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One of the best times in history to be a pirate was just after the English wrested Jamaica from Spanish control in The Caribbean seas were swarming with European merchant ships plying profitable trade routes to exchange goods and gold for sugar, and as long as pirates seized only Dutch and Spanish vessels, the English authorities were happy to let them prey upon ships from rival countries.

This policy decreased competition for the English merchants and flooded Caribbean port cities with cheap stolen merchandise and swaggering pirates flush with cash. Despite the tacit support of the Royal Navy, pirate ships were often sunk by the cannons of well-armed merchant vessels.

By the late 17th century, the Royal Navy was facing diplomatic pressure to disrupt pirating and secure the seas for legitimate trade. They were also beginning to realize that rogue pirates are not easily controlled; particularly bold captains sometimes attacked English vessels. One such brazen pirate captain was Joseph Bannister, a legendary 17th-century figure who defeated the Royal Navy in sea battle on two separate occasions. They were convinced that they could find a pirate ship that vanished more than years ago.

His narration is just as engrossing as the subject. The heroes of his tale are John Chatterton and John Mattera, men with the improbable occupation of professional pirate hunters. Their research combines new technology — side-scan sonar equipment and magnetometers — with sleuthing through dusty archives for old maps, letters, diaries, and documents that might reveal the location of a wreck.

Their goal is to find sunken galleons and pirate ships and salvage whatever coins, weapons, and other artifacts they contain.

'Pirate Hunters' tells a compellingly true tale of a lost pirate ship - theranchhands.com

Historical records indicated that the ship sank after a battle with the Royal Navy in approximately 24 feet of water off a stretch of easily defensible coast. Mattera and Chatterton promptly liquidated their life savings and relocated to the Dominican Republic to begin searching for the lost pirate ship. Exploring sunken shipwrecks is intrinsically dangerous work; both men have had numerous brushes with death over the course of their diving careers. Work on remote coastlines in the Dominican Republic also poses particular challenges. Throughout the book, the men confront gun-wielding bandits on motorcycles, barracudas, rival pirate hunters, and delicate political situations with local authorities.

What motivates them is an irrepressible enthusiasm for the romance of pirates and the tempting possibility of vast riches.

'Pirate Hunters' tells a compellingly true tale of a lost pirate ship

A 19th-century shipwreck found near Gibraltar in contained roughly a half billion dollars of silver coins. While this was an unusually large sum, salvaging caches of gold and silver and selling artifacts to private collectors is often quite lucrative. Chatterton and Mattera both feel a strong affinity for pirates, and in their willingness to face sundry dangers for the sake of possible riches they do resemble the buccaneers they idolize.


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Their explorations were both physical and intellectual; they alternate between sweeps across vast stretches of the sea with magnetometers and archival research into the smallest details of pirate history between and Believe it or not, excellent discipline was expected from the pirates. Fights among the crew were strongly discouraged. Some captains punished those who disrupted the peace on the ship with a fight, and it could be forty lashes.

No fight is worth forty lashes. On the other hand, there were captains who permitted two crew members to settle their disagreements once they reached land. At eight in the evening, all the lights and candles were put out and the crew could rest.

The Pirate Code – How Order was Kept Among the Lawless

If anyone was in the mood for drinking, they could do so upon the open deck without lights. Everyone was expected to be ready for action at any time with their pistols clean and loaded, and their swords, axes, and daggers sharp and ready for use. Sexual intercourse was forbidden on the ship.

There were cases when members of the crew would smuggle a woman in disguise on board.


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  • There was even compensation for a pirate who lost a limb or become a cripple during their service. He was given coins out of the Public Stock. Lesser mutilation was followed by a proportionally smaller amount. It was expected of everyone to participate in a battle and cowardice was frowned upon. Those guilty of cowardice could be part of the vote on what punishment they were to receive. The best option for them was losing their share, but more often their punishment was death or being marooned.

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    Read another story from us: From Prostitute to Pirate: How a Brothel Owner Commanded 80, Musicians on the ship were permitted to play days or nights, except on sabbath, when they were allowed to rest. Sep 3, Katie Vernon.

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    Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, originally published in Treasure being divided among pirates in an illustration by Howard Pyle. A marooned pirate, according to Howard Pyle.