by Pat Croce
Because of the oceans’ immensity, blindly taking your chances in a huge and foreboding body of water is a foolish practice. Pirate captains prefer to concentrate on the smaller seas and waterways—areas that have been well documented and can be navigated quite easily via compass and highly annotated charts.
Accurate charts are a necessity for locating and maneuvering through back channels and shallow shoals, for planning ambushes, and for hiding or careening vessels. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that the best, most successful captains usually have the most detailed charts.
Pirate enemies aren’t limited to heavily gunned warships. Many a vessel can become grounded on a sandbar, and ultimately be captured or des-troyed, by a lack of local waterway knowledge. These problems befall even some of the most accomplished pirates. For example, Blackbeard’s Queen Anne’s Revenge met its demise on the sandbars off North Carolina’s shores.
LONGITUDE
The most commonly used coordinate to gauge east-west measurement.
LATITUDE
This coordinate gives a location north or south of the equator.
KNOTS
In this case, knots refer to nautical miles per hour.
1 knot = 1.15077845 miles per hour or 1.8519984 kilometers per hour
WESTWARD PASSAGE
A strait between the easternmost side of Cuba and the northwest portion of Hispaniola (now Haiti), the Westward Passage connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean Sea. A major shipping lane, it’s a favorite—and bountiful—hunting ground for prizes.
[ fig. 15 ] WESTWARD PASSAGE
[ fig. 16 ] NAVIGATIONAL TOOLS
NAVIGATION
ASTROLABE [ fig. 16a ]
Dating back to 150 bce (Hipparchus is thought to be the inventor), astrolabes are used to locate and predict positions of stars and planets, allowing navigators to estimate their positions and even to tell time.
CROSS-STAFF [ fig. 16b ]
A cross-staff—a.k.a. Jacob’s staff—measures the altitude of the sun (day) or the North Star (night) to determine latitude.
BACKSTAFF [ fig. 16c ]
A.k.a. back-quadrant or Davis quadrant (Captain John Davis invented a version of the backstaff in 1594), the backstaff is used to determine latitude. Similar to the cross-staff or astrolabe, instead of looking directly into the sun, you keep the sun to your back, hence the name. It provides the navigator with the sun’s altitude by observing its shadow while simultaneously sighting the horizon. But perhaps its best feature is the fact that it prevents damage to the navigator’s eyes.
OCTANT [ fig. 16d ]
This measuring instrument came to fruition courtesy of Isaac Newton in 1699 when he invented the reflecting quadrant. Octant—a derivative of the Latin octans—means “eighth part of a circle”—and the octant’s arc is of a circle. It uses mirrors to reflect the path of light back to the observer, doubling the angle measured. Octants are similar to sextants but use only forty-five-degree angles.
NAVIGATION
SEXTANT [ fig. 16a ]
Sextants measure the angle between any two visible objects, primar-ily a celestial object (star, sun) and the horizon. Taking the measurement—shooting the object, sighting the object, taking a sight—which consists of an angle and the time it was measured, allows a navigator to calculate his position on a nautical chart.
BRING ’EM NEAR/SPYGLASS [ fig. 16b ]
Designed for the observation of remote objects, no ship should ever be without one. From sweeping the horizon for other ships’ sails; identifying other ships’ make, origin, or ordnance; verifying shore-based landmarks and batteries; or even scouting for shallow-water obstructions, bring ’em nears/spyglasses—a.k.a. captain’s long-glasses—whether used from the bow or atop the main mast—can mean discovering a prize ripe for the plucking or, in the event the ship in your sights is a Royal Navy warship, saving your arse from dancing the hempen jig!
LODESTONE [ fig. 16c ]
A naturally magnetic rock upon which pirates stroke a needle to magnetize it, thereby creating a handmade compass.
[ fig. 16 ] NAVIGATIONAL TOOLS
Once the sight of land is lost, the ability to calculate a ship’s latitude—position north or south of the equator—requires observing the height of the sun by day and that of the North Star at night. Anything that obscures these reference points—clouds, fog, storm fronts, etc.—can play havoc with the readings, oftentimes causing ships to journey far off course.
To aid their endeavors, navigators use a variety of instruments, including the astrolabe, cross-staff, and backstaff, as well as the more sophisticated octant and sextant.
Pinpointing location also requires a longitude measurement. This is estimated by judging the ship’s direction from a compass reading coupled with a fair amount of guesswork (a.k.a. dead reckoning) on the distance traveled by using a chip log and sandglass.
But of all our available tools, the time-honored compass has consistently proven to be the most vital navigational instrument aboard the ship. Since its magnetized needle always points north, we can, at a minimum, gauge our direction. A lost compass at sea is easily remedied if the ship carries a lodestone. Many captains are known to place their lodestones in decorative mountings to keep them safe, as well as to demonstrate their value.
