sailors in the 1700s considered women to be unlucky, or merely created rumors to discourage prostitutes from distracting the crew. This is why female pirates were so rare (with the exceptions of Anne Bonny and Mary Reed).
• Scurvy was the primary killer of pirates, not warfare or execution.
• During the golden age of piracy, the average pirate crew had higher wages and work ethics compared to the European navies they fought against.
• George Washington used piracy during the American Revolution. The American navy had 2000 ships throughout the war, the majority being privateers. Though during the Napoleonic Wars, President Washington told French diplomat Edmond-Charles Genêt that he would not allow France to hire American citizens as privateers.
• A primary reason why piracy was so rampant during the 1600s and early 1700s was because the Caribbean islands had the most developed ports in the Americas at the time. Canada and modern day USA was difficult to colonize due to the lack of transit and a massive untouched wilderness, while the Caribbean made transit easy due to boat travel and the small sizes of the islands.
• The reason why Rum is associated with Pirates of the 1600s and 1700s is because Rum was a relatively new drink created by sugar: and since sugar plantations were common across the Caribbean Islands it was the standard drink for English sailors. Only until the 1970s was rum removed from the daily rations of British sailors.
• The first overseas American war was the Barbary Wars; a war against North African pirates.
• Samuel Bellamy is credited with using the iconic Skull and Crossbones. Other pirates used a similar design; including John Taylor and Edward England. However the image of a Skull and Crossbones existed since ancient times and gained popularity in Europe thanks to Medieval Danse Macabre images.
  • Skull and crossbones were not only used by Pirates. Some modern militaries, including the Waffen SS used similar symbols.

• Life of a pirate: [1]
• Blackpowder vs Plate Armor Testing [2]
• Pirate Weapons [3]

Other Weapons

• Saber
  • A single handed sword sharp enough to slice an unarmored opponent in half with a single slash. Some Pirates could hold their swords or knives inside their mouth; allowing them to use their hands for other things like climbing rigging. A Cutlass and Saber were similar weapons and Pirates used both; but the Cutlass was thicker and shorter relative to the Saber.
• Spadroon
  • A stabbing sword used for fencing. It was longer than a cutlass, offering superior range. However it was still shorter than a Rapier since a ship was too small and cramp to use long weapons for combat.
• Knives
  • Normally depicted as a throwing weapon. Pirates would carry multiple knives on their belt or coat and sometimes clench them with their teeth.
• Musketoon
  • One of the first types of Shotguns. The ammunition can be random shrapnel or stones that still function like modern day buckshot. The spread of the shot can hit multiple targets at once; and can be spread out further due to the trumpet shape of the gun. The Musketoon and Blunderbuss are identical weapons except that the Musketoon had a longer barrel; giving it longer range but less maneuverability.
• Dragons
  • Small Blunderbusses were as small as pistols but were extremely short ranged and inaccurate.
• Grenado
  • A grenade that looks like the classical image of a 'cartoon bomb'. The shrapnel was able to go around armor to strike the openings and gaps between the armored plates. Some Grenado designs varied, but were basically any small container of blackpower with a wick.
  • Pirates could also make flashbangs or smoke grenades as well.
• Musket
  • The Musket was the primary weapon of the renaissance; replacing ancient melee combat with Pike and Shoot or Napoleonic Warfare tactics. Since they were only single shot, the musket balls were massive to better guarantee a kill. Most muskets were .75 Cal at least. The effective range of a Musket can be between 50 to at least 100 yards. Muskets can pierce Knight armor, hence why steel armor became irrelevant by the Industrial Period. While Muskets did need maintenance, using it was very easy to master. The average reloading speed of a Flintlock Musket was about 20 seconds; depending on the type of musket and the skill of the musketeer.
  • Most muskets has a bayonet at the end of the barrel to turn the gun into a spear for close combat. This wasn't mandatory for a musket, but was frequently used for this versatility.
• Rifles
  • A variation of the musket designed for precise long distance shooting. Grooved barrels allowing the bullet to spin and thus; travel more accurately. Different rifles had different designs; on average, most rifled muskets had at least double the effective range of a smooth-bore musket (some flintlock rifles had ranges of at least 250 yards) and could outperform bows or crossbows. However because the rifled grooves complected the reloading; the rate of fire was about 1 shot per minute. This made these weapons more effective for individual sniping rather than large-scale engagements.
• Pistol Sword
  • A Flintlock Pistol with a blade under the barrel. This was uncommon as Pirates could carry both a pistol and a knife at the same time, however some sailors did use them due to their flexibility.
• Belaying pins, Chains, Grappling Hook, Harpoons, Fishing Spears, Marlin Spikes and other improvised sailing weapons.
  • Belaying pins were weighted to anchor down rigging and rope, but was dense enough to be used as a club as well.
• Hook hand (for amputees)
• Cannons
  • Can fire cannonballs, grapeshot, knives [4], chains [5] and random shrapnel all with lethal potency. Effective at sinking ships, damaging fortifications or killing enemies. Sizes range from 42 pound to 6 pound cannonballs. Effective firing range can be at least 1,600 yards.
• Black Spot
  • A tool of psychological warfare; used to declare that their victim will be murdered by a pirate crew. It terrified the legendary Pirate Captain Billy Bones so much that he died from shock. While this was only seen in the story Treasure Island; Pirates did have many similar methods of intimidating or threatening their enemies.
• Boobytraps
  • Some Pirates, like Captain Flint or "One-Eyed" Willy, protected their treasure with boobytraps.
• Beer Bottle
  • Pirates would sometimes drink even during battle, so might as well use the bottle as a club.
• Parrot
  • According to the game Pirates, Knights and Vikings; a parrot can be used to peck an enemy to death. This is normally done to distract the opponent while the Pirate Captain ambushes his foe. It is unique for acting like a 'homing attack' and can be commanded from afar. However the parrot can easily be killed. [6]
  • PROFESSOR SQUEAKY TITS is the parrot of I AM WILDCAT.
  • Captain Flint is the parrot of Long John Silver; who named it to mock the human of the same name.
    • Bad Polly Lobster was the muppet-version of this bird. And yes, it's a lobster.
  • Polly is the most common name for a parrot.
• Gunpowder Barrel
  • As seen in Pirates, Knights and Vikings, the Skirmisher can deploy a 'Powderkeg' that acts like a massive timebomb. This weapon is quite dangerous and requires several seconds to use, but it is the deadliest weapon a single Pirate owns.
• Various methods of torture and brutality [7]

Ships

Ranged from gunboats (containing about 2 cannons, sometimes more) to the Royal Fortune: Bartholemew Robert's Man o War (other Man O Wars, for comparison, could hold at most about 124 cannons among its 3 decks; four at the bow, eight at the stern, and 56 in each broadside.) Ships contained cargo capable of sustaining a crew for months at sea; and had plenty of armaments and ammunition for multiple battles. Sailboats moved about 8 knots (9mph), depending on the wind speed, wind direction, amount of sails and the weight of the ship. Pirate Sloops has fewer cannons than naval Warcraft as Pirates didn't want to sink their booty; the average 80ft long Sloop had 12 cannons at most and a 40 man crew.

• Broadside
  • Since ships need a narrow design in order to be aquadynamic; the sides of the ships can contain the most amount of cannons. These cannons are normally all fired simultaneously to rain down cannonballs to quickly overwhelm whatever it hits.
• Chase Gun
  • Front (Bow) mounted cannons designed to damage sails and rigging.
• Swivelguns
  • Were similar to cannons yet smaller weapons and more designed for sniping.
• Mortars
  • The long ranged weapon of ships. By firing upwards; the motar-shot will land vertically and hit the normally unarmored deck. This weapon could not be used at close range however, at least not without endangering the Pirate ship itself.
  • Assassin's Creed 4 depicts Motars with at least 500 meter range.
• Fire Barrels & Aquatic Mines
  • Used to stop or deter pursuers or to close off an area from enemy ships. Some mines are hidden just under the water, thanks to anchors, to avoid the mines from being discovered and thus removed/destroyed.
• Naval Ram
  • While not mandatory on all ships; a heavy yet fast ship can severely damage another with this wedge weapon on its bow.
• Boats
  • Normally housing multiple rowboats; primarily for transport or to fish/harpoon.