Some think it remarkable that we pirates would even attempt, let alone successfully complete, sailing around the Cape of Good Hope or to the Spanish Main, considering our primitive tools and the overall inaccuracy of our charts, not to mention the vast areas of uncharted waters we have to cross during our voyages. Such is the lure of prizes and plunder. Men will gladly risk life and limb for booty.
The 20th day of May, our bark being about 3 leagues a head of our ship, sailed over a rocky shoal, on which there was but 4 fathom water and abundance of fish swimming about the rocks. They imagin’d by this that the land was not far off; so they clapt on a wind with the bark’s head to the north, and being past the shoal lay by for us. When we came up with them, Captain Teat came aboard us, and related what he had seen. We were then in Lat. 12 d. 55 m. steering West. The island Guam is laid down in Lat. 13 d. N. by the Spaniards, who are masters of it, keeping it as a baiting place as they go to the Philippine islands.
It was well for Captain Swan that we got sight of it before our provision was spent, of which we had but enough for 3 more days; for as I was afterwards informed, the men had contrived first to kill Captain Swan and eat him when the victuals was gone, and after him all of us who were accessory in promoting the undertaking this voyage. This made Captain Swan say to me after our arrival at Guam, “Ah! Dampier, you would have made them a poor meal.” For I was as lean as the captain was lusty and fleshy.
WILLIAM DAMPIER,
A New Voyage Around the World (1697)
HOW TO MAKE A COMPASS
Take a sewing needle from your one-legged sailmaker and repeatedly stroke it in the same direction with a magnet. (If you don’t have a magnet, use silk.)
Suspend the needle from a piece of thread, attached to the needle’s center.
Make sure the needle remains suspended parallel to the deck and it will slowly rotate, ultimately pointing north.
[ fig. 17 ] PIRATE COMPASS
THOSE WHO PLUNDER AND RUN AWAY LIVE TO PLUNDER ANOTHER DAY.
Following the plundering of the Ganj-i-Sawai in the Indian Ocean, HENRY EVERY sailed his Fancy to the island of New Providence, where he divided the booty among his crew and disappeared to parts unknown. Many of Every’s crewmen, however, did not follow their captain’s lead. They remained on the island and, courtesy of their exotic spending sprees, were caught and executed for crimes of piracy.
HE WHO GIVES THE BEST GIFTS LIVES.
In 1861, during an eighteen-month plundering escapade, BARTHOLOMEW SHARP captured the Spanish ship El Santo Rosario. Among the booty was, in his own words, “a great Book full of Sea-Charts and Maps, containing a very accurate and exact description of all the Ports, Soundings, Creeks, River
s, Capes, and Coasts belonging to the South Sea, and all the Navigations usually performed by the Spaniards in that Ocean.” This priceless atlas of Spanish sailing secrets—illustrating coastlines from California to Cape Horn—was presented to King Charles II and helped to acquit Sharp from the charge of piracy, for which he would have been hanged.
I MAY BE GONE, BUT MY PIRATE SOUL IS ETERNAL!
Buccaneer and nautical explorer WILLIAM DAMPIER kept detailed journals of his exploits attacking Portobello with CAPTAIN BARTHOLOMEW SHARP in 1679, and raiding the East Indies in 1683 with CAPTAIN CHARLES SWAN. The published journals quickly became a popular four-volume set. Dampier’s accounts of the South Seas were so valuable that CAPTAIN WOODES ROGERS engaged him as a pilot for his around-the-world privateering expedition of 1708–1711.
ALEXANDER EXQUEMELIN was another notable piratical author who joined the buccaneers as a surgeon in 1666. His remarkable book—BUCANIERS OF AMERICA—published in 1684, contains numerous exciting and bloody pirate stories. Among them: Henry Morgan’s raids on the Spanish Main, Francois L’Olonnais’s sacking of Maracaibo and cutting victims to pieces, and Roche Brasiliano’s brutal torturing of Spaniards by roasting them alive on wooden spits. Exquemelin’s work is recognized as the ultimate reference on the lives and adventures of the great buccaneers.
HOW TO CHART A COURSE
Successful navigation can be achieved quite easily by plotting a course on a nautical chart. For every leg of the course, figure distance, speed, time, and the heading to be traveled.
Using a parallel ruler—or better yet, a parallel plotter, designed to roll without sliding—draw a straight line from your point of departure to your intended destination, or from your departure point to the first turn on your course.
Draw as many lines as needed to plot the entire trip.
Lay parallel ruler/parallel plotter along the drawn line.
Roll plotter to the nearest compass rose on the chart until the edge intersects the crossed lines at the center.
Where the course line intersects the inside degree circle is the magnetic bearing. Mark this course above the plotted line (in degrees magnetic).
Repeat for every line in the plotted course.
Figure distance for each individual course in nautical miles using the dividers and the chart’s distance scale (usually found at the top or bottom).
Calculate the time it will take to travel each course by determining speed (knots), based on intended cruising speed and current conditions. Write this atop the course line, next to the bearing.
Continue calculating the time required to run each course by multiplying the distance of the course times sixty.
Divide result by the predetermined/estimated speed (knots).
Final result is the amount of time (minutes/seconds) to complete plotted course.
Repeat this process for every course and write the result on the course line.
When you begin your journey, make sure to use a sandglass for every leg of the trip and record the time spent on each leg.
Be sure the vessel is at proper plotted speed and that your direction is correct. Even a minor variance will throw off your bearings.
Be sure to reset sandglass for each new course (new line) on the chart. Failure to do so will throw you off course—and you should be thrown overboard.
HOW TO NAVIGATE BY THE STARS
Celestial navigation is the oldest means of reckoning. To aid in this endeavor, there are a few major constellations that every would-be navigator must know.
For the Northern Hemisphere, use the Big Dipper and Cassiopeia. Both are visible year-round, revolving around the North Star (Polaris).
The Big Dipper looks somewhat like a frying pan—long handle, rectangular pan. If you’re looking at the “pan,” draw an imaginary straight line from the two farthest stars, extending perpendicular to the Dipper’s tail. This line will point directly to Polaris.
Cassiopeia is on the other side of Polaris, opposite Big Dipper. It resembles a W, turned on its side.
Polaris makes an arrow with one of Cassiopeia’s points and is nearly equidistant between the two.
Polaris doesn’t move (in appearance); other stars rotate around it.
Measure the angle between the horizon and Polaris to determine your latitude. Polaris is on the horizon at the equator (0 degrees), directly above the North Pole (90 degrees).
The angle between the horizon and Polaris is your current latitude.
[ fig. 18 ] CELESTIAL NAVIGATION
no quarter!
CHAPTER
SIX
PREPARE TO BOARD
“No time wasted, straight up alongside, every gun brought to play, and the prize boarded.”
CALICO JACK RACKAM (ON CAPTURING SHIPS… AND WOMEN)
Pirates don’t work for wages. We live by the simple motto, “No prey, no pay.” Unlike privateers—who only attack vessels from nations their king, queen, or country is at odds with—pirates have no such limitations. Any vessels we see are fair game. And once prey is sighted, all it takes is a majority vote from the crew and the hunt begins! Iron and lead first, followed by steel, this is the piratical way, the modus operandi by which we carry out our sinister trade. If the prey ship doesn’t surrender, first comes a massive cannonball onslaught from the big guns. Next comes the “softening” of the prey via precision musket marksmanship and ungodly gunfire from the swivel guns (packed with grapeshot), blunderbusses (firing scattershot), and close-aim pistol fire. Finally, the call to board is given and a maniacal horde of pirates will crest the gunwales and swarm the prey’s deck, swinging boarding axes, slashing with cutlasses, and firing flintlocks.
In the initial stages of the stalk, a pirate ship will shadow its prey while the captain determines whether the odds of victory (based on the opposing ship’s armament and number of visible crewmen) are in their favor, exactly as advocated by famed Chinese military general and strategist, Sun Tzu, some 2,200 years ago. Assuming the captain likes what he sees, the pirate ship will move in close, hoist the Jolly Roger so the other crew knows exactly who—and what—they are dealing with, and then fire a warning shot across the prize’s bow, giving them an opportunity to surrender with little or no bloodshed. But the perfunctory “surrender or else” cannon shot isn’t the only frightening tactic employed to signify that a floating spectacle of death is in their midst. The pirate crew will also begin vaporing—screaming vicious war cries and horrific death threats while flailing and banging cutlasses and boarding axes against the gunwales of the ship. And if a musician is aboard, his furious fiddle play, blaring horn blasts, or ominous drumbeats will add to the raucous din, ratcheting up the crew’s unbearable chanting to what sounds like a fever pitch straight from the depths of hell.
[ fig. 19 ] PIRATE CREW READY TO BOARD
LOAD AND FIRE A CANNON
A pirate ship’s great guns (cannons) are mounted atop four-wheeled carriages, allowing them to roll in and out of the gun ports for faster firing and reloading.
Prior to loading, it is absolutely vital that a member of the gun crew inspect the barrel to insure it is empty and clean. It is equally vital that the cannon inspector not be smoking a pipe while performing the task for obvious reasons. If he is, rest assured it will be the last time he makes that mistake—or any mistake for that matter!
If the cannon has recently been fired, the bore must first be swabbed with a damp sponge to remove any remaining live embers before reloading, otherwise there will be no live gun crew!
To load the cannon, a four-man gun crew has to run the gun inside the ship’s gunwale and put a powder bag (charge) down the front of the barrel, followed by the cannonball.
A ramrod is then used to push the ball and charge together at the bottom of the barrel.
Each cannon has a vent hole drilled at the top rear of the barrel, allowing a fuse to be inserted, conveying flame to the charge. Most fuses are approximately six inches long, giving gun crews approximately ten seconds to get clear
and cover their ears before the cannon discharges.
As soon as the cannon is loaded, the gun is run out through the gunport and the gunner sets the aim